Cavs Vs Thunder: 3 Things We Learned
By Luke Sicari
The Cleveland Cavaliers knocked off the Oklahoma City Thunder last night. The Cavs have won 4 straight while snapping the Thunder’s 6 game streak.
LeBron James defeated Kevin Durant in their individual match-up and the Cleveland Cavaliers did the same to the Oklahoma City Thunder, winning their fourth straight, 104-100 at the Quicken Loans Arena.
James was his usual spectacular self, finishing with 33 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, although James did have seven turnovers on the night. Durant was outplayed by James, as the Thunder’s MVP finished with 25 points, five rebounds, three assists but he had turnover issues as well, finishing with four.
Although, James’ big game may be overshadowed by the way he wiped out professional golfer Jason Day’s wife, who was seated courtside. James was hustling for the loose ball and went flying into the women, who left on a stretcher but reports indicated she was okay and responsive.
For the Cavaliers, they used an 18-0 run in the second quarter to get back into the game and then a 9-0 run to begin the final quarter to take a lead they would not give up the rest of the way.
Richard Jefferson came off the bench to score 13 points, Tristan Thompson had 14 points and 15 rebounds, while Matthew Dellavedova, Kevin Love and J.R. Smith all added 11 points on the evening.
Here are three things we learned from the Cavs big win on TNT:
Rebounding Pays
When taking a look at the stat sheet of this one, one number stands out bigger than the rest.
The Cavaliers had 16 offensive rebounds against the Thunder. 11 of Thompson’s 15 rebounds came on the offensive glass.
With Cleveland missing Mo Williams, Iman Shumpert and Kyrie Irving, extra possessions were going to be crucial on the night and Thompson was an absolute machine in that area. The Canadian pulled down four offensive boards in the fourth quarter alone, as the Thunder simply had no one who could keep him off the glass.
The Cavs offense is full of firepower but Thursday Night’s game wasn’t their best offensive game. Love struggled for most of the night and the ball stuck at times throughout the game. This is what makes these offensive rebounds that Thompson provides so valuable.
Thanks to Thompson giving the Cavs multiple second chances, they were able to bump up their field goal percentage to 46.6% and they also handed out 29 assists on the night. Whenever it seemed that Oklahoma City might be getting back into the game in the final quarter, Thompson would grab an offensive rebound to halt their momentum.
Many questioned the Cavaliers decision to give Thompson $82 million dollars this off-season but it is games like this that shows how valuable he is. On a night where they were seriously undermanned and someone needed to step-up, Thompson came in and did what he needed to ensure the Cavs get the W.
The Highs and Lows of Love
For the first three quarters, Love was hardly seen, as he had only managed four points after three quarters of action.
The Thunder had a game plan to guard Love going in and it had him muffled. Love is a player who relies on getting defenses off the floor and drawing contact in the post. The Thunder weren’t having any of it, as they stayed down on Love’s fakes, doubling-him and forcing the ball out of his hands. Love simply couldn’t get going and after only playing 13 minutes in the first half, it seemed like this would be another one of those games where Coach David Blatt would sit Love in the fourth quarter.
Although, Love, who can easily get down on himself when things don’t go his way, kept his head up, stayed in tune with the game and was able to spark the Cavs into making a 20-4 run in the final quarter.
On the first possession of the 4th quarter, Love had the ball on the wing. Already behind the three-point arc, Love pump-faked and finally got a Thunder defender in the air, as Nick Collison left the ground. Love then leaned into Collison, drew the foul and made the basket. Bang, four-point play, tied game.
On the next Oklahoma City possession, former Cav Dion Waiters missed a jumper, in which Love rebounded. Love then delivered one of his trademark outlet passes to a leaking out James, who finished with a slam on the other end. A sold out Quicken Loans Arena crowd went nuts, as momentum had well and truly shifted to the Cavs side.
Then, with 1:44 to play in the final quarter and the Cavs holding onto a slim 5-point lead, James would find Love in the corner, where he knocked down a huge three-pointer to put the Cavaliers up eight.
Despite not being seen in the first three quarters, Love was able to step-up when the Cavaliers needed him most and his play at the beginning of the final quarter shouldn’t be overlooked.
Turnovers
Thursday Night’s win was mostly an all-positive night for the Cavaliers. Down three major backcourt pieces and with one of the leagues most premier teams coming in riding a three-game win streak, a Cavalier win was definitely a great result.
Although one thing that was a worry for the Cavs on this night was turnovers, which are slowly becoming a worrying issue for Cleveland.
The Cavaliers had 16 turnovers on the night, higher than their season average of 14.9 per game. In the month of December though, the Cavs are averaging 15.7 turnovers per game, which is too much for a championship team. For comparison, in November, the Cavs averaged 14.8 turnovers per game, so that number is rising.
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Now, to be fair, the trio of Irving, Williams and Shumpert missing the game due to injury certainty doesn’t help. But for a lot of the night, the offense was out of sync and rhythm, as players were simply throwing the ball out of bounds or to the opposition. Offensive fouls were being committed and the Cavaliers were seemingly handing the Thunder extra possessions.
With everyone’s eye on the Cavs Christmas Day match-up against the Golden State Warriors, the Cavaliers need to cut down their turnover issue because if you give the Warriors a chance to run off the turnovers, Cleveland’s chances of winning will go down greatly.
What did you see from the Cavs last night?