CLEVELAND, Ohio — Analytically, that was disgraceful.
But when the dust finally settled after being swept out of the Eastern Conference finals in four mostly non-competitive games, Cavs star Donovan Mitchell briefly found humor in one thing.
Cleveland lost Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals to the New York Knicks, 130-93, on Monday night inside Rocket Arena — a building overrun with Knicks diehards who drowned out Clevelanders and caused chairman Dan Gilbert to vacate his courtside seat for the second half.
Monday wasn’t just another playoff setback for this core. It was the second-worst playoff loss in franchise history, the kind of eyebrow-raising defeat that leads to inquiries about Cleveland’s future.
Starting with coach Kenny Atkinson.
Hence, Mitchell’s laughter.
When asked specifically late Monday about Atkinson taking heavy criticism for this flameout, Mitchell made an impassioned defense of Atkinson.
“It’s just hilarious,” Mitchell said. “We’ve done something that we haven’t done since 2018. There’s going to be criticism everywhere on Kenny, right? But why? We got here. We did it with Kenny. We didn’t just go out there and coach ourselves.
“I love Kenny. We love Kenny. We ride with Kenny and ultimately that’s all that matters, right?”
After two consecutive seven-game battles against Toronto and Detroit — series that lasted longer than anyone inside Cleveland’s walls predicted — the Cavaliers advanced to the conference finals for the first time in nearly a decade.
But then came the lasting image of the season, with Atkinson’s heartless, spiritless and gutless team no-showing in the biggest moment of the season, one day after talking about pride and belief. As the final seconds ticked away on New York’s coronation, there were booming chants inside Cleveland’s building.
Let’s go Knicks! Let’s go Knicks! Let’s go Knicks!
And then another.
Knicks in 4! Knicks in 4! Knicks in 4!
All while the Cavaliers’ best players had long given up, already on the bench, watching little-used Tyrese Proctor, Craig Porter Jr. and Nae’Qwan Tomlin take the final beatings.
It was a harrowing picture for a guy who will try to make a case that he should stay and is still the right person to eventually lead the Cavs to an NBA title.
Those two realities — being on the conference finals stage but looking light years away from competing for the crown — caused conflicting feelings late Monday, sending Cleveland into a potentially tumultuous summer, with difficult decisions to make on Atkinson’s future and other roster-related issues.
“People are going to be people,” Mitchell said. “People probably criticize me just as much and then James [Harden]. He’s from Long Island. He don’t give a damn. You know what I’m saying? But it’s just the world we live in. We could have made it to the Finals and got swept, somebody was going to say something. Even if we won, there’s going to be something. It’s always going to be something, right? But ultimately, we’re in the thick of it, we’re in it together.”
The real question is for how long.
Cleveland is expected to take a few days, letting wounds start to heal before making any rash decisions.
But player support, unlike two years ago with J.B. Bickerstaff, certainly doesn’t hurt Atkinson’s case.
“Ultimate players coach,” Harden said of Atkinson. “He gets it. He understands his team. Of course, somebody’s gonna have to take the criticism, whether it’s myself or Kenny or like, whoever, the entire team. They’re gonna put it on somebody. But I think for Kenny, he did an unbelievable job of getting me acclimated as fast as possible to understanding what I was supposed to be doing out there. It’s just an unfortunate situation. Any team coming off of tough two series against two defensive monsters, it would have been challenging.”
The Game 1 collapse against New York — as the Cavs squandered a 22-point lead in the final 7:52 — was a coaching disaster class, with the lights still looking too bright.
Atkinson’s fingerprints were all over that loss and a few others throughout this playoff run, with bizarre in-game management, questionable timeout usage, ill-conceived tactics and ineffective motivational abilities. His team never mentally recovered from that fateful night inside Madison Square Garden, another black mark on the Atkinson résumé.
Then on the eve of the Game 4 annihilation, Atkinson became a social media meme with his ludicrous commentary about the Cavs, analytically, leading the series and believing they could beat the Knicks in part because of favorable expected score and shot quality metrics.
While those comments drew eyerolls and laughs inside Cleveland’s locker room, they didn’t change the support Atkinson has built during two years in Cleveland — a stint that includes a Coach of the Year award and the first conference finals appearance without LeBron James since 1992.
“Listen, I have confidence — confidence in myself, first of all, confidence in the group. The roster talk, that’s for down the line,” Atkinson responded when asked about his job security. “Our front office has done a phenomenal job giving us a great roster. Obviously, there’ll be decisions to be made like every summer, but I think we’re doing pretty well with those decisions since I’ve been here. Just keep trusting. Trusting our process. Trust our collaboration.”
Following a second-round exit in 2024, the Cavs dismissed now-Pistons head coach Bickerstaff.
At the time, president of basketball operations Koby Altman, who is expected to remain in his post despite the disappointing sweep, admitted that Bickerstaff helped the organization return to respectability, but the Cavs needed a better, more modern and forward-thinking tactician to advance even further.
That lengthy and extensive coaching search led them to Atkinson who diversified and modernized the offense. And, despite some blunders along the way, Atkinson, technically, did help them take the next step.
Will Gilbert and others see it the same way?
