Kenny Atkinson couldn’t help but smile as he looked at the box score and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ record.
His first season as a coach went perfectly.
“What’s 10-0? It’s like a magic number, right?” Atkinson said. “I was worried about tonight because the Warriors are the champions. I was surprised by that, how prepared we were and how hungry we were. 10-0 is really great for our team. That’s it.”
Darius Garland scored 27 points and Evan Mobley added 23 points as the Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors 136-117 on Friday night, winning their first 10 games and scoring at least 110 points in each game. It was the first team in NBA history to do so. The Cavaliers are also the first team to start 10-0 since the Warriors in 2015-16.
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Atkinson’s powerful offense is a perfect fit for Cleveland, which leads the league in points per game with 124.5 and field goal percentage of .527.
Last season under current Detroit coach JB Bickerstaff, the Cavaliers averaged 112.6 points per game and shot 47.9 percent from the field, with the same top nine players on the roster. They lost to eventual champion Boston in the second round of the playoffs.
The only major change general manager Koby Altman made was hiring Atkinson after spending three years as an assistant under Steve Kerr with the Warriors.
“This has been a great job, just like my job 10 years ago. It’s the perfect place for Kenny,” Kerr said. “The continuity was already there and was very good last year, but Kenny has added an extra touch. He’s clearly the right fit.”
Atkinson’s up-tempo style quickly won over the face of the team, All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell. Atkinson previously worked with current Cavs players Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert when he was head coach in Brooklyn, making the transition even smoother.
Leveraging Cleveland’s depth also paid off during the best start in franchise history. Ten players average more than 15 minutes per game, but no player logs more than 31 minutes.
“We’re playing fast and we’re playing the right way,” said backup guard Ty Jerome, who scored a season-high 20 points against Golden State. “Everybody’s making shots, everybody’s having fun, and we’re able to play like that because of the selflessness of Donovan and Darius.”
On a night when the Cavaliers built a 41-point lead at halftime, 83-42, tied for eighth in the NBA’s shot clock era and tied the team record for points at halftime, several players still weren’t able to score. They reached their potential that they realized they didn’t have.
Cleveland has outscored its opponents in each game, but won the rebound battle just four times. The Cavaliers also committed 20 turnovers, leading to 32 points for the Warriors.
“That’s the thing. We still have a long way to go and a lot of things to clean up, and that’s great,” Allen said. “We know we can be better and we’re not going to stop working until we get there. Kenny is one of the best coaches in the league and it shows.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
