Pistons win battle at the rim led by Jalen Duren to win Game 1 vs Cavs

DETROIT — The hero who sent the Cavaliers to the second round never answered the bat signal in Game 1.

Jarrett Allen, whose dynamic third quarter in Game 7 of the first round series against the Toronto Raptors catapulted the Cavs in to the conference semifinals, almost immediately ran into serious foul trouble in Game 1 against the Detroit Pistons.

Instead of a sequel performance, the Cavs virtually received a no-show in Detroit's 111-101 win.

Allen committed three fouls in the first quarter, forcing his early exit from the game. After returning, he then was called for his fourth personal foul in the third quarter, again resulting in Allen having to walk to the bench yet again.

He finished with only 18 minutes on the floor, two points on 1-for-4 shooting, three rebounds and four personal fouls. Allen essentially won the Cavs Game 7 against the Raptors with one of the best quarters in recent NBA playoff history. Two days later, he almost wasn't noticed in Game 1 against the Pistons.

"Yeah, it messes your rhythm up, messes rotations up," said Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson. "Some of those, they weren't his fouls. We got a breakdown, they had a back-door, I mean, he's there trying to clean up. Usually it's not because of him being in a bad position. It's more of a breakdown from another person and he's got to come over and help.

"Just sputtered us a little, got us off rhythm, I thought."

Cavs lose to Pistons in Game 1 of NBA playoffs

Regardless of who was on the floor, the Pistons' big men controlled the paint in the fourth quarter. Once the Cavs clawed back to tie it 93-93, essentially making it a new game with 5:28 left, Pistons center Jalen Duren dominated near the rim.

In a 67-second span, Duren had back-to-back-to-back dunks, along with a key block and two crucial defensive rebounds. While the Cavs spent nearly the entire night crawling out of a hole, Duren just about slapped them back down himself.

The Pistons' size was known to be a key factor before Game 1 ever began, given not only Duren's size inside but Cade Cunningham's athleticism on the outside. It'll be a major test for the Cavs defense, and how they rotate players in and out of the lineup.

With Allen unavailable due to foul trouble, also combined to a degree with Sam Merrill missing the second half with a hamstring injury, the Cavs didn't have the answer in the fourth quarter of Game 1.

"It's tough on him with the rhythm and everything when you don't get to play that long," said Evan Mobley, who instead often played alongside Thomas Bryant in Game 1. "And he's a big asset to our team, so he definitely helps on the boards and defending as well, so it's tough, but things like that happen, and we got to adjust."

It isn't just how the rotations are thrown off their axis. It's also how vital Allen's presence on the defensive end, where he's also effectively the defense's quarterback, calling out plays and coverages and keeping everyone in front of him in line.

"I mean, when you play a team like this, he's instrumental to what we do defensively, right?" said Donovan Mitchell, who scored 23 points in the loss. "He only payed 18 minutes, and their bigs are tough. The boards, Cade [Cunningham] is getting downhill, [we're] trying to find ways to contest.

"So it's definitely tough to not have him out there on the floor, but even in those situations, maybe it's Ev next game that's in foul trouble, right? We still, as a collective, got to find a way together to get stops, rebound or protect the rim in any way we can."

The Cavs know the Pistons want to go downhill. If they don't have their top rim protectors available, Cleveland might be in danger of watching this series go downhill with them.

Ryan Lewis covers the Cavaliers for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jalen Duren-Jarrett Allen battle shapes Pistons Game 1 win over Cavs