Stephen A. says THIS MOMENT is why Kenny Atkinson should be an assistant coach?! | First Take

The Knicks, one win away from punching their ticket to the finals for the first time in 27 years.The Cavaliers find themselves in uncharted waters.They're down 3 -0 in the series, something no team has ever come back from, as everyone pretty much knows.We've said it a million times.Now, the Knicks beat the Cavs 121 -108 in Game 3.They've won 10 straight playoff games, but Cavs coach Kenny Anderson says it doesn't matter.

Listen.

I think we've won the expect, I said three out of three, we're two out of three in the expected.I don't know if you guys follow that.I said like an expected score, you know, and we won two out of the three.And I know you're looking confused, but I, there is really, you know, if you believe in process and all that, like man, so I, you know, take that layer.I was shooting way below expected, I'm shooting way over, you know, and I know when no one wants to hear that.I think you guys like hearing it.

I know, you know, general public.No one wants everyone's outcome based.And yeah, sure, I get that too.

Analytically, they won two out of three.They won two out of three of the expected score.We heard it.I don't know if anyone wanted to hear it, like you said, but we heard it.Stephen A, your reaction to it.

That moment right there is why Kenny Atkinson deserves to be an assistant coach.Right there.Now, obviously, I'm being somewhat facetious because the man led Cleveland to a number one seed last year.Doggie has pointed out how he was a damn good coach in Brooklyn and how Kyrie and KD should have never wanted him gone.And even though they underachieved last year in the playoffs, here they are this year in the Eastern Conference Finals.Give credit where credit is due.

But for any coach to have that come out of their mouth, it's egregious.And if you remember, Dougie, you may not remember.I'm sure Wendy does.I have it on very, very good authority that it was a moment like that when Darryl Morey sealed his fate in Houston.They lose a playoff game to the Golden State Warriors, and he walks up to Tillman Fertitta, and he's talking.The owner for the Houston Rockets.

and he after explaining some of the things that analytically was going on.He sees.So you see, we really, really won.It lost a playoff game.He said, you see, we really, really won.See, that's the kind of nonsense that has invaded the sport.

We are and this notion to the world of analytics to all the analytic geeks out there and stuff like that.Let me be very, very clear.Wendy.They are not to be disrespected.Numbers do matter.they play a significant role.

Coaches and teams and executives do lean on it as well they should.But you know, looking at Wendy and Doggy, what's important to be said?Let's stop acting like this is new.Pat Riley was using analytics in the 80s and the 90s.He would tell you that.It's not new.

The use of it.It's use it.What's new is the focus that have that has been placed on it in terms of justification for hiring certain dudes to run your franchise because they speak a language as it pertains to numbers and data and stats Etc that the that makes the owners feel like they they grasp an understanding of thethat's their lane.And so you hire people who are somewhat like -minded, that speaks your lingo, that's essentially an extension of you, and you get them to run your organization.And you weed out brilliant basketball minds who pay attention to eye test, instincts, and actual results that really, really matter in the grand scheme of things.

People like him give you the impression, meaning Coach Atkinson, to a stronger degree of Darryl Moore in him.Whether you like it or not, here's the problem.They give you the impression that as long as the numbers say something, they're good.You are down three to nothing in a conference finals.You walked in four games away from a championship appearance.And now you're on the verge of getting swept.

And what comes out of your mouth is that we really did well the two out of the three games analytically.See, that's the kind of stuff that if you just use certain owners, not every owner, but certain owners out there.Wendy, you know, I'm telling the truth.And Doggie, if you're honest about it, you know, the coaches you've spoken to, you know, I'm telling the truth, an owner out there, not all, But there's some out there that would have the pink slip ready for him the second they lose tonight.Just because of stuff like that.You can't say that.

You just can't.

So in this series, you remember after game two, Josh Hart had this amazing game, shot the beautiful shot.He was left open by the Cavs and they shot him out.And he, he quoted Jay Wright, his coach at Villanova.And he said that analytics are like a lamppost.You can lean on it when you're drunk, but it can't get you home.And then you've got Kenny Atkinson and he was answering a question just for full -time

He was answering a question about why the calves should have hope in this series.And he was saying, well, you know, because of this.And this is the thing about analytics, and this is what Jay Wright and Josh Hart are talking about.You can't build in the fact that the calves have dead legs.it's not going to show up on the stat sheet.They can look at the stat sheet and say, boy, our 82 -game averages versus these averages in our open shots, we should be much better.

