Donovan Mitchell’s approving reaction to Jarrett Allen shoving Ben Simmons

Cleveland Cavaliers star guard Donovan Mitchell was glad to see that Jarrett Allen shoved Ben Simmons in the team’s road win over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday.

“He got up quick as s—,” Mitchell said. “I was a little nervous. Not gonna lie. I was like, ‘Uh oh.’

“Jarrett pushed me a little bit and I was like, ‘I’m not even going to get involved. You go do your thing.’ I’ve never seen him do that. It was big-time and then for us to respond the way we did as a group, I was happy about it. Don’t condone violence. But in this case, I was happy he got up the way he did and kind of set that tone.”

Simmons pushed Allen to the ground when the two were boxing each other out, and Allen responded by shoving Simmons back.

Allen impacted the game on both sides of the ball against his former team. He finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocks on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and 0-of-1 from deep.

The 25-year-old big man has been one of the better centers in the NBA so far this season. He has appeared in 45 games for the Cavaliers during the 2023-24 regular season and is averaging 15.4 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.2 blocks per game.

His teammate in Mitchell also put together a notable performance versus the Nets. The 27-year-old scored 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the floor and 4-of-10 from 3-point range to go along with five rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks.

Cleveland’s win over the Nets marked the team’s eighth victory in a row. The Cavaliers own the longest active winning streak of any team in the Eastern Conference by a wide margin.

The team has climbed up the Eastern Conference standings over the past few weeks. The Cavaliers now have the second-best record in the conference at 34-16 and are four-and-a-half games behind the Boston Celtics for the best record in the NBA.

Furthermore, the Milwaukee Bucks — who hold the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference — are two games back of the Cavaliers in the standings. The Bucks have been playing some of their worst basketball of the season lately, evidenced by their three-game losing streak.

The Cavaliers’ next chance to extend their winning streak will come when they play the Toronto Raptors on the road on Saturday. Cleveland fans should be optimistic about the team’s chances of extending its winning streak to nine games, considering the Raptors own a 2-8 record over their last 10 games.