The Cleveland Cavaliers played like one of the best teams in basketball in the first half. In the second quarter they gained a lead of 19 points, but had to give it up completely in the second half. Cleveland turned things around thanks to an impressive 39-point performance from Darius Garland and took a 116-114 win.

With the win, the Cavs improve to 8-0, giving the 1976-77 team the best start in franchise history.

The Bucks entered this game shorthanded without Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Cavs quickly took advantage of this by doubling Damian Lillard and attacking their smaller front line offensively.

The Cavs opened the game with a series of simple catch-and-shoot threes. Milwaukee had no way to stop the guards, an all-too-familiar trend, as Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell combined for 25 points in the first quarter. This was a preview of how Garland's evening would go.

Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers made it clear before Monday's game that Evan Mobley's development is the biggest difference between the Cavs this season and years past.

“Mobley might be the biggest difference overall,” Rivers said. “He has the ball in his hands a lot more than ever before. He brings the ball up. Sometimes he’s a version of Giannis (Antetokounmpo).”

Mobley showed that in the second quarter when he did the following in the first four minutes:

• Reverse dunk
• Committed an offensive shooting foul
• Blocked a Delon Wright layup and then took it coast-to-coast for a dunk

• Shot a three-pointer
• Then Sam Merrill assisted for another three

This allowed the Cavs to extend the lead to 19 just before halftime, but Milwaukee fended off a 10-5 run to cut the lead to 13 just before halftime.

Lillard took over from there. He quickly scored five points at the start of the third quarter and kept giving them new points. He attacked relentlessly no matter how the Cavs defended him. His 14 points in the third quarter allowed Milwaukee to turn a double-digit deficit into a two-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Milwaukee's substitutes built on that, extending the lead to seven early in the fourth as the bench unit of Mitchell and Mobley was uncharacteristically poor. Things changed when Garland and Jarrett Allen re-entered.

The Cavs had to fight and fight until the end. Luckily, Garland was ready for the fight. In the fourth quarter, he repeatedly made his way to the basket and attacked the exhausted front line. When the defense collapsed on him, he handed things over to one of the all-time greats. When they didn't, he took the plain basket.

Lillard held on all night and finished with 36 points. But Garland was there to counter him every step of the way.

With less than a minute and a half left, Lillard took a step back, giving Milwaukee a three-point lead. Garland responded with a floater of his own. On the next possession, he hit his own step-back triple to give the Cavs the lead. He then found Allen for a game-winning basket after Lillard missed a step-back three against Okoro.

This wasn't the most impressive win of the 8-0 opener. They should have been able to handle a struggling Bucks team without Antetokounmpo after being 19 years old. But it's hard to stay perfect.

In the end, they got their job done and that's the only thing that matters that night. And they have Darius Garland to thank for that.