Cavaliers’ Kenny Atkinson Unloads on Adam Silver and the NBA Over Injury Crisis

The Pacers orchestrated an impressive turnaround in Game 2, upsetting the Cavaliers—who dominated the Eastern Conference with a remarkable 64-18 regular season—thanks to a clutch three-point shot by Tyrese Haliburton just before time expired. This victory awarded Indiana, which had been down by as many as 17 points during the second half and still trailing by 14 entering the final quarter, a narrow 120-119 triumph. At one juncture according to ESPN’s game tracker, Cleveland was given a staggering 98.8 percent likelihood of securing the win.

Actually, the Cavaliers were ahead by seven points with just 57 seconds remaining and had a 95.9% probability of winning at that stage.

Ultimately, Cleveland was exhausted due to valid circumstances: they were missing three key players because of injuries. This includes Darius Garland, sidelined since the first round with a toe injury, along with standout wing defender DeAndre Hunter and recently awarded Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley.

In Sunday's game against Indiana, Mobley and Hunter sustained injuries, taking hard knocks from the Pacers that left them hampered. With three key rotational players out due to injury, securing a victory becomes challenging; thus, Donovan Mitchell’s performance (scoring 48 points off a 15-for-30 shooting record) significantly boosted Cleveland's chances of winning, which is quite impressive under these circumstances.

Nevertheless, Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson has expressed significant displeasure over the injuries sustained by his key players and issued a firm directive to the league regarding the need to address and clean up playoff fouls.

I believe there were three calls we disputed with the league," he stated. "To make things simpler, personally, I feel these three incidents were overly aggressive. ... The league needs to establish where that boundary lies for such extreme behavior. Given this over-the-top conduct, we ended up with two players listed as doubtful and another two injured during the match; this situation troubles me.

We truly need to assess this situation… each one of us has a stake in this league, and I'm committed to ensuring our top talent participates in the playoffs. It concerns me that DeAndre Hunter, who is both the Defensive Player of the Year and an All-Star, along with another exceptional player, might be sidelined due to what I believe were overly aggressive plays.

Atkinson refrained from implying that the Pacers were acting improperly, yet he pointed out that the league faces a broader problem concerning its playoffs.

Did this happen intentionally? No. Were these rough plays? I’m not claiming that either. What I'm trying to say is, similar to how they desire their players to participate in more games, we must make sure our players get the chance to play in the playoffs as well.