Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson defends keeping timeouts during epic collapse
Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson defends keeping timeouts while his team was in the midst of a collapse in a Game 1 meltdown against the Knicks.
The logic in sports, when it comes to timeouts, is that they are for you to take them, and they don't carry over to the next game. Some coaches adhere to that simple logic, especially when their team is scuffling or when they need to stop a significant run by their opponents. But not Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson Atkinson attempted to defend why he didn't call a timeout when his team was blowing a 22-point fourth-quarter lead Tuesday, May 19, to the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Knicks went on to win 115-104 in overtime . "I like to hold my timeouts," Atkinson said after the game. "I didn't want to have one timeout at the end of the game, one- or two-point game.
I tried to hold them. "They hit some really tough shots in that fourth quarter. We got a little unlucky, quite honestly.
"My only regret, and this can happen when you get a little fatigued, I think it just stopped moving. We were pinging the ball all over the place, great ball movement, and then it just got a little stagnant. " The Cavaliers led 93-71 with 7:50 left in the fourth quarter.