2024-25 Regular Season Thread

I was just hoping they at least used dry popcorn in Jaylon’s car. Cleaning dry kernel bits out of every crevice is bad enough. Getting salt and butter-flavored grease off of what I’m assuming is leather upholstery is one heck of a cleanup job.
 
The team really is something else. Incredible. Actually, it's almost too good to be true. As a true Clevelander, you kinda expect the worst to happen.

So, I'm gonna try to put this year's team into perspective. Let's try to compare them to similar teams in terms of regular season success. I'll start with the eventual champions, then the ones who weren't when it mattered most.

The Current Cavs - (as of March 13, 2025):
Top Performers: Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Even Mobley
Reason for Success: The Minutes of the Core Four are kept down, but the rest of the team supports the 3 + Jarrett Allen; Can go 9 deep if healthy
  • 2023-24 Boston Celtics
    • Top Performers: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis
    • Reason for Success: Strong Defensive Identity, Two Capable Wing-Type Stars, Solid Frontcourt
  • 2016-17 Golden State Warriors
    • Top Performers: Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson
    • Reason for Success: Addition of Superstar (Durant) to a Championship-core (Curry/Thompson/Green)
  • 1995-96 Chicago Bulls
    • Top Performers: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc
    • Reason for Success: Bounce-back year with former Championship-level players, Addition of a top-defensive star, and a core of players with several years of playoff experience
  • 1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers
    • Top Performers: Moses Malone, Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks
    • Reason for Success: Addition of an MVP-level player (Malone) to a Conference Championship Core
  • 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers
    • Top Performers: Jerry West, Gail Goodrich, Wilt Chamberlain
    • Reason for Success: An already Championship-level core where everything fell into place, a former MVP (Chamberlain) who was capable of carrying a team (42 minutes a game) despite being much older (35 years of age)
  • 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks
    • Top Performers: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Bob Dandridge
    • Reason for Success: The Emergence of an MVP-level player (Kareem) and the acquisition of a former MVP point guard (Oscar)
  • 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers
    • Top Performers: Wilt Chamberlain, Billy Cunningham, Chet Walker
    • Reason for Success: An all-time dominating player who proved he could change the game in more than getting buckets (Chamberlain), who also trusted his teammates more (Walker/Greer/Cunningham)
All of these teams (IMO) had a player(s) with what I would call the "IT" Factor. Carrying a team when they needed them to. Some with more than one. And sometimes only in key moments. It didn't hurt that some of these teams either had a rather strong core of talent or were very deep (maybe 8-10 deep).

  • 2021-22 Phoenix Suns
    • Top Performers: Devin Booker, Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton
    • What Was Lacking: While having a former star PG (Paul) made them better, it wasn't enough to beat a player with the "IT" Factor (Luka Doncic)... also felt like lightning-in-a-bottle that faded into obscurity
  • 2017-18 Houston Rockets
    • Top Performers: James Harden, Chris Paul, Clint Capella
    • What Was Lacking: Two Words: Mike D'Antoni. Can't rely on his method when the stakes are high. Felt they over performed because of CP3, a point guard who raises the floor of any team and might also raise the ceiling a bit as well.
  • 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs
    • Top Performers: Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge
    • What Was Lacking: A former championship-core that was a shell of its former self competing against young-and-hungry upstarts
  • 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks
    • Top Performers: Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Jeff Teague
    • What Was Lacking: A player with the "IT" Factor, and expecting the team to defend against one (LeBron James), also a year with lightning in a bottle
  • 2006-07 Dallas Mavericks
    • Top Performers: Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Jason Terry
    • What Was Lacking: They ran into their worst matchup right into the first round (GSW w/ Baron Davis); they proved they could beat a former champion in the playoffs, but it wasn't enough in this case
  • 1972-73 Boston Celtics
    • Top Performers: Dave Cowens, John Havlicek, Jo Jo White
    • What Was Lacking: Kinda before my time, but I assume that missing Havlicek for Game 4 Vs the Knicks shifted momentum and allowed them to wring out more from their players; The Celtics still won it all a year later

No guarantees. But you gotta feel good about this one. We'll wait and see.
 
I think looking at what the Cavs are doing in isolation is a bit misleading. Yes, we are having an all-time great season. What is so unusual is that there are two teams - us and OKC - both having regular season performances that are exceptional from a historical perspective.
 

Why You Should Fall in Love With the Cleveland Cavaliers​

After starting the season with a 15-game win streak, the Cleveland Cavaliers are now amid a second 15-game streak. Can the mighty ‘Cavalanche’ (trademark pending) carry into the NBA Finals?
​


By
Jason Gay, Wall Street Journal

March 13, 2025 7:00 am ET





The Cleveland Cavaliers, led by Donovan Mitchell, have the NBA’s best record.

Everyone knows it is the duty of unbearable coastal sports media snobs like yours truly to ignore interesting events happening in the middle of the country, so it’s no surprise that a major development a short hoof from Lake Erie isn’t getting the appreciation it deserves:

The Cleveland Cavaliers may be the best basketball team on Earth (right now).

We’ll await official confirmation via the playoffs, but as of mid-March 2025, the case can be made. Heading into Friday’s contest against Memphis, the Cavaliers have the NBA’s finest record at 55-10, a nudge ahead of the similarly excellent, 54-12 Oklahoma City Thunder. In the Eastern Conference, the Cavs are a chunky 8.5 games ahead of Boston, and 450 million games ahead of everyone else.
How good are they? At the moment, Cleveland is currently riding its second 15-game winning streak, having ripped off its first at the season’s start to begin 15-0. The Cavs have also had a third winning streak of 12 games. They have not lost since Feb. 4, an innocent time, when morons like me thought the Kansas City Chiefs were going to crush the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.

They’re good. Really good. They’re on pace to win 69 games, which would give them one of the top regular-season marks in NBA history—and the best in Cavaliers history, including the two LeBron eras, the second of which resulted in a title in 2016.

So you must be hearing a ton about these Cavaliers, huh? The offensive greatness of perennial All-Star Donovan Mitchell; the dynamic range of point guard Darius Garland (a sterling 41% from 3); the reliable rebounding of Jarrett Allen; the well-rounded talent of Evan Mobley.
Evan Mobley is a well-rounded talent for the Cavs.

Surely you’ve heard about the Cavaliers’ team depth with faves like Ty Jerome, Dean Wade, and Max Strus—and the sharp recent acquisition of De’Andre Hunter from Atlanta. You must know about first-year head coach/wizard Kenny Atkinson, and Cleveland’s ridiculous, league-leading offense (122.7 points per game, capable of pouring it on so quickly the franchise (really) just filed a trademark for the term “Cavalanche.”

No? You haven’t?

The Journal’s NBA scribe Robert O’Connell has thankfully kept us on the case, but in general, Cleveland gets a fraction of the attention given to headline-hogging colossi like the Celtics, Warriors and Knicks.

And then there are the Los Angeles Lakers, who blot out the sun, whether you love them or not.

I want to say the Lakers get bathed with coverage because LeBron’s a Laker, and Los Angeles just pulled off an inexplicable trade with Dallas to land Luka Doncic. But honestly, the Lakers could field an 0-82 team composed only of potatoes and they’d still get more attention than the Cavaliers.

ARE THE POTATOES DAMAGING THE LEGACY OF SHOWTIME? DO THE LAKERS NEED NEW POTATOES?

Is this fair to Cleveland? Of course it isn’t fair. It’s driven by attention, money, those old coastal and basketball biases, but mostly attention and money. Ask the OKC fans—the Thunder are similarly undercovered, and they’re every bit as talented as Cleveland, maybe more, evidenced by Wednesday’s swarming road defeat of defending champ Boston.

The Cavs and OKC are worth the watch, trust me. The worst are the theatrical worrywarts who think Cleveland meeting Oklahoma City in a Final would be a death knell for the NBA, that it would get worse TV ratings than intramural squash.

Of course, beneath the coastal snobbery, it isn’t hard to find the suspicion that these Cavaliers, despite their rowdy record, may not be championship material. Wariness is fair, I think. Trademark applications aside, the Cavs know they haven’t proven anything. Titles are what matters. Ask the 73-9 Warriors, who lost a Final in 2016 to…yes, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

But this feels real. You don’t win 55 of 65 on vibes and good bounces. The Cavs are 1-1 against OKC, 2-0 against Denver, 2-0 against the Lakers, and 2-2 against defending champion Boston, including an epic Cavalanche two weeks ago when they stormed back to beat the Celtics after falling behind 25-3.



Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen is the team’s leading rebounder.

Afterward, Mitchell preached calm. “All the hype, the 15-0, all that’s great, phenomenal, but we haven’t done anything yet,” he said.
Mitchell was immense in that game—he pretty much always is against Boston. Any Celtics fan who tells you they aren’t nervous about Cleveland owning home court in a conference final is lying.

For the record, I think Cleveland playing OKC in the Finals would be fabulous TV, a fresh look for the game, and who cares about the ratings.

Also, I played intramural squash. I stunk.

If you didn’t know it already, now you do: The Cleveland Cavaliers are good. Really good. They’ve known it for a while in Ohio, but please tell everyone else.
 
Jscc said:
If that was your car, and you had to foot the bill to get it cleaned, you'd be sensitive too.
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I am 100% positive Tyson didn't clean his car himself afterwards. Honestly, somebody who works for the team probably did it.
 
Futuredome said:
Cavs have been a lucky team this year. If their record was 49-16, that would more accurately describe the actual team. The Thunder deserve their record, the Cavs don't
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The Cavs have the 5th highest scoring margin of all time right now. So.....you're full of you know what, yet again.
 
Peacedog said:
The Cavs have the 5th highest scoring margin of all time right now. So.....you're full of you know what, yet again.
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5th highest scoring margin, more and more correcting to a lower . The team is struggling. I think the Cavs have improved from last year, but a elite team needs another Mobley level up.
 
CapHit said:
I was just hoping they at least used dry popcorn in Jaylon’s car. Cleaning dry kernel bits out of every crevice is bad enough. Getting salt and butter-flavored grease off of what I’m assuming is leather upholstery is one heck of a cleanup job.
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I bet you Donovan paid for a full detail.
 
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