Win Streak Serving As Extra Source Of Motivation For Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers pushed their incredible win streak to open the season to 11 games as the team rallied to beat the Brooklyn Nets 105-100

Nov 9, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland (10) drives between three Brooklyn Nets defenders in the third quarter at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images / David Richard-Imagn Images

Getting to 11-0 wasn't so easy for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Wine and Gold looked a little sluggish throughout the second half of their matchup with the Brooklyn Nets. A 13-point third quarter left Cleveland trailing by 10 heading into the final stanza.

That lead eventually grew to 13 early on in the fourth, before the Cavaliers slowly chipped away. Eventually, with about 2:31 to go the Cavs drew even with the Nets at 96 a piece, then went on to outscore them nine to six to close out the game and extend their season-opening streak to 11-straight wins.

The pressures of keeping the streak going – especially in a tight, comeback performance – is starting to become a little extra source of motivation for the Cavs even subconsciously. As Kenny Atkinson even admitted, it's also making the games feel more high-stakes.

"You're thinking about it," Atkinson said after the game. "Normally, this is 11 games in you're not thinking about a streak. But tonight, man, you're thinking 'I don't want it to end this way.' Does that motivate you more to win? I mean we're competing and we're trying to win every game but it's kind of weirdly in the back of your mind when you're out there competing like 'man, we gotta keep this thing going.' So we're gonna keep trying to do it."

It's rare for games this early in the season to come with ramped up pressure. Beyond this wild stretch is a 71-game grind of a schedule that Cleveland has to navigate. Its season will be defined by much more than these first 11 games, when it's all said and done.

And yet, Atkinson isn't the only one with the streak on his mind during games.

"It's in the back of my mind, I don't know about them," Cavs guard Darius Garland said with a smile. "I mean 11-0 is great. We come across a really good team and they have their night against us, they have their night. We just have to get ready for the next one."

At some point the Cavaliers will lose a game. They'll lose plenty more after it too. Until then though, they're making the most of this historic and entertaining ride that they'r on. And that has caught the attention of NBA world.

"We not gonna stress it," Garland added. "It's 82 games in a season so one L is not gonna really hurt us. We got, bigger picture, we got bigger plans. We're trying to win a championship, we're not trying to go 82-0."