The Cleveland Cavaliers did what they all the time do on Monday: win.
They’ve performed 12 video games and so they’ve received all 12, and currently, these wins appear to be coming in very related methods. Cleveland trailed the Bucks by eight with six minutes to play towards the Bucks final Monday. The Cavs trailed by 12 at first of the fourth quarter on Sunday towards the Brooklyn Nets. And naturally, on Monday night time in Chicago, they fell behind the Chicago Bulls by 9 within the third quarter.
However none of these leads mattered to the comeback Cavs, who are actually midway to historical past.
The best begin in NBA historical past belongs to the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors. That crew kicked off their season with a staggering 24 consecutive victories. With 12 wins down, Cleveland has 12 to go earlier than the Warriors enter their sights. For now, although, they’re steadily climbing up the all-time leaderboard. They’re now the eighth crew in league historical past to win their first 12 video games. In the event that they win yet one more, they grow to be crew No. 6 to succeed in 13. The all-time non-Warriors report is 15, held by the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and 1948-49 Washington Capitols.
The excellent news for Cleveland? They’ve a reasonably clear path as much as No. 15. Their subsequent three video games look comparatively straightforward. On Wednesday, they will journey to Philadelphia to face the 76ers in what usually could be a really robust matchup. Nonetheless, Tyrese Maxey is out as a result of damage, and whereas Joel Embiid hasn’t technically been dominated out but, he’s planning to make his season debut on Tuesday in Philadelphia’s NBA Cup opener towards the New York Knicks. He stated this offseason that he didn’t anticipate to play in back-to-backs transferring ahead, so that might seemingly rule him out towards the Cavaliers.
Cleveland returns residence after that for 2 video games towards lottery opponents from a season in the past. The Bulls simply gave them a really robust sport on Monday, and Chicago will get one other crack at Cleveland on Friday. Nonetheless, the Cavaliers shall be a heavy favourite in that matchup. They are going to be towards the Charlotte Hornets at residence on Sunday as properly. The Hornets have received three video games towards the Cavaliers up to now two seasons, however Donovan Mitchell missed all of them. With him within the lineup, Cleveland needs to be a comparatively robust favourite as properly.
Sadly, their push for sole possession of second-place on the all-time leaderboard hits a inexperienced and white buzzsaw in Recreation No. 16 — a street journey to Boston to face the defending champion Celtics. Granted, Cleveland has performed Boston exceptionally properly in recent times. They’re 5-5 towards one another up to now three common seasons, which does not sound nice till you keep in mind how badly Boston has overwhelmed up everyone else in that timeframe. Boston’s Kristaps Porzingis will nonetheless be out when that sport comes, however because it’s an NBA Cup matchup and everybody else shall be well-rested. That is by far the toughest sport on Cleveland’s short-term schedule and maybe its complete common season.
If Cleveland could make it by way of Boston? There’s one other clear path as much as 20. Their subsequent 4 video games could be residence dates with the injury-riddled Pelicans and Raptors adopted by a home-and-home with the underwhelming Hawks. These aren’t computerized wins by any means, particularly if the Pelicans or Raptors can get more healthy earlier than then, however Cleveland will, once more, be robust favorites in any of these video games.
The house stretch to the Warriors is the place issues get robust once more. Whereas sport No. 22 could be a simple residence sport towards the Wizards, it is sandwiched between residence video games towards the Celtics and Nuggets. The record-tying win would come on the street in Charlotte, and the record-breaking win would come on the street in Miami.
In all chance, Cleveland is not attending to 24. As daunting as that street journey to Boston appears to be like, the fact of the fashionable NBA is that three-point variance and the sheer depth of expertise within the league in the present day ensures that there aren’t any really straightforward video games. As these comebacks can attest, attending to 12 hasn’t been straightforward for Cleveland. Even when 24 or 25 is not life like, the upcoming schedule for the Cavaliers is fairly underwhelming. Barring accidents, there is no purpose to imagine they’re cooling off any time quickly.
