Cavaliers top Hornets, tie 2nd-best start to NBA season (15-0)

CLEVELAND — Darius Garland scored 25 points, Ty Jerome matched his career high with 24 in place of Donovan Mitchell, and the Cleveland Cavaliers stayed unbeaten with a 128-114 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday night.

The Cavs are the fourth team to start 15-0 and are tied for the second-best start to a season in NBA history, trailing only the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (24-0). The Warriors set the league record by winning their first 24 games on the way to a 73-9 season.

The 2015-16 Warriors, 1993-94 Houston Rockets (started 15-0) and 1948-49 Washington Capitols (15-0) all made the NBA Finals.

Evan Mobley had 23 points and 11 rebounds, and Jarrett Allen had 21 points and 15 rebounds for Cleveland, marking the second time the Cavaliers have had four 20-point scorers in consecutive games in franchise history, and the first time since 1972.

The Cavs also extended the longest winning streak in team history and have given Cleveland sports fans something to be excited about in the midst of a football season that crashed long ago for the  Browns.

“It’s incredible,” Allen said of how the city is embracing the Cavs. “Everyone is showing tons of energy, all over the city. It’s incredible how Cleveland has adopted us. They come to every game, yelling for everything. The city of Cleveland has our backs.”

Although they wanted to keep their winning streak alive, the Cavs felt getting Mitchell rest was more important. It’s a long season with bigger games ahead, and first-year coach Kenny Atkinson, who has yet to lose with Cleveland, said sticking to the plan with Mitchell was a priority.

The Cavaliers barely missed a beat without Mitchell, who was coming off a season-high 37-point performance. One of the many pluses during the winning streak is that it’s allowing Atkinson to further develop his bench.

As has been the case in almost every game, the Cavs got positive minutes and moments from everyone Atkinson put on the floor. They also overcame some adversity as both Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade were forced out in the second half with ankle injuries. Wade, who has made seven starts, left Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in a walking boot.

The Cavaliers will put their perfect start on the line Tuesday against the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics at TD Garden. 

“Boston Garden,” Atkinson said. “What’s better than that?”

As NBA games in November go, not much.

This is the fourth time in NBA history a team on a win streak of 15-plus games faces off against the defending NBA champion, and the first time since the Chicago Bulls faced the Rockets in 1996. One of these instances came in 1972, when the Los Angeles Lakers saw their NBA-record 33-game win streak come to an end against the Milwaukee Bucks.

“It’s great for the NBA, right?” said Atkinson, the only coach to win his 15 first games with a new team. “Everybody is going to be watching, and I know our guys are anxious. I know they remember last year. We’re going well. They’re going well. It’s great for the league. Great for our franchise. We’re excited.”

Mitchell didn’t play in the final two games of last year’s Eastern Conference semifinals, when the Cavs were eliminated in five games by the Celtics, who went on to win another championship.

Allen missed that entire Boston series with a broken rib and said he and his teammates are looking forward to seeing how they measure up with the Celtics now.

“It’s a rematch,” Allen said. “I know they didn’t have some players. And we didn’t have me, so I want to try and beat them and test where we are with them.”

Atkinson feels the same way. If the Cavs have title aspirations, this a chance for them to see if they’re real.

“It’s going to be a great test for us,” he said. “They obviously play a different style, five-out with five shooters, so it’s going to be a real good test for us. We’re at that point right now — 15-0 and let’s test ourselves against the best and see where we stand and see where we’re going to make adjustments or not make adjustments.

“It actually comes at the perfect time.”

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.