A challenger rises in the East
Can the Cavs knock off the Celtics?
BY DAVID THORPE
What does the Cavaliers’ 15-0 start tell us?
We tend to associate fast starts with big finishes. Only one team in NBA history started 15-0 and then won an NBA title: the 1993-1994 Houston Rockets. The 2015-2016 Golden State Warriors, who started 24-0, finished 73-9, then lost the Finals in seven games to … the Cleveland Cavaliers. Streaks of 15-or-more wins starting anywhere after Game 1 seem to be a better indicator: four champions since 1999-2000. But those champion Cavs never won more than eight in a row. In other words, big winning streaks rarely herald a champion.
That’s actually good news for the Cavs, who face the reigning champs tonight in Boston. This season, the Cavs rank 29th in strength of schedule, so maybe it’s just been easy. The only team that’s had it easier? The Celtics, who have three losses through 14 games.
What it tells us is that the Cavs have something cooking. The Cavs might have played mostly weaker opponents, but contenders win the games they’re supposed to win, right? Even after two barnburners with the Bucks, which the Cavs won by three combined points, Cleveland’s average margin of victory would rate as the second-highest of all time.
I’m nowhere near ready to say the Cavs will claim the East, but winning streaks reinforce the idea that everything’s working. Placebo or not, the entire team starts to believe there’s causation and correlation between winning and routine. That leads to buy-in; players start believing in the system, right or wrong. And five is one thing, but 15 straight wins?
That tells me head coach Kenny Atkinson has formed a clear connection in Cleveland, and that the Cavs are likely to rip off another long streak this season. Winning forges an identity that can carry a team through rough patches, and the Cavaliers are forging theirs right before our eyes.
Will Boston be the team to break the streak? Even if the Celtics win tonight, it looks like they have a new nemesis in the East. Here’s what I see happening:
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