The Cleveland Cavaliers now stand alone as the only undefeated team in the NBA after the Oklahoma City Thunder suffered a heartbreaking loss in yesterday’s games. Both teams still remain as the top team in their respective conferences, which just says a lot about the impressive start that these two teams have enjoyed so far to begin the 2024-25 campaign.

Cleveland’s 9-0 rise to the top has been punctuated with a promising victory against the Pelicans. This has been the franchise's best start to a season since an 8-0 start to the 2015-16 season where LeBron James would go on to lead them to a 3-1 comeback in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. So far, this has been a change of scenery so far for the Cavs.

The Thunder, on the other hand, have managed to punctuate its best start in franchise history as well. It is the best since the Thunder started 5-0 in the 2011-12 season, where they would go on to come up with a run all the way to the NBA Finals. While the Thunder’s winning streak now ends at seven games in a row, it does seem that OKC will still continue to come up with a winning trend in the season.

Cavs on the Rise

The Cleveland Cavaliers have now earned its best start in franchise history after sealing a tight 131-122 win in their yesterday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans. The Cavs have now won nine straight games to open up the 2024-25 NBA season, and it seems that the team is not slowing down as they have survived multiple close games in that stretch.

Donovan Mitchell played hero for the Cavs in that win against the Pels after he dropped 29 points – the only one in 20 points for the team – including a clutch and-one play with 5.4 seconds left to ice the game and put it out of reach. One of the biggest stories of the game been the Cavs’ 40 point third-quarter run that separated them in the second half.

Jarrett Allen was also a monster on the paint, chucking up 16 points and 14 rebounds. Darius Garland, who had a massive game against the Milwaukee Bucks in the game prior, cooled off and finished with 14 points and nine assists. Caris LeVert was a massive boost off the bench as he scored 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists to spark the Cleveland offense.

Thunder Cools Off

After setting the best start to the season at 7-0, the Thunder eventually cooled off – but not in any disappointing pace as they just lost to the Denver Nuggets, 124-122. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 28 points and 6 assists, but had his shot blocked by Peyton Watson at the buzzer that could have tied the game and sent it to overtime.

The Thunder led by as many as 16 points before Nuggets head coach Michael Malone was called for a technical foul. That would later see the team spark a 40-29 finish in the third quarter alone before going toe-to-toe with the Thunder for the whole fourth quarter. All OKC starters finished in double-figures, but last-minute errors led to to the tough loss for the Thunder.

Jalen Williams flirted with a triple-double as he finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. Chet Holmgren had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the loss, but struggled to keep up with the pace despite having a promising season debut against Denver last October.

Still, OKC remains one of the top teams in the West, locked in a three-way tie with the Phoenix Suns, who have won six straight, and the Golden State Warriors, who have won five straight. All three teams have a 7-1 record as of the time of writing.