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Cavs’ Darius Garland sends ‘no fluke’ message after 11-0 start
On Saturday evening, the Cleveland Cavaliers moved to a perfect record of 11-0 with a narrow home win vs the Brooklyn Nets. The Cavs have already set the franchise record for most consecutive wins to open up a season, and point guard Darius Garland’s improved play has been a large part of the reason why, a trend that continued with an efficient game on Sunday vs the Nets.
The league is quickly taking notice of the Cavs’ hot start–they are now the only team still standing undefeated after a recent loss by the Oklahoma City Thunder–and recently, Garland got one hundred percent real on why he believes that it is sustainable.
“I don’t think this is just any old fluke,” said Garland, via NBA TV. “We’ve played some really good teams out of these 11 games and we’ve had some great challenges. Even tonight we had a little bit of adversity, we had some challenges going through the entire 48 minutes of the game, and in the fourth quarter, we just turned it up a little bit on both sides of the ball and I think we can do that for all 82 games… I think we have a really good chance at being one of these contenders.”
Is the Cavs’ hot start sustainable?
David Richard-Imagn Images
Sustainable as in 82-0? Probably not, as the closest any team has ever gotten to reaching that mark was the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, who finished 73-9. However, there is plenty of reason to believe that the Cavs will be able to remain at or near the top of the Eastern Conference playoff picture if they’re able to stay relatively healthy throughout the season.
We know about Donovan Mitchell and his status as arguably the best shooting guard in the entire NBA, but this year has seen immense improvement from both Garland and Evan Mobley, who has continued to expand upon the flashes of offensive dominance that he showed at times during the playoffs last year after Jarrett Allen went down.
The team is also filled with elite role players like Ty Jerome who had another great game on Saturday vs the Nets, as well as Isaac Okoro, who has turned himself into one of the elite three and D role players in the league.
In any case, the Cavs will look to make their record 12-0 when they next take the floor on Monday evening on the road vs the Chicago Bulls at 8:00 PM ET.
Jeff Teague dishes on why Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell is better than Anthony Edwards
Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavs beat the New Orleans Pelicans 131-122 to improve to 9-0, the greatest start to a regular season in franchise history. Mitchell and the 2024-25 Cavs topped the LeBron era for the impressive feat, which has put the rest of the league on notice, and NBA analyst alike, such as retired guard Jeff Teague. The Club 520 Podcast host went as far as to say Mitchell is a better player than Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Anthony Edwards.
Teague got a surprised look and a “say that again” out of his co-host, DJ Wells.
“Donovan Mitchell is better than [Anthony Edwards] I’m rolling with Don man,” Teague said, doubling down on his take. “D-Mitch, man.”
Jeff’s respect for Donovan stretches back to the NBA bubble in 2020, where the 2019-20 regular season resumed after a five-month league shutdown in March due to Covid.
“I’ve got Donovan Mitchell brother, I ain’t never seen A.E. go for 45 in the bubble,” Teague added before further explaining his point.
“Donovan Mitchell gets just as much buckets as A.E. A.E. just talks and he’s more likable. He’s got more swag, more likable. Donovan Mitchell just gets his business done he doesn’t talk much, he’s just chilling. He just grew up a little different, his dad was a basketball player,” Teague concluded.
Then, Teauge brought up production to back up his argument.
“When it comes to them as individual players, Donovan Mitchell shoots way better than Ant Edwards, he’s just as explosive,” Teague added. “I love A.E’.s game but I haven’t seen A.E have that back and forth game like Donovan Mitchell has.”
Mitchell is averaging 23.8 points while shooting at a career-best 48.5% clip from the floor, while Edwards is averaging 28.0 points and is 48.2% from the floor, and 46.1% from deep. However, being the small sample size of the first couple week into the regular season that it is for the two stars, it’s difficult to gauge how those statistics change between now and the end of 2024-25.
Career-wise, Donovan has a slight advantage on career shooting while averaging 24.8 points to Edwards’ 23.0. Still, Teague says Ant-Man wins the popularity vote for his demeanor and abrasiveness despite the fact Mitchell has been in the NBA for eight years, three years longer than Edwards’ five. Both players have one All-NBA selection, while Donovan’s been named to five All-Star teams to Edwards’ two.
Donovan Mitchell sounds off on ‘outrageous’ officiating
“We’re second in the league in drives per game and we’re not getting any foul calls,” Mitchell said. “I’ve been quiet about it for a long time. Tonight, I almost lost my mind out there.”
The Cavs will go for 10-0 against the Warriors on Friday.
Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell sounds off on ‘outrageous’ officiating
The Cleveland Cavaliers continued their scorching start to the 2024-25 NBA season on Wednesday evening with a road win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Donovan Mitchell has been brilliant so far on the young season, and that continued on Wednesday as the star scored 29 points in the road victory, which pushed Cleveland’s record to a perfect 9-0.
Making matters even more impressive for the Cavs so far this year is that they’ve been doing this without a particularly favorable whistle, a trend that continued on Wednesday vs the Pelicans. After the game, Mitchell sounded off on the officiating crew.
“We’re second in the league in drives per game and we’re not getting any foul calls,” Mitchell said, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “I’ve been quiet about it for a long time. Tonight, I almost lost my mind out there. D.G. had no free throws. I had six. Four late in the game. J.A. (Jarrett Allen) had two. Ev (Evan Mobley) had (three). For us to be the team that we are, to drive and not get foul calls, it’s crazy.
“The refereeing has been so inconsistent, especially against us. There needs to be consistency. I’m proud of the way we were fighting through it, and I told my guys I was going to be the one to say something about it, don’t even complain, but it’s getting out of hand, it’s getting crazy.:
Mitchell then spoke on if he has any theories as to why this may be the case.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But the stats are there. I didn’t want to come out here and not be factual. We are a team that is getting into the paint. It’s not just myself. It’s us as a collective. Trying to finish, getting hit, different things, eight different guys had blood on us tonight but we’re not getting no fouls called in our favor. It’s been multiple games now. For me, that’s part of my game. If I’m getting knocked off my line, that’s a foul. I mean, tonight it was a foul for Zion (Williamson) or whoever. Where’s the consistency?”
Will the Cavs get respect?
Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
Getting a favorable whistle was never a problem for the Cavs during the days that LeBron James played for the franchise, but outside of that, the team has never been particularly marquee or prone to getting questionable calls go their direction.
In any case, the Cavs will look to make it a perfect 10-0 on the young season when they next hit the floor vs the Golden State Warriors on Friday evening at home.