Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson felt that his team deserved to lose against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night, as they were badly outplayed in front of their home crowd.
Last night marked the Cleveland Cavaliers’ worst regular season defeat in nearly two seasons since Atkinson became head coach. Per the Associated Press, the last time they lost by at least 30 points was a 37-point loss to the Miami Heat in March 2024.
“Total domination… They showed why they’re champions. They dominated us in every phase,” Atkinson admitted postgame. “I didn’t like any on either end… You say it was threes, we got to the paint, we got to the rim. I’m disappointed in how we read the rim. It was physicality & force, but I also think it was our reads in the game. We didn’t read the game right. The decision-making was troubling.”
“Some of the passes we made tonight. A lot of the time, we try to force-feed Donovan; he has a guy right next to him, and it’s like other guys gotta bring it up sometimes. If you keep force-feeding him, it’s gonna slow us down, and the other team is gonna cause turnovers,” he elaborated. “We were in there, going hard at the rim, but sometimes they got three guys at the rim. We have to play behind the defense… It’s hard to play in a funnel against these elite teams.”
Cleveland Cavaliers News: Donovan Mitchell gets 100% real on not being an All-Star starter this year
Donovan Mitchell was snubbed as an Eastern Conference All-Star starter, and the Cleveland Cavaliers guard said he had already expected it because of their subpar start this 2025-26 NBA campaign.
“To be honest, I kind of expected that… We haven’t won games at the rate we would like to. That’s what comes first, and everything else comes with that. I didn’t want to (hear about it). You can assume because no one said anything. I didn’t want to know,” Mitchell admitted.
In an official announcement on Monday afternoon, Mitchell got beat out by Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham, Tyrese Maxey, and Jaylen Brown. His All-Star fate is now in the hands of various NBA coaches.
