Analysis: The Cavs, Magic and
Rockets are off to surprise starts. Maybe that shouldn't be surprising
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[December 11, 2024]
By TIM REYNOLDS
There was a conversation Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell had during
training camp, the topic being all the teams that were generating
the most preseason buzz in the Eastern Conference. Boston was coming
off an NBA championship. New York got Karl-Anthony Towns.
Philadelphia added Paul George.
The Cavs? Not a big topic in early October. And Mitchell fully
understood why.
“What have we done?” Mitchell asked. “They don't talk about us.
That's fine. We'll just hold ourselves to our standard.”
That approach seems to be working.
For the first time in 36 seasons — yes, even before the LeBron James
eras in Cleveland — the Cavaliers are atop the NBA at the 25-game
mark. They're 21-4, having come back to earth a bit following a 15-0
start but still better than anyone in the league at this point.
“We've kept our standards pretty high,” Cavaliers coach Kenny
Atkinson said. “And we keep it going.”
The Cavs are just one of the surprise stories that have emerged as
the season nears the one-third-done mark. Orlando — the only team
still unbeaten at home — is off to its best start in 16 years at
17-9 and having done most of that without All-Star forward Paolo
Banchero. And Houston is 16-8, behind only the Cavs, Boston,
Oklahoma City and Memphis so far in the race for the league's best
record.
Cleveland was a playoff team a year ago, as was Orlando. And the
Rockets planted seeds for improvement last year as well; an 11-game
winning streak late in the season fueled a push where they finished
41-41 in a major step forward after a few years of rebuilding.
“We kind of set that foundation last year to compete with
everybody,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “Obviously, we had some
ups and downs with winning and losing streaks at times, but to
finish the season the way we did, getting to .500, 11-game winning
streak and some close losses against high-level playoff teams, I
think we kind of proved that to ourselves last year that that's who
we're going to be.”
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A sign of the respect the Rockets are getting:
Oddsmakers at BetMGM Scorebook have made them a favorite in 17 of 24
games so far this season, after favoring them only 30 times in 82
games last season.
“Based on coaches, players, GMs, people that we all know what
they're saying, it seems like everybody else is taking notice as
well,” Udoka said.
They're taking notice of Orlando as well. The Magic lost their best
player and haven't skipped a beat.
Banchero's injury after five games figured to doom Orlando for a
while, and the Magic went 0-4 immediately after he tore his oblique.
Entering Tuesday, they're 14-3 since — and now have to regroup yet
again. Franz Wagner stepped into the best-player-on-team role when
Banchero got hurt, and now Wagner is going to miss several weeks
with the exact same injury.
Ask Magic coach Jamahl Mosley how the team has persevered, and he'll
quickly credit everyone but himself. Around the league, it's Mosley
getting a ton of the credit — and rightly so — for what Orlando is
doing.
“I think that has to do a lot with Mose. ... I have known him a long
time,” Phoenix guard Bradley Beal said. “A huge fan of his and what
he is doing. It is a testament to him and the way they’ve built this
team.”
The Magic know better than most how good Cleveland is, and vice
versa. The teams went seven games in an Eastern Conference
first-round series last spring, the Cavs winning the finale at home
to advance to Round 2.
Atkinson was brought in by Cleveland to try and turn good into
great. The job isn't anywhere near finished — nobody is raising any
banners for “best record after 25 games” — but Atkinson realized
fairly early that this Cavs team has serious potential.
“We’re so caught up in like the process of improve, improve, improve
each game, improve each practice," Atkinson said. “That’s kind of my
philosophy. But then you hit 10-0, and obviously the media starts
talking and all that, and you’re like, ‘Man, this could be something
special brewing here.’”
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