Cleveland Cavaliers routine so far: The regular season rocked, took the break to inject energy, and back to the postseason to do their usual job: Win. But not everything is smooth. The Wine & Gold began their playoff adventure against the Miami Heat at the Rocket Arena on Monday. Kenny Atkinson’s team entered the playoffs fresh off a stellar 64-win season as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, so the expectation was that they would steamroll the lowest-seeded team in the playoffs, the Heat. While Donovan Mitchell and Co. did control most of the game, rallying to an impressive 121-100 win over the team from South Florida, there was a player who struggled to find his footing. He was poor in the first half of the game, which led to a bit of concern from the Cleveland management.
The Cavaliers’ All-Star forward Evan Mobley unexpectedly found himself in a slump during the first half of the game. Mobley scored just 9 points and dished out a single assist in the game. However, none of this was as poor as his rebounding. Despite averaging 9.3 rebounds this season, which is the fourteenth-highest in the league, Mobley registered zero in the first half! That’s something no one was expecting when the game tipped off in Cleveland. What could’ve been the possible reason for this astonishing stat?
Well, according to his head coach, it was Miami’s star, Bam Adebayo, who made things difficult for the 23-year-old. Adebayo controlled the board in the first half and did not let Mobley get a feel for the glass. The Cavaliers led 62-54 at halftime, but surely the Heat were still in the game. The urgency demanded that Mobley pick up the pace to give the Cavs a comfortable lead in the game. Of course, head coach Kenny Atkinson had to come up with something to get his star forward out of the slump. Sure enough, Atkinson came up with a simple yet effective plan. “I mean, we just talked about it at halftime, like that was we tried, we don’t try to give him too much noise right, and that was that we got to rebound better,” Atkinson said.
Oct 26, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) dribbles the ball up the court against the Washington Wizards during the third quarter at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images
The Cavaliers’ HC avoided stressing Mobley too many suggestions and put it as simply as anyone could: Rebound better. “He’s so coachable. He understood he had to pick up his physicality. The assistant coaches are in individually in guys’ ears, you know, as they come out. So we have our team message, but I’m sure they hit him on it, and a better job in the second half.” Kenny Atkinson praised Mobley for being a patient listener. Well, his words paid off big time! The 23-year-old Cleveland star in the second half was back to being himself. He grabbed 7 rebounds in the last two quarters, including 3 offensive and 4 defensive ones. Kenny Atkinson’s advice worked out pretty well in the end, as the Cavs got to the finish line. However, despite the win, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ HC has demanded improvement from his players.
Kenny Atkinson sends a stern message to his players despite the win
Donovan Mitchell (30), Darius Garland (27), despite being slow initially, displayed a solid performance on the night. So did Ty Jerome with his incredible 28 points. However, Kenny Atkinson was most impressed by Miami’s Bam Adebayo. The Miami superstar controlled the glass during the first half. Cleveland’s head coach had high praise for Adebayo.
“Yeah, I mean listen, Bam (Adebayo) is, Olympic champion. Oh! We know his resume, right? I don’t. I don’t go through it. He’s a heck of a player, and it’s a heck of a challenge. Heck of a challenge for Evan and NJ (Donovan Mitchell), so that’s part of it.” Atkinson said. The Cavaliers’ head coach stated that going up against one of the best defenders in the league wasn’t an easy challenge for Evan Mobley, especially, he failed to find his footing in the first half.
Nonetheless, they did manage to get the win, which was the most important thing. But Atkinson emphasized the importance of improving the team’s defensive rebounding. “We’ve got to be a better defensive rebounding team. I’m, we’re searching. We’re pushing. But again I thought they… Now, conversely, we offensive rebound on that right. I don’t… We’ve got to figure out how to get more of a balance right, we’re still tilted too much on the offensive end. We’ve got to figure out the defensive rebounding piece because you know, against this team that’ll knock you out.” He added. Sure enough, Miami might’ve been blown out on the night, but they are a resilient team.
The fact that they’re the first 10th-seeded team ever to make it out of the play-in tournament speaks volumes. So, Cleveland has to find a way to beat Bam Adebayo and Co. on the board to win the playoff series. In fact, they have already found a way. During the second half of the game, the Cavaliers rebounded much better thanks to Kenny Atkinson’s tactical tweaks. Cleveland led 42-37 in rebounding on the night. This included a 28-26 lead in defensive rebounds, something Atkinson emphasized his team must improve. It seems they already have, but they’ll try to do even better as the Cavs gear up for game 2 against the hungry Heat.
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