On April 15, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs have the last two games left, a life-and-death battle about playoff places, in which the Cavaliers of the East will play against the Hawks at home. In the previous game, the Cavaliers lost to the Nets and the Hawks beat the Hornets, and the winner of both teams will be the No. 8 seed in the East, and the first round will be against the first heat.
The Cavaliers' performance this season is still very good, in the case of not being optimistic, it has been ranked in the top six in the East, but with the injury of the starting interior allen, the team fell into a downturn, the ranking also continued to decline, and finally only achieved the eighth result in the East, missing the opportunity to directly advance to the playoffs. In the first playoff, the Cavaliers also failed to beat the Nets, but fortunately there is still a chance, as long as they beat the Hawks, they will get the eighth place in the East and can advance to the playoffs.
Before the battle of life and death, the Cavaliers also had a good advantage, that is, the strong general Allen was expected to return. According to Shams, Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen will try to play in the playoff against the Hawks.
In the Cavaliers' updated injury report, Allen was placed on the suspect list, with a 50% chance of playing. Allen suffered a broken finger on March 7 and has been absent since then, and his absence is still a big blow to the team, and neither Mobley nor Markkanen can fill his gap.
In games in which Allen played, the Cavaliers' defensive efficiency was 106.5, ranking 4th in the league; but after Allen's injury, the Cavaliers' defensive efficiency has slipped to 117.3, ranking 21st in the league. This shows the importance of Allen to the team, this season he averaged 16.1 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, shooting 67.7%. Allen's importance on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends is really irreplaceable, with him guarding the basket, the Cavaliers are still very secure, and now they can only rely on rookie Mobley to stand up.
Apparently, Aaron didn't want to sit off the court in a life-and-death battle, but wanted to play with his teammates. As long as they can beat the Hawks, they can advance to the playoffs, which will be their first return to the playoffs after James' departure.