{"id":711761,"date":"2026-04-16T13:11:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T13:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/711761\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T13:11:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T13:11:22","slug":"cavs-coach-kenny-atkinson-applauds-james-hardens-impact-on-cavs-mentality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/711761\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavs Coach Kenny Atkinson Applauds James Harden\u2019s Impact on Cavs\u2019 Mentality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> coach Kenny Atkinson didn\u2019t have a special playoff message for his team, but he expressed his happiness with the team’s mood ahead of Game 1 against the Toronto Raptors<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

He was also happy that the team had a \u201creal practice\u201d before their first game against the Raptors, with Thomas Bryant the only player not taking part due to injury. <\/p>\n

That alone leaves the Cavs in a good position, as Atkinson praised the overall mood and team chemistry in what has been a tricky season, littered with injuries and inconsistency in their performances for the majority.<\/p>\n

And it stems from one man <\/p>\n

That man is James Harden<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that’s part of James’ personality, right,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cHe wants to play well; he wants the team to play well. And he knows Evan [Mobley] or [Jarrett Allen] are a big part of that cog in that wheel. James is a teacher, man.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s very bold, extroverted in talking with those guys, and it’s a huge help. He knows the things I don’t even see all the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike \u2018Hey, they’re going to send Don left\u2019 and \u2018Can we flip the screen at this angle?\u2019 [and] “Can we move the ball over to this side of the court so we got more space to take away their gaps?\u2019 Stuff you kind of wouldn’t think of. And I think he translates that message to the coaches and players.\u201d<\/p>\n

More on Thomas Bryant<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers had the rare luxury of having 14 players practice ahead of their first-round playoff battle against Toronto, but still not the full 15.<\/p>\n

Thomas Bryant is not yet 100% recovered, but Atkinson revealed positive news about his health.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d just say surprisingly ahead of schedule, which is good news for us,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cSo, we’re getting to where we want to be, which would be totally healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The eight-year pro out of Indiana averages 6.2 points and 3.4 rebounds on 50% shooting from the floor in 12.2 minutes this season and showcases tremendous energy off the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve been at it for a long time and are almost fully healthy,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cWe’re just excited to get going. I mean, we actually had a real practice today, like real. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the assistants came up to me, he is like, \u2018Man, that was, that was different.\u2019 I’m like, \u2018Yeah, it was a real practice.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cSneakers squeaking, competition, scrimmaging, so that was nice, and then we’ll kind of taper down as these next two days come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson didn\u2019t have a special playoff message for his team, but he expressed his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3770],"tags":[7,6,681,680,476,3820],"class_list":{"0":"post-711761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-raptors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-raptors","11":"tag-toronto","12":"tag-toronto-raptors","13":"tag-torontoraptors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116414557973261267","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}