Cavs HC Kenny Atkinson breaks down timeout strategy after Game 1 collapse vs. Knicks

The Cleveland Cavaliers appeared to have Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals all but salted away when they took a 93-71 lead over the New York Knicks with under eight minutes to go.

Then, the lead slowly started to slip away, and Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson did nothing to stop it. As the Knicks continued to cut the lead more and more, Atkinson stood and watched, not calling a timeout until the 22-point lead was down to just five. The Knicks continued their run out of the timeout, sending the game to overtime and racing to a nine-point lead in the extra period before Atkinson finally called another timeout.

By the end of the game, the Knicks had roared all the way back to get a 115-104 win after closing the game on a 44-11 run. After the loss, Atkinson explained his hesitancy to call a timeout to stop the bleeding, via Camryn Justice of News 5 Cleveland.

#Cavs Kenny Atkinson was asked about his decision to let things play out in the fourth quarter and not call a timeout down the stretch.

"Yeah, I like to hold my timeouts. I didn't want to have one timeout at the end of the game. One or two-point game, I try to hold them." pic.twitter.com/VDLPW8SPiL

— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) May 20, 2026

“Yeah, I like to hold my timeouts. I didn’t want to have one timeout at the end of the game. One or two-point game, I try to hold them.”

While Atkinson’s reasoning was sound, he still had two timeouts remaining at the end of regulation, so he had plenty to spend and still have ammo for the end-of-game situations. An earlier timeout could have allowed his squad to take a breath, reset, and get back to the things that got them the 22-point lead in the first place.

Now, the Cavs have got to be gassed after playing back-to-back seven-game series in the first two rounds, only getting one day off after conquering the Detroit Pistons on the road on Sunday night. Cleveland had a golden chance to steal home-court advantage in this game, and now it will have to get right back to work in Game 2.

Still, the Cavs clearly have an avenue to bother the Knicks in this series. The question now becomes, can Cleveland recover mentally and physically from such a major missed opportunity against a Knicks team that will undoubtedly play better than it did in Game 1?

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