Kenny Atkinson: Cavs 'analytically' winning series vs. Knicks

The quote is terrible, but in context he’s defending why he has hope his team can win game 4.

Idiot

Analytics ain’t the final score, Kenny.

The thing you have to remember about analytics is there is zero accounting for downside scenarios factored into them. I also have no problem with the more specific types of information they can provide but when it becomes a philosophical dogma you get these silly comments from an Atkins or a Cashman in baseball where they can’t seem to differentiate between wining and losing the game. Analytics are just a tool like any other set of statistics.

Even if it’s true (I don’t know if it is), it’s big loser energy to mention it while down 3-0

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The thing you have to remember about analytics is there is zero accounting for downside scenarios factored into them. I also have no problem with the more specific types of information they can provide but when it becomes a philosophical dogma you get these silly comments from an Atkins or a Cashman in baseball where they can’t seem to differentiate between wining and losing the game. Analytics are just a tool like any other set of statistics.

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The problem I have with how coaches use analytics is that analytics are about long-term trends.

The probability changes when you are dealing with a specific opponent in a small number of games. It’s like they look at a chart based on numbers accumulated over a season and use that to make decisions. That’s stupid and not how the data should be used.

Analytics should be used as a general tool to figure out the best way to play. But when it comes down to the small sample size of the playoffs, it comes down to players making plays and hitting shots and getting stops. It becomes less about playing the numbers and more about the human beings on the floor making the plays to put the numbers in their favor.

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Is Kenny Atkinson Boom?

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I’m pretty sure he wasn’t employed by the Rockets when Harden was

But question… if we asked this question to Mike Brown and he was looking at the same numbers Atkinson was, and he said “well we should be down 2-1 in this series but we’re not”, how would NY fans react?

In this case, analytics is being used, as it often is, as an excuse for the reason a decision or series of decisions are made. This is so the actual coach, who is supposed to have his finger on the pulse of his team and the game flow, has an out for making a decision based purely on data, and not the situational moment when things go south.

That quote that "Analytically we won 2 out of the 3 games" is clearly the most ridiculous thing I may have ever heard from a coach during a playoff series who's team is on the verge of being swept. He deserves to be fired for that embarrassing video.

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difficult time explaining why based on the data.

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Yes if we ignore the most important data point… the score