Even though Donovan Mitchell had a game-high 26 points, solely relying on him wouldn’t have led to a whooping 125-94 win. Game 7 once again called for Jarrett Allen, who did not disappoint with his 23 points and seven rebounds, his highest of the playoffs and only the third time in 14 games he has scored 20. It was all possible thanks to the dinner and a candid conversation between the owner, Dan Gilbert, and the Cleveland Cavaliers head coach.

“I had dinner with Dan Gilbert last night,” said Kenny Atkinson to the media. “He came over to our hotel and went, ‘You know who the key to this whole thing is?’ I was thinking hard and said, ‘Mitch.’ He goes, ‘The key to this whole thing, the spark of this is Jarrett Allen.’ I said, ‘Really?’ And that sparked me to run the first play. Sometimes, people who observe from afar, plus Dan knows the team well and knows these guys. We got to then in our film session, we had to reward the big. Sometimes you have to be reminded. That was great by Dan. He hit it on the head. He was prophetic.”

The owner, since 2005, has been waiting since 2018 to make it back to the conference finals. Gilbert always looks to find any advantage that his team can have. Like in Game 5 and Game 7, he sent and arranged multiple buses of Cavs fans to take over Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena. It was the owner in 2024 who swayed the head coaching recruitment decision in Atkinson’s favor. Clearly, Dan Gilbert had the heart in the right place and was able to point the head coach in the right direction.

“It’s the coolest thing. And it was like a surprise,” said Atkinson about the dinner before Game 7. “I’m not having dinner with Dan every night, kind of special. Like, that was cool that he did that. He made the effort to come see us. And then had some sage advice. This guy probably knows the team better than me. He knows these guys better than me. And made me think, especially the JA thing. like, JA’s the key to this. You know, he was right.”

Right from the tip-off, Allen was effective offensively. He finished off a few easy dump-offs in the paint in the opening three minutes, two of which came from Mitchell. The 28-year-old center had delivered an equally historic legacy performance just two weeks prior. That time it was against the Raptors, where JA scored 22 points, 19 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals, and 2 assists.

With that performance, he became only the second player in Cavaliers franchise history to record a 20+ point and 15+ rebound stat line in a Game 7, joining LeBron James. His confidence tonight got a bigger boost when the owner spoke to him directly.

Jarrett Allen on receiving words of encouragement from the owner Dan Gilbert

His 3-year, $90,720,000 contract kicks in from next year, again justifying the confidence that the Cavs have shown in him. After the game, Allen was asked about Dan Gilbert’s comments on him being the spark for this team.

“It means a lot that the whole organization, even from top to bottom, has that level of trust in me. And he sent me a message before the game as well, just stating how important, how much of an impact that he believes that I can have on this game in this whole series. And it’s motivating, especially when somebody like that with that stature has that confidence in me and it gives me that extra push.”

He continually attacked the basket in the short roll and around the rim. And now he is even looking forward to the Conference Finals against the Knicks. “But we know that we can do it. We came into an incredible arena like this and took over the game. We just have to do it again.” JA addressed the challenge awaiting his team at Madison Square Garden in an interview with Amazon Prime’s Cassidy Hubbarth. After being successful against Duren, Stewart, and Reed, Allen now awaits the challenge of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson.