The matchup we’ve been waiting for is here.
The 15-0 Cavs, off to one of the hottest starts in NBA history, face their biggest test yet — a showdown with the reigning champs in Boston.
THE LINEUP 🏀
Nov. 19, 2024 | What’s inside today’s edition?
Showdown In Beantown: The Cavs put their perfect start on the line against the Celtics
Chasing History: Cleveland looks to make it a sweet 16-0 for the second-best start ever
Emirates NBA Cup Night 3: Five more Group Play games on TNT and League Pass
3 In A Row: That’s three straight nights with a game-winning bucket in the closing seconds
Roundup: Bulls trio light it up from 3, Butler returns for Miami, Magic stay hot and more
BUT FIRST … ⏰
An East showdown highlights NBA Cup Night 3…
The Emirates NBA Cup resumes tonight with a six-game slate, highlighted by the undefeated Cavs taking on the team that knocked them out of the Playoffs last year (7 ET, TNT).
Before tonight’s historic matchup, test your knowledge on the Cavs and Celtics and their matchup with NBA Play’s daily trivia.
1. UNDEFEATED VS DEFENDING: THE SHOWDOWN IN BEANTOWN
When the Cleveland Cavaliers take the court tonight, they’ll look to become only the second team in NBA history to open a season with 16 straight wins.
- And they’ll do it against the team that knocked them out of the 2024 Playoffs in the East Semifinals and went on to win the NBA title – the Boston Celtics
- It’s the hottest team in the league (15-0 Cavs) against the defending champs (11-3 Celtics) in a primetime showdown on TNT
This marks the fourth time in league history that the defending champion will face a team on a 15+ game winning streak or better – and the first time in 28 years.
- Streak Busters? Of the past three instances, twice the defending champion snapped the streak – 1970 (Knicks over Bucks) and 1972 (Bucks over Lakers) – but the most recent matchup saw the streaking team prevail (1996 Bulls over Rockets)
- Second To One: The Cavs and Celtics enter tonight with a combined win percentage of 89.7. Only one matchup in NBA history has featured a higher combined win percentage this far into the season – the 16-1 Sonics vs. the 18-1 Rockets on Dec. 11, 1993
And if the stakes weren’t high enough already, don’t forget that this is Cup Night, meaning this heavyweight bout also counts toward the East Group C standings. Cleveland enters 1-0, while Boston is 0-1.
Strength vs. Strength: The Cavs (123.7 ppg) and Celtics (121.6 ppg) enter tonight’s game ranked first and second, respectively, in the league in scoring. And, they give up the exact same amount of points (111.4 ppg).
- Dynamic Duo: Boston’s Jayson Tatum (29.7 ppg, 3rd in NBA) and Jaylen Brown (25.6 ppg, 11th) combine to average 55.3 ppg – second only to Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard (56.7)
- Backcourt Buddies: Donovan Mitchell (24.6 ppg, 15th in NBA) leads the Cavs in scoring, combining with Darius Garland (21.4) to provide 46 ppg for Cleveland, which has six players averaging 10+ ppg compared to Boston’s five
- 3s For Everyone: The Celtics (NBA-record 265 through 14 games) and Cavs (franchise-record 233 through 15 games) rank first and third, respectively, in total 3-pointers made this season
- Go deeper inside the numbers of this matchup
The Last Dozen: Over the past 12 regular-season games between the Cavs and Celtics, only one has been decided by double-digits (10 points), three went to overtime, and the teams are separated by just four total points (Celtics 1,309, Cavs 1,305).
- Clutch Time: Both Mitchell (Nov. 2 at Bucks) and Tatum (Nov. 16 vs. Raptors) have hit game-winning buckets already this season. Tatum ranks third in the league in clutch points (37), while Garland ranks eighth (32) while shooting 12-of-15 (80%)
Who Has The Answer? Can the Cavs keep rolling against their toughest test yet? Or will the defending champs make a statement that the East still runs through Boston?
2. CAVS CHASING HISTORY
The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors are the only team in NBA history with a longer win streak to begin a season than this year’s Cavaliers – going 24-0 out of the gates on their way to a league-record 73 wins.
So what did those Warriors look like through the first 15 games of their streak? A lot like this year’s Cavs.
- League-Best Offensive Rating: Golden State (112.6; 8.9 over league average), Cleveland (122.1, 9.4 over league average)
- Top Seven Defensive Rating: Golden State (98.8, 5th, 4.3 better than league average), Cleveland (110.7, 6th, 2.1 better than league average)
- Top Two Net Rating: Golden State (13.8, 1st), Cleveland (11.5, 2nd)
- League-Best Effective Field Goal Percentage: Golden State (55.9%, 6.8 better than league average), Cleveland (61.2%, 7.4 better than league average)
Historic Pace: The 2024-25 Cavs lead the NBA in both field goal percentage (52.4%) and 3-point percentage (41.9%), putting them on pace to be the first team to post 50/40 shooting splits over a season.
BelieveLand: The Cavaliers are number 1 in a plethora of statistical categories during their historic start, including but not limited to:
- Team Wins: 15
- Points Per Game: 123.7
- Field Goal %: 52.4
- 3-Point %: 41.9
- Offensive Rating: 122.1
- Plus/Minus: 12.3
- Points Off Turnovers: 21.6
- Clutch Wins: 7
Anatomy Of The Streak: Putting together a 15-game run like Cleveland requires contributions from up and down the roster and the ability for a team to win in multiple ways.
- Close Games: Seven wins by single digits, including five decided by two possessions or less
- Blowouts: Eight wins by 10+ points, including five by 15+
- Home Games: Eight wins by an average of 13.1 ppg
- Road Games: Seven wins by an average of 11.3 ppg
- Back-to-Backs: Three wins on the second night of a back-to-back
- Nightly Leaders: Four different players have led a game in scoring (Garland 6x, Mitchell 5x, Evan Mobley 3x and Dean Wade 1x), three have led on the boards (Jarrett Allen 9x, Mobley 3x and Mitchell 1x) and four have led in assists (Garland 9x, Mitchell 3x, Ty Jerome 2x and Caris LeVert 1x)
Who will rise up to the occasion tonight as the Cavs look to break the tie with the 1948-49 Capitols and 1993-94 Rockets and own the second-best start to a season by themselves?
3. CUP NIGHT 3: GROUP PLAY HEATS UP ON TNT & LEAGUE PASS
In addition to the marquee matchup between the Cavs and Celtics, Tuesday features five more Group Play games in the Emirates NBA Cup, including a TNT matchup between the Spurs and Thunder and four games on League Pass.
- Hornets (0-1) at Nets (0-1) | East Group A (7:30 ET, LP): Watch for a duel between top 15 scorers LaMelo Ball (29.7 ppg, 5th in NBA) and Cam Thomas (24.6 ppg, 14th) as both teams seek their first win in Group Play
- Nuggets (0-1) at Grizzlies (0-1) | West Group C (8 ET, LP): The Nuggets are coming off back-to-back losses – both without Nikola Jokic, who is listed as questionable for tonight. In his last time out, Joker became the 3rd player to ever average 29+ PPG, 15+ RPG, 14+ APG over a 4 game stretch, joining Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson.
- Pelicans (1-0) at Mavericks (0-1) | West Group C (8:30 ET, LP): After dropping four straight, the Mavs have won two in a row and will go for their first three-game win streak of the season against a Pelicans team that has dropped eight of its last 10, but one of those two wins came in Group Play
- Thunder (1-0) at Spurs (0-1) | West Group B (9:30 ET, TNT): The Thunder have won seven of the last eight games with the Spurs – including a Group Play game a year ago. Can OKC bounce back from a loss to Dallas with a win over another Texas squad? Or will the Spurs get their first-ever NBA Cup Group Play win?
- Jazz (0-1) at Lakers (1-0) | West Group B (10:30 ET, LP): The Lakers look to keep two streaks alive on Tuesday – a sixth straight win overall and an all-time perfect record in NBA Cup play. L.A. went 7-0 on its way to winning the first-ever NBA Cup and opened Group Play with a win last week
4. ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER GAME-WINNER & A HISTORIC 3-POINT CLASH
On Saturday, it was Jayson Tatum’s stepback 3 at the buzzer to beat Toronto.
On Sunday, it was Julius Randle’s pull-up 3 at the buzzer to beat Phoenix.
On Monday, it was Dame Time.
Bucks 101, Rockets 100: In his first game back after missing the last three due to a concussion, Damian Lillard hit a driving floater with 3.9 seconds left to cap off a game-ending 7-0 run as the Bucks snapped Houston’s five-game win streak. | Recap | Final 3:36 Must-See Ending
- Bucks Bouncing Back: After opening the season 2-8, Milwaukee has won three of its last four games to improve to 5-9 on the season
- Triple Threat: In addition to Dame’s 18 points and 10 dimes, the Bucks got double-doubles from Brook Lopez (27 pts, 10 reb, 5 3s) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (20 pts, 13 reb)
- Doc Rivers on Lillard: “Whether he’s on fire or not… he believes that he should take the last shot and make the last shot.”
- Failure To Launch: The Rockets were held to a season-low 100 points – 13.6 points below their season average – as Fred VanVleet, Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun combined to score 65 points, but each shot below 40% on the night
For the first time since Feb. 4, 1998 – when Dale Ellis (1,539 career 3s) and Reggie Miller (1,505 career 3s) squared off – the top two players in career 3s faced one another as all-time leader Steph Curry and the Warriors met James Harden and the Clippers in LA.
Clippers 102, Warriors 99: The Warriors are now 8-0 against all Western Conference teams not named the Clippers, who defeated Golden State for the second time this season behind 23 points and five 3s from Norman Powell to go with 12 points and 16 dimes from Harden. | Recap
- Splash For Splash: In the game’s third minute, the top two players in 3s made in NBA history traded triples on back-to-back possessions
- Curry finished with six 3s on the night compared to Harden’s two, but Harden got the win. The Clippers led by 15 in the 1st half before a signature Warriors 3rd quarter got Golden State back in the game, but Gary Payton II’s potential game-tying 3 at the buzzer missed
5. ROUNDUP: BULLS TRIO ON FIRE FROM 3, BUTLER BACK, MAGIC STAY HOT & MORE
Bulls 122, Pistons 112: Zach LaVine hit six 3s in the 4th quarter as he (25 pts, 7 3s), Nikola Vučević (29 pts, career-high 6 3s) and Coby White (25 pts, 5 3s) became the eighth trio in league history – and the first in Bulls history – to each score 25+ points with 5+ 3s in a game as the Bulls beat the Pistons. | Recap
Heat 106, Sixers 89: Jimmy Butler returned after missing the past four games with an ankle injury and dropped a season-high 30 points to go with 10 boards and five assists to lead the Heat past the Sixers in a back-and-forth affair that saw Miami trail by as many as 19 and lead by as many as 20. | Recap
Hawks 109, Kings 108: Dyson Daniels, the league leader in steals, showed off his elite defensive skill, coming up with a massive block as he rejected De’Aaron Fox rising up for a potential game-winning jumper in the closing seconds. De’Andre Hunter had 24 points, while Trae Young had 19 assists in the win. | Recap | Catch the Final 4:54
Knicks 134, Wizards 106: Jalen Brunson (26 pts, 11 ast) and Karl-Anthony Towns (24 pts, 12 reb) each posted double-doubles – and connected on the pick-and-roll slam above – as NY handed Washington its ninth straight loss despite 18 points apiece from Bub Carrington, Corey Kispert and Jonas Valančiūnas. | Recap
Magic 109, Suns 99: The hot streaks continued for Orlando as the Magic won their sixth straight game and Franz Wagner (32 pts, 8 ast) posted his third 30+ point effort in his last four games to lead Orlando past Devin Booker and the Suns, who were without Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant due to calf injuries. | Recap
Raptors 130, Pacers 119: RJ Barrett scored a season-high 39 points with nine boards and five dimes, while Jakob Poeltl added a double-double (30 pts, 16 reb) to lead the Raptors over the Pacers to snap a seven-game losing streak. Bennedict Mathurin and Pascal Siakam combined for 53 to lead Indy in the loss. | Recap
