Report: Jarrett Allen still dealing with blurriness in injured eye

Cleveland Cavaliers big man Jarrett Allen made his return to the court in Tuesday’s win over the Brooklyn Nets, but that does not mean that he is no longer dealing with the effects of his injured eye.

In fact, the one-time All-Star admitted before tipoff that he is still dealing with blurred vision in his eye.

“Allen told cleveland.com before tipoff that he is still dealing with blurriness — an expected after-effect that will likely persist for another two or three weeks,” Chris Fedor wrote. “He’s been using ice to alleviate the swelling, medicine to speed up the healing process and drops to get rid of the previously visible redness. Treatment will likely continue through the end of this month.”

Allen himself offered some details on the injury and why it is still impacting him despite the fact that he was able to restart his season.

“It’s tough because it wasn’t a surface thing,” Allen said. “It was the back of my eye, my vision, making sure things weren’t blurry. Just things that are going to have to heal over time still.”

He missed four games total because of the injury, but he didn’t seem hampered by it at all in his team’s win on Tuesday. Allen put in 35 minutes of playing time and was rather dominant in the outing.

He finished with 12 points, 14 boards and two blocks in the game. He went 5-for-11 shooting the ball from the field. The win didn’t do much to help the Cavs make up ground in the Eastern Conference, but it did help further cement the playoff outlook in the conference.

The Cavs — who have now won seven of their last 10 games — are 3.5 games back from the No. 3-seeded Philadelphia 76ers and 3.5 games ahead of the New York Knicks for the No. 4 seed.

With the loss, the Nets are now 2.5 games back from the Knicks. So, it is starting to look very likely that the Cavs and Knicks will be the first-round matchup between the four and five seeds in the East.

If that does end up being the first-round series, it is likely going to be a great one. The Cavs and Knicks have played three times so far this season, with the Cavs winning one game and the Knicks winning two.

The two teams will face off in the regular season for the fourth and final time next Friday in Cleveland.

By that point, it’s very likely that it’ll be decided whether or not that game will mark a first-round playoff preview.