The Cleveland Cavaliers did what they always do on Monday: win. They’ve played 12 games and they’ve won all 12, and lately, those wins seem to be coming in very similar ways. Cleveland trailed the Bucks by eight points with six minutes to play last Monday. The Cavs trailed by 12 at the beginning of the fourth quarter on Sunday against the Brooklyn Nets. And of course, on Monday night in Chicago, they fell behind the Chicago Bulls by nine in the third quarter.
But none of those leads mattered to the comeback Cavs, who are now halfway to history.
The greatest start in NBA history belongs to the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors. That team kicked off their season with a staggering 24 consecutive victories. With 12 wins down, Cleveland has 12 to go before the Warriors enter their sights. For now, though, they’re steadily climbing up the all-time leaderboard. They are now the eighth team in league history to win their first 12 games. If they win one more, they become team No. 6 to reach 13. The all-time non-Warriors record is 15, held by the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and 1948-49 Washington Capitols.
Longest winning streaks to start NBA season
2015-16 Golden State Warriors: 24 wins1993-94 Houston Rockets: 15 wins1948-49 Washington Capitols: 15 wins2002-2003 Dallas Mavericks: 14 wins1957-58 Boston Celtics: 14 wins2024-25 Cleveland Cavaliers: 12 wins1996-97 Chicago Bulls: 12 wins1982-83 Seattle SuperSonics: 12 wins
The good news for Cleveland? They have a pretty clear path up to No. 15. Their next three games look relatively easy. On Wednesday, they’ll travel to Philadelphia to face the 76ers in what normally would be a very tough matchup. However, Tyrese Maxey is out due to injury, and while Joel Embiid hasn’t technically been ruled out yet, he is planning to make his season debut on Tuesday in Philadelphia’s NBA Cup opener against the New York Knicks. He said this offseason that he did not expect to play in back-to-backs moving forward, so that would likely rule him out against the Cavaliers.
Cleveland returns home after that for two games against…
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