Cavs vs Pacers | Keny Atkinson Post Game | 11.21.2025

Cavs vs Pacers | Keny Atkinson Post Game | 11.21.2025

Darius tonight, his return. Um, excellent. Um, in the first half, I think the second half, um, you know, caught up a little bit to him, you know. Um, but then at the end, I thought he was really good. He made some two two bullets to uh to DeAndre there in the corner. Um, just speed downhill. Um, but there there was a reason why we got to the rim a lot tonight. and and which just wasn’t his penetration, but his um I thought he fed Evan, you know, um we we’ve missed that. So, um I felt like we’re at we’re we’re at the rim all night and a big reason was uh was DG. When he’s out there, how does he change what the identity of this team? Ah, it’s um you know, um we’re so much more versatile. Um we play with so much more speed. Um, I felt like we had some kind of last year transition possessions where we sling it across this, you know, the court and we swing it and, you know, so I felt a little bit more like uh like ourselves tonight. Um, I thought uh having Jaylen back was huge. Um, guy’s playing like a 10ear vet and he’s making threes at a clip, you know, at a high level. Um he’s doing all the role player stuff, you know, really not making a lot of mistakes. I’m just like beyond thrilled um that uh that that he’s back and and uh that this guy’s going to be this guy’s going to be a really good NBA player. Um he’s he’s really surprising um a lot of people. Joe Kenny, uh, you had a lineup in there a couple of times tonight where Darius and Lonzo were next to each other and they can obviously change the geometry of a game because Lonzo plays so well in transition and Darius played so well. Great point. How did they kind of complement each other and what already? Yeah. Um, two high IQ guys and then and then with Lonzo, we can put them really on one through four. That’s what I’m realizing, you know. Um, you know, we put him on Durant the other night for stretches. Um, I know they did that in Chicago a little bit. Um, can put them so you can um, you know, Lonzo can play opposite so it it complements Darius well, but um, then I I think the beginning of the fourth we had we had um um I think we had Zo um was Darius out there too? Zo, Darius, and Donovan. and that that kind of three guard line, especially against their pressure. Um we didn’t have that last year, that kind of third third guy, you know, that with they could they could also guard, you know, guard big guys. So, um you know, so um I I feel like Zo’s starting to catch his um um catch his rhythm, playing playing much better. And you mentioned before the game about just the joy that Jaylen Tyson can bring, but obviously also Darius has that kind of energy to him as well in a season that is supposed to be more critical of the bigger picture that you guys have going. How important is it to have two guys that can keep it light in any given night? I think it’s important. I I even felt it with the crowd tonight. I I felt like there was a you know um the excitement was up. Those two guys um bring a lot of life, a lot of life to the arena, a lot of life to the team, a lot of life to the bench. So um you know, I think without them, we’re a little more business. You know, Don’s business-like, Evan’s business like, but they they’re kind of they can be um goofy and fun and and um you know, have a laugh even in tense moments. I know I know it helps me it helps me to you know, calm down sometimes. Those guys are u they got great spirit. Joe Kenny, uh, Evans, seven of 11 from the line tonight, a little bit better compared to the past couple games, but just, is he just in a free throw shooting ro? Yeah, I think did he start out 0 for two? So, um, I felt like as the game went on, he got back to the old Evan. I didn’t, you know, you’d worry if it was extended into, you know, um, but he he’ll get it back. I I think um you know people go through little slumps um but um you know I I looked at the technique I looked at a couple of his free throws seems same as last year. So, these things become confidence and and um and and you know, um I will say the other the other point, you know, I’ve been playing Evan longer stretches this year, you know, and yeah, I’m not making excuses for him, but um there is an adaptation to to those longer stretches, to the fatigue that comes with that. Um and and we got him, listen, we got we got him doing a lot of stuff. He’s handling it more. is playing playing both ends. Um both both ends in the paint. Um so I do I do think fatigue is playing um you know playing a part in that. Danny, I’m sorry. Spence. Uh in particular with Evan just Darius’s impact on him. You kind of touched on it earlier. It looked like there were just a little bit more of the situations where Evan was driving and he was even kicking out too, like jump passes out to a guy and then he’d swing it over and then like you said, kind of looked like last year just from that perspective of of those two working like that. Could you just kind of dig into that? Yeah, I I just um it’s the it’s a but we had spacing tonight, you know, now we’re now we’re you know, probably against Houston, we had lineups out there with, you know, probably three, you know, nonshooters. Um, now we’re showing we’re throwing out four shooters, sometimes five shooter lineups with Darius back um and Jaylen back. So, uh that makes Evan’s life so much easier. Um but I thought uh I thought DG was really um really the catalyst to Evan tonight, getting him going, just hitting him in the pick and roll. He saw when a couple times they switch and he he threw it down to him in the post. Um, you know, um, I I know I know Evan’s happy he’s back and he does the same thing for JA. You know, he’s our he’s our paint invader, whether it’s with his own penetration or or or or getting it to those those big guys. How rare of a phenomenon is it for four guys in the starting line to score at least 20? Oh, I didn’t even know. Wow, that’s pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah, we’re we’ve always I I thought we had a um man, three or four possessions you want to put on the the coaching highlight film, right? In terms of making the extra pass, extra swing pass, crisp, great spacing, like they were like um again reminiscent of of of stuff we had going on last year. And um like I said, having those two guys back, you know, Darius and and and Jaylen really really helps um helps with our spacing. We can make those plays. Trey Mlin WV 959 FM. Near at 32, Sakim at 26, Mather had 21. They combined for 79 of Indy’s 109 points. What challenges did they present? We haven’t figured out how to stop those guys. So, um, you know, really they were they were outstanding. We looked at it at halftime. We knew we had to slow them down, but they um all three of them played well. That’s that’s probably the um the negative from our standpoint. Um defensively, uh we didn’t have answers for those guys, but they’re listen, they are um you know, they’re high high level players. Um and um tremendous respect um for their talent um how they play, how they compete. They do it on both ends. That’s why this this is a you know a a finalist last year. They have um um those three are um I great players. Last one. Chris, Kenny, you talked about Jaylen’s three-point shooting before the game and he came into tonight as your leader in three-point percentage. How surprised are you at the way that he has shot the ball this year? You know, surprised because that that wasn’t his kind of niche in in college and and you know, he was a ball handler, playmaker. I think he he’s a really interesting case of a guy just transforming his game from from what he did at Cal to how we’ve asked him to play the role we’ve asked him to play. that might be the, you know, one of the biggest kind of uh transformations from from what what a guy’s role was in college to to to completely um kind of changing um for what we need for what this team’s needs because those those playmaking abilities didn’t go away. He can do that stuff, but he knows for this team that’s that’s not it. Um, so he’s he’s just um he’s asked, you know, he he’s responded to what we’ve asked, what the leaders on this team have asked and and uh now they’re all behind him, right? Um and and he’s got that momentum and then, you know, they’re trust him to make those those, you know, those those passes to him when they pack the paint. Um he’s knocking those shots down. It’s huge for us. Okay. Correct. All right.

Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach Kenny Atkinson spoke with the media following 120-109 win over the Indiana Pacers on November 21, 2025 at Rocket Arena.