The Cleveland Cavaliers topped the Washington Wizards 114-106 on Wednesday night, to move to 33-16 on the season. After a slow start, the Cavs have gone 15-1 in their last 16 games and are now healthy, with Evan Mobley and Darius Garland having returned from injury.

Cavs star Donovan Mitchell spoke about the team's mindset on NBA TV after their win and being asked about contending for a championship:

Said Mitchell on the Cavs' mentality, “It's one thing to have the talent but the next thing to believe it on a consistent basis… At the end of the day it's only February 7th…but it's how we build.”

That may be true, but Mitchell and the Cavs are playing as well as any team in the NBA.

The Cavs strung together a 7-3 record in their first 10 games after the news regarding Mobley and Garland. Cleveland then took it up a notch, winning eight in a row and climbing the Eastern Conference ladder, waiting for their star duo of Mobley and Garland to return to the court.

While Mobley and Garland are still easing their way back to the floor, the Cavs went 15-4 without Mobley and 16-4 without Garland, finding the consistency they'd been lacking and a dominant edge on both sides of the floor. Cleveland went from being a possible participant in the NBA's Play-In Tournament to having the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, in striking distance of the Boston Celtics.

The Cavs' 15-1 stretch is the team's best ever run over a 16-game span. The team's sole loss in that period came to the Milwaukee Bucks.