Cleveland Cavaliers fans were shocked to see their team defeated on Thursday night by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The loss itself wasn’t as surprising as how badly the Cavaliers were beaten.
Following the game, head coach Kenny Atkinson spoke at lengthy about all of the things that got in Clevleand’s way:
“We tried to go small to get back in it but then we lost our rim protection….. our tactical adjustments didn’t work….. it was one of those nights where nothing worked…. I’m more looking forward to [seeing] how we respond against Minnesota. That was the message. I don’t think you go rant and rave after a game like this—- Very fair [mismatched against long, aggressive wings]….. I agree with ya. That’s been the formula so far [Beating the Cavs]. So we gotta figure out how to combat that. Back to the drawing board with that,” Atkinson said, via Dylan on X.
Kenny Atkinson Postgame After Loss to Thunder:
“We tried to go small to get back in it but then we lost our rim protection….. our tactical adjustments didn’t work….. it was one of those nights where nothing worked…. I’m more looking forward to [seeing] how we respond against… pic.twitter.com/ah8CRcjIvb
— Dylan🔮🪼🎆 (@dillybar2145__) January 17, 2025
Atkinson had a long list of problems that plagued the Cavaliers throughout the game.
Some people thought they’d have an advantage over OKC, especially because the Thunder were missing their two notable big men.
But that wasn’t the case and the Cavaliers couldn’t get into the paint and their shooting from the perimeter was also impaired by Oklahoma City’s great defense.
Atkinson admitted that all of his adjustments didn’t work and the Cavaliers continued to fall further behind the Thunder.
The good news for Cavaliers fans is that Atkinson sees what happened and knows what went wrong.
He is eager to get to work to make sure a night like this never happens again.
He said the team needs to figure out how to battle these problems because nothing went right for the team during Thursday’s game.
They will get a chance at redemption on Saturday when they face off against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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