Mike Fratello: Cavs have bounced back before, ‘Why not again?’

Former Cavaliers coach Mike Fratello still believes.

This after the Cavaliers melted down in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, blowing a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter in losing to the Knicks in overtime. It was… unbelievable. But it actually happened.

Fratello told Andy Baskin and Jeff Phelps on 92.3 The Fan that, hey, the Cavs have overcome plenty in the playoffs — and they can overcome this, too.

As for Game 1, Fratello said it wasn’t just one thing that caused the collapse. It was a number of things.

“Just about everything had to go a certain way for New York to end up pulling that out,” he said. “For example, we had to miss free throws. We did that. … Then we had to commit turnovers. Then we had to take bad shots down the stretch.”

All of that happened. And more.

“We forgot about the big guys who have been so good to us at the beginning of the game and the third quarter,” Fratello added. “We got away from that and started taking 22-foot jump shots, that weren’t going in at that time. … The fact we were up 22 with seven-plus (minutes) left in the game was astonishing when you look at the final stats.”

The Cavs shot just 40 percent from the field for the game, including 32 percent on 3-pointers. Then there were the turnovers. Cleveland committed a whopping 19, many coming at the worst possible time.

“That’s something that hurt us in the Detroit series, it hurt us in the Toronto series, and it came back to bite us last night,” Fratello said. 

Fortunately for the Cavs, a series isn’t over when an opponent overcomes a 22-point deficit. It’s the first to win four games.

“Game 2 is Thursday night. The Cavs have bounced back before,” Fratello said. “They did it against Toronto, against Detroit, who won that Game 6 in our building, and then we go back (to Detroit) and win Game 7. Why can’t it happen again?”

Fratello was then asked about Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson, and Atkinson not calling a timeout until the Knicks completed an 18-1 run. Atkinson, of course, has come under lots of fire for that.

“You know what? It’s not just Kenny, it’s the staff,” Fratello said. “There’s all those assistant coaches there. … What I what to know is if anyone else on the staff stepped up and said, ‘Coach, maybe we need one now.’ At that point in a head coach’s head, there’s some many things going on. ‘Am i taking guys out? Am I putting guys in? Am I changing my defense?’

“All that’s going on. I was blessed in my career that I had 11 asisstants, and they all went on to become head coaches. And they’re the ones that help you and you know, maybe bail you out of a difficult situation.”

So, what would Fratello say to his own team after a loss like that?

“The first thing you do is you own up to what your mistakes were — whether it be the preparation, the adjustments that you made or did not make, and that you’re gonna make for the next game,” Fratello said. “Make the players understand that you’re part of this whole thing, and you didn’t exacly have a great night last night. 

“You clear that up right away and then you go to your film session.”

After that, Fratello said he’d address the turnovers, the missed free throws, the defense… basically, everything that went wrong. Then he talked about adjustments, and yes, the fact that he still believes.

Do the Cavs believe, too? Well, there’s at least three more games to find out.

Listen to Fratello’s full in-depth interview here.