Kenny Atkinson: “[James Harden] is a good isolation defender… I was a little more upset with our back line defense… Everybody’s putting it on James… Sure, some of it was him… Sometimes micro experiences get exaggerated.”
He should’ve used one of the timeouts he saved before speaking here
Even if you aren’t a big believer in the timeout to change the tide, that team was fucking tired!
Why would someone not be a believer in using a time out. If anything it proves the coach is scarred to do anything
Using a time out to change the tide. As in, to stop a run. The statistical case for just burning a TO in order to prevent a run from the opposing team continuing doesn’t really hold up, despite every second r/nba commenter seeming to think it’s a magic tonic for putting a hard stop on hot shooters. It’s the basketball version of icing the kicker.
That said, a) the team needed a breather and b) something clearly wasn’t working and time outs are a pretty effective way to communicate a minor schematic change to players, which is what Atkinson should have been using it for. Whether he wants to blame Harden for getting cooked or his front court for not helping, a time out would have been the perfect time to tell that front court to haul ass and stop Brunson getting his shots off.
To have a timeout to advance the ball when there is less than 10 seconds left.
It’s as if he was looking two steps ahead and didn’t notice his next step was about to go into a hole in the ground.
But he had two timeouts and he didn’t do this either.
Scarred from what?
New Game Plus Kenny needs those for later, don’t worry about it.
Generally always better to speak to your team during the game than wait until you speak to the press the day after.
Atkinson really falling on the grenade here
Honestly he’s lucky people are fixating on Harden! I’m still mad about Cleveland’s offense in the last few minutes of the game, they forced up so many bad shots with like 15 on the shot clock! If they just held the ball for all 24 seconds and handed it to the ref every time they probably would have won.
I mean a number of those were also Harden lol
Mitchell was terrible in the 4th and was getting locked down by Landey Shamet.
He even got Brunson in the action one time and instead of driving left between Brunson and KAT he drove right in between Brunson and Bridges and then just threw the ball away.
…that he dropped.
if he pointed out that james harden was terrible (which he was) people would get mad at Kenny for throwing him under the bus.
It’s the least he can do for Harden taking the heat off his horrible end game mismanagement.
Maybe he got word from the FO that they really want to re-sign him on a friendlier deal lol
people gonna clown it but its true, with context. james does well on bigger players.
he did well agaisnt ingram and scottie in the raptors series.
was good agasint tobias and decent against cade.
brunson however is small and alot shiftier and faster. thats not a good matchup for harden.
its on kenny for somehow not realising that.
And it’s especially on Kenny to not recognize that the Knicks clocked the mismatch and were determined to abuse Harden and then didn’t adjust the defense.
Like, I’m gonna stick up for Harden a little in that he’s been a solid roleplayer on offense and defense for most of his time in Cleveland. But the bottom fell out halfway through the 4th last night, and coach just kept letting him flail.
I thought he did ok last night in the 4th. Some of those Brunson shots were insane and classic decent-defense-better-offense plays. The iso-ball by Harden and the few possessions Mitchell had on the other end were the real issues.
I did not watch the game, so not sure if Cleveland sent help defenders or not. But it is not blasphemy to expect a 36 year old to not be the best defender when matched up against younger players.
They sent help a couple times with mixed results. One time was relatively OK with a weak contest on an OG 3 at the top of the key that he missed.
The other time Mitchell fucked up the defense and let the Knicks get a wife open corner 3 from Landry Shamet.
i cant believe i have to say this, but harden wasnt good when he was young either
https://youtu.be/Yts0BjOYDys?si=PJgqQ4RHbK5rma3m&t=46
Dude no one’s putting it on the 36 year old vet who was gassed after a game 7 two days ago, who also had 5 fouls. Everyone’s putting it on YOU for not calling a timeout and getting the cane, having someone else like mitchell bring it up the floor or have someone else tag brunson on d
Like just sub in Strus ffs.
There are like half a dozen posts on reddit right now blaming Harden
He had timeouts left over at the end of regulation. That still blows my mind.
I have a whole new appreciation for Ty Lue because of this. Lue played Harden heavy minutes because the Clippers other playmaking options were so bad but at least he did the things you just mentioned. Timeouts whenever Harden looked gassed. Having other players bring up the ball past half-court. Doing whatever they could to take some of the burden off a 36 year old.
Atkinson just left him hanging.
actually 100% of discourse is blaming the game on harden lol. atkinson mitchell and mobley lost them the game, not harden
Vast majority of complaints are about Kenny, and rightfully so. But Harden also played like shit on both ends during that Knicks run
Right and that happens when you’re gassed. Doesn’t mean you are a bad player. Also pro mentality is to suck it up and try again, to know you can do it (even when you can’t) and it’s a coach’s job to recognize good players need to be sat sometimes.
