🥵 Heavyweight Battle in Cleveland

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The question heading into the night was could the Cleveland Cavaliers hang with the big dawgs? Safe to say, question answered.

There’s a lot of doubters out there questioning the Cleveland Cavaliers, and rightfully so. The Cavs have been successful in years past, but never really stood as legitimate Finals threats in the East. Then this offseason, they changed literally nothing in their lineup. Not a thing. All they did was fire their coach. Surely that can’t be a recipe for success.

Success wouldn’t probably be a strong enough word for what they are doing this year. Heading into last night, the Cavs had the best record in the NBA at 31-4, just one game better than their opponent the Oklahoma City Thunder. They were riding a 10-game winning streak, second to only the Thunder’s 15-game winning streak. It was only the third time in NBA history two teams have met riding winning streaks of 10-games or better. So it’s safe to say that if the Cavs wanted to be taken seriously, they needed to go toe-to-toe with OKC.

Cleveland and OKC went back and forth all game, in fact there were 30 lead changes through out the whole game. Even though it’s January and there’s more than half a season to go, this game had Finals level intensity.

OKC’s star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, had a classic SGA game. He had 31 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Their other dude, Jalen Williams, put up 25 points, 9 assists, and 5 rebounds. A strong showing for the Thunder, but not enough to hold off the Cleveland Cavaliers buzzsaw.

Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland’s own super star, had one of his worst game of the season with 11 points on 3-16 shooting. But it was their role players who shined ; A true sign of a championship level team. Ty Jerome and Max Strus combined for 32 points off of the bench, shooting a combined 12-14. Jerome especially was huge in the fourth quarter and in total scoring 15 points in 12 minutes played. Spark plug. Jarrett Allen, who was caught flack in years past for his poor performance’s in big games, was Cleveland’s leading scorer with 25 points, and their leading rebounder with 11. Oh, and he also managed to get 6 assists. Even Evan Mobley showed why he should be in consideration for Most Improved Player in the NBA, 21 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists. A fluid offense and a stingy defense lead Cleveland to victory.

You can’t really put a finger on what truly turned this Cavs team into a juggernaut, but whatever it is, it’s fun to watch. Can’t get enough of this matchup? Don’t worry, there’s a rematch in OKC next week.

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