Prior to the season, no one had the Cleveland Cavaliers at the top of their NBA title contenders list. But the Cavs have now put the entire league on notice.
Cleveland defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 131-122, Wednesday night to improve to 9-0 on the young season. It's the Cavs best start to a season in franchise history.
Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers in scoring with 29 points. Jarrett Allen chipped in 16 points and 14 rebounds during Wednesday's road victory.
Cleveland's previous best start to a season came during the 1976-77 season. The team began the season with an 8-0 record.
The win was also very significant for Cavs Head Coach, Kenny Atkinson. The 57-year-old is now the first NBA head coach to collect nine wins in his first nine games with a new team. He's helped the Cavaliers go from 16th in offensive rating last season to No. 1 this year.
Cleveland is the only unbeaten team in the NBA. They will look to improve to 10-0 Friday when they host the Golden State Warriors on Friday.
Steve Kerr gets the last laugh
And speaking of the Warriors, they continued their winning ways Wednesday by beating the defending-champion Boston Celtics, 118-112.
Stephen Curry gave the fans at TD Garden flashbacks of his 2022 NBA Finals MVP performance. Curry poured in 21 second half points against the Celtics. He was one of five Warriors who scored in double digits. Curry led the Warriors with 27 points.
The Boston fans expressed their disdain for Warriors Head Coach, Steve Kerr during pre-game introductions. The Celtics faithful booed long and very loudly at Kerr for not playing Jason Tatum regularly during the Summer Olympics. Tatum scored a game high of 30 points, but Kerr got the last laugh with the win.
Golden State improved to 7-1 on the year and remained undefeated on the road (5-0).
Grizzlies dimmed the lights on LeBron's milestone moment
Meanwhile things are not going very smoothly for the Los Angeles Lakers right now.
The Lake Show traveled to Memphis where the Grizzlies offered very little hospitality. Memphis defeated L.A. 131-114. The Lakers started the season with a 3-0 record. They now sit at 4-4 on the year.
LeBron James reached yet another milestone Wednesday night. James joins NBA legends John Stockton (1,504), Dirk Nowitzki (1,522), Vince Carter (1,541), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,560) and Robert Parrish (1,611) to play 1500 NBA games.
The 39-year-old continues to fight off Father Time. James (who will be 40 in December) led all scorers with 39 points. He also added seven rebounds and six assists.
Lakers Head Coach, J.J. Redick applauded James effort Wednesday night, playing without starters Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura.
"I think LeBron was fantastic tonight," Redick said. "Biggest thing that stood out. ... He played hard. Almost 40 years old and played the hardest on our team. It says a lot about him."
Redick did not have the same praise for the rest of the Lakers in particular, D'Angelo Russell.
"Just level of compete, attention to detail, some of the things we've talked with him about for a couple of weeks," Redick said about Russell who played a season low 22 minutes against Memphis. "And at times, he's been really good with that stuff. And other times, it's just reverting back to certain habits. But it wasn't like a punishment. It just felt for us to have a chance to win this game, that was the route we wanted to take."
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