PHILADELPHIA — Donovan Mitchell scored 11 of his 23 points in the final three minutes of the game and the Cleveland Cavaliers became the sixth team in NBA history to start a season 13-0 with a 114-106 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.
Mitchell also grabbed 13 rebounds and had nine assists as Cleveland became the first team since the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors to win 13 straight to begin a season. That Warriors team holds the record for most wins to begin a season with 24.
Of the previous five teams to start 13-0, four made the NBA Finals but only the 1993-94 Houston Rockets won the title, according to ESPN Research.
Darius Garland scored 25 points and Evan Mobley had 14 points with seven rebounds.
Jared McCain had a career-high 34 for the 76ers, who played without Paul George and Joel Embiid on the second night of a back-to-back as part of left knee injury maintenance. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 20 points and Caleb Martin had 18 for the Sixers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.