Jarrett Allen continues to punish the Nets for trading him

Allen scored 23 points, collected 13 rebounds and blocked three shots as the Cavaliers won their 15th straight game and Allen's fourth straight win against his old team. He's 11-4 against Brooklyn since joining the Cavs and has won eight of his last nine games against them, including Tuesday's 109-104 victory.

Brooklyn included Allen in the Harden deal to get an extra pick to send to the Houston Rockets, but also because Allen was due to get an extension that summer. The Nets weren't willing to commit to Allen long-term with Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving all under contract, so the Cavaliers got Caris LeVert (recently swapped for De'Andre Hunter) and the 22-year-old Allen for a late first-round pick and a second-rounder.

Allen blossomed in Cleveland, making the All-Star team in 2022, ironically as an injury replacement for Harden, who had forced a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers just days earlier. That season, one of the Nets' biggest issues was their lackluster defense, while Allen was asserting himself as one of the league's best defensive bigs.

He's not the only member of the Cavaliers organization who was spurned by the Brooklyn Nets. Head coach Kenny Atkinson was unceremoniously fired during the 2019-20 season by the Nets, one year after taking the team to the playoffs. Coaching the Cavaliers this season is his first head-coaching job since then.

Back in November, Atkinson acknowledged "there was a little extra" motivation facing his old team at their first meeting, and Allen might feel the same way. He averages more points and rebounds than usual against the Nets and nearly twice as many blocks. And he wins a lot.

Allen's only basket in the final quarter was an offensive rebound and put-back that tied the game, but he collected four rebounds and held the Nets to just one offensive board, and their centers to zero points.

The Nets regret a lot of things about trading for Harden. Allen continues to remind him that losing him should be one of their biggest ones.