{"id":10217,"date":"2026-05-19T05:54:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=10217"},"modified":"2026-05-19T05:54:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:54:58","slug":"kenny-atkinsons-brother-on-cavs-coachs-rise-from-li-roots-to-brink-of-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=10217","title":{"rendered":"Kenny Atkinson&#8217;s brother on Cavs coach&#8217;s rise from LI roots to brink of NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 300px 160px; gap: 2px; width: 460px; background: #eee; padding: 2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u6574\u884c\u5bbd\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876674\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 90px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876676\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u5de6\u4fa7\u7ad6\u6392 -->\r\n  <div style=\"height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876672\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"height: 500px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876680\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u6469\u5929\u697c\uff08\u548c\u5de6\u4fa7\u5b8c\u5168\u5bf9\u9f50\uff09 -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row: 3\/5; height: 750px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876678\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  \r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e6\" data-zoneid=\"5876682\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>It\u2019s still New York or nowhere for Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>He may be a temporary enemy of the Empire State during the Eastern Conference finals, but Madison Square Garden will always be a special place to the native of Northport, Long Island.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a New Yorker,\u201d Atkinson said after the Cavaliers trounced the Pistons 125-94 in Game 7 to win the second-round series.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGoing back to the Garden, worked for the Knicks \u2014 know everybody there. My whole family\u2019s there basically. That\u2019s special.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After all, the 2025 Coach of the Year\u2019s local roots and great relationship with former Knicks assistant coach Phil Weber gave Atkinson an unforgettable spot in team lore more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPhil Weber actually lived literally around the corner from us,\u201d Michael Atkinson, Kenny\u2019s oldest of seven highly athletic brothers, told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPhil knew Kenny. Phil\u2019s a super personable guy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Atkinson played for more than a decade overseas as a point guard \u2014 he first dropped jaws at St. Anthony\u2019s High School and later with the 1988 Richmond Spiders, who reached the Sweet 16 \u2014 and broke into the NBA as Rockets director of player development in 2007.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Kenny Atkinson addresses reporters during a May 17 press conference. <span class=\"credit\">NBAE via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Michael said his brother\u2019s work in the Lone Star State quickly impressed Weber, who knew it was time to get Atkinson back home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe ended up recommending Kenny to Mike D\u2019Antoni, and Mike D\u2019Antoni hired Kenny with the Knicks,\u201d said Michael, a former Sachem hoops coach who Rick Pitino pulled to Kentucky.<\/p>\n<p>Atkinson spent four years at MSG, from 2008 to 2012, where \u201che had the guys towards the end of the roster\u201d to look after, his big bro said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of those guys happened to be Jeremy Lin, and so Kenny worked with Jeremy Lin on a daily basis,\u201d Michael added.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cJeremy Lin even gives Kenny a lot of credit for being ready when his number was called.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Atkinson clan was bleeding blue and orange long before Linsanity \u2014 or the Knicks\u2019 1973 title, for that matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were Knicks fans forever,\u201d Michael said.<\/p>\n<p>The brothers were also just as intense with one another as Walt Frazier\u2019s group was with the rest of the association.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Kenny Atkinson coaches during an October 2016 preseason game for the Nets. <span class=\"credit\">NBAE via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cEverybody was competitive, everybody had their own level of confidence,\u201d said Michael, the eldest at 71.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There was something about Kenny, the second youngest who is now 58, that stood out well before he became the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets from 2016 to 2020 and won an NBA Championship with the Warriors as an assistant in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Mainly, it was discipline and work ethic passed down by their Marine officer father Neil, and Pauline, a no-nonsense mom who once chased Kenny with a Wiffle ball bat when he was a 6-year-old.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you have eight kids \u2014 eight boys \u2014 you better have discipline,\u201d Michael said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Kenny Atkinson, second from left in the front row, is pictured with his brothers. <span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of Brian Atkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cHe just took, and I think you saw it [during Game 7], that level of focus and intensity just to another level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was a driving reason Kenny was the only sibling pulled from Northport public schools for St. Anthony\u2019s, a program led at the time by the late Gus Alfieri, a local basketball legend and St. John\u2019s Hall of Famer.<\/p>\n<p>A middle-school-aged Alan Hahn, who would go on to play for the Friars and LIU before becoming a Knicks analyst with MSG Network, still remembers being starstruck when he saw Atkinson play as a helper at a Long Island basketball camp in the 1980s.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first player that drew my attention and made me go, \u2018Wow,\u2019 was Kenny,\u201d Hahn said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Kenny Atkinson, fourth from left, is pictured with his brothers and parents. <span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of Brian Atkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt was a counselors and coaches game at lunchtime. He\u2019s such a competitor, dominated the scrimmages, and I was just drawn to him ever since. \u2026 He was my first basketball idol.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Atkinson was all about paying it forward, and that passion was palpable in any instruction he gave to up-and-coming Long Islanders.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Both Michael and Hahn said Kenny\u2019s basketball \u201clectures\u201d were anything but academic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe guy was dripping with sweat when he was done,\u201d Hahn said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen he was a player development guy, he was just as drenched in sweat as the player he was warming up for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Long Island is proud of the homegrown hoops guru\u2019s success \u2014 but locals will just have a funny way of showing it in the next few days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course I will be rooting for the Knicks,\u201d St. Anthony\u2019s alumni affairs director Denise Creighton wrote on Facebook, \u201cbut CONGRATULATIONS to Friar Alum Kenny Atkinson and the Cavs on their defeat of the Pistons.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \u603b\u5bb9\u5668\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u5bbd908px Grid\u7d27\u51d1\u5e03\u5c40 -->\r\n<div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 728px 160px; gap:2px; width:908px; background:#eee; padding:2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u901a\u680f\u9876\u90e8\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u6a2a\u5e45 908x258 \u8de8\u6574\u884c -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column:1\/-1; height:258px; background:#ff6b6b; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114307\" data-width=\"908\" data-height=\"258\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114307});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u7b2c\u4e8c\u901a\u680f\uff1a728\u00d790 \u901a\u680f -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column:1\/-1; height:90px; 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