Thunder fall short against James, Cavaliers
The game was billed a superstar showdown between Kevin Durant and LeBron James, and the two didn’t disappoint. James and the Cleveland Cavaliers got the last laugh as they secured a 104-100 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Cleveland’s victory put an end to the OKC’s six-game win streak. James scored 33 points and added 11 assists and nine rebounds. Kevin Durant scored 25 for the Thunder in the loss.
Both players hit the ground running as they combined to score 14 points (4-of-5 from 3-point range) in the first six minutes of the game. Interesting tidbit: according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Durant had been the only player to face James at least 10 times in the regular season and outscore him. OKC’s forward had a 412-410 edge entering Thursday’s game.
With Andre Roberson being the Thunder’s best wing defender, it was a safe assumption that he would defend James. That’s why it was a surprise that Durant ended up being the primary defender throughout the game. The only conceivable explanation is Durant personally requested the assignment, wanting to take on the challenge of checking James. By scoring 25 points, it’s hard to suggest that the defensive assignment slowed Durant down.
For the Cavaliers, Tristan Thompson had 12 points and 15 rebounds off the bench. For the Thunder, Russell Westbrook actually led the team in scoring with 27 points and Serge Ibaka added 23. Oklahoma City’s bench scored just 16 points.
Every team has a star. These teams have plenty of them and both are expected to make deep playoff runs. That means that they’re going to be facing skilled teams. What is going to separate the good teams from the great teams will be the complimentary players. TNT’s Inside the NBA crew can be a bit off the rails at times. Okay, it can be most of the time, but they do provide interesting tidbits that can make a lot of sense. Prior to the game, Charles Barkley questioned OKC’s ability to make a deep run in the playoffs due to the fact that Durant and Westbrook are unable to make their teammates better.
“They don’t make the players around them better,” Barkley said. “When they get in a close game, they play one-on-one basketball.”
He also brought up a great San Antonio Spurs anecdote. He referenced how Kawhi Leonard took his game to another level once he realized the philosophy Gregg Popovich was preaching: the plays were being called from the bench with the purpose being that the team scored, not a specific player.
Durant and Westbrook have shown signs of getting that message, particularly in the team’s recent stretch of basketball. Their game against the Atlanta Hawks last week featured both players recording 10 assists and openly looking to get their teammates involved. Against Portland on Wednesday, four additional players scored in double figures alongside the two stars. With the Thunder needing someone else to step up, Serge Ibaka proved to be the player who rose to the occasion. Ibaka’s 12-point third quarter was huge. The defensive stopper struggled from the field in the first half, shooting just 2-of-7 from the field. He caught fire in the third quarter as he shot 4-of-5 from the field. They needed more though.
The Thunder possessed a four-point lead going into the fourth quarter. Billy Donovan opted to rest both Durant and Westbrook and went with an all-bench lineup. That plan did not work as the Cavaliers rattled off a 9-0 run to start the period, resulting in the Thunder calling timeout. Per NBA.com/Stats, OKC had played 206 minutes without Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka prior to Thursday’s game. The Thunder had been outscored by 16.1 points per 100 possessions in that time. The decision to sit everyone during that pivotal stretch of the game remains puzzling. Westbrook checked in out of the timeout, but the damage had already been done.
The Thunder hung around on the second night of a back-to-back. They made some mistakes that are correctable and this could be seen somewhat as a morale victory, but the bigger picture still remains that they’re going to need more firepower. The Inside the NBA crew said Durant and Westbrook can’t make their teammates better. That certainly wasn’t the case on Thursday. They did their part and did their best to open things up for everyone else. The rest of the players not named Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka made just 10 field goal attempts and shot 40 percent from the field. The others failed to cash in.
Anthony Morrow was not with the Thunder in the matchup against the Cavaliers. According to the team, he was dealing with a personal matter. Missing Morrow hurts, but the bench’s outlook shouldn’t live or die by his presence. The fact that the floor fell out from under the Thunder’s secondary players without Morrow being available just puts a stronger emphasis on the fact that the team needs more if they’re going to compete against the other elite teams in the league.
NOTES:
- Kyle Singler was the next man up for the Thunder due to the absence of Morrow. Singler didn’t exactly have the same defensive disposition guarding James as Durant had. That said, Singler ended his streak of consecutive minutes without recording a single assist. He’s played a total of 214 minutes this season without a single assist. He finished the game with a whopping two dimes.
- If there was a NSFW function in the basketball world, Durant’s bucket here would fit the bill. It goes in the play-by-play sheet as a layup, but there are so many beautiful things going on. Seriously. Look at it.
- ‘Samurai’ Steven Adams would not be outdone. He crowned King James with this vicious slam.
- Westbrook played with fire and got burned too many times in the second quarter. He often sagged off Dellavedova and had to run at him on 3-point attempts. It was not a wise strategy as Dellavedova drilled bucket after bucket. Westbrook tried to get his revenge by attacking him, but Cleveland quickly adjusted. They used center Timofey Mosgov as a help defender, thus negating Westbrook’s advantage. The onus has to go on Mosgov’s man to make them pay for helping and that didn’t always happen.
- Enes Kanter and Adams combined for 46 minutes for OKC. That means that they played no more than two minutes with Ibaka at the 5, Durant at the 4. Sure, Tristan Thompson is a player that can kill a small ball lineup with his offensive rebounding, but it felt like the Thunder didn’t even want to bother going small. He clearly did well as OKC went away from small ball. It couldn’t have been much worse mixing that in. It seemed unnecessary trying to stay traditional for so long in this one.
- OKC is 11-2 against teams below .500 and now 6-7 against teams above .500. For a frame of reference, the San Antonio Spurs are 14-2 against teams below .500 and 8-3 against teams above .500. The Los Angeles Clippers are 11-4 against teams below .500 and 5-6 against teams above .500.
Next up: Hosting the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday afternoon.
