Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson has maintained a calm demeanor throughout the postseason, but one has to wonder if this squad, facing a must-win game on their home court, needs more.
After winning two series that went the full seven games, they had a promising start to their Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks. Unfortunately, that was through the first three quarters, with Jalen Brunson and his squad staging an impressive comeback from down 22 points to get an overtime win and go up 1-0.
New York built upon that momentum to take Game 2 with a 121-108 victory that felt much more dominant. And they rolled into Cleveland looking to do more of the same, unless the Cavaliers could get hyped up from being back at home in front of their fans.
Cameras captured Atkinson, sitting back in a comfortable chair, delivering what felt like a laid-back, uninspiring pregame speech to the players inside the locker room.
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There was no yelling or shouting like Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks in the movie “Miracle” to fire up the gold medal-winning Olympic hockey team. Instead, Atkinson kept it monotone, without any rage or strong emotion, most likely feeling it was best to speak calmly rather than convey any urgency to win a basketball game.
That seems to be the complete opposite of what these Cavaliers players need when they’re in a position to tap into their will to win, especially when facing such adversity.
With clips surfacing of the Cavs coach’s speech, commenters fittingly called him out on social media over the lack of enthusiasm.
“Nothing gets you fired up quite like listening to your coach speak in a monotone voice while reclining in an office chair,” one commenter said.
“Cool speech coach, I watched your team let JB walk to the rim in the end. They’re not mentally tough,” another commenter replied on the video.
“My gosh…….. I can see why GM Colby said, yes this is our guy to get us over the hump. Holy cow man. Smh……,” a commenter wrote.
Others said, “Bro even sit down when he supposed to be hyping the players up,” and “You’re the leader, you should be the head of the room.”
Cleveland went on to lose 121-108 in Game 3, with New York leading in three quarters and never seeming to lose control of the game, even when the Cavs held a lead.
Atkinson became the Cavaliers’ head coach in June 2024 and won the NBA Coach of the Year award in 2025 after guiding the team to a 64–18 record.
Despite having two strong Cavs teams capable of contending in the Eastern Conference Playoffs, they are on the verge of a second straight disappointing postseason exit.
Ironically, he told reporters postgame that he felt the Knicks’ energy level “was much higher” than his team’s during Game 3. That suggests the coach should consider his energy in a pregame speech before must-win games.
He and the Cavaliers have a chance to stave off elimination with Game 4 in Cleveland on Monday night, but they may have already mentally checked out of this one.
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