Kenny Atkinson insisted he didn't think his return to Brooklyn, where he was fired with the NBA's best team, was justified.
But the competitive Atkinson came back with a chip on his shoulder and won.
No, make it dominant.
The Nets, who announced their intention to trade and tank Dennis Schroder, emphasized that point with a crushing 130-101 loss to Atkinson's Cavaliers in front of a crowd of 16,588 at Barclays Center.
Cam Johnson had 22 points and five assists, but the Nets shot just 42 percent with 22 turnovers and held Cleveland to 34 points.
Some might say the game is over once the Nets (10-16) let go of their starting point guard and spiritual leader.
But that really ended in the first quarter.
The Nets took a 12-5 lead after just four minutes on a Nic Claxton dunk, but allowed an impressive 32-5 run the rest of the way.
Brooklyn continued to trail in the second quarter with a 12-0 onslaught that lasted two and a half minutes.
Former Nets Caris LeVert, who was with Atkinson, hit 19 for the Cavs.
The rest of the game was garbage time. At least for the Nets, who trailed by 37 points multiple times in the fourth quarter.
Ben Simmons had a season-high 10 points and eight assists in 31 minutes, but the Nets' offense was a disaster.
Claxton was minus-24, and the spacing between him and Simmons was an issue.
The Nets have dropped six of seven, and the team is clearly at full strength even without Schroder, who was traded Sunday.
But while they are struggling, the coach they fired is winning.
Led by Atkinson, the Cavs improved to a league-best 23-4.
And his return was great, if not entirely vindicated.
“I don't look at it that way. I just look at it as part of the story, yeah, part of your growth,” Atkinson said. “Sometimes good things happen, sometimes you have setbacks, and it's like a player how you bounce back.'' And that was definitely the rebound. And in the long run, the post-Brooklyn journey really helped me and helped me grow as a coach. who knows? If that doesn't happen, I might not be in Cleveland. If that doesn't happen, I won't grow as much as a coach. So I look at it more positively.
“Now, let me tell you, I’m a competitive person, right? When you have a setback, you remember a lot of things, right? And players do the same thing. Something happens, the team loses, you know. When you get fired, your motivation increases. I took it that way. It's a chip on your shoulder, or whatever you want to call it. But certainly that part. I think every competitor feels the same way.”
Atkinson coached the Nets from 2016 to 2020, the last season with Kyrie Irving in and out of the lineup and Kevin Durant sidelined permanently with a torn Achilles tendon.
Irving was vocal about not needing a strict driving coach, and Atkinson left before the end of that season.
Yes, Atkinson was driving hard.
It's like sitting on a stationary bike at the HSS Training Center at 4:30 a.m. after a loss and reconsidering the loss.
“Those days are over. I wake up at 10 o'clock and have a croissant and coffee,” Atkinson laughed. “Seriously. It's evolving. To be honest, I was a little crazy at the time. Desperate, right? Desperate. I didn't want to fail. So… But even after living in Brooklyn for two years, I knew it wasn't healthy. And I talk about my evolution as a coach, to delegate more. I no longer feel stressed over small things.
“I definitely feel like I've matured as a coach, and that helps in Cleveland as well. And we have great players, which helps. It's not like we weren't in Brooklyn. But in Brooklyn, we're at the bottom of the league, we're the worst team. …There was a desperation to get better. So I wouldn't change anything about that approach. That's what the situation required at the time.”
