Cavs’ Kenny Atkinson on Jarrett Allen injury: ‘He wants to play every game’

The Cavaliers have yet to deliver more clarity on the right knee injury that forced center Jarrett Allen to exit Tuesday’s win over the Detroit Pistons. They may be waiting on that clarity themselves.

After the game, coach Kenny Atkinson said it appears to be the result of simple contact.

“He got a knee-to-knee,” Atkinson said. “So that’s the only update I got.”

Allen left midway through the third quarter after the collision while battling for a rebound. The Cavs went on to hold off Detroit for a 113-109 victory, anyway.

Allen did appease some concerns afterward. “I’ll be all right,” he told the Associated Press.

Atkinson noted that Allen has played through plenty already recently, including a broken finger on his left hand and a strain in a finger on the other this season.

“He does want to play every game,” Atkinson said. “Especially as well as he’s playing.”

Atkinson is right — Allen has been particularly strong of late. He was nominated for Eastern Conference Player of the Month in February after what he himself called the best stretch of his career.

Since the start of February, Allen has averaged 21 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting a sizzling 72 percent from the field.

Atkinson also explained that injuries like the one Tuesday are difficult to predict or prevent.

“The soft tissue injuries are the ones where you’re like, man, that’s overuse,” he said. “The hits like that there, you can’t really avoid that.”

The timing could work in Cavs’ favor.

They do not play again until Sunday, when they host the Boston Celtics. The four-day break gives Allen and several other banged-up guys some extra time to recover.