What was harden supposed to do sub himself out?
I think you’re missing the point. Coach sucked, we agreed there, but Harden also sucked. It wasn’t just a gassed thing, the decision making was atrocious and he’s been playing at a high level long enough where him being gassed shouldn’t affect basic decision making to such an absurd degree.
Almost every criticism I’ve seen is strictly on Kenny
You must not be on social media much
All the ppl saying Lebron might just take less and go back to Cleveland, do we really think Lebron would be looking forward to leaving JJ as coach to this dude?
This dude probably won’t be there anymore.
Talking about firing a coach IN the ECF after one game? You might be overreacting just a smidge.
It happened to Thibs last year and nobody was even talking about it…
It worked for us
It’s not just one game brother. He’s been ass borderline all season but definitely all playoffs
LeBron would get any available coach he wanted if he went back on a team-friendly deal. Assuming they don’t miraculously win the title, Atkinson is likely to be gone anyway.
If lebron is coming back his first order as legm will be get this dude outta here
It’s not about JJ, but can the Lakers improve enough to beat Spurs and/or OKC? I don’t think so
No, but neither could Cleveland especially with this coach sabotaging.
No chance Lebron is playing for this bum.
Kenny Atkinson is still viewed as a good coach around the league. he had a terrible game yesterday but that doesnt invalidate his entire tenure as Cavs coach
As someone who watches almost every game he just isn’t a good coach. It’s an unearned reputation based more on assistants from last year. His substitutions are awful. His ability to gauge game flow is awful. His ability to make adjustments during or between games is beyond awful. And he constantly alienates players with his inability to shut the fuck up
theres no way that a coach who took his team to the eastern conference finals this year is a bad coach. Every single fan thinks their coach has bad substitution patterns and makes bad adjustments. If thats true then every coach in the league sucks. And as far as i know he hasn’t alienated any player on the team.
I just hate how in the playoffs, so far damn near every team that’s lost has this sub calling their coach a bad coach. It makes no sense that almost every coach thats been good enough to reach the playoffs is all of a sudden a bad cosch
its not like jj is a good coach either lol
Why the fuck is this guy doing interviews?
bc he’s one of 4 coaches still in the playoffs and theres a lot to ask him
Practicing for job interviews.
Legally required to as per his contract. Coaches have to media
If I was Kenny, I would just not say anything into a mic until the series is over
Buddy what are you talking about?! This is a great thing! Telling the whole world about your game plans will ultimately help the Cavs in this series!
“telling the world your game plans” by saying you don’t think one of your stars is a bad defender? lmfao what are we doing here, if anyone is telling the world anything it’s the coach who’s giving stories about how bad of a defender harden is like he just won the series
I wasn’t, I was putting it like 80% on Atkinson, but after this comment 99.9%
How is he not mentioning the fact that Harden was playing with 5 fouls? Did he not know this? This is the only way anyone watching that game could defend the way Harden was playing.
Cavs are FUCKED 🤣
james harden can be a fine team defender but he has always been a horrific iso defender
More specifically, a horrible iso defender in space. Has usually been ok stonewalling bigs
Its actually the reverse.
I read a lot of stuff from sites about how Harden would be a defensive upgrade from the trade cause he’s big and has good hands lol I was like in what world is defense something you expect from Harden??
he quite literally was an upgrade defensively compared to garland.
garland would of been getting hunted by scottie and maybe even ingram.
same thing with pistons, tobias and cade espically would feast on garland.
If you look at all the possessions Brunson had in the 4th and OT almost half of those were actually well defended by Harden and Brunson pulled off some impressive shotmaking ( like those off the backboard at a difficult angle). Yes the others were easy and Harden got cooked, but he did as well as he could, bro is almost 37 years old and should never been switched on in the first place ( Dean wade accepted that switch way too fast, fight over and stay on Brunson).
Update your block list with this guy. Anything other than “LOL. Harden suckz” is too much discourse for him
Dawg he had like 2 blocks and like 10 deflections two games ago. He schematically is a good defender cuz he got quick hands and position instinct.
But he’s laterally slow and has a tendency to not try in certain possessions. When Josh Hart went out, they made him the primary defender on Brunson and it’s over. Coach shoulda yanked him out then
He is.
He’s leading the league in postseason steals right now by a pretty decent margin.
He’s not some awesome defender, but he absolutely is an upgrade over Garland. That’s not even controversial
Brunson is an elite offensive player. Look no further than the OKC Spurs series. None of the Spurs’ great guard defenders can stick SGA 1 on 1, they are doubling and tripling, and even then, when he blows by them Wemby is in the paint forcing SGA to pass out.
When Brunson took Harden on the ISO, one of the bigs should have closed out into the midrange and the defense should have rotated to the shooter.
There are so many ways Kenny could have saved that game:
Call a timeout, sub out Harden, hunt Brunson with 5 fouls on defense the same way that they hunted Harden, make Donovan pick the ball up 94 feet, and yet he chose none of them. The reverse Doctor Strange
It’s also not like the Cavs themselves haven’t experienced it themselves with both Harden and Mitchell (getting doubled, etc.). It was just an absolutely mind blowing ‘coaching’ strategy.
Bro just wants out of cleveland at this point
Someone close to Atkinson needs to tell him to stop talking lol. He’s about to lose his current job and future jobs as well and he is just continuing to make it worse by speaking.
The players definitely choked for sure, but this loss is almost entirely on him.
Ain’t no way he’s doubling down after a night of sleep
What is he gonna say? “Yeah James Harden choked, on Jalen’s dong specifically.”
Oh Kenny, I get that you’ve got to stick up for your guy, but nobody believes that you actually believe this.
Let someone else on the team sub in and play defense. That’s all the team defense you needed.
Harden is a convenient scapegoat but he’s a 36-year old trying to guard one of the best guards in the league. This was just bad coaching. You don’t get extra points for leftover timeouts
He looks like a substitute teacher having a crisis
“Sometimes micro experiences get exaggerated.”
I remembering this one for my next performance review
Maybe he should focus on his micro brain
-20 team chemistry. This miracle comeback really seems like it’s completely broken the Cavs all on levels
James Harden must be black mailing Kenny Atkinson
I’m all for a coach defending their player publicly, but dude then shifts blame on his other guys😭 talk about counterproductive.
Find someone who stands up for you the way kenny stands up for harden
Most criminal interrogators will tell you that when people overexplain things, they’re guilty.
Thereby, based on this video, Atkinson: GUILTY!
Bad game management is not a micro experience, Kenny
Game management is the definition of macro. Micro is individual mechanics and small positional stuff.
This guy honestly deserves to be fired today lol. They can’t control that Harden is old, they can’t control that Brunson hits good shots, they can’t control how gassed he was because of their previous series. They can control the usage of timeouts, the defensive assignments, they can double and they can sub players out. He failed at his job and honestly deserves pretty much 100% of the blame
If only he had a timeout and could have addressed said back line.
Do people expect him to publicly shame one of his players? Of course he says this.
It’s on you buddy. Call a fucking timeout.
The problem is he can’t defend a smaller skilled player like Brunson
This is def true, by the time the 2nd defender came the shot was going up. It’s like the rest of the defense was like “Glad it ain’t me”
I woul real lly like my micro experience to get exaggerated
Kenneth, my brother you have lost the plot.
tf is a micro experience? Is that what his wife calls sex?
bro everyones putting it on YOU
OMG, my team just lost to this coach…
Drugs are a helluva drug.
After last night’s game and hearing this man talk about it, if I were a player I would never want him as a coach.
He GONE.
Joseph Goebbels playing legendary defense for Hitler
Fired
This man gonna get some terrorists nicknames at the end of this series. He showing signs from keeping timeouts to giving dumb qoutes. Its almost a lock
I’ve never had someone whom I hate more and more every time they speak like I do Atkinson. Holding this team back so much
You can just see the continuation of the meltdown
Exactly what the Spurs are doing with Shai, Cavs couldn’t do as a team. I’m inclined to think that’s coaching and drilling it with your team before you even get to the playoffs (not to mention calling a timeout and getting your team defense on the same page.)
Ahh, he rather die on Harden’s hill huh.
Dude no he’s not
Never in my life have I heard Harden being called a good ISO defender
Kenny. Please stop. Please.
The media is/are idiots. Harden was not the problem there, but he didn’t have a great game it’s true. At least one of those TOs was a straight up hack of his forearm
Honestly, he’s not terribly wrong. People aren’t giving enough credit to Brunson for the degree of difficulty on those shots. Insane floaters off the glass over bigs. Step back three with Harden draped all over him.
This is why a lot of players like him. He’s taking the fall for Harden completely.
I brought this up earlier. Harden wasn’t good but the defense gave him no help. You have to double Brunson and let other guys beat you. You gotta double Brunson and you can’t let him get to his spots on switches. You also can’t let him switch to Harden so easily
Hate to double comment this guy is fucking something. I can’t stand an unaccountable MF. Standup for your guy sure, but this all falls on Kenny’s inability to call a timeout and make the in game adjustment for Harden. You see your guy getting roasted and toasted, and you left him out there and watched. Knicks in 4 but shit I know you Cavs fans are pissed.