The winning streak serves as an additional source of motivation for the Cavaliers

It wasn’t that easy for the Cleveland Cavaliers to get to 11-0 on Saturday night.

Playing for the second night in a row, the Wine and Gold looked a bit sluggish in the second half of their game against the Brooklyn Nets. After trailing by 13 points in the third quarter, Cleveland trailed by 10 points heading into the final stanza.

That lead eventually grew to 13 early in the fourth period before the Cavaliers slowly gave way. Finally, with about 2:31 left, the Cavs tied the Nets at 96 a game, then outscored them nine points to six, closing out the game and extending their season-opening streak to 11 straight wins.

The pressure to keep the series going – especially in a close comeback performance – is slowly becoming an additional source of motivation for the Cavs, even unconsciously. As Kenny Atkinson even admitted, it also makes the games seem riskier.

“You think about it,” Atkinson said after the game. “Normally after eleven games you don’t think about a series. But tonight, man, you’re thinking, ‘I don’t want it to end like this.’ Does that motivate you more to win? I mean, we compete and try to win every game, but it’s kind of weird in the back of your mind when you’re out there competing and you’re like, ‘Man, we gotta keep this going.’ So we’ll keep trying to do it.

It’s rare to see increased pressure in games this early in the season. Beyond that wild stretch lies a 71-game schedule that Cleveland must navigate. Ultimately, the season will be characterized by much more than just these first eleven games.

And yet Atkinson isn’t the only one suffering from this streak during games.

“It’s in the back of my mind, I don’t know anything about them,” Cavs guard Darius Garland said with a smile. “I mean, 11-0 is great. We’re facing a really good team and they’re having their night against us, they’re having their night. We just have to prepare for the next game.”

At some point the Cavaliers will lose a game. You will also lose a lot more afterwards. Until then, though, make the most of this historic and entertaining ride they’re on. And that’s what caught the attention of the NBA world.

“We’re not going to emphasize it,” Garland added. “It’s 82 games in a season so an L won’t really hurt us. We have a bigger picture, we have bigger plans. We’re trying to win a championship, we’re not trying to go 82-0.”