Allen finally goes 4th
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For the first time in six games, Jarrett Allen got some fourth-quarter minutes — and even that was fewer than two minutes in a blowout laugher.
But Nets coach Kenny Atkinson insisted he hasn’t lost faith in his starting center, and he isn’t worried about the 21-year-old’s confidence.
“No. It’s not the worst thing in the world,” Atkinson said after the Nets’ 115-86 win over the Hornets on Saturday night. “More than anything, I think he understands it. It’s not like he’s playing bad, it’s more he understands DeAndre [Jordan] is supplying us with some things we need right now — experience and physicality are obviously the two big things.
“But I’m a huge Jarrett Allen fan, so by no means is he out of the rotation. You’ll see him playing big minutes going forward, big part of what we do. He’ll be fine. He’s so even-keeled, level-headed, I don’t worry about him.”
Allen had 12 points and 11 rebounds, but logged just 1:56 in the fourth quarter Saturday. And in the fourth quarters of the previous five games, he had zero minutes, zero impact, zeroes across.
Jordan, meanwhile, had piled up 45 minutes, 29 points, 24 rebounds and four blocks. Every one of those stats are team-highs except the scoring, at which he was second.
But Allen isn’t worried over his role or vexed over his playing time.
“You get the feeling of what’s going to happen when you hit around the eight minute mark, whether you’re going to go in or not. But at that point, it’s like I don’t want to go in and mess up the chemistry that the team is having for us to win,” Allen told The Post.
“If they’re vibing then go ahead and let them vibe let them let them go out and win it. So I’m not tripping over that.”
➤ Arthroscopic shoulder surgery will sideline Kyrie Irving for the rest of this season. But he should be fine in time for next season — which starts in October — as long as there is no rotator cuff damage.
Asked about the possibility of rotator cuff damage, Nets general manager Sean Marks wouldn’t answer.
“I’m not going to get into details now, because he’s still evaluating what his options may be over the next couple of days,” Marks said. “But in terms of he is having surgery, and he will be out for the remainder of the season.”
“Arthroscopic shoulder surgery is pretty minimally-invasive in terms skin incisions. But there’s a lot of variability in terms of what is done inside the shoulder. …Most impingement issues tend to have good resolution with a less invasive approach like that,” Dr. Stephen Hunt of Tri-County Orthopedics in Morristown, N.J., told The Post.
“There are other issues in terms of rotator cuff, things like that, that can add time to recovery. … But I’d say certainly by six months from now I’d think in most situations people would be fairly recovered. Obviously he’s a high-level athlete, that’s his shooting arm, so that may take a little longer. It depends what they did at the time of the procedure.”