Cavs at Heat | Kenny Atkinson Post Game | 11.12.25

Cavs at Heat | Kenny Atkinson Post Game | 11.12.25

Kenny, before the game, you spoke about wanting to see the compete level. That’s the thing you were looking for with this group. Overall, what did you think of the effort tonight? Phenomenal. Um, even in the first half where um um I felt like we’re in a good place. Um even though um the game was game was really close um our guys gave a uh you know, phenomenal effort. Um we played 11 guys. Um 11 guys contributed. Um but uh we had one heroic performance which I’m sure Dan you’re probably going to ask about. You know Craig Porter Jr. that’s um I mean incredible and not you know not the scoring just the whole thing the defense. Um you won’t see it on the stats. He had 11 deflections two three blocks four steals. I mean he was um um like I said was a heroic heroic performance. We needed it. How how important is it for him to be able to do all of those other things aside from the normal point guard duties that include, you know, helping teammates out? Well, yeah, he almost he did all the role player things, you know, played defense, um got blocks, got got steals, um deflections, that that’s his role, but then they had 19 points, you know, three for three from three. Um I mean, it’s just a great great performance. um really happy for him because he um you know he’s putting in a lot of work and you know um really worked on his body this summer. Um I said before the game he he always is top of the charts in terms of our um you know body comps and all that. Um so um glad to see him have a great game. What did you think of Jarrett overall tonight? Oh man, I loved how we posted him. You know, they they went small and and u you know that’s where Zo really comes into play. like Zo understands um what’s happening out there and he just kept feeding Ja. He just kept telling him to go down there and and uh um and that was contagious. We just kept getting getting the ball to JA deep in the post and and uh um that was a big part of the win that prevents them from going small. They had to go back with wear, you know, to to to get bigger. Coach, I know uh Tyrese went I think 25% from three, but he kept shooting and I think Craig and him were plus 20 I think when they were on the floor together. Naquin too, I think. Yeah, Naquin. Another one. What does it feel like to have three young dudes just be able to impact a game like that? Listen, it’s a great um great um sign of you know a good program, you know. Um when you have young guys that haven’t been playing all of a sudden they can come and get a you know an NBA win. we all know how, you know, the cost of an NBA win. It’s hard, you know, um it’s hard to get a win and and those guys. Um I just think I just kept thinking about all the all the work they did this summer. Um and um especially Naquin. Um you know, Luke Travers, you know, you know, you can feel their maturity. You can feel them coming as NBA players. Um and then Tyrese is just talented as heck. I mean, he’s he’s just handles. He can shoot. Um he’s got gumption. He’s got he’s got um he’s got swag. Um he he’s I think he’s going to play in this league a long time. Um he’s so skilled and tough kid. Um he he was great for us tonight. Felt like when Thomas Bryan entered the game in the first half that he made an immediate impact. What did you think of what he brought to the floor? Energy, Dan. He’s Mr. energy whether he plays, he doesn’t play. I always worry he almost like um um he spends so much energy cheering, you know. I’m I’m worried if he has enough for the court. He’s just his spirit is just always like super high and his energy super high and and um um man, you know, I I just give our front office credit. Um you know, he’s he’s your perfect I don’t know what we want to call him. Fourth big, perfect. um he fits perfect with what we want to do. Um but I agree with Dan. I think he he got us going a little bit and then had good minutes in the second half too. And then for you just with this group, what does it mean when Donovan, Darius, Evan, Max, those guys, Jaylen not available? And I know Jaylen wasn’t out there, but those guys are the first ones consistently off the bench celebrating the guys that are in. What What does that mean to you? Man, we um you know, Dan, we got great leadership. um those guys, you know, I I shouldn’t say that, but they’re they’re teams where the guys won’t even come out, right, and sit on the bench. They they’re teams where, you know, the better players stay back in the locker room and our guys are out there and um I mean, that’s the way it should be. You know, that’s what that’s what a team’s about. Um but that’s that’s the type of guys we have. Um and uh you know, they’re like, you know, they’re like high school kids out there, you know, cheering and they’re into the game. They’re jumping up and down. They’re so happy for their teammates. um was great to see. Coach, you have you were talking about, you know, the veterans kind of being leaders. I know Lonzo and DeAndre Hunter were kind of tone setters. And speaking on Tyrese, Tyrese a big guard like Lonzo, DeAndre Hunter has, you know, similar game impact that a guy like Jaylen Tyson can have. Dean Wade is someone similar to Luke Travers being, you know, a combo for. What’s it like having, you know, young guys similar to your veterans that can, you know, kind of mimic them? you know, tonight we needed that length tonight. You know, we needed that size, Luke size. We needed um um Naquon size because, you know, last night they were just kind of getting in lane, hitting us, getting separation, but um the fact that we had our young guys out there with size and and you know, Tyrese was pretty long, too. So, you just can’t, you know, you can’t you just can’t bully him. So, it actually turned out in our favor defensively to have those those long, you know, kind of athletic guys in there defensively. finish up with Chris. Chris, hey Kenny, you guys didn’t lead at any point in the first three quarters. What does it take to flip a game like that in the fourth? We Chris, it was one of those games where we felt really good about our process and and and you know, obviously not all games are like that. So, we we just there just a real positive um energy that we’re going to turn this thing around. You know, we were track you know, we track a lot of things. you know, we’re tracking the possession game. Like, oh, we’re plus, you know, we got the expected score. Like, we’re we’re in a good place. And we just kept telling them, “Oh, we’re in a great place. We’re great place. It’s going to turn. We’re going to start making a few shots.” Um, you know, but um you know, eventually it it turned. You’ve talked throughout the course of this season, even going back to training camp, about being hard on Craig for a reason, trying to pull something out of him. Is this what you’re hoping to see him? I this is like to come in. Me and had some tough conversations this summer, you know, kind of one-on-one. I kind of, you know, um you know, just kind of manto man, coached coached the player and and um you know, told him the things we needed and and uh he um he um he agreed. We’ve just kind of had a pact. You know, I need you in here early. We need you in here early. we need you to get your body comp to this this this kind of marker where we we just had all these like kind of KPIs we needed to to see uh cuz I wasn’t satisfied with myself how we developed last year like I felt like um I didn’t do a good job and this summer I said man this I got we got to we got to turn this I got to I got to do we got to have a different approach um so um but the credit um is all him he put in the work he sacrificed a lot. Just awesome to see him have a game like tonight. Thank you. Good. All right. All right. Thanks everybody.

Kenny Atkinson spoke with the media following a 130-116 win over the Miami Heat at the Kaseya Center.