Cavaliers, only unbeaten team in East, edge Bucks to reach 8-0 - ESPN

CLEVELAND — The win total is growing quickly, and so is the Cavaliers' confidence.

At 8-0 so far, they are the only unbeaten team left in the Eastern Conference, and at this point, they might as well win them all.

«That's the plan,» center Jarrett Allen said with a wide smile.

The Cavs kept their unblemished record intact Monday night with a 116-114 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, who pushed Cleveland to the limit despite playing without injured two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Darius Garland scored 39 points to pace the Cavs, outdueling Bucks star Damian Lillard in the final minutes as the point guards put on a dazzling display of shot-making to the delight of another rocking crowd inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

«It was amazing,» said Garland, who made 7 of 11 3-pointers, including a go-ahead one with 45 seconds left that put the Cavs up 113-111. «I grew up watching Dame. It was super cool playing some 1-on-1 basketball.»

It has been team ball that has gotten Cleveland off to its pristine start.

With the win, the Cavs matched the best start in franchise history, equaling the 1976-77 Cavs, who went 8-0 before finishing 43-39 under coach Bill Fitch.

«We're not doing that,» All-Star Donovan Mitchell said, cutting off a reporter who mentioned the franchise record for fear of jinxing the team's early run. «I did not know that. It's great. Obviously, you want to enjoy the little things on the road and it's great to have that, but at the end of the day, it's been eight games.»

Maybe so, but the Cavs have won them all under first-year coach Kenny Atkinson, and they've done it with a new catalyst emerging almost every night.

«We've won in so many different ways,» said Mitchell, who signed a three-year contract extension