The Cleveland Cavaliers finally discovered midway through this season that they’re better when Jarrett Allen is heavily featured than they are when he’s not. That process was halted at the beginning of March when he injured his knee during the team’s win over the Detroit Pistons. Allen returned to the lineup the last week of March, but admitted that he was playing through pain. Everyone is pushing through something in the playoffs, but Allen is in a better place now than he was a few weeks back.

“It’s better,” Allen said when he was asked about his knee after Thursday’s practice. “I’ve had some time off for it to calm down and try to get back to homeostasis, back to the level where it should be.”

Even though Allen is feeling better, he wouldn’t go as far as saying he felt perfect when asked if he’d be limited by his knee in any way.

“I’d be lying if I said I would expect it to be 100%,” Allen said. “No, I don’t think anybody would be 100% going into the playoffs. That’s just how it is. That’s my very political answer. … But yeah, it’s definitely something I’m going to have to deal with and manage, get treatment before, take the medicine that I’m supposed to to try to be at my best.”

We don’t know the exact severity of the injury and how much Allen is possibly downplaying it now. What we do know is that Allen has had a rough go of it this season from a health perspective. He played the fewest regular-season games in his career due to various injuries to his hands and knees throughout the season. Allen has done his part to persevere through them as much as he can, and may need to do so again in the postseason.

Allen averaged 15.4 points and 8.5 rebounds on 63.8% shooting in 56 games this season.

The Cavs open up their first-round series against the Toronto Raptors on Saturday afternoon.