Kenny Atkinson admits Cavs will be judged on eventual playoff performance: ‘You have to prove it when it really counts’

The Cleveland Cavaliers picked up their eighth victory in a row on the final day of 2024.

Cleveland wrapped up the year with a 12-point victory over LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, and the Cavaliers now own a record of 29-4 on the season. The team has a one-and-a-half-game lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the standings for the top record in the NBA.

But Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson put Cleveland’s regular-season success into perspective and admitted that the squad still has to prove itself when the 2025 NBA Playoffs roll around.

“We know it’s about playoff performance,” Atkinson said. “That’s what it comes down to. You don’t want to be that team that everyone says, ‘Oh, they’re a good regular season team.’ We have a day-to-day process that we are engaged in. That’s part of the humility. Donovan (Mitchell) says it all the time. Our guys say it all the time. We haven’t done anything yet. It’s great. Our record is great. You have to prove it when it really counts. We’re anxious to get there.”

The Mitchell-led Cavaliers have been booted early on in the playoffs in each of the last two years. First, Cleveland lost to Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs in a matchup between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the East that season.

More recently, the Cavaliers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in five games in the second round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. The best-of-seven series was knotted up at one game apiece after the Cavaliers won Game 2 in Boston, but Cleveland then proceeded to drop the last three games of the series.

Cleveland hasn’t advanced past the second round of the playoffs since LeBron James was still amid his second stint with the Cavaliers. James led the team to an NBA Finals appearance in 2018, though Cleveland got swept in the championship series by the Golden State Warriors.

The Cavaliers have also won just one title in franchise history. Cleveland rallied back from a 3-1 deficit in the 2016 NBA Finals to win the series in seven games.

Cleveland should prioritize finishing the 2024-25 regular season as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference in order to aid its title hopes. If the Cavaliers can secure that top spot, that means they will have home-court advantage throughout the opening three rounds of the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

The Cavaliers can pick up their 30th win of the season when they take on the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 3. The Mavericks are the defending Western Conference champions and currently own the fourth-best record of any team in the conference at 20-13.