One of the most surprising developments of the 2024-25 NBA season is the scorching hot start from the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs are the best team in the NBA with a historic 15-0 start to the year. Turns out all they needed was a change in Head Coach, as Kenny Atkinson has worked wonders on what is essentially an identical roster to last season’s.
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Cleveland is now tied with the Houston Rockets and the Washington Capitols for the second-longest win streak to start a season ever. There’s only one team ahead of them and that’s the 73-9 Golden State Warriors.
Each of the teams that have started the season 15-0 or better has reached the NBA Finals. The Rockets won the 1994 NBA Finals, while the Capitols lost in the Finals. Notoriously, the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead to the Cavaliers in 2016, following their historic start to the season.
If the trend continues, the Cavaliers could very well be looking at an NBA Finals berth at the very least.
How other teams with unbeaten starts fared in the playoffs
1957-58 Boston Celtics (14-0)
The Boston Celtics dominated the 50s and 60s en route to eight straight championships. However, the St. Louis Hawks, now based in Atlanta, ruined their hopes of 10 consecutive championships.
Ahead of the 1957-58 season, the Celtics were fresh off winning the franchise’s first title against the Hawks. Boston started the season as the best team in the league, winning their first 14 games. The Celtics finished the season with a 49-23 record. However, St. Louis was able to enact their revenge for their 1957 Finals loss.
2002-03 Dallas Mavericks (14-0)
During the 2000s, the Mavericks evolved into one of the most dominant teams in the NBA. The All-Star duo of Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki reached its peak as the team finished with a 60-22 record.
At the time, Nowitzki was in his fourth season and figured out how to succeed in the NBA. He averaged 23.4 points per game and led Dallas to the Western Conference Finals. In a matchup against in-state rivals, the San Antonio Spurs, the Mavericks didn’t have enough to overcome Tim Duncan and company.
1993-94 Houston Rockets (15-0)
In the first season of Michael Jordan’s first retirement from basketball, the Houston Rockets finally made their ascension as a team. The top overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft—which included MJ—Hakeem Olajuwon dominated the regular season.
Houston finished the season with a 58-24 record. Despite tying the NBA record for the best start to the season, they didn’t finish with the best record in the NBA. The Seattle SuperSonics notched a 63-19 record on the season. The eighth-seeded Nuggets infamously eliminated the SuperSonics. Houston then rolled through the competition and defeated the Knicks in seven games to capture the franchise’s first championship.
1948-49 Washington Capitols (15-0)
The Washington Capitols were originally a member of the BAA, which was the Basketball Association of America. In their final season in the BAA, before the merger with the NBL to become the NBA, the Capitols established the once-NBA record for the best start to a season with 15 consecutive wins.
However, they weren’t able to maintain that level of success for the entire season. They finished the year going 23-22 following their impressive start. Washington earned a berth in the Finals but lost in six games to the Minneapolis Lakers.
2015-16 Golden State Warriors (24-0)
The greatest regular season team of all time couldn’t be stopped to start the 2015-16 season. In the previous season, the Warriors won the NBA championship, defeating the Cavaliers in six games. Instead of having a championship hangover, they unleashed their fury on the entire league.
Stephen Curry transcended beyond an NBA superstar and into a global icon. He became the first player in NBA history to be unanimously named the MVP and his play through their first 24 games reflected that decision. Their 24-game win streak was snapped shockingly against the Bucks. Milwaukee finished the season outside the NBA playoffs with a 33-49 record.
Golden State did make it to the Finals once again but was unable to capitalize on their historic season. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers to an unlikely comeback, overturning a 3-1 deficit in the Finals, and ruined the Warriors’ near-perfect season.
Can the Cavaliers avoid the same fate as the Warriors?
It is poetic that the Cavaliers are now in the position that the Warriors were once in. Tristan Thompson is the only player on the Cavaliers roster who was a member of the team that defeated Golden State in 2016. However, the style of play between the two teams is much different.
The Warriors played with tremendous pace and focused on a small-ball-oriented lineup. On the other hand, this year’s Cavaliers team features twin towers, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Cleveland will impose their will defensively, which fuels their offense.
As it stands today, there are only four teams in the Eastern Conference with a .500 or greater record. The Cavs lead the way, with a 100% record, and the teams below them are the Celtics, the Knicks, and the Magic. The 11-3 Celtics may be the only legitimate opposition to preventing the Cavaliers from going all the way.
Boston’s ability to play five out can diminish the impact Allen can have defensively in the paint. Coupled with the impending return of big man Kristaps Porzingis, Boston has the tools to trump the Cavaliers’ storybook season.
Whether or not the Cavaliers can maintain their perfect start will be decided on 19th November, when they travel to TD Garden to take on the Celtics in the Emirates Cup.
15 games is still an incredibly small sample size in the grand scheme of an 82-game season. However, the Cavaliers have convincingly dominated their competition so far. There is a possibility that Cleveland capitalizes on this window they’ve created, but the defending champion Celtics haven’t shown any reason to doubt their capabilities of repeating once fully healthy.
