From the first game of this NBA season to November 17, 2024 the Cleveland Cavaliers went on a 15 game win streak, which tied for the second-best start in NBA history,
It was a phenomenal start. Almost too phenomenal. Great teams win games, but teams that are just “really good, but, like, you know…” also go on win streaks. After the Boston Celtics’ championship last season and the New York Knicks’ additions in the summer, it was difficult for some to truly believe that Cleveland had joined the class of true contenders in the East.
Plus, Milwaukee still had Dame and Giannis. In Indiana, Tyrese Haliburton was getting healthy after an Eastern Conference Finals run. Meanwhile, the Magic were on their way up with an active young core. Kyle Kuzma was also there in Washington, smiling and waving.
Cleveland would have to lose at some point — maybe after they lost, they would lose some more, doubters thought. Maybe they'd fall back to earth like the Eggman-planet-base-thing in Sonic Adventure 2.
They did lose eventually, most of those losses coming in a two-week stretch in January when they went 3-5.
Cleveland's cold streak feels like the distant past
The Cavs got tired of the whole “losing basketball games” thing. Since their game on January 27, the Cavs have gone 14-1. This fifteen-game stretch might be more impressive than their auspicious undefeated start.
Per Cleaning the Glass, the Cleveland Cavaliers had the second-best point differential in the league for their first 15 games at plus-12.9. That ranked just behind the Oklahoma City Thunder. They had the top offense in the league and the sixth-best defense.
That is incredibly impressive, but it still seemed it could fall under the “crazy hot start” umbrella. They were winning, and they were winning by a lot, but they weren’t dominating the entire league at the time.
Fast forward to now. For the last 15 games, again per Cleaning the Glass, the Cavaliers are a stultifying plus-17.9 in point differential. That mark comes with the statistical expectation of winning 73-plus games in an 82 game season.
In this stretch they have the second best offense and second best defense. Having a top-10 mark in both categories is a nice little sign of a possible contender. Top two in both is just stupid.
And the crazy thing is, they’re not exactly doing it with an MVP frontrunner. There are multiple people you could call the Cavs’ MVP. Donovan Mitchell seems like he has the name, drive and desire to lead the charge, but Darius Garland is an All-Star with the highest FG% of his career while shooting 42 percent from 3-point and being trusted with defensive assignments one might consider a bit above his pay grade.
Then there is Evan Mobley. It feels like he doesn’t show flashes. And it feels like he doesn’t have massive slumps. He just gets better. Methodically, somewhat perfectly. I wouldn’t even call Mobley’s acceleration "leaps." He just gets better every single day.
Jarrett Allen, former All-Star, is also there. He’s probably the fourth guy on the totem pole, and if Jarrett Allen is fourth, you have an extremely sick totem pole.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are real, and they’re on top for a reason. They hit a quick rough patch, recollected, and decided to double down on the fact that they’re amazing.
And with their next five games coming against Chicago, Miami, Charlotte, Milwaukee and Brooklyn they could very well extend this undefeated streak to match their early season watermark.
This is awesome. It’s just a fantastic time to be a Cavaliers fan. There should be trust in this team at this point. They have proven themselves as true contenders. Now it’s just a matter of being the best version of themselves they can be and solving problems as they come.