{"id":106945,"date":"2024-11-14T15:15:30","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T20:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=106945"},"modified":"2024-11-14T14:55:57","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T19:55:57","slug":"cavs-coach-stresses-defense-after-win-over-sixers-atkinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/14\/cavs-coach-stresses-defense-after-win-over-sixers-atkinson\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavs Coach Stresses Defense After Win Over Sixers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers opened the season with a historic 13-0 record, breaking records and earning recognition as the sixth<\/a> team in NBA history to reach this milestone. Much of their success stems from the leadership of new head coach Kenny Atkinson. Last night, they added to their streak with a 114-106 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Atkinson acknowledged that the team still has room for improvement but commended their defensive effort.<\/p>\n

Cavs Coach Stresses Defense After Win Over Sixers<\/h2>\n

Atkinson highlighted<\/a> the team\u2019s improvement in the third quarter, where Cleveland outscored Philadelphia 34-24<\/a>, an area they had recently struggled with.<\/p>\n

“We had an honest talk at halftime,” Atkinson said. “We showed some clips, they just weren\u2019t feeling us. They were running where they wanted to, we had no ball pressure. Our energy was low, our physicality wasn\u2019t great. These guys are a winning group and they turned it up.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Before this game, Cleveland had posted a -25 point differential in their last three third quarters, making it a major area of focus. Atkinson pointed out the grueling schedule as a factor, with this game marking their 13th in just 24 days, a league-high.<\/p>\n

“Yes, I do think that\u2019s part of it and I said it last game, it\u2019s part of the reason we\u2019re using our bench so much,” Atkinson said. “We understand the context, we understand the schedule, there\u2019s definitely some of that too.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The team\u2019s defense stood out in the closing stretch, with Atkinson singling out Isaac Okoro<\/a> for his impact on ball pressure.<\/p>\n

“I thought Isaac [Okoro] was super important,” Atkinson explained. “Putting the pressure on the ball… It was all defense, we were switching everything and we decided to go back to what we call \u2018coverage.\u2019 They were really hurting us with the switch driving us. I think that really helped us, but really it was about our intensity, we didn\u2019t have the requisite energy, requisite physicality in the first half.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Atkinson emphasized the importance of ball pressure, crediting Okoro<\/a> for his strong performance. Okoro\u2019s solid defense and shooting have played a significant role in keeping him in the starting lineup. He is shooting 48.5% from three this season, by far a career-high.<\/p>\n

“I wish there was a measurement for it [ball pressure],” Atkinson said. “I think we are top-five in turning teams over this year, it\u2019s been definitely a big emphasis for us because we got the two-shot blockers back there… We talk about steals, swipes, and pokes while still keeping good body position, I think it\u2019s important.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This victory extended the Cavs\u2019 winning streak to 13 games, marking their longest to start a season in franchise history<\/a>. The streak also ties their longest at any point in a season. While losses will eventually come, their response to adversity will define the team\u2019s character. It is important for Cleveland to not get too high or too low so early into the season. Regardless, enjoy the run Cavs fans. For now, Cleveland remain undefeated almost a month into the season, with Kenny Atkinson proving to be a driving force behind their historic run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers opened the season with a historic 13-0 record, breaking records and earning recognition as the sixth team in NBA history to reach this milestone. Much of their success stems from the leadership of new head coach Kenny Atkinson. Last night, they added to their streak with a 114-106 win over the Philadelphia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5174,"featured_media":107008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1608,62,13],"tags":[2842,236],"class_list":["post-106945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cavaliers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-76ers","tag-isaac-okoro","tag-kenny-atkinson"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}