The East’s best Cavaliers defeated the West’s best Thunder 129-122 on January 8th in Cleveland in a thrilling and highly anticipated matchup.
Coming into this game, the Cleveland Cavaliers were on a 10-game winning streak where they won every game by 10+ points. Similarly, the OKC Thunder were on an NBA high 15-game winning streak with hopes of dethroning the Cavs for the best record in the NBA.
The Cavaliers came in with the game plan of running the offense through their two All-Star big men in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. This plan was successful due to the absence of the Thunder’s young star Chet Holmgren who missed the game as he is still recovering from a hip injury. The Cavs’ centers combined for a total of 46 points as well as 21 rebounds.
Head Coach Kenny Atkinson acknowledged their advantage downlow in a postgame interview.
“Obviously they have great guards but we knew that, and it was just great recognition by our team. Like man, we got to get Evan the ball, they’re smaller we got to get JA the ball,” said Atkinson when asked about his gameplan.
The game was a back and forth thriller as it consisted of 30 lead changes as well as 8 total ties. Despite being the 16th game in this NBA season where neither side led by 10 or more points, the Cavs were playing from behind for almost all of the second and third quarter.
Atkinson is more concerned with the future than celebrating one win as he looks forward to the rematch with OKC on January 16th.
“We all said before the game, Oh, it’s one of 82, but you know we know we’re being judged at this level now, and it’s just one right. We’ve got to go back in two weeks, and we’ll see if we can, um, you know, um, imitate the same performance,” emphasized Atkinson when asked about his team’s mindset going forward.
Regardless of the Thunder coming up short of the win, All-NBA point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showed out for the fans as he put up a total of 31 points on the night representing why he is the NBA’s leading scorer. His efforts weren’t alone as young power forward Jalen Williams added on an additional 25.
Shai has high hopes for his team’s ability to find ways to win going forward.
“We really just figured it out and found a way to win, and it’s been we’ve been doing that for a month and a bit now. We weren’t going to win the rest of the games of the season. We weren’t going to be perfect the rest of the season, and tonight wasn’t our night,” states Shai in regards to his team being tough while dealing with injuries.
