The Cleveland Cavaliers can’t stop winning. On Friday night, they improved their NBA-best start to the season to 14-0 with a 144-126 win over the Chicago Bulls. With the win, the Cavs also improved to 1-0 in NBA Cup group play and have their eyes firmly set on the final bracket and a trip to Las Vegas.
In the win, first-year head coach Kenny Atkinson made some history of his own. With this win, Atkinson became the first coach in NBA history to win his first 14 games with a new team.
Atkinson and the Cavs will have a good chance to keep that streak going on Sunday when they take on the Charlotte Hornets before a blockbuster matchup with the Boston Celtics in NBA Cup action on Tuesday.
The overall consensus when the Cavs hired Atkinson to replace JB Bickerstaff was that it was a good hire who should help the team stay right in the playoff mix, but nobody could have foreseen the success that they have had so far this season. The Cavs finished as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference last season, and while they were banged up for much of the season, they brought back mostly the same roster in 2024-25.
Atkinson had a 118-190 record in four seasons as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets before he was fired as Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving arrived in Brooklyn. He’s well on his way to reversing that record with the Cavs.
Donovan Mitchell emerging as early MVP candidate
Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
There is plenty of credit to go around for the Cavs’ hot start this season, but arguably nobody deserves it more than Donovan Mitchell. Despite some up-and-down shooting numbers, Mitchell has come through over and over again when it matters in the fourth quarter. Mitchell went on a crazy heater to knock off the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night before closing out the Bulls with 18 points in the final 12 minutes on Friday.
Mitchell has become one of the league’s go-to scorers in the final minutes of games, and it looks like he may have taken the final leap into superstardom that would turn the Cavs into true NBA title contenders. Of course, they appear to be heading down that path after this blazing-hot start to the season, and Mitchell is a large part of that. If he keeps up these clutch performances, Mitchell will be in the MVP conversation throughout the season.
Darius Garland is also playing the best basketball of his career this season. Garland is averaging 20.5 points and 6.5 assists per game on very efficient shooting splits, including shooting the 3-ball at a 44.9% clip on nearly seven attempts per game.
The lineup including Garland, Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen has become one of the most lethal combos in the league, and that group has the chance to take the Cavs to new heights.
