At the center of this unexpected success is Coach Kenny Atkinson, whose leadership has sparked the team’s remarkable rise. But even he’s surprised by how quickly everything has come together leaving fans wondering: how good can this team really be?

Cleveland played the New York Knicks in their third game of the season. The Cavaliers have struggled to grab rebounds against New York for the past few seasons, and that trend continued in the first half of that matchup, with New York outrebounding Cleveland by eight in the first half.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have found their strength in numbers. Donovan Mitchell knows what it’s like to do all the heavy lifting himself, and he also knows that, as much as that helps his numbers, it rarely translates into winning when it matters the most.

Jarrett Allen knows Kenny Atkinson. Obviously, given that Atkinson is Allen’s coach with the Cavaliers. But Allen also played with Atkinson previously — as Atkinson was Brooklyn Nets coach from 2016-2020,