As the Cleveland Cavaliers came back to win Game 5 against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, 125-120, the team now leads 3-2 in the series with a chance to move on to the second round of the NBA Playoffs. With the Cavs looking to beat the Raptors once and for all in Game 6, it could be a significant game when it comes to head coach Kenny Atkinson.
ClutchPoints’ NBA insider Brett Siegel was on “Clutch Scoops” with reporter Tomer Azarly, where he spoke about how Atkinson could be on the hot seat if Cleveland doesn’t win the series.
“Kenny Atkinson, I think that out of all three of those guys, he would be at the top of this to be on the hot seat if they do lose this series to Toronto, especially now that they are up 3-2. He’s got two chances to win this series; his team has looked lackluster. He’s got to get his stars playing the right way, because this seems like a theme for the Cavs over the last few years, where they just kind of stop playing in the playoffs,” Siegel said.
There’s fire under Cavs’ Kenny Atkinson
As Siegel mentioned, there have been concerns that the Cavs don’t play up to the standard in the postseason under Atkinson after a few flame-outs in the playoffs. Siegel would further express that “there’s definitely some fire under his seat” to get the team going positively.
“You have to have urgency, you have to muck things up, and you just have to go out there and say, ‘We’re going to win this game. We’re not going to stick to our principles or anything. We’re just going to go play basketball, and we’re going to play harder than the other team.’ But we have not seen that from the Cavs over the last two years. I think that’s where the concern lies with Kenny Atkinson, and so there’s definitely some fire under his seat right now to get things moving in the right direction,” Siegel said.
Cleveland looks to close out the series against Toronto on Friday.