close
close

Ourladyoftheassumptionparish

Part – Newstatenabenn

Cavaliers tie 1976 team for best start in franchise history and improve to 8-0 by beating Bucks
patheur

Cavaliers tie 1976 team for best start in franchise history and improve to 8-0 by beating Bucks

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cavaliers’ win total is growing quickly, and so is their confidence.

At 8-0 so far, they are the only undefeated team left in the Eastern Conference and at this point they could very well win them all.

“That’s the plan,” center Jarrett Allen said with a wide smile.

The Cavs kept their unblemished record intact Monday night with a 116-114 victory over the Milwaukee Buckswho pushed Cleveland to the absolute limit despite playing without injured two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Darius Garland scored 39 points to lead the Cavs, out-dueling Bucks star Damian Lillard in the final minutes as the point guards put on a dazzling shooting display to the delight of another crowd inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

“It was unbelievable,” said Garland, who made 7 of 11 3-pointers, including the go-ahead one with 45 seconds left that put the Cavs up 113-111. “I grew up watching Dame. “It was great to play 1-on-1 basketball.”

It’s been team baseball that has allowed Cleveland to get off to a flawless start.

With the win, the Cavs tied the best start in franchise history, matching the 1976-77 Cavs, who went 8-0 before finishing 43-39 under coach Bill Fitch.

“We’re not going to do that,” All-Star Donovan Mitchell said, interrupting a reporter who mentioned the franchise record for fear of cursing the team’s early streak. “I didn’t know. It’s great. Obviously you want to enjoy the little things away from home and it’s great to have that, but at the end of the day it’s been eight games.”

Maybe so, but the Cavs have won them all under first-year coach Kenny Atkinson, and they’ve done it with a new catalyst emerging almost every night.

“We’ve won in a lot of different ways,” said Mitchell, who signed a three-year contract extension with the Cavs this summer. “To me that’s been more impressive than the eight wins, just how we’ve done it. We’ve had blowouts. We have had close games. We’re back. Every night there is someone new.”

Atkinson has been willing to play deep on their bench in almost every game. Although he was missing starter Dean Wade and top reserve Caris LeVert against the Bucks due to injuries, he used 10 players, including rookie Luke Travers, who appeared in just his second game.

“It just shows the faith in the group, from top to bottom,” said Mitchell, who beat the Bucks on Saturday with a last-second jumper. “And the faith we have in each other.”

The Cavs know the first loss will come at some point, and they are unlikely to threaten the NBA record held by the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, who opened 24-0. But they are having fun and nothing is more fun than winning.

“We’re all locked in,” Garland said.

___

AP NBA: