Cavaliers: Jarrett Allen again sets tone inside with 20 rebounds, 16 points

CLEVELAND — Last year the Knicks taught the Cavs a lesson on playoff physicality. This time around, it's Cleveland dishing out the pain. Jarrett Allen has combined for 38 rebounds in the first two games of the Eastern Conference playoffs against Orlando, helping Cleveland take a 2-0 lead behind a 96-86 win at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Monday evening. "It's very satisfying," Allen said. "It shows that we've grown not only as a team but as individuals. We're not folding under pressure. We do have our moments where we can still improve, but I feel as a whole we've taken a huge step forward." Allen, who took the brunt of the criticism for Cleveland being outmuscled by the Knicks last season, has been the main reason the Cavs are doing just that to Orlando. They once again won the rebounding battle — this time 48-41. Cleveland owns a 102-81 advantage for the series. Allen's 18 rebounds in Game 1 ranked fifth in franchise history for a playoff game. Two days later, that mark slid to sixth as his 20 on Monday tied with Zydrunas Ilgauskas for second. "A perfect guy I always look to with stuff like this is Anderson Varejao," Allen said. "He was an excellent rebounder all throughout his career. Was he the best overall? No. But every single time he went on the court he wanted it. I just look at that and just try to replicate it." Allen also notched his fifth career playoff double-double, finishing with 16 points while adding three assists, two blocks and two steals. He shot 6-of-10 from the field, and when he didn't get a block, he did a good job of altering many other Orlando shots. The Magic shot just 36.2 percent from the field and 25.7 percent from 3-point range. "I can't say enough (about Allen)," Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "He understands what's necessary and then goes to do whatever he can do to impact it. "We knew this series was going to be won in the interior. We knew we'd have to do a great job on the boards and back-to-back nights he's taken it upon himself to make sure we win that battle. We're not here without his effort. It's not easy in there. There's grabbing, holding, hitting, but somehow someway he keeps finding a way to come up with the basketball." He was particularly dominant in the first quarter, which helped propel the Cavs to a 30-18 lead they maintained for a majority of the evening. The Magic rarely got the deficit back to single digits, and never got within five points, from that point. Allen scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds in complementing Donovan Mitchell, who scored 14 of his game-high 23 during that span. The Magic was 7-of-23 from the field and 1-of-11 from 3-point range in the opening quarter. "He's just in the paint dominating," said Cavs forward Evan Mobley, who finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. "You can't really explain it. He just goes in there, does his job, gets his work done and gets out. Honestly, this is kind of expected from him. He's one of those players who can do that night in and night out. We just want him to keep carrying that and elevate their game as he did." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.