Cleveland Cavaliers big man Jarrett Allen doesn’t seem to have any qualms about saying that the lights were “brighter than expected” following the team’s loss to the New York Knicks in the opening round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs.
“You know, after the eclipse, we kept staring into the sun, so nothing can be as bright,” Allen said ahead of the start of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
Allen said he isn’t concerned about his previous comments.
“I’ve said a lot worse stuff in my life, so that doesn’t mean much to me,” he said when asked if he regrets his words.
Jarrett Allen felt the pressure 😳 pic.twitter.com/oFLzy0P4j2
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 27, 2023
Allen and the Cavaliers were on the receiving end of a shellacking in their first-round series versus the Knicks last year. Despite owning home-court advantage in the series, Cleveland managed to win just one game before getting eliminated.
But the Cavaliers will have a chance to rectify their disappointing playoff stint in 2023 when they take on Paolo Banchero and the Orlando Magic in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
The Cavaliers’ top players in Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland have a clear advantage over the Magic’s best talents in terms of playoff experience.
Two of Orlando’s best players in Banchero and Franz Wagner haven’t yet gotten a taste of what playoff basketball is like in the NBA.
As for Mitchell, on top of playing against the Knicks in his first season with the Cavaliers, he was part of several playoff runs back when he was a member of the Utah Jazz alongside star big man Rudy Gobert.
Mitchell helped lead the Jazz to the second round of the playoffs on two occasions. The closest he got to appearing in the Western Conference Finals came back in the 2021 NBA Playoffs, when the Jazz lost to the Los Angeles Clippers in six games in round two.
Fans of the Cavaliers only have to wait one more day before seeing their team kick off its stint in the playoffs, as Game 1 of Cleveland’s series with the Magic will commence on Saturday afternoon.
Fans are surely hoping that the team will make better use of its home-court advantage than it did against the Knicks this time around and leverage it into a first-round series victory.
