Game Preview – Saturday January 23, 2010 – Oklahoma City Thunder @ Cleveland Cavaliers

Game Preview – Saturday January 23, 2010 – Oklahoma City Thunder @ Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavaliers are sky high right now, coming off of a bittersweet victory at the Q against the Lakers, to sweep the season series, 2-0. Not everyone came away unharmed, however,  as Delonte West fractured his finger in the win. He will miss the Thunder game, and will be re-evaluated early next week.

The Cavaliers showed their fortitude by pulling away in the fourth quarter without their #2 option in a hard fought battle with the Lakers. LeBron again paved the way, scoring 37 points to go along with 9 assists & 5 rebounds on 13-25 shooting, giving him 6 30 point games in the past 7 Cavalier contests. J.J Hickson had a career game, going 4-6 for 11 points & 14 rebounds and some solid defense on the vaunted Laker front court.

The Thunder meanwhile had a 3 game winning streak snapped Friday night @ Memphis, who beat them 86-84 on a Rudy Gay jumper with 1 second left. Even though he did lead the way for the Thunder with 30 points and 8 rebounds, Durant missed a last second 3 point attempt at the buzzer. Jeff Green added 15 for the Thunder, who shot just 40% from the floor.

Saturday January 23, 2010

Oklahoma City Thunder @ Cleveland Cavaliers

7:30 PM EST

FSN Ohio/WTAM 1100

Probable Starters:

OKC:

Russell Westbrook

Thabo Sefolosha

Kevin Durant

Jeff Green

Nenad Krstic

Cleveland:

Daniel Gibson

Anthony Parker

LeBron James

J.J Hickson

Shaquille O’Neal

All-Time Series:

• Overall: Cleveland 39 (100.4 PPG) – OKC 56 (102.6 PPG)
• LeBron era: Cleveland 8 (101.5 PPG) – OKC 5 (94.2 PPG)
• The Cavaliers have won 6 out of the last 9 meetings, including the last 4 at the Q.

Last Meeting:

December 13, 2009: Cleveland 102 – Oklahoma City 89.

It was LeBron & Mo vs. Durant & Green, as the Cavaliers duo outscored OKC’s 66-55. LeBron & Mo combined to hit 9 of the Cavaliers 11 triples in the game, as LeBron put up a game high 44 points to go with 7 rebounds, 6 assists & 4 steals as the Cavaliers (who were down by 5 at the half), steamrolled through the 2nd half to pick up the win.

East vs. West:

Cleveland is 14-5 vs. the West, while Oklahoma City is 15-4 vs. the East.

Cleveland’s Highlight Performance:

December 13, 2009: Cleveland 102 – Seattle 89

LeBron James: 16-29 FG; 5-8 3s; 7-10 FT; 44 Pts; 7 Rebs; 6 Assists; 4 Steals; 1 Block; 1 TO

Oklahoma City’s Highlight Performance:

March 2, 1987: Seattle 123 – Cleveland 107

Tom Chambers: 13-24 FG; 1-2 3s; 9-9 FT; 36 Pts; 7 Rebs; 2 Assist; 4 Steal; 0 TO

Make the other guys beat you:

The Thunder are just 1-5 when Durant doesn’t lead the team in scoring, 0-5 when Durant scores less than 20, and 11