The Cavaliers are 8-0: does NBA history teach us they will win the championship?

It was a sublime moment for longsuffering fans of the Boston Celtics. After two decades of mediocrity following the end of the Larry Bird dynasty in the 1980s, the Celtics had assembled a team that looked ready to win a championship. They traded for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to come alongside Paul Pierce and try to bring a title back to titletown.

The 2007-08 season could not have started better, either, as they ripped off eight consecutive wins to start the season. The Celtics rode that 8-0 start to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and, ultimately, a championship at the end of the season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are now 8-0 themselves after winning two consecutive games against the Milwaukee Bucks, tied for the best start in franchise history with the 1976-77 Cavaliers. Optimism is blooming all across the state of Ohio, and they have looked like the best team in the East and perhaps the entire league thus far.

Does that strong start mean they have a real chance to win the championship? The answer is yes...and no.

The Cavaliers' start doesn't mean they will win it all

Winning eight games to start the NBA season is an impressive feat, something only 32 teams have done in the 78-year history of the league. Interestingly enough, five different times two teams have hit the mark in the same season, meaning only 27 different seasons have seen an 8-0 team.

The 2024-25 season could be the next season to double-up as well, as on the same night the Cavaliers logged their eighth win the Oklahoma City Thunder went to 7-0 (and Patrick Mahomes happened to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to 8-0 - what a night!). So this discussion is pertinent for two different teams this season: have the other 31 teams who began the season 8-0 gone on to win the title?

The answer is no, and that a team starting 8-0 is not especially likely to win the championship. The last team to start 8-0 and win the title were those 2007-08 Boston Celtics led by the "Big 3" who crushed the competition en route to a win in the NBA Finals. Before the Celtics, the Chicago Bulls went 12-0 in 1996 before winning the 1997 title, the 5th for Michael Jordan and the second-in-a-row for Chicago.

Interestingly enough, the Houston Rockets started at least 8-0 in two consecutive seasons in 1993 and 1994, winning the championship in both seasons. The 1993-94 Rockets went 15-0 to start the season, the longest streak for an eventual champion.

The decade before, the Bad Boy Pistons started 8-0 in 1988 to kick off the season when they would finally break through and win the championship, while the Los Angeles Lakers did the same in 1987 before their final title of the Showtime era. And way back in 1964, Bill Russell and the Celtics started the season 11-0 before going on to win the title, one of 11 in the span of 13 seasons for Boston.

In total, that means seven times out of 32 an NBA team has started the season at least 8-0 and gone on to win the championship. Historically, therefore, based on that one stat the Cavaliers have a 21.8 percent chance to win it all. That's hardly a guarantee, and fans may feel like that sells their team short. But a 1-in-5 chance to win the title when the Cavaliers entered outside the ring of title contenders whatsoever is an impressive step forward. They perhaps had a 2 percent chance to win coming into the season, and at least by this one historical metric they have increased their title chances by 1,000 percent.

The Cavaliers' 8-0 start does mean they should be taken seriously

Looking past merely the binary yes/no of winning a title, the Cavaliers' strong start should be encouraging to fans about their chances of being relevant this season. Only one time has a team started 8-0 and not made the playoffs, when the 1970-71 Detroit Pistons ended the year 45-37 and just missed the playoffs.

What's more, even though only seven teams have won the championship, many more have been legitimate contenders. The 2022-23 Milwaukee Bucks, the last team to start at least 8-0, finished with the No. 1 seed and were a popular title pick heading into the playoffs. The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors came within a breath of winning it all before losing to LeBron James and the Cavaliers in one of the best Game 7s in basketball history.

The 2010-11 Los Angeles Lakers were coming off their second consecutive title and were a contender once again. The 2005-06 Detroit Pistons were a legitimate contender. The 1997-98 Lakers were close to breaking through for their threepeat. The Portland Trail Blazers started 8-0 twice in the early 1990s while they were challenging for a title in the age of Michael Jordan. The 1979-80 Philadelphia 76ers made it to the NBA Finals before losing to Magic, Kareem and the Lakers.

Setting the bar for "championship contender" is hard to do, but at least two-thirds of the 31 teams to go before the Cavaliers and win at least eight-straight games to start the season went on to be serious contenders for the title. That's a significant step forward for a Cavaliers team most dismissed before the year as being in the ring of contenders.

What the Cavaliers probably shouldn't do if they are looking for encouragement, however, is peek at their own team history. One other time Cleveland started a year 8-0, and that was in 1976-77. After their strong start they managed just a 35-39 record the rest of the way, which snuck them into the playoffs as the sixth and final seed. Led by Austin Carr, Jim Chones and Campy Russell that team lost in the first round.

These Cavaliers are loaded with star power, have a bench that fits with their starters extremely well, and are balanced as a force on both offense and defense. Nothing about their start to the season appears fluky, and it is extremely likely that going 8-0 to start the year is a signal that this team should be taken seriously.

8-0 doesn't promise a title, but it certainly speaks to greatness.