When the NBA kicked off the 2024-25 season, all the focus was on the reigning champions, the Boston Celtics. They deserve it, because the champion always has to have them and more when they keep their squad that made them king indisputably. It overshadows almost any other team. And it almost causes a general underestimation of the opposition, something that the brutality of the start of the season by the Cleveland Cavaliers elevates. They have already won 10 games in 10. Who doesn’t take them seriously?
The Cavs, who were actually beaten in the last Eastern Playoffs by the Celtics themselves, are keeping up the pace and are not just a one-day wonder. After beating the Golden State Warriors 136-117, they matched one of the best starts in modern NBA history. Since 2000, there have been very few similar cases. The Warriors themselves, in 2015-16 with their 73-9 record, went 24-0. The 2002-23 Mavericks went 14-0. And the 2000-01 Sixers went 10-0. And it doesn’t bring immediate success… as none of those franchises were champions. But it warns everyone, and that’s what Cleveland does.
The Cavaliers rely on a special attack. Against the Warriors, they smashed records by scoring 83 points at halftime. They had never scored so much in the play-by-play era and blew out the Warriors, who came in as the second-best defense in the NBA and were held to just 42 points. In the game, six players scored 12 or more points: Donovan Mitchell (12), Jarrett Allen (13+12), Isaac Okoro (16), Ty Jerome (20) and Darius Garland (27+6).
A 10-0 is something… isn’t it?
That offense also raises all the maximum records. Of the best starts in history, none surpassed, as Cleveland does, 110 points in every game. And they have scored 130 points in five games, equaling the best campaigns (of 82 games) in the history of the Ohio team, from 2016-17 and 2017-18. An amazing feat and a message to anyone who underestimates them.
[Atkinson] is a nut, he’s always watching basketball
“Winning 10-0 is something. It’s like magic, isn’t it?” said his coach, Kenny Atkinson. The author of the miracle and with a Spanish accent, as he has the passport since he is married to a Spanish woman and played four years in Spanish basketball. “He’s crazy in a good way. Whenever I call him he’s watching basketball,” said Steve Kerr, coach of the Warriors. He was his rival… but they also worked together in the Bay Area. “If he sees something bad, he’ll say it,” said Jonathan Kuminga, also a Golden State player who also knows him perfectly.
