NBA: Cavaliers’ Kenny Atkinson named NBA Coach of the Year

Date:

Share post:


It only took Kenny Atkinson one season to make a splash in the Eastern Conference, and he was rewarded handsomely as the Cleveland Cavaliers frontman was named the NBA Coach of the Year, it was announced on Monday.

Atkinson, who guided the Cavs to 64 wins and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, beat out J.B. Bickerstaff of the Detroit Pistons and Ime Udoka of the Houston Rockets. Interestingly, Atkinson took over Cleveland after the team fired Bickerstaff last May.

The Cavaliers recorded the franchise’s second-most regular-season wins under Atkinson, who joins Bill Fitch (1976) and Mike Brown (2009) as the only Cleveland coaches to win the honor. The 64 victories also tied for the fourth-most by a head coach in his first season with a team.

After Atkinson left an assistant coach position with the Golden State Warriors to take over in Cleveland, the Cavaliers won their first 15 games of the season to equal the second-best start in NBA history. They also strung together a team-record 16 wins spanning February and March.

In addition, Cleveland saw Evan Mobley establish himself as a force down low, becoming the first Cavalier to win Defensive Player of the Year.

–Field Level Media

spot_img

Related articles

WNBA: Allisha Gray’s hot shooting powers Dream past Mystics

Allisha Gray's career-high 32 points and 6-of-9 shooting from 3-point range powered a flurry of long-range offense as...

WNBA: Angel Reese’s triple-double carries Sky past Sun

Angel Reese delivered her first WNBA triple-double with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists to lead the...

WNBA: Kayla Thornton paces Valkyries past Storm

Kayla Thornton highlighted a 22-point performance with a rally-stopping 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter and the Golden...

WNBA: Caitlin Clark dominates in return, Fever topple Liberty

Caitlin Clark totaled 32 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in a spectacular return from a left quad...

FREE

Get the most important breaking news and analyses for Free.

Thank you for subscribing

Something went wrong.