Thunder's previous game: In what many would call a spectacular performance by the Thunder last Thursday, especially from Russell Westbrook - people have been overlooking their performance because of an outburst Russ had with team mate Thabo Sefolosha. After Building a 58-34 half time lead, a half where Westbrook dominated as he went for 16 points on 7-10 shooting to go along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists, The Thunder started the second half right where they left off - Until Westbrook happened.
Russell was posting up his defender and was called for a 5 second violation, something that isn't called very often. He appeared upset that Thabo cut into the lane and clogged it, as he had some words for him after the play. A play later Russell took one of the more wilder shots he takes - and Scott Brooks pulled him the next dead ball. Russell was infuriated and stormed off into the locker room after knocking a chair over, as Mo Cheeks followed him into the locker room to counsel him.
Westbrook would return to the game in the fourth quarter and pick up right where he left off. Though he was only 1-4 in the quarter, he swished his first bucket back and continued to share the ball well. The Thunder survived a 23-9 run by the Grizzlies in the third, and went on the win the game 106-89.
Last meeting with the Cavs: The Thunder dominated the Cavaliers early in November in nearly ever category in their 106-91 victory after a superb shooting performance by the Thunder's stars - Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, who combined for 53 points on 19/32 shooting.
The Thunder were much more efficient Than the Cavaliers in every aspect of the game. They took control of the paint - scoring an impressive 46 points on 23/31 shooting compared to just 30 on 15/36 by the Cavs. They also dominated the fast break - scoring 31 points in transition compared to 18 for the Cavs, which they will need to do tonight again in order to have a chance to win in Cleveland against a young back court and an up-and-coming super star in Kyrie Irving.
The Cavaliers are coming off a blow-out 117-99 loss to the Detroit Piston where the Cavs shot a poor 39% shooting as well as just 30% from beyond the arc. Kyrie Irving scored 13 of his 14 points in the first half, but after a third quarter where the Cavs were out scored 31-21 and turned the ball over 6 times, Irving as well as the rest of the starters didn't see a minute of the fourth.
Cleveland is struggling without their big man Anderson Varejao as they allowed 62 points in the paint and were out rebounded 49-42 against Detroit. Tonight it is crucial for the Thunder to take the ball inside and let their big men dominate the painted area. If OKC can stay efficient in the paint and get to the foul line and convert the free throws, they have a good chance of winning tonight.
Thunder Essentials:
Offensive Rebounds - Cleveland is one of the worth teams in the league in securing defensive rebounds - ranking 29th at just 28.5 per game. Oklahoma City isn't the best offensive rebounding in the league, but they have proved they are certainly capable of dominating the glass with Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison. They need to grab OR's and capitalize with 2nd chance points.
Defend Kyrie Irving - Kyrie can go off any given night, the kid can score. He's averaging 24 points a game on 47% shooting his last 10 games to go along with 2.5 steals and 5.3 assists. OKC held Kyrie to 20 points on 9/16 shooting last time, and in my opinion that's too efficient - expect to see some monster defensive from the Honey-Badger tonight.
3 Ball - This is always important for the Thunder, as they are one of the best 3 point shooting teams in the league at 38%. Cleveland is one of the worst at defending it - ranking 28th in the league and allowing a average percentage of 37.7%. OKC needs to do a better job at spacing the floor than they did last Thursday against the Grizzlies, and with such a poor Cleveland interior, spacing the floor should be easy.
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