{"id":716201,"date":"2026-04-22T22:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716201\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T22:48:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:48:20","slug":"kenny-atkinson-predicts-cavs-role-player-to-breakout-against-raptors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716201\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenny Atkinson predicts Cavs role player to breakout against Raptors"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDEPENDENCE \u2014 The Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> have taken a comfortable 2-0 lead<\/a> in their first-round series against the Toronto Raptors<\/a> despite not getting consistent help outside of their star players.<\/p>\n

Max Strus<\/a>\u2019s 24 points in Game 1 account for nearly half of the team\u2019s bench points through the first two games of the series. In Game 2, Cleveland\u2019s bench was outscored 45-19 by the Raptors\u2019 reserves.<\/p>\n

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The lack of bench production hasn\u2019t hurt the Cavaliers so far this series. But according to head coach Kenny Atkinson, he believes that one player will help turn this around: Jaylon Tyson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him today he\u2019s next up,\u201d Atkinson said after practice on Wednesday. \u201cMax had that big game, core four had their big games. [Next] it\u2019s going to be Jaylon Tyson. I can almost guarantee that he\u2019s going to have one of those games where he\u2019s converting that offensive rebound, he\u2019s getting into the half roll because they\u2019re playing smaller.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tyson has been the Cavs\u2019 most pleasant surprise this series. The improvements he\u2019s made as a three-point shooter and defender have allowed him to become a mainstay in the rotation. However, a toe injury at the end of the regular season took him out of the rhythm he was in. That\u2019s difficult for someone heading into their first real postseason action.<\/p>\n

The stats haven\u2019t been impressive through two games this series. Tyson has just five points on 1-8 shooting in 26 total minutes. That hasn\u2019t stopped his head coach from praising what he\u2019s seen so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d give him a B, B+ in what we\u2019re asking him to do,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cHe\u2019s got all this stuff he could do, and now you have to reduce your package, and then you have to be aware of who I\u2019m on the court with. There\u2019s another level of sacrifice, and he\u2019s getting that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Games 3 and 4 will be challenges. Toronto is a tough environment to play in. The margins for Cleveland will be much smaller in the next two games than they were in the first two. They\u2019ll need some of their role players to step up and make positive contributions. Atkinson is sure Tyson will answer the call.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019ll have a big game,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of time. It\u2019s really talking to these guys individually about the patience needed until we get there. But I\u2019m loving what I\u2019m seeing from him right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDEPENDENCE \u2014 The Cleveland Cavaliers have taken a comfortable 2-0 lead in their first-round series against the Toronto…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,75,305,193,568,2286,3627,872,6,1927,1166,476],"class_list":{"0":"post-716201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston-celtics","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-getty-images","13":"tag-jaylon-tyson","14":"tag-kenny-atkinson","15":"tag-max-strus","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-oh","18":"tag-sam-merrill","19":"tag-toronto-raptors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116450801532179561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716201","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=716201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}