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| (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) |
The offense struggled to get anything going without their point guard LeBron James (he leads the team in assists and has the ball in his hands more than Kyrie Irving), the Cavaliers struggled on offense. They shot 36.5 percent from the field, thanks in part to the Thunder defense, which had 11 blocks tonight. With the tough interior defense that they possessed, the other two of the big three couldn't get things going. Love was blocked twice by Serge Ibaka and was forced to shoot 5-of-13 from the field.
Irving also struggled to get a rhythm going, shooting 7-of-21and failed to provide the offensive firepower that some expected he would with LeBron out. But it wasn't his play that was the worst of his night, it was watching him clutch his knee after colliding knees with Russell Westbrook. Based on Irving's injury history, it looked like things were heading towards the wrong side of it looked like on replay. But luckily, Irving calmed Cavalier fans down by coming out and playing in the second half.
As for the Thunder, it was Westbrook's night to be had. He had 26 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds, a typical Westbrook night, but his energy helped the Thunder pull away in this game after trailing by as much as 12 points early in the game. His two fast break dunks in the second half helped shift the momentum towards Oklahoma City, ending the Cavaliers eight-game winning streak.
Despite the loss, this almost feels like win. The Cavaliers lost to one of the best teams in the league, at home, by nine points. Irving also went down with what looked like a horrible injury, but came back and played almost the entire second half. Oh, and they did this without LeBron James.
Three Things:
1. The Cavaliers are not good without LeBron.
But we're not that bad. Being without the best player on their team, you'd expect a marginal drop-off in their production. That was the case tonight, but that had more to do with playing a really good basketball team (with two of the five best players in the league on their team). The final score may indicate one thing, but it doesn't indicate everything. The ball movement on offense and the defense did an okay job of containing the Thunder offense. Shot selection wasn't terrible either, despite the 00 percent shooting. I wouldn't expect the Cavaliers to be playing too many games without LeBron, but when this happens again in the future, don't expect an outing like tonight.
2. Tristan and Dion are becoming the players we expected them to be.
Over the last three games, these two have been finding their strides and doing so on a consistent basis. Nobody expected these two to be the stars of this team, but were to be the role players the Cavaliers needed to be a very dominant team. Without these two, as we saw during the Cavaliers four-game losing streak, their bench turns into a nightmare. Thompson put up a double-double, -- points and -- rebounds, while Waiters scored -- points and dished out - assists. If they can put up nights like these on a constant basis going forward, the Cavaliers will only get better.
3. Speaking of the bench, how big has Matthew Dellavedova been since his return?
For whatever talent that he lacks, he makes up for it twice as much heart and hustle. He missed four weeks with a MCL strain, but since coming back against Brooklyn, it looks as if he hadn't missed a beat. Tonight was no different, literally doing everything. He went in and grabbed rebounds with the bigs, drew a charge and hit five 3-pointers. For a team that seriously lacks point guard depth, he is slowly developing himself into an extremely solid back-up.
Statline of the night:
Russell Westbrook: 26 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 12-24 shooting.
Everything that Westbrook does well was put on display tonight. On both side of the ball, he provided energy and aggressiveness that helped propel the Thunder to their fourth straight victory.
What's next:
Dec. 11, on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans, 8 p.m.
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