Kenny Atkinson reflects on Cavs season as they prepare for NBA playoffs
The Cavs finished the regular season 52-30, but Kenny Atkinson reflected on the road traveled, and the point in which they were 17-16.
CLEVELAND — For a variety of reasons, coach Kenny Atkinson 's second season at the Cavaliers helm was more difficult than the first. Last season's Cavs raced out to a historic start, a 64-win season and had one of the healthiest regular seasons in the NBA. This year's Cavs ?
They were hammered with injuries. They ended up using 41 different starting lineup combinations in 82 games. At one point, they were 17-16 more than one-third of the way through the season, just fighting to stay above .
500. In the moment, it wasn't as much of a key point in the year. But looking back on the road to the No.
4 seed — the Cavs will play the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the NBA playoffs, with Game 1 set for April 18 — that stop on mile marker 33 of the regular season symbolized, for Atkinson, the kind of regular season through which Cleveland battled. Sitting at the podium for a pregame news conference April 12, just before the Cavs wrapped up the regular season with a win over the Washington Wizards to bring their final record to 52-30, Atkinson noted he was almost surprised to be reminded they were 17-16 at one point. It's a testament to the rocky path the Cavs traveled to get there.
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