These crazy stats explain why the Celtics-Cavaliers matchup is so historic originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The most anticipated game of the 2024-25 early season will take place on Tuesday night when the Boston Celtics host the Cleveland Cavaliers. in an NBA cup group stage game at TD Garden.
This wasn’t labeled a “must play” at the start of the campaign, but a lot has changed since then, mainly with the Cavs.
The Cavaliers started the season 15-0. They are the third team to start a season with 15 consecutive wins, which is the second-longest such streak in league history. The record belongs to the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, who started 24-0.
There is more historical context to this Celtics-Cavs conflict. It is the first game in nearly 29 years to feature a defending champion playing against a team that is on a 15-plus game winning streak.
The last time a defending champion played a team with that kind of winning streak was January 30, 1996. The reigning champion Houston Rockets lost 98-87 to the Chicago Bulls, who won their 16th in a row. That Bulls streak eventually reached 18 wins. Chicago went 72-10 en route to its fourth title that season.
Here’s another wacky historical note about this Celtics-Cavs matchup, courtesy of NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics stats guru Dick Lipe:
“The combined winning percentage of the Celtics and Cavs is .897. There has been one matchup in NBA history that has had a higher combined winning percentage so far in the season: 16-1 Seattle SuperSonics vs. 18-1 Houston Rockets on Dec. 11, 1993.”
The Celtics are 11-3 in second place behind the Cavs in the Eastern Conference standings. It’s a huge game for both teams. A loss would make it nearly impossible for the C’s to reach the knockout stages of the NBA Cup. Boston lost to the Atlanta Hawks in its first group stage showdown on November 12th. A win for the Cavs would also further prove that they are a real threat in the East.
However, the Celtics have won 11 of their last 13 games (including the playoffs) at home against the Cavs since December 2018, and they are outscoring Cleveland by nearly 11 points per game in those matchups. In fact, the Cavaliers’ last loss was 188 days ago in Game 5 of the 2024 Eastern Conference semifinals at the Garden back in May.
NBC Sports Boston’s full Celtics-Cavs coverage begins at 6 pm ET with Celtics Pregame Livefollowed by the game at 7pm and later Celtics Postgame Live right after the final buzzer.
