Cleveland Cavaliers went very, very close to making history in NBA, by achieving the second best season-start ever, with fifteen consecutive victories. That record is currently held by three other teams, and Cleveland hoped to extend it at least one more match.
But in front of them, they had Boston Celtics, current NBA champions. And they were very, very close: 120-117. Celtics earned a 17 points advantage in the first half, too large for Cavaliers to reach. Despite all, Cavs are still leaders of the East Conference (15-1) followed by Celtics (12-3).
Jayson Tatum was the top scorer on Boston's side, with 33 points. Cavs recovered from the awful first half and Donovan Mitchell was close to achieving a miracle, scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Despite this loss, this is Cleveland Cavaliers' best moment since LeBron James left in 2018, trained by Kenny Atkinson, who did become the first NBA coach ever to win his first 15 games with a new team. They already broke all expectations when they qualified for the NBA Playoffs last year, but lost 4-1 to Celtics.
In all honesty, Celtics had more at stake than just a nice NBA record and a revenge from last year's semi-finals. After one loss, Celtics had the obligation to win if they didn't want to say goodbye too prematurely to the NBA Cup. Now, Celtics and Cavs are 1-1 in East Group C (one victory, one defeat), a group led by Atlanta Hawks 2-0.