The Cleveland Cavaliers are all but eliminated from the playoffs, as they find themselves down 0-3 to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. A sweep is very much on the cards, but Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson appears to think they have been the better team in this series.
While speaking to the media at practice on Sunday, Atkinson made comments that raised plenty of eyebrows.
“We’ve had really good moments in this series,” Atkinson said, via the Cavaliers. “Up 20 Game 1. Even Game 2, take that run out from the beginning of the third quarter, and it’s pretty tight. I think analytically, I think we’ve won the expected, I said three out of three, we’re two out of three in the expected… There’s an expected score, and we won two out of three.
“And I know you’re looking confused,” Atkinson continued. “… If you believe in process and all that… I don’t throw that on [the players]. I see it for myself… I think last night it was, the expected score was like one point or two. Our shooting way below expected, them shooting way over. I know no one wants to hear that. I think you guys like hearing that.
“I know general public, no one wants to hear that,” Atkinson added. “Everyone’s outcome-based and, sure, I get that, too.”
Well, Atkinson was on point when he said no one really wants to hear that. To be fair to the 58-year-old, he’s not the first to bring up the expected score, and he won’t be the last.
We had Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick talking about his team winning on expected score after losing Game 1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Semifinals. This is an indicator that your processes are right, but if your team repeatedly can’t capitalize on better quality looks than your opponent, then that’s a flaw in your team. You can’t hide behind analytics and talk about how you should be up 2-1.
As has often been said, the NBA is, in simple terms, a make-or-miss league. The Cavaliers have been doing a whole lot of missing, particularly from beyond the arc. They are shooting a putrid 29.4% from three in this series. The Cavaliers were 12-41 (29.3%) from three in Game 3, and it was one of the many reasons they lost that contest.
As for Atkinson’s comment about Game 2, that might actually be the worst of all that he said. Take away an 18-0 run in the third quarter, and it was a close game? Come on now! We can say that about almost every game. Basketball is a game of runs. The Cavaliers just dug themselves into a hole they couldn’t get out of. They weren’t able to do what happened to them in Game 1.
The Cavaliers led by 22 points in the fourth quarter, but spectacularly blew that advantage and lost 115-104 in overtime. Now, it would have been fair for Atkinson to say they should have won that game, but he can’t say that about any of the other two.
These kinds of comments are part of why so many former players dislike analytics. Eddie Johnson, a 17-year NBA veteran, made it clear on X that he isn’t a fan of what Atkinson said.
“What has our game come too! I remember when we use to just play basketball and took what the defense gave us and just enjoyed getting the bucket. The beauty and choreography was unreal. Now a coach is saying they are up 2-1 analytically although actually down 3-0.”
It’s not just the former players who don’t like analytics. Knicks forward Josh Hart isn’t a fan either. After Game 2, Hart said, “You know, at a certain point, they’re a lamp post to a drunk person. You can lean on them, but it won’t get you home.” He had heard this from his college head coach, Jay Wright, and wholeheartedly agrees with him.
Hart won the national title once during his time at Villanova in 2016, and now, 10 years later, he is one win away from getting to the NBA Finals. Game 4 tips off at Rocket Arena on Monday at 8 p.m. ET.
