The Cavaliers are for real at 15-0 but Celtics poised to end streak Tuesday

Here’s the stat that should make Cavaliers’ fans the most optimistic: Each of the other three teams that started at least 15-0 made the NBA Finals that season. Only one team in NBA history — the 73-win 2015-16 Golden State Warriors — started a season with a longer win streak than these Cavaliers.

Tonight, that streak may well get snapped by the one team in the East that looks like it could break history’s trend and keep the Cavaliers from the Finals: The Boston Celtics.

Cleveland at Boston is the biggest game on the schedule so far this season — and this is a critical NBA Cup game (one Boston needs to win to have a shot at advancing out of group play, and one Cleveland needs to keep pace with Atlanta in East Group 3). There’s a lot to this game— it’s time to discuss it.

Are the Cavaliers for real?

Yes.

Variations of “Are the Cavs real?” is the question I have gotten the most this season — on sports talk radio and broadcast appearances, as well as by casual hoops fans and friends — and my answer is the same: This is no fluke.

While these Cavaliers have bought into new coach Kenny Atkinson’s system in a way we had not seen in Cleveland in recent years, remember, the Cavs have been good for a few years. Cleveland finished fourth in the East each of the last two seasons — with a top-six defense — despite injuries and an old-school, at times stagnant offense.

The questions coming into the season were how good they could be if healthy, if their defense kept playing well, and if new coach Kenny Atkinson put some pace and motion in the offense.

Turns out, very good.

Under Atkinson, the Cavaliers have the best offense in the league, with a key part of that being the team is shooting a likely unsustainable 41.9% on 3-pointers. Darius Garland is having a bounce-back season and has found a fit next to the team’s leading scorer, Donovan Mitchell (something that was never smooth in previous seasons).

However, the biggest change in Cleveland’s offense is big man Evan Mobley taking a step forward — he has become an offensive initiator. He is grabbing the rebound and pushing the pace up the court himself, and in the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/cavaliers-real-15-0-celtics-154434958.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2024-11-19 15:44:00

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