After an informative film session on Thursday afternoon, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson felt better about his team's season opener. Sitting down with ClutchPoints and two other reporters inside the Baruch College gymnasium, Atkinson delivered a complete diagnosis of the Cavs' 119-111 loss to the New York Knicks.
“I'm actually more positive after watching it. We were right in the game. We're right there, and we didn't play great.”
“I do think the clunkiness I'm talking about on offense is definitely due to new lineups playing together. There was just a couple of missed reads. The one that really sticks is Lonzo [Ball] throwing it to Dean [Wade]. Dean's not even looking at him. You're playing with Lonzo Ball, so keep your eyes up. Maybe if you're playing with CP [Craig Porter Jr.], it's different. Just starting to understand each other. So that definitely stood out. Free throws were obviously a big problem. Don [Mitchell] having a 37% usage rate is too much. And he's an unselfish guy, we all know that, but we've got to help him a little more.”
Having 21 assists to 15 turnovers isn't the best showing as a team, nor is corralling only four total offensive rebounds. However, Mitchell is not concerned about this being a work in progress. He is calm and confident that everybody will figure it out.
“You're throwing different rotations in, you've got young guys, you've got older guys,” Mitchell said postgame on Wednesday. “Just different things, and that just comes with it. That's why I'm not really hanging our head on this loss. Hey, we've got a lot to work on, a lot to build on. But like I said, with that being said, we're tied going into the fourth.
“It's early in the season. Playing with a lot of different players as well,” Evan Mobley added. “Some guys are out, it's a different flow. Everyone's still learning each other. I feel like in the first half it was so-so, and then as the game went on, it got better and better. I mean, it's definitely different-looking out there, and seeing different guys, you’ve got to know their tendencies. Also, it's a lot of younger guys as well, so I think they did a great job coming in here and fighting and doing their job and their part, and we’ve just got to make it come all together.”
Ball noticed a lot of stagnancy in his first game with the wine and gold, but knows the movement will come with time.
“We have a lot of screening things we want to get to, and guys are just kind of looking to see who's gonna go set the screen rather than just running into it,” he said. “It's a brand new team, pretty much. Like Kenny said, we had five new guys in the rotation last night.”
“You work on your things in training camp and you're repping it out and it looks great against yourself,” Sam Merrill added that night. “I think there was some moments in the first half where we maybe got away from what we were trying to do, from what we've been working on for the last few weeks. Whether it's making the play that we think we need to or just overall pace of what we're trying to get into. [We] did a lot better job of that in the second half. That's why we played a lot better.”
Though a 46.5% field-goal percentage and 41.3% clip look respectable on paper, Atkinson had some damning evidence to support his claims about the offensive shortcomings.
“Our shot quality was poor,” he said. “Everybody's gonna say, ‘Oh, it was Don or Evan, they took a lot of mid-range.' You can say that, but it's a collective. We've really got to work collectively to get good shots. In the NBA, all the pieces have to move together. We got caught in way too many… it's the most isolations we've played in two years. Our shot quality was in the eighth percentile. So we addressed that.”
“Just try to get easier baskets,” Ball added. “I feel like there was some opportunities where we could've got away from the play and just kind of took it ourselves, especially in transition that we didn't necessarily get to. But like I said, it's the first game. We're still learning each other out. It's going to take some time, but hopefully it gets done faster.”
Atkinson's final bullet point on the offensive analysis was squarely on Jarrett Allen's lack of involvement.
“He's a great pick-and-roll player. I told the guys this: best field goal percentage in the league. He's our rim thrust. We didn't throw him the ball. When we do throw it to him in the pocket, it's like insane. It's like 1.39 [points per possession]. It's like when you stop giving your fullback the ball in the run game, he's gonna stop blocking for you.
“That wasn't the Jarrett Allen we all know. It was more us not seeking him out. But conversely, you can't just get four rebounds. So I was real blunt with him. J.A. can't be like, okay, I'm not gonna rebound.”
Allen had a ghastly night, scoring only four points on four shot attempts and grabbing just four boards in 28 minutes of action. Admittedly, not having Max Strus and Darius Garland makes it tougher because those are his primary passers. Still, Atkinson thinks they have to stop taking Allen for granted.
“If we're not piercing that defense with his thrust to the rim… what did we have, eight rim attempts? Like, holy s*** guys,” he said. “I love that we got a lot of threes up, but we've got to the rim. Give the Knicks credit; they did a good job of keeping us at bay.”
Cavaliers must remember that Rome wasn't built in one day
The Cavs weren't too displeased with their defensive effort despite allowing 65 points to the Knicks in the first half. Between utilizing Jaylon Tyson and multiple looks on Jalen Brunson, and holding Karl-Anthony Towns in check, Cleveland fended off New York's two biggest scoring threats.
“We did a lot of good things,” Atkinson said. “The fouling is the fouling. The stats are the stats. The ones that always bother you are kind of the [lack of] focus [ones]. We fouled four three-point shooters. Right off the bat, that was a little bit of a lack of focus. But I didn't get any like, ‘Oh, we didn't compete hard.' None of that stuff. I think it was more focus.”
The Cavs are optimistic that the communication will improve with time.
“I think every group is different,” he said. “Obviously, we have two of the best defensive bigs in the league, so that helps a lot to clean up stuff. But I think we could do a lot better on the ball, the guards for sure, and just get better on communication. Those are probably the two biggest things that stood out to me last night. Hopefully, it doesn't take too long, but obviously, there's going to be an adjustment period. How long that period is, I can't necessarily say.”
“It's communication on the defensive end,” Merrill added. “I think offensively, it's guys trying to figure out roles. “Like, ‘If I'm on the floor with these guys, I'm doing one thing. Maybe with another group, it's another.' So that'll take a little time. But we've got smart guys and competitive guys, so they'll figure it out.”
Mitchell loves to see the Cavs being put to the test right away, particularly the new, inexperienced members of the team.
It will serve them well not only in the short term but also in the long run.
“There were a lot of things they did well, and there's some things that we can work on, whether it's holding a screen or slipping a screen, coming up or not coming up, spacing the right, pulling behind, taking a shot or not taking a shot. Those are all things you learn. You can do it in practice, and that's fine, but when you get in these moments, what better way to start against a team that we're gonna see and is projected to be up there with us at the top of the East, right? So this is a perfect scenario for us to kind of throw them in the fire, and also put ourselves in a situation where we've got to communicate.
“It's not just on them to figure it out themselves. It's on myself and Ev especially to kinda lead that. I think, for us, we did a great job responding in the third quarter, even the whole second half. Ebbs and flows is gonna be a big part of the year, and I think this was great. I'm really happy with the way, especially our young guys came out and showed their mental fortitude throughout the game.”
Mobley was also encouraged. The end result didn't go their way that night, but in the infancy of the season, that is just fine.
“We're in a good spot and we are going to be a good team,” he said. “That's what I think. Definitely early. Learning each other more and more. But all the pieces that we do have and that are out and also that are on the floor, I feel like it was a good job.”
