LeBron was an early scratch before tipoff with a sore knee. Oklahoma City Thunder shot 43% from the field and the Cleveland Cavaliers struggled to score efficiently with LeBron out as they shot 34% from the field. The Cavs were without the best player in the NBA, LeBron James, but Cleveland kept the score close until the 3rd quarter came around.
The story of the night was when Kryie Irving went down right before halftime in serious pain holding his knee. It was a scary moment for most Cavs fans who were holding their breath for the update. I’m sure everyone in Cleveland was praying. The fear was Kyrie had a serious injury as Irving was helped off the court by teammates and the medical staff. Luckily Kyrie came out to start the 3rd quarter, running back and fourth in sprints and had no apparent limp.
Kyrie finished the game with 20 points, but had an awful night shooting as he went 7-21 from the field, 6 assists, and 3 rebounds. Kevin Love had 18 points on just 13 shots and 16 rebounds. Russell Westbrook was impressive with no real threat on defense and Westbrook took advantage of that. Russell had 26 points on 12-24 shooting, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds. Kevin Durant struggled shooting the ball, going 6-14 from the field for 19 points, but filled up the stat sheet with 5 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 big-time blocks and 2 steals!
The story of this game for the Oklahoma City Thunder was their bench players. Both benches played extremely well last night as the Thunder outscored the Cavs bench 39-31. The Thunder had a atrocious night shooting from deep though. OKC combined to go 7 for 26 from three for 27%, while Anthony Morrow went 3 for 5 from the three point line to finish with 11 points!
First off I want to say Tristan Thompson looks like an extremely better option at center then Anderson Varejao. In 30 minutes of action, Thompson had 14 points, 13 rebounds, and more importantly 2 blocks. Anderson is just not a rim protector, especially at this stage of his career. Varejao would rather swipe at the ball than contest shots at the rim and that is a problem. Also from last night I noticed Kyrie Irving has changed his game around from last year. Kyrie was making the right passes and getting everyone involved, but the problem was nothing was falling for the Cavs.
The Thunder snapped the Cavs 8 game winning streak and are red hot. I can guarantee you nobody wants to see a healthy Thunder team as the 8th seed come playoffs!
