2 studs and 2 duds for Cavs in big comeback win over Pacers on Friday

Cavs dud No. 1: Jarrett Allen

For the Cavs big man Jarrett Allen, the 38 minutes of playing time and the seven points and five rebounds just doesn’t look very good compared to prior games this season. Since he’s returned to the team after a brief injury this season, it’s his second time he’s scored less than 10 points in a game, and he hasn’t cracked more than 10 rebounds in but two games.

Allen is a big part of the continuity of the team’s offense and despite the low production in terms of numbers, his value cannot be undersold. However, getting some better production by Allen moving forward has to take on a more pressing need. It’s been his biggest weakness as a Cavs player.

He has shown flashes of more dominance in games and that needs to be another area in his improvement. Sometimes, one needs to light a fire under certain players to remind them of how good they can be and at times, Allen has needed that type of motivational push. It could be the difference with this Cavaliers team from them just making the playoffs to actually challenging for a championship in the near future.

Cavs dud No. 2: Lamar Stevens

Lamar Stevens has been thrust into the starter’s job and has done a good job overall but in this game, he went scoreless in 21 minutes of playing time. He’s now started the last eight games because of the injury to Dean Wade. While he definitely has added depth to the starting five because of his tenacious defense he’s been pretty inconsistent in other areas.

In the game against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, he had an explosion in points with 18 by taking 15 shots. He usually doesn’t take so many shots in games, though. In the game against the Pacers, he only took four shots and missed them all. In the game against the San Antonio Spurs, he played 24 minutes and never took a shot, so this type of pattern does not help the team.

He’ll need to be better if he wants to stay in the starting five.