The Cleveland Cavaliers are red hot.
Kenny Atkinson, in his first season as coach, watched from the bench as his team extended their best-ever start to an NBA campaign with a 10th successive victory by beating the Golden State Warriors 136-117.
“10-0 is something. It’s kind of a magic number, right?” Atkinson said post-game.
Fittingly the Cavs are the first team to start 10-0 since Curry and the Warriors in 2015-16. They are just the fourth team since 2000, and just the 15th all-time. It’s rare air.
“I was worried about tonight – they’re 7-1 and rolling and they’re coming in here, they’re champions and they’re going to try and knock our block off.
“The way we came out tonight – that surprised me, how ready we were, how hungry we were. 10-0 is really something for our team.”
Atkinson’s high-powered offense has been a great fit for Cleveland so far, which leads the league in points per game at 124.5, with a .526 field goal percentage.
They dominated from the start against the Warriors, and led 83-42 at half-time, with Stephen Curry managing just 12 points as Golden State’s five-game winning streak was halted.
In fact, Cleveland set a franchise record with that 41-point halftime lead — tying the eighth largest in the NBA’s shot clock era.
And with their latest victory, the Cavs became the first team in NBA history to win their first 10 games and score at least 110 points in each of them.
Having reached the “magic number” that Atkinson mentioned, they are now out on their own, as Wilt Chamberlain and the 1960-61 Philadelphia Warriors had shared the mark with nine.
A record-breaking start has left many NBA fans questioning if the Cavs are for real.
When the season tipped-off a few weeks ago, it was the likes of the Boston Celtics, defending champions, or the Oklahoma City Thunder who were expected to make a deep playoff run.
But 10 games in, and it’s Cleveland that sit top of the Eastern Conference with the NBA’s only perfect record.
Not even LeBron James was able to orchestrate a 10-0 to start a season with the Cavs, and this is the same core of players that went 4-6 in the opening weeks last time out.
Under J.B. Bickerstaff last season, Cleveland averaged 112.6 points and shot .479 from the field — with the same top nine players on their roster.
They lost to eventual champion Boston in the second round of the playoffs, but are now looking to go further.
The only significant change made by general manager Koby Altman was hiring Atkinson after he spent three years as an assistant under Steve Kerr with the Warriors.
He seems a great fit in Cleveland, as Kerr himself admitted post-game.
“This was a great job to get, just like mine was 10 years ago, and it’s a perfect spot for Kenny,” he said.
“Continuity was already there and they were damn good last year, but Kenny has added his touch. He obviously is a good fit.”
While the Cavs sent a message to the Warriors, and the entire NBA with their latest win, there is a feeling on the team that they still haven’t reached their full potential.
“We have a long way to go, a lot of stuff to clean up, which is great,” Jarrett Allen said.
“We know we can be better and we’re not going to stop working until we get there. Kenny is one of the best coaches in the league and it’s showing.”
