What Kenny Atkinson still feels the Cavs need to work on after Wizards blowout

On a night where everything clicked for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the nation's capital, head coach Kenny Atkinson still feels his team aren't where they need to be.

Nov 2, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson reacts against the Atlanta Hawks during the first half at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Everything worked for the Cleveland Cavaliers in their 148-114 blowout of the lowly Washington Wizards in the NBA Cup, but head coach Kenny Atkinson still isn’t satisfied.

On a night where the Cavs fell a point shy of matching the franchise record for a regulation game, set against Denver in a 149-135 win last December, and bagged their highest amount of offensive rebounds since February 2014, there is still room for improvement.

However, Atkinson did single out his side’s superiority on the glass. Outrebounding Washington 25-16 on the offensive boards and 57-44 overall, saying that he was a little perplexed why the team weren't getting more but was waiting for the moment to come.

But offensively, despite the season high in points scored, a breakout game of 20 points, nine assists in 28 minutes for Darius Garland and 24 for Donovan Mitchell, Atkinson says his team aren’t there yet offensively.

“We're not at the level we were last year; I just feel that we're still trying to find ourselves,” Atkinson told reporters postgame.

“You know, part of it is [Garland], and Evan [Mobley] is still trying to find his niche, quite honestly, and I’ve got to figure out a better way to get him better shots. So, that would be the one caveat. We were intentional about getting the ball more, but I feel like we can get him the ball in a better position.

“He had a couple of nice ones. We got deep in the paint, and we found him. So we got to find him in better positions. I think that's a part of why we're a little behind.

“But [Garland] is going to sort a lot of that out, because he knows how to get him the ball in the places he wants. Sam [Merrill], he’ll get better. However, I think we can do better for Evan.”

Mobley bagged a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds against the Wizards, with Jarrett Allen having a 16-point, 14-rebound performance too.

The two combined for 12 offensive boards, and they scored 26 of Cleveland’s 58 points in the paint.

“We promote it, it’s part of our offense,” Atkinson said regarding the rebounding against Washington.

“It's just a piece of our offense. It's not like secondary, let's do this after the play. There's a real strategy to it.”

The strategy certainly worked in Washington, dropping them to their seventh loss in a row, and 1-8 overall.

The Cavs improved to 6-3 and 1-1 in the NBA Cup, with their third straight win, as they head back home on Saturday to face the Chicago Bulls, who are currently 6-2 to start the season.