The ‘prophetic’ voice behind Jarrett Allen, Cavs’ Game 7 mauling of Pistons

Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers overwhelmed the Detroit Pistons on Sunday in Game 7 with a 125-94 stomping at Little Caesars Arena to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. However, after the triumphant moment, Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson revealed that Dan Gilbert, the chairman of the organization, sat down with him at a dinner at the team hotel the night before the winner-take-all matchup to predict the X-factor of the group: Jarrett Allen.

“I was thinking [James] Harden, [Donovan] Mitchell,” Atkinson said in his postgame press conference. “I said, ‘Really?’ And that sparked me to run the first play for him. I went to my room. I’m like, ‘Man, I’m gonna run the first play for him,’ which I think got blown up. But our film session, we had, ‘Reward the Big’ [highlighted].

“Sometimes you have to be reminded. And that was great by Dan. He hit it on the head. He was prophetic.”

Allen wound up with 23 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, a steal, and a block in 25 minutes.

“It means a lot that the whole organization, even from top to bottom, has that level of trust in me,” Allen said. “He sent me a message before the game as well, just stating how important, how much of an impact that he believes that I can have on this game and this whole series.

“And it’s motivating, especially when somebody like that, with that stature, has that confidence in me, and it gives me that extra push.”

Whether it was a cutting dunk, a lob finish, fancy footwork, or earning 13 free throw attempts, he was a sheer alpha in the paint. While wrestling for a jump ball at the end of the first half, the typically mild-mannered Allen sent Jalen Duren into the front row of the baseline under Detroit’s basket.

“This is his second Game 7 [doing it],” Mitchell said. “And I joked with him. I was like, ‘Man, this is just who you are now. Game 7 JA, right? It’s Black History Month JA and Game 7 JA.”

“I mean, shoot, he’s a different player,” Evan Mobley added. “His energy, his effort, his rebounding, drawing contact. He’s a great player. Whenever he plays like that, it’s a whole different team for us, for everyone else, and we draw off his energy. We need that as much as possible.”

Allen put the cherry on top in the second half and was serenaded by Cleveland fans with a personal chant, celebrating what both knew would be a runaway result in a must-win for the team to reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in eight years.

“He was great the whole game, but how about Third Quarter Game 7 Jarrett Allen?” Sam Merrill added. “He did the same thing in that Toronto game, just completely took the game over. He did that tonight. I looked up at one point early in the third, and he only had three rebounds, but it felt like he had completely dominated. I just think they couldn’t get an offensive rebound. When he’s taking off from just inside the free-throw line, you know he’s feeling good.”

“Jarrett Allen is the man,” Strus said after Game 3. “When Jarrett Allen goes, our team goes. And he knows that. We need him to be that guy every single night. It’s contagious. When he does it, it’s contagious. He’s just a phenomenal basketball player, and I love being his teammate.”

Dan Gilbert’s Cleveland commitment speaks to Donovan Mitchell, Cavs

Not only was Gilbert clairvoyant about Allen’s big night on tap, but he was also responsible for the crowd at LCA being as split as it was. On the owner’s dime, over 20 busloads of Cavs fans traveled to downtown Detroit to support the Wine and Gold.

“Watching how this organization operates, all the little stuff on the margins, he believes in,” Atkinson said. “Like, every little thing counts. And if he thought that was going to give us just a tiny bit [of a] boost, which it obviously did, he’s going to make the effort. And not [just] him, there’s a whole group that made that possible.

“I’ve never seen that in the NBA. College, maybe? It mattered. I think it mattered. I think it helped. I think our guys would agree.”

As the series deepened, the number of local supporters making the trip grew, as did the group’s belief in itself to get over the hump outside of Rocket Arena.

“I love this place,” Mitchell said after Game 5. “Every time I think there’s a max of how much you can love being somewhere, they continue [to surprise]. I’ve never been a part of something like that. I mean, obviously on the Western Conference [side], it’s definitely tougher. It’s a two-and-a-half-hour flight, let alone a drive.

“But I think, man, to see that, you heard it when we came out for warm-ups, [it] felt like we were at home in a sense. Shout-out to every Cavs fan, shout-out to our organization. That’s huge, man. That’s just a big part of what we do.”

To those who went the extra 169 miles at any point these last couple of weeks to see their favorite squad accomplish something that hasn’t been done without The King in three decades, know that your voice mattered to everybody who stepped foot on that floor.

“The ‘Let’s Go Cavs!’ and everybody chanting my name, Evan’s name, MVP chants, we heard it all,” Allen said.

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