Jarrett Allen believes the Cavs learned a lot from their Game 1 loss to the New York Knicks.
The Cavs suffered a disappointing 101-97 defeat to the Knicks on Saturday night to lose home-court advantage. Despite Donovan Mitchell’s electric performance where he scored 38 points, nobody else on the team really sustained any offense.
Evan Mobley missed some big shots while the likes of Caris LeVert, Ricky Rubio and others from the bench all had poor shooting performances. Additionally, Mobley and Allen did a poor job defensively as the Knicks managed 17 offensive rebounds which was essentially the story of the game.
Of course, for many on this young Cleveland team, Saturday was their first taste of playoff action and the inexperience showed throughout the game even if Allen — who does have some playoff experience under his belt — believes the team did eventually manage to calm down a bit.
“We learned that playoff basketball is very intense,” Allen said after the game (via Cleveland.com). “A lot of guys’ first time. In the first half and second half, the first few possessions were all over the place. We didn’t execute.
“As the game went on, we calmed down a little bit. You could feel the floor shake. It was just the whole atmosphere that was giving us that extra boost of energy and it took a second for us to calm down.”
Now that the Game 1 nerves are out of the way, Cleveland will undoubtedly be hoping to get back on track in Game 2 which takes place Tuesday.