It is exceedingly rare for a game in November to qualify for must-watch status in the NBA, but Tuesday features one of the most exciting pre-Christmas matchups in recent history. Hosting Tuesday’s festivities, we have the defending champion Boston Celtics. They have thus far been just as good as advertised. Through 14 games they are on pace to match last season’s win total of 64, and their net rating of plus-10.2 is just a shade below last year’s historic plus-11.7 figure that came with a healthy Kristaps Porzingis. In a normal season, Boston’s repeat dominance might be the story of the fall. But it isn’t a normal season, because Thanksgiving is around the corner and the Cavaliers haven’t lost yet.
At 15-0, the Cavaliers have tied the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and 1948-49 Washington Capitols for the second-best start in NBA history. A win gives Cleveland sole control of second place and officially starts Warriors Watch as the Cavaliers attempt to chase Golden State’s record of 24-0.
That alone should represent pretty significant stakes. There’s plenty more to consider here. For starters, this is an NBA Cup game, and after Boston lost its opener to Atlanta, Cleveland has a chance to functionally knock the Celtics out of contention for a mid-December trip to Vegas. A Boston win puts the Celtics in control of their group thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker with Cleveland. Speaking of tiebreakers, we have to at least acknowledge regular-season seeding where two teams this good are concerned. A Cleveland win gives the Cavaliers a four-game lead in the loss column over Boston and an early head-to-head victory that could prove meaningful. With two of their three remaining contests at home, Cleveland could take a huge step towards securing home-court advantage in a possible playoff series against Boston with a win on Monday…