Cavs: Collin Sexton, Jarrett Allen exchange at GSW was nonissue

Many of us Cleveland Cavaliers fans probably knew that their prior road trip was not destined to be a particularly fruitful one in terms of wins, and that was just what ended up playing out.

The Wine and Gold unfortunately ended up losing all five of those games, and aside from a loss at the Phoenix Suns last Monday, the Cavs were dismantled from there. In their past four games at the Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, LA Clippers (even without Paul George and Kawhi Leonard) and Golden State Warriors, the Cavaliers lost by an average of 26.3 points.

And though there were some positive starts, to an extent, and the Cavs were tied at Golden State after one, Stephen Curry and Golden State had another 32-point quarter in the second, and near the end of the first half/right after, there was a heated exchange because of frustration.

That involved Jarrett Allen letting Collin Sexton hear it, due to a pick-and-roll play inside a minute left in the half when Draymond Green strolled into a dunk and it appeared as if Allen was expecting help from Sexton to initially hedge out so Allen could perhaps get back.

There was a miscommunication on Sexton’s end it seemed, though, and Allen gave it to Sexton right after the half ended, but there was no reason for concern involving that.

The two had to reportedly be separated heading into the locker room from there, but it’s not something that should realistically be worrisome. And these comments from Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, via Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor demonstrated that.

"“They just had a conversation and I’m fine with it,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said following the 129-98 loss. “A situation occurred on the floor and they needed to resolve it. I don’t think it was that big of a deal. When we went into the locker room at halftime it was over. We discussed it and we moved on. If you never have conflict, you never have resolution. It’s OK to have a little bit of conflict as long as it leads to a resolution.”"

This was no reason for concern for the Cavs, and was a nonissue, honestly.

The Body Language Police might read a ton into this, but this heated exchange while in the moment may have looked less than ideal, and the Warriors were laughing amid it, was nothing to worry about. It was healthy, frankly, as Fedor alluded to.

And both Allen’s and Sexton’s comments from there further highlighted that to me.

Here was what Allen said, via Fedor.

"“It’s basketball,” Allen said. “Tensions are going to get high. I’m normally not the person to start yelling, but I was just frustrated at everything and then Collin happened to be there. We started yelling. But one thing that you guys need to know, there’s not one second I wouldn’t fight for that guy. I went out and yelled at him. We figured it out in the locker room. When we’re out there, we’ll go to war for each other.”"

Fedor then stressed how it wasn’t just that one particular instance that set Allen off; there was a non-call by an official earlier, and he seemingly had his frustration boil over after missed assignments, and the Cleveland Cavaliers in general struggling in so many games.

But that sort of thing after a long road trip is nothing to worry about, and some vocal leadership on the floor at times, in that way, is plenty fine, with how Allen has consistently produced game-in and game-out with the Cavs.

And Allen admitted he needs to be better himself, too, in relation to his help it appeared defensively possession-to-possession, anyhow.

In that realm, let’s not discount that while Sexton and others did have their mistakes, there were several instances when Allen himself was not hedging hard enough to Curry, in particular, in PnR situations. Him dropping against high level shooters at times didn’t aid Sexton, either.

With Sexton, though, he didn’t read into it much, and just essentially echoed Allen’s sentiment about accountability, via Fedor.

"“Right now we’re having conversations and it’s not about trying to show your teammate up,” Sexton said that night. “We all want one goal and that’s to win. So just know it’s not coming from a bad place. We don’t have any bad guys just saying stuff. If someone is saying it, they mean it and they want us to get better at it. You’ve got to be accountable for your job, you’ve got to make sure that you’re teammate is accountable.”"

Moreover, this exchange, though a heated one on the surface, was a nonissue, and Cleveland Cavaliers fans shouldn’t be overreacting to it regarding Sexton and Allen.

Granted, this club needs to iron some things out, but I think them being back from that extended road trip can help give the Wine and Gold some juice.

I’d imagine, given the league’s postponement of their game originally set for Wednesday versus the San Antonio Spurs, due to COVID-19 positive tests within San Antonio, that the Cavs could at least benefit from seemingly more practice time, too.

Of course, the league adding the Nuggets on Friday this go-round, given them originally set to play the Charlotte Hornets on Friday, who played the Spurs on Sunday and had their then next two games scheduled postponed, won’t be a simple task for the Cavs.

Albeit back to the Allen-Sexton exchange, that was nothing to worry about at all, and fans shouldn’t make a potential mountain out of a bunny hill.