Cleveland Cavaliers went to TD Garden looking to continue their winning streak in the NBA but fell to a 120-117 loss against the Boston Celtics in an NBA Cup match on Tuesday night, bringing an end to their historic start to the season.
The Cavs set a franchise record for best start to the season with 15 wins, which was also the joint-second best start in NBA history alongside the 1993-94 season Houston Rockets and Washington Capitols from the 1948-49 basketball season.
Those three are led by the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors team that went on a 24-match winning streak to start that season and introduce the Splash Bros as a force to be reckoned with in the years that followed.
But you may be surprised to find out how the season ended for each of the other three teams to enjoy such a historic start to the basketball season like the Cavs this year.
Turns out only the Rockets went on to win the title after starting the season on fire like that. Ironically, the Warriors lost to Cleveland Cavaliers in an seven-game back-and-forth that saw the Cavs come from 3-1 down to win the title as inspired by LeBron James in the 2016 NBA Finals.
The Capitols on their part fell four games to two against the Minnesota Lakers back in 1949 when there were two basketball leagues, with the Capitols taking part in what became the final Basketball Association of America (BAA) season before merging to creating the NBA.
Now that the 2024-25 Cavs have joined a hallowed list of teams with the best starts to a regular season in the United States, it remains to be seen if they can go all the way like the Rockets in 1994, or fall just short as the Warriors and Capitols did.