The Cleveland Cavaliers did what they always do on Monday: win.
They’ve played 12 games and they’ve won all 12, and lately, those wins seem to be coming in very similar ways. Cleveland trailed the Bucks by eight with six minutes to play against the Bucks last Monday. The Cavs trailed by 12 at the beginning of the fourth quarter on Sunday against the Brooklyn Nets. And of course, on Monday night in Chicago, they fell behind the Chicago Bulls by nine in the third quarter.
But none of those leads mattered to the comeback Cavs, who are now halfway to history.
The greatest start in NBA history belongs to the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors. That team kicked off their season with a staggering 24 consecutive victories. With 12 wins down, Cleveland has 12 to go before the Warriors enter their sights. For now, though, they’re steadily climbing up the all-time leaderboard. They are now the eighth team in league history to win their first 12 games. If they win one more, they become team No. 6 to reach 13. The all-time non-Warriors record is 15, held by the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and 1948-49 Washington Capitols.
The good news for Cleveland? They have a pretty clear path up to No. 15. Their next three games look relatively easy. On Wednesday, they’ll travel to Philadelphia to face the 76ers in what normally would be a very tough matchup. However, Tyrese Maxey is out due to injury, and while Joel Embiid hasn’t technically been ruled out yet, he is planning to make his season debut on Tuesday in Philadelphia’s NBA Cup opener against the New York Knicks. He said this offseason that he did not expect to play in back-to-backs moving forward, so that would likely rule him out against the Cavaliers.
Cleveland returns home after that for two games against lottery opponents from a season ago. The Bulls just gave them a very tough game on Monday, and Chicago gets another crack at Cleveland on Friday. Still, the Cavaliers will be a heavy favorite in that matchup. They will be against the Charlotte Hornets at home on Sunday as well. The Hornets have won three games against the Cavaliers in the past two seasons, but Donovan Mitchell missed all of them. With him in the lineup, Cleveland should be a relatively strong favorite as well.
Unfortunately, their push for sole possession of second-place on the all-time leaderboard hits a green and white buzzsaw in Game No. 16 — a road trip to Boston to face the defending champion Celtics. Granted, Cleveland has played Boston exceptionally well in recent years. They are 5-5 against each other in the past three regular seasons, which doesn’t sound great until you remember how badly Boston has beaten up everybody else in that time frame. Boston’s Kristaps Porzingis will still be out when that game comes, but as it’s an NBA Cup matchup and everyone else will be well-rested. This is by far the hardest game on Cleveland’s short-term schedule and perhaps its entire regular season.
If Cleveland can make it through Boston? There’s another clear path up to 20. Their next four games would be home dates with the injury-riddled Pelicans and Raptors followed by a home-and-home with the underwhelming Hawks. Those are not automatic wins by any means, especially if the Pelicans or Raptors can get healthier before then, but Cleveland will, again, be strong favorites in any of those games.
The home stretch to the Warriors is where things get tough again. While game No. 22 would be an easy home game against the Wizards, it’s sandwiched between home games against the Celtics and Nuggets. The record-tying win would come on the road in Charlotte, and the record-breaking win would come on the road in Miami.
In all likelihood, Cleveland isn’t getting to 24. As daunting as that road trip to Boston looks, the reality of the modern NBA is that three-point variance and the sheer depth of talent in the league today ensures that there are no truly easy games. As those comebacks can attest, getting to 12 hasn’t been easy for Cleveland. Even if 24 or 25 isn’t realistic, the upcoming schedule for the Cavaliers is pretty underwhelming. Barring injuries, there’s no reason to believe they are cooling off any time soon.
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