The Cavs played 14 games in the first two rounds, and the Knicks played 10.That four -game difference is making all the difference in the world right now.The Knicks are playing beautifully, but the fatigue on the Cavs' legs is enormous.I also remember something I'll never forget.I think this comes into play in every playoff series.It may not come into play when there's draft picks or conference signings, but it comes into play in most playoff series.

And that was what Kevin Durant said coming into the 2024 Olympics.And everybody was saying, well, all these teams like France and Serbia and whomever, they had all this great chemistry all these years they'd played together.And Durant looked at the camera and said, how's that going to help you when you're guarding Steph?And the answer was it couldn't.And there's no spreadsheet that's going to bail the Cavs out right now.

He's on top of his disaster in game one.That's a rough one for Atkinson.He's had a rough series.And I'm a big Kenny fan.North Port Long Island, he's had a rough series.He horrendously coached the last seven and a half minutes in game one.

Analytics doesn't win, talent does.And I don't buy Brian's point about dead legs.How come the Canadians don't have dead legs?They played two game sevens on a road in the NHL, and they play every game, 82 games.They played two game sevens on a road, and the NHL had no days off.They won game seven in Tampa, game seven in Buffalo, and they should be 2 -0 up on Carolina, who played eight games in the first two rounds.

How come the Canadians don't have dead legs in this series?You would think that that would motivate Cleveland, the fact that they were tested in that situation.with seven games, and it didn't, the dead legs didn't bother the Cavs in their first, what is it, 38, 39 minutes, 40 minutes, a game one.What screwed them up is they didn't know what they were, Atkinson did a terrible job.That's what screwed them up, and plus Mitchell didn't take the ball and score a couple of baskets.They missed four free throws.

That's what lost the game.And listen, he sounds like David Stearns, the Mets general manager.Well, you know what?I got, I mean, I got Simeon.I mean, I got Soto.I mean, I brought Peralta in.

We didn't run defense.I mean, I got this guy playing this position.I mean, I helped my defense out and I got Bichette.I mean, I did all these things and I'm at the 15 games under 500.Okay.Analytics does not win.

players do let me let me explain this from like maybe a female perspective.These are called excuses.Okay, that's what this is.We're using all these analogies.They're just excuses.That's all they're called.

Go ahead.You can say that Shay and you may be right.The problem is is that it's not excuses when you're this way from the opening week of the season.I mean these analytic dudes Live on this stuff and it's like it's a problem because real basketball minds are being weeded out there.You know, they're having to defer to what we affectionately call a geek squad and I'm not I'm not being insulting in any way because I understand.that coaches do and executives and teams overall do use analytics and they need to use analytics, but you do have some people just like in the world of politics.

You got people on the fringes that are just extreme on both sides, such as the case in basketball.You got a situation where of course, people are using analytics.You pay attention.You see a guy shooting his free throw percentage.You see a guy shooting jump shots.And what's this percentage compared to, you know, when he shoots from the left or when he shoots from the right and when he shoots from the top of the

key, you pay attention to all of those things, but then you have extremist.who live on it where you're going to sit there down 3 -0 on the verge of getting swept in a conference finals after giving up a 22 -point lead in game one.When you were up seven, their legs weren't they weren't tired at that particular moment.Wendy.I'm not being literal here.I'm just saying you were good enough to be up 22 with seven minutes left.

You didn't lose that lead because you got tired.You lost that lead because you choked.That's what happened.All right, the New York Knicks punked the Cleveland Cavaliers.That's what happened and they snatched their heart and they ain't recovered since but in the end when you've got people that are leaning that heavily on analytics as an owner, as an executive, as a boss, it should make you raise your eyebrow and say, how do you truly, truly go about the business of galvanizing the troops?and and and and rallying these guys and maximizing peeling and soaking out every bit of potential that they have analytics ain't going to do that going up to a dude and trying to get him motivated to compete for a championship ain't going to happen because you're saying listen, man, you shot five for 20, but you know what our data shows that, you know, you keep taking that shot.

You'll eventually make it that ain't going to work.You can't do stuff like that.You got to have a way to appeal to other human beings and stop being a robot.Stop relying on computers and data and bring in that other element that has been shoved aside and that is and has minimized if not flat -out eradicated some of the great great basketball minds that have ever existed in this game and get them back in the mix because this analytics stuff is taking a toll for the world.And Kenny Atkinson right now is the poster child for it.

It doesn't help that when you have Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, and Emin Mobley all having multiple turnovers, five each in a game, that also doesn't help the Cavs' cause.All right.