CLEVELAND — These past few weeks haven't come easy for the Cleveland Cavaliers. An 11-day, five-day road trip out west saw the Cavs go 2-3. Their superstar Donovan Mitchell has been working through a shooting slump and the team has been plagued by turnovers and being out-rebounded. But after pulling themselves through it, the Cavs have done something the franchise hasn't seen since 2009-10.
The Cavs have won 60 games this season, and there are a few more left on the schedule.
It's been 15 years since a Cavs team won as much as this one has. When head coach Kenny Atkinson took the role in the offseason, he couldn't anticipate this kind of production in his first year.
"I didn't expect 60 wins, I thought we'd be fighting—my internal goal was 'Can we improve from last year? If that's one win, great. If it's two wins, great.' That's where my mind was. But for this team to take it to another level, shatter that, says a lot. And we're not done. We still can add to that. But I told them, we've got to celebrate this. It's not the end goal but we should take a deep breath and celebrate 60 wins," Atkinson said after the milestone victory, which came over the Clippers in a 127-122 take-down in Rocket Arena Sunday afternoon.
Atkinson was adamant about just how difficult getting to 60 wins is. It's a feat he doesn't take for granted and one he doesn't want his team to, either.
Cavs center Jarrett Allen started his celebration early with a festive t-shirt made by a fan. Allen wore the shirt into his postgame interview—and it encompassed the fun this team has been having all year. Printed on the center of the white tee: a picture of Allen holding his two cats. Under that? A play on the Cavs' slogan "Let Em Know," that instead read "Let em meow."
#Cavs Jarrett Allen with the best shirt I've ever seen.
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) March 31, 2025
"Let em meow" pic.twitter.com/2waMgLNryv
Allen's celebration continued as he spoke about just how important this 60-win milestone is to him and the franchise.
"It feels good. This is definitely something to celebrate. It's the first time without LeBron [James] that the Cavs have got to 60 wins. That's something special for the city of Cleveland and something special for us," Allen said. "60 is a lot of wins. That's a lot of things to be proud of and happy for."
Mitchell, who was just as lighthearted as Allen but tried to go in on the more stoic team leader response, said they want to celebrate, of course—but more for the fans than the team, which he said still has work to do.
"I'm always going to be that guy: 'Don't mean nothing," he joked with Allen next to him. "But I agree and I always say 'Celebrate the small victories' and we will. It's been a great year. All of our sacrifice, we've seen a lot of that payoff. I think that's something to definitely celebrate and you're seeing all of our hard work. JA's got better, I've got better, Ev's [Evan Mobley] got better, DG's [Darius Garland] got better. Everybody has continued taking a step.
"It's really big for our organization and the city. I think that's really what is special. They're behind us every night. Being able to give them something to be proud of on a consistent basis is something that's definitely special to us for sure," Mitchell continued.
The 60th win Sunday ushered in the third time in franchise history the Cavs have been able to reach that mark in a season, the last in 2009-10 and the only other time a season prior to that.
But as Mitchell would preach, these milestones are most important for what the Cavs hope comes as a result of the success, with the next goal being clinching the No. 1 seed and taking homecourt advantage through the NBA playoffs, which are set to begin on April 19.
"The result, at the end of the day, we want to be the No. 1 seed. We know that's going to be something big in the playoffs. But just making sure the little things are up to par with how we want to go into the playoffs," Allen said.
Atkinson had a similar opinion himself.
"It is [important] and it isn't. Does that make sense? If I had priorities I'd rather be playing well and have everybody healthy. That's first priority. Hopefully, the first seed comes along with that and I think it will. I think it's that process-oriented, we keep doing these things it's going to work out. But there's no 'Hey man we've got to get the next game, we need the first seed.' That's not the mentality. I think if we keep on the philosophy mentality that we're on right now it'll end up happening," Atkinson said.
The Cavs have seven games left in the regular season, but, thankfully for their sake, get some much-needed rest following their 60th win. The Cavs get to remain home to host the Knicks on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. tipoff, looking to close out the year with some high momentum and a lock for the No. 1 seed.
