CNN
—

The Cleveland Cavaliers became just the eighth team in NBA history to start a season 12-0 after earning a hard-fought 119-113 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday night.

In a back-and-forth game in Chicago, the Bulls opened a nine-point lead with 4:26 left in the third quarter before the Cavaliers went on a run and took the lead by three entering the fourth.

The Bulls managed to even the score at 106-106, but Cleveland outlasted its opponent down the stretch, cementing its place in an exclusive NBA group.

It’s the best start to an NBA season since the record-breaking Golden State Warriors of 2015-16, who set league records with a 24-0 start and a 73-9 season.

According to ESPN, five of the last seven teams that started the season 12-0 have reached the NBA Finals.

The Cavaliers’ 9-0 start to the season was already the best in franchise history.

“It’s great to be a part of history,” Cavaliers star guard Donovan Mitchell told reporters after the game, according to ESPN. “I never want to take those things for granted along the way if we do it in different ways.

“We do it in a way where we blow teams away. We win from behind. We win close games. And every night it’s someone else in charge. It is always a group effort.”

It’s the second straight game the Cavaliers have battled back from behind, erasing a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit against the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday.

Mitchell had a game-high and season-high 36 points in the win over the Bulls, including seven three-pointers, to go with eight rebounds and four steals.

Darius Garland scored another 17 points for the Cavs, while Evan Mobley recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

“This group is locked in,” Cleveland first-year head coach Kenny Atkinson told reporters. “I do think there have been questions about this group, whether they can go to the next level, can they take the next step?

“So I think when you have that, you have that chip (on your shoulder), you can concentrate even more.

“There’s a different level of concentration, a different level of focus, a different level of detail that these guys are using to get us to 12-0 so far.”

For the Bulls, Zach LaVine had a team-high 26 points, while Coby White and Nikola Vučević had 20 each.

The Cavaliers are now 2.5 ahead of the 9-2 Boston Celtics at the top of the Eastern Conference, while the Bulls fall to 4-7 and sit in ninth place.