New performance from the golden duo and, with this one, they are already bronze.
Cleveland Cavaliers they won their fourteenth consecutive match (which also applies to the NBA Cup) and they still don’t know what this season’s defeat is. Fourteen wins means, among other things, finishing at the bottom of the podium in terms of historic starts, and sharing third place with the ’58 Celtics and 2003 Mavericks.
Above there would be only the 15 victories of the ’93 Rockets and the ’39 Capitos, and an almost unattainable distance, the 2016 Golden State Warriors, a team that holds the best record in the NBA in the regular season (73-9) and that he came out on top, winning RS’s first 24 games.
An infallible duo
In 2027/28, according to the contracts signed today, they will be two of the twenty highest paid players in the NBA. Donovan Mitchell will receive $56.5 million if he exercises his player option (10th), while Darius Garland will receive $44.8 million in what would be the final year of his contract.
The Cavaliers bet everything on the pair of permits, first renewing Garland in 2022 for the maximum allowed for a player coming off the rookie scale (197 million in 5 years), and they did the same this summer with Mitchell, extending his deal with the Cavs another three years, always for the maximum allowed by the agreement (150 million).
Yet there were all doubts and mistrust towards this disproportionate investment. And there were reasons. Because last year, even though the Cavs reached the conference semifinals and lost to Boston (4-1) while maintaining their dignity, if something didn’t work in Cleveland’s management it was their external chemistry.
Darius Garland, who had taken four steps forward in 2022, now seemed to take a couple back. And Mitchell is as individually fabulous as he is collectively disconnected. Results yes, but based more on talent than on synergy. A versatile roster, with players with ideally complementary profiles, but without enough fluidity as they should to unlock their full potential.
Call it a clean slate, call it Kenny Atkinson, call it a mix of both, or call it whatever you want. The fact is that in this first month and a half of the match everything goes smoothly in the Cavs’ rotation and above all in their very expensive combo of defense courtwhere Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, ages 24 and 28 respectively, play, and more importantly, nurture each other, to a spectacular degree.
Initial cyclone and final pin
Against Chicago they gave another performance, reaching 14 in one go, allowing themselves to collect more points than usual because in attack they were an unstoppable hurricane that didn’t need their best version in defense (7th best defensive ratio in the championship) .
Although the Bulls withstood the Cavs’ impetuous start (34-49) which came close to the best score achieved in a single quarter (55 points), and arrived at halftime still alive (not thanks to LaVine, horrible ), there was no mercy in the final minutes in which the NBA leader gave free rein to his overwhelming superiority, even with the loss of one of his most important men, Evan Mobley, led however by Mitchell who took control of the match clutch.
Garland scored 29 points and provided 9 assists, while Mitchell was the leading scorer of the night with 37. Here’s the show.
LeVert: special mention
And special mention to the player who currently has the best net rating (by far) of the entire squad, Caris Levert with +24.6 per 100 possessions, last night he contributed once again from the bench with 22 points, 8 assists and a phenomenal 7-for-10 on field goals, currently in the running as the clearest candidate to win the sixth man award.
And tomorrow, trying to extend the record of consecutive victories up to fifteenth place, those from Ohio will not have an easy life. They welcome home a rival in great form and with a lot of nerve in attack like Ime Udoka’s Houston Rockets.
(Cover photo Jason Miller/Getty Images)
