As the Cavs favor Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen is paying dividends

Due to consecutive quality victories over the San Antonio Spurs and the Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers they find success through feeding Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. As the wheels have started to turn for the team over the last two weeks, Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson advises Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell to prioritize their big men.

His first plea came after an embarrassing loss to the Houston Rockets that halted the momentum they had built.

“We didn’t do it enough,” Atkinson said after Monday’s win in San Antonio. “You’ve got to get them the ball over the middle. You’ve got to get them the rebound ball. If they don’t touch it, they’re not going to be as engaged on defense. That’s kind of how it works.”

Cleveland’s All-Star backcourt took that message to heart.

“We try to reward our bigs as much as we can,” Garland said after Wednesday’s win. “We all know they do a lot for us on the defensive side of the ball, so I try to reward them offensively with some dunks and lobs. Just give it to them in the short throw so they can do their thing.”

“When you get them the ball, their energy level just goes up,” Mitchell said Monday, noting that’s natural for all great players while mentioning his former Utah Jazz teammates Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors, among other centers.

Treating different injuries to the fingers on each hand, Allen finds his footing again. In the last two games, he scored 43 points and 21 rebounds in 33 attempts from the floor; he hasn’t had that many attempts in his previous five games combined. Garland and Craig Porter Jr. have pushed the problemgiving it to the big man 35 times and dishing out nine assists.

“I mean, JA is always going to give it his all, and he’s always down there,” Porter said after last Tuesday’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans. “There might be times where he doesn’t get the ball, and he might have to take some trash cans or whatever. But one thing we know is that JA is always going to play hard and he’s always going to bring it. So we always love him for that.”

“Just making sure I stay on, making sure I’m in the right spot at all times, making sure my guys can get them open, making sure they stay on top of the game as well,” Allen added Monday in San Antonio. “I just have to do my part and stay the course.”

Mobley also benefited from catching the ball on the move. There was a lot of pushing and shoving with both Garland and Mitchell; they directly assisted on seven of his baskets in the last two games, and he returned the favor with handbacks and mid-post passes.

“It’s very nice. I mean, the way we played, it’s great,” Mobley said after Wednesday’s game. “My guy, DG, always gives me the ball, always gives us the ball. It’s very easy when he goes downhill like that to just drop it to us. It’s usually a result if we get the ball and if we don’t, we also shoot the floaters.

“So I feel like (Wednesday) brought it to us early, and in the middle of the game (the Suns) started to collapse. We have to figure out what the next option is from there, but they’re doing a good job.”

As unselfish as they are, and knowing how skilled Garland and Mitchell are as scorers in their careers, it takes a lot of sacrifice to constantly hand the ball over for the betterment of the team. Garland told ClutchPoints that the delegation is about “playing the game within the game.”

“It’s a thing where you have to have a balance between being a scorer and making your teammates better,” Atkinson said before Wednesday’s game. “And you’ve got to be careful. You can’t be too unselfish. That can hurt the team. And Don’s really good at that. I think Darius is like a natural point guard, so he definitely gets that. Don can . . . waver sometimes.”

“So that’s part of my job, like timeouts and stuff, just to remind them. I’m going to put Don on a bad shot. I don’t have a problem with that. I think getting back to a healthier way will help us get back into that rhythm because we were phenomenal last season with our running backs balancing the score with the play.”

Atkinson thinks putting four guards around Allen or Mobley has worked well to get them going, especially Porter.

“I think what I’m seeing is low, the CP is almost like 4,” Atkinson said. “I like the way he plays, the way he rebounds and you can put him on bigger wings and not have to worry about losing the rebound battle with him.

“It’s nice to get JA and Evan together, but we’ve struggled with only one big on the field this year, so it’s nice to see that we’re finding lineups around one big that are better, a little bit better.”

The distribution of touches is even, the shots are falling, and the defensive activity is increasing. In addition to the aforementioned a miserable performance in Houston that baffled everyone in the Cavs locker roomCleveland has been playing healthy, effective basketball the last two weeks.

“Honestly, we have fun there. It’s a lot different,” Mobley said. “Everybody plays with energy. Every time we go with the tempo, play great defense and let that defense turn into offense. Cavs basketball.”

“We’re starting to find him,” Garland added. “He’s coming out of defense, though. He’s coming out of defense and getting a few stops, getting out in transition, and then you see where everything else just develops.”

If they can rediscover what got them to the game last year and apply it to this season, the Cavs could regain the momentum they’ve been missing.

“It means a lot to us because we’re starting to see some of the good stuff that we’ve been playing with for a couple of years,” Garland said. “It’s starting to come back to life. The intensity is starting to pick up a lot more. So when you put in the effort, you get the results. I think we like the results, so we’ve got to keep putting in the effort.”

“I feel like we’re trending better,” Atkinson added. “It’s not there yet, but it’s trending better.”