The Cleveland Cavaliers recently looked to extend their record setting win streak versus the Orlando Magic on March 16th in Orlando, but ended up having their afternoon spoiled.
The Cavs have been the best team in the NBA throughout the season as they have been fighting to keep their status as well as go for the historical 70-win season.
The fully healthy Cavs came into this afternoon game heavy favorites to continue their 16-game win streak versus the injured Magic. The 11.5 point favorites weren’t expecting to be challenged early Saturday morning travelling down to Florida. This changed fast as the Magic came out of halftime hot.
The Magic seemed like they couldn’t miss in the second half. Atkinson expressed his anger about this when asked what was to blame for the loss.
“In the second half they shot 68%. The headline is going to be we couldn’t get stops and couldn’t get stops at the end. Our defense was not good enough in crunch time,” said Atkinson.
The Cavs started off hot early and seemed to have the game in the bag and looked to continue their franchise record-setting win streak. The Cavaliers shot 58% from the field in the first half and held a 13-point lead going into the break.
When looking back on the game, Atkinson believed his defense was efficient in the first half, but it’s always the second half that gets his team.
“I thought we were phenomenal in the first half in terms of making them miss and making them take bad shots,” said Atkinson.
The Cavs set their goals on playoff success and believe that they already have the regular season Eastern Conference title on locks. Following the loss, the Cavs are still 6.5 games ahead of the second place Celtics.
When asked about what he expects from his team in the future, Atkinson acknowledged there are some flaws in his team that he wishes to fix before the playoffs.
“That kind of defensive performance, you’re not surviving in a playoff situation,” said Atkinson.
