Jarrett jumps up his game
Just before the pandemic put the NBA season on pause, the Nets took Jarrett Allen out of the lineup. And when play restarted, they challenged him to help carry the team.
Apparently the young center has taken both to heart. Friday, Allen took took it out on Sacramento with a complete performance, flirting with a triple-double. He had 17 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high eight assists, the first center with those numbers in Nets history.
“He was a force and extremely unselfish. He’s learning how to continue to play with his teammates, what’s available, and just the instincts are sinking in. It’s good to see,” interim coach Jacque Vaughn said.
“There’s a competitive spirit, a joy about him that he’s playing with, but also an aggressiveness. You see him battling for rebounds outside for his area. I think he’s enjoying that. He’s been impactful for our group, and on both ends of the floor. He sees the work that he put in and it’s starting to come to fruition.”
While the departed Kenny Atkinson had been a staunch supporter, Vaughn’s first act as interim coach on March 8 had been to replace Allen with DeAndre Jordan, who arrived as a package deal with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
“It is a little motivation. I like my role as a starter,” said Allen, who was a game-high plus-24 Friday. “I know things don’t always go that way in the NBA, but I’m going to keep trying to play to show everybody in the NBA that I deserve to be a starter.”
Allen has always been a great rim runner, but now he’s learning to flash to the ball and help the guards when they’re getting pressured. And his passing out of the high post helped the Nets pick the Kings apart with 30 assists.
“He’s been huge all season, especially since we’ve been in the bubble. We challenged him in the practices early. We knew he had to be great for us to be where we are right now. He’s really stepped up to that challenge,” Caris LeVert said. “He’s going to be one of the best bigs in this league for a really long time.”
Allen checked out with 3:02 left and two assists shy of a triple-double.
“I was trying to stay in. I was trying to get [Vaughn] to call a play where I handle the ball at the top and try to hit somebody backdoor,” Allen said. “So it was just working. Everybody was hitting shots.”
➤ Chris Chiozza tied his career-highs with 14 points and six boards, finishing a plus-24 . ... Tyler Johnson had a seasonhigh-tying 14 points . ... Harris went 5 of 7 from 3, and is at 56 percent in the restart.