CLEVELAND — In his first game as a head coach against the Nets team that fired him — and yes, Brooklyn fired him — Kenny Atkinson admitted there was a little extra incentive, extra emotion, and just plain extra.
A night after leading Cleveland to a win over Golden State — where he had won a championship as an assistant — and a league-best unbeaten record, Atkinson guided his team to 11-0 with a 105-100 win over the Nets franchise that canned him in 2020.
“Yeah. I mean, it’s always … it’s unique,” Atkinson said Saturday. “The Warriors, that was a unique game. This is a [special] back-to-back. But you’re a competitor, right? And even [Friday], I was like, ‘Man, I wanted that game,’ because you had such great experience with the team you were with, but you also want to beat them.
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