New Report Reveals What Cavaliers Coach Immediately Did After NBA Playoff Exit
The Cleveland Cavaliers went 64-18 in the regular season. They were the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, Kenny Atkinson won the Coach of the Year Award and Evan Mobley won the Defensive Player of the Year Award.
After sweeping the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2025 playoffs, it appeared the Cavaliers were primed to make a deep run in the postseason. However, Cleveland lost to the Indiana Pacers in the conference semifinals in five games.
Not only did the Cavaliers get bounced by the Pacers, but Indiana also won Games 1, 2 and 5 in Cleveland.
Losing to the Pacers hit Atkinson hard, so much so that he has made the film room his second home, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
Atkinson has watched the Cavaliers-Pacers series several times so he can figure out what exactly went wrong for his team.
According to cleveland.com, Atkinson has been spending extensive time in the film room following Cleveland’s latest playoff disappointment. Reporter Chris Fedor noted that Atkinson has reviewed the series multiple times, analyzing mistakes and working on potential internal improvements.
The Cavaliers haven’t made it beyond the second round of the playoffs since 2018—LeBron James’ final season with the team.
From 2015 to 2018, Cleveland reached the NBA Finals four consecutive times.
On Monday, Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman indicated to local media that the roster likely won’t undergo major changes this offseason. That means Atkinson is expected to build around the same core of Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland, and Jarrett Allen.
