CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cavs fought. For stretches, they even looked like a team worthy of a deeper run. But for the second straight year, they fell one round short of the Eastern Conference finals. This time in five games to an Indiana Pacers team that exposed something more than just Cleveland’s tactical flaws — especially during the Pacers’ closeout win 114-105 on the Cavs’ home court.
They exposed a void.
Jarrett Allen was there, technically. He was available, active, on the court. And that mattered — especially after he missed last year’s semifinals entirely due to a rib injury that lingered over Cleveland’s early exit.
To his credit, Allen worked relentlessly to return from injury. He battled to be available. But playoff basketball doesn’t grade on effort alone. It demands impact. It demands presence. And Allen, for all his effort and good intentions, failed to offer either when the Cavaliers were clawing to extend their season.
This year, when the Cavs needed him most, Allen’s presence evaporated after the first quarter of Game 5. That’s when Cleveland got what it has so often hoped for: a center who was physical, efficient, engaged.
Allen had more points, more shot attempts, and more rebounds in those first 12 minutes than he managed in all of Game 4. He set screens with force. He rolled with urgency. He fought on the glass.
Then came the second quarter.
One block from Myles Turner — a one-on-one rejection that doubled as a message — sent Allen into retreat.
From that point forward, the game moved around him, and Allen never caught back up.
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Offensively, he became a ghost. Defensively, he lost his anchor. There were missed assignments, blown switches, an inability to challenge shots at the rim. Allen, known for his timing and rim protection, simply stood and watched. And when Kenny Atkinson finally pulled him in the second half, it was as much a necessity as it was an indictment.
Cleveland’s margin for error was already razor-thin. Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland were playing hurt. The Pacers were humming with confidence and pace. What the Cavaliers couldn’t afford — what no playoff team can — was a starting center who disappeared on both ends.
And yet, that’s exactly what they had.
The Pacers knew it. They hunted it. When Allen sat, Indiana pounded the paint — Obi Toppin flashing verticality, Thomas Bryant bringing muscle, and Turner making clear who the more versatile big was in this series. Even when Cleveland made one last surge — trimming a nine-point deficit to one in the fourth — a defensive miscommunication allowed Tyrese Haliburton to glide in untouched for a dunk. A possession Mobley would’ve passed off to Allen. If Allen had earned his way back on the floor.
But he hadn’t.
And yet, with six minutes remaining and Cleveland trailing by just two, Atkinson gambled one more time.
Allen checked back in — not to anchor, but to survive. Instead, Indiana smelled blood.
The Pacers stretched the lead with Allen on the floor, punctuated by a gut-punch sequence: an offensive rebound by Turner, wrestled away in traffic, kicked out for a wide-open three. The shot dropped. And the Cavaliers deflated. That wasn’t just a possession lost. It was the dagger — the defining moment of the game, the series, and possibly Allen’s tenure in Cleveland.
Because here’s the hard truth: In a league that’s simultaneously getting bigger _and_ more versatile, Allen is increasingly caught in the middle. He’s not a stretch big. He doesn’t space the floor. And while his defense at its peak can be elite, when that edge blunts — as it did in this series — what’s left?
When Allen fades, the Cavs shrink with him.
Last summer, there were rumblings about his future. Whether the Core Four had outlived its promise. Whether Allen was the piece that needed to change.
Now? The question feels louder, especially with Evan Mobley’s continuous growth.
Allen may have played in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. But he wasn’t _there_. Not in the way Cleveland needed. And that absence, more than anything, might define his tenure in Wine and Gold.