The Cavs moved to 13-0 after defeating the shorthanded 76ers(2-9) 114-106 in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.
The 13-0 start is the sixth-best in NBA history.
Without their three best players, Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia led 54-48 at the half, but the Cavs took over in the third as they outscored the 76ers 34-24. Darius Garland scored 13 of his 25 points in the third.
Ultimately, in the fourth, Donovan Mitchell took over, and he would score 13 of his 25 points in the fourth, including the team’s final 11 points.
Mitchell, who also added 13 rebounds and nine assists, talked about his fourth-quarter takeover.
“In the fourth quarter, you know, like I said, it is why I am here,” he said. “It is what I do. For me, you know, just continue to have an impact on the game. Most of my game is rebounding, assists, defending, and in those moments, you have to just be yourself; that is what I do.”
Cleveland knows they will get everybody’s best effort because of their hot start; Garland believes the team has to stay together.
“We know we have a target on our backs, so we just have to come in with that aggressiveness and that confidence that we’re going to win every game,” Garland said. “That’s what we’ve been doing, even though, like you said, long nights, not a lot of sleep, but we just have to stay together and continue just to be great, and that’s what I’m trying to do.
Michell added: “If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best, but in order to be the best, which we are trying to continue to be, you have to go out there every night. You know, it is a mental thing. How great do you want to be? Do you want to be satisfied? Like I said this morning, we are being hunted, but it is also November, you know what I mean. I keep telling everyone, let’s relax, it is November, we are not winning the championship right now, but these are good tests. The fact that we are 13-0 is great but we could be 9-2, like it doesn’t really matter to me. The only thing is how do we continue to build the habits through getting the other team’s best on a night-to-night basis.”
The Cavs have two winnable games at home against the Bulls and Hornets before they travel to Boston to battle the Celtics next Tuesday, so 15-0 is possible. Getting to 16-0 could be tricky, but the way this team is playing, they might keep on winning.
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