The Cleveland Cavaliers will try to match their best start in franchise history when they host the struggling Milwaukee Bucks on Monday in the second game of a home-and-home set.
At 7-0, the Cavs — the only unbeaten team in the Eastern Conference — pulled off a dramatic 114-113 road win over the Bucks on Saturday, when Donovan Mitchell drained a game-winning 19-footer with 0.3 seconds left.
“Great NBA basketball game,” first-year Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We took that barrage in the first quarter — that happens — and we could have just wilted. Instead we stuck with it. We sniffed we could get back in the game and once we got back in the game it was a real battle.”
On the final play, Mitchell nearly lost the ball on the inbounds pass, then fumbled it toward the sidelines before reclaiming it and nailing the winner over Gary Trent Jr.
A Cavs win Monday would match their 8-0 start to the 1976-77 season. That team was led by Austin Carr, coached by Bill Fitch and finished 43-39 before losing in the first round of the playoffs.
Saturday marked a fifth straight disappointing loss for the 1-5 Bucks, who are without Khris Middleton due to an ankle injury.
“I loved our execution down the stretch,” Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said. “It was one of those games were there were so many small things and they come back to haunt you.”
Damian Lillard had a monster game, pouring in 41 points, including 10 3-pointers, and dishing out nine assists. Fellow star Giannis Antetokounmpo added 34 points and 16 rebounds, but Milwaukee’s bench was outscored by Cleveland’s bench 36-13.
Sam Merrill provided the Cavs a big lift as a reserve, nailing 5 of 9 3-point attempts and scoring 17 points.
“Our bench, we have to figure that out,” Rivers said. “We have not found the correct rotation yet. We have to keep searching for that.”
Antetokounmpo entered Sunday second in the NBA in scoring (31.0 ppg) and tied for third in rebounding (12.3), while Lillard is averaging 26.2 points. But after those two stars, the team’s third-leading scorer, Bobby Portis, averages just 11 points.
Meanwhile, everything seems to be clicking for the Cavs. They entered Sunday second in the NBA in scoring (123.1 ppg) and led the NBA in field goal percentage (52.6).
Mitchell is averaging a team-high 24.4 points per game, while Darius Garland is second at 17.9 and has not missed a free throw this season (12-for-12). He also leads the team in assists at 6.3 per contest, while Jarrett Allen paces the Cavs in rebounding average at 11.1.
Caris LeVert is enjoying a strong start to the season off the bench, shooting 52.4 percent from 3-point range and delivering 12 points a game.
“It just brings me a level of comfort,” LeVert said of reuniting with Atkinson, his former coach with the Brooklyn Nets. “It’s like any other relationship. When you’ve been with someone for a long time, you just have a level of comfort with them.”
