Cleveland, OH—The storyline heading into Wednesday night was the best in the West vs. the best in the East, the best defense vs. the best offense in the league, a potential look into the finals matchup, and the possibility that the nationally televised match between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder will be the game of the year in the NBA.
Members of the Cavaliers claimed they didn’t look at it any differently than one out of the 82 games they’ll play this regular season – But you can’t help but wonder if a win would hold a little more weight than the rest.
Regardless, the Cavs played their game of basketball, not ‘doing too much’, in the words of Kenny Atkinson, and snapped the Thunders' 15-game winning streak with a 129-122 victory.
Cleveland is now 32-4 and has gone 11-0 against West Coast opponents.
The wine and gold remained even-keeled post-game despite the historic matchup they just played. As Evan Mobley described it, they didn’t need this game to prove anything.
“I think it's definitely a confidence booster, but honestly even before this team we felt like the number one team in the league.”
Through 36 games only four teams have posted a better record than Cleveland Golden State (34-2) in 2015-16, Philadelphia (33-3) in 1966-67, the Los Angeles Lakers (33-3) in 1971-72 and Chicago (33-3) in 1995-96.
More than Mitchell- The misconception about this game was that Donovan Mitchell was going to have to be the hero tonight. A battle between himself and OKC’s Shei Gilgeous Alexander. The noise coming from the national media, who have not been giving the Cavaliers the attention and coverage they very well deserve, got it wrong.
Mitchell, a big part of the offense, has taken on a different role this year. He can be the hero at times, but he is also the playmaker and facilitator for his teammates. Mitchell doesn’t need to drop 30+ points a game for the Cavaliers to come out victorious. The continuity on the team and the depth of the bench continue to prove to be enough.
It certainly was tonight.
Mitchell struggled offensively against OKC and it was evident from the jump. Through the first half of play, he went 1-8 and didn’t score his first bucket until the very end of the second quarter.
Spida ended the game shooting 3-16 with 11 points.
“The players said in the locker room, they said we don’t, you know, we don’t win this game last year,” said Atkinson. “That says a lot about our growth, you know, growth and their maturity and kind of where they are and their evolution as a team.”
On an off-night for Mitchell, six other Cavaliers were in double digits to add to the win. Darius Garland took over 18 points and a team-high tying seven assists.
Coming up BIG - Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley were the difference makers with a combined 46 points and 22 rebounds.
We didn’t see these two play side-by-side last season, and we weren’t sure if it was something that would work if they did.
But it was something that Atkinson said he pushed for heavily while interviewing with the Cavaliers this off-season. “I came from a different angle. Why can’t they play together? They’re so talented,” said Atkinson. “We play them together and then we can split them up.”
It wasn’t just offensively these bigs attacked OKC, they played a big part in stopping the Thunder from scoring.
“We basically protected the rim as we should. Obviously, they’re going to make some shots but every time they drove, they definitely saw either Evan [Mobley] or I down there and they second-guessed it,” said Allen.
There a confidence between these two that builds every game. You can see it. Kenny Atkinson has truly unlocked a gem in these two.
And just a reminder — With Mobley, it feels like he’s only scratching the surface of who he is as an basketball elite player. Sometimes forgotten, but Mobley is only 23 years old.
JA remains an underrated big in the league but doesn’t fly under the radar for the Cavs. He’s averaging nearly 70% from the field.
Up Next - It’s a quick turn-around for the Cavs, hosting the Toronto Raptors for the second game of the back-to-back on Thursday.
The Raptors are 23.5 games behind the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference standings, sitting in 14th place just in front of the Washington Wizards.
Cleveland won’t sit back for the matchup, but it wouldn’t be shocking if they went to their bench to take on longer minutes for the 7:00 pm tip-off.
19-1 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse this season, the best home record in the NBA … Can they make it 20?