The Cavaliers, the only undefeated team in the East, beat the Bucks 8-0

CLEVELAND – The win total is growing quickly, and so is the Cavaliers’ confidence.

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

“That’s the plan,” center Jarrett Allen said with a big smile.

The Cavs maintained their unblemished record on Monday night with a 116-114 victory 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, edging out Bucks star Damian Lillard in the final minutes as the point guards put on a dazzling parade of shooting to the delight of another rousing crowd at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

“It was unbelievable,” said Garland, who made 7 of 11 3-pointers, including a three-pointer with 45 seconds left that gave the Cavs a 113-111 lead. “I grew up playing checkers. It was super cool to play one-on-one basketball.”

It was the team ball that got Cleveland off to a flawless start.

The triumph marked the Cavs’ best start in franchise history, matching the 1976-77 team that went 8-0 under coach Bill Fitch before finishing 43-39.

“We’re not doing that,” All-Star Donovan Mitchell said, interrupting a reporter who was mentioning the franchise record for fear of jinxing the team’s early run. “I knew that. It’s great. Of course 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 eight games.”

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

“We won in so many different ways,” said Mitchell, who signed a three-year contract extension with the Cavs this summer. “That was more impressive to me than the eight wins, how we managed it. We had setbacks. We had close games. We came back. Every night it’s someone new.”

Atkinson was willing to sit deep on his bench in almost every game. Although he was missing starter Dean Wade and top reserve Caris LeVert due to injuries against the Bucks, the coach used ten players, including rookie Luke Travers, who played in only his second game.

“It just shows the belief in the group, from top to bottom,” said Mitchell, who beat the Bucks with a last-second jumper on Saturday. “And the faith we have in each other.”

The Cavs know their first loss will come at some point, and it’s unlikely they’ll threaten the NBA record set by the Golden State Warriors in 2015-16, who entered the game at 24-0. But they have fun, and nothing is more fun than winning.

“We’re all just locked in,” Garland said.