CLEVELAND — There's nothing like the energy inside Rocket Arena when the playoffs come around. It's loud, it's reliable, and at times, like on Monday during the Cavs' Game 4 victory, it's cinematic.
Cleveland always shows up for their sports teams. The Cavs have experienced that all throughout the regular season and saw the shift in intensity when they hit the court for their first-round series with the Toronto Raptors. Home court advantage became a real factor in that best-of-seven as the Cavs won in as many, taking every game at home.
That remained the case as the Cavs entered the second-round series with the Detroit Pistons. While this series doesn't have the technical home court advantage that the first round did, the home games the Cavs play certainly have the crowd behind them, willing them to victory.
After the Game 3 win on Saturday, Donovan Mitchell touched on the importance of the energy that Cleveland's fans bring.
"It's always great to have the home crowd on your side. And I always talk about protecting home court, and they're a huge reason why, coming back here, and every team feels this way, but I feel like in Cleveland, they're just so hungry for wins and whatnot. So you feel that energy. It's one game, it's 2-1, we're still down, we still got to take care of home court, but to play in front of these fans is an honor and a privilege, and you feel the energy and the buzz in the city, and they show out every single night," Mitchell said Saturday in his postgame press conference.
But on Monday, it was Cavs center Jarrett Allen who got to experience that energy directed at him.
There was no silencing the crowd in the third quarter of Game 4 as the Cavs were pulling off their signature "Cavalanche," in this case, a 20-0 run coming out of halftime. Fans swirled their rally towels in the air and, in the midst of the cheers, broke out a few different chants.
Some were "MVP!" chants to whoever got sent to the free-throw line. Others were a little more explicit, like the "**** the Pistons!" jeers directed at Detroit.
But one chant highlighted the night.
Halfway through the third quarter, Rocket Arena burst out in chorus.
"Jarrett Allen!"
"Jarrett Allen!"
"Jarrett Allen!"
As the chant continued, James Harden passed Allen the ball in the paint, and Allen, closely defended, backed Pistons forward Paul Reed to the rim and then slammed the ball in over him.
The dunk was a response to the chanting crowd, who erupted at Allen's dunk. It felt like a soundtrack to Allen's highlight reel score.
The crowd starts a "Jarrett Allen!" chant and he rewards them with a dunk. #Cavs pic.twitter.com/4Po5Pi7g5w
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) May 12, 2026
After the game, Allen was all smiles when he was asked about the moment.
"That was incredible. It went perfectly. The crowd always has my back. When I play hard, they appreciate that so much, and I just try to give them everything I have," Allen said.
Allen got the full force of Cavs fans' energy in Monday night's victory, but the entire team felt it all game long.
"By far the best I've seen in Cleveland, and this is a great crowd during the regular season, but that was insane. That's up there with the best crowds I've ever seen. And it was fun, especially when Donovan got going, and we went on that run. And then it continued. Even when we struggled a little, it was still – they're still behind us. Incredible atmosphere tonight," head coach Kenny Atkinson said after the game.
The Cavs will look to bottle up some of the energy Cleveland fans provided in Game 4 as they head back to Detroit for Game 5 on Wednesday, looking to get their first playoff road win this year and take a 3-2 lead. It won't be easy, but if they pull out a win on Wednesday, it's back to home court advantage for a possible Game 6 series closeout.
And there's no doubt Cavs fans can be counted on to bring that "incredible atmosphere" when the team returns to Rocket Arena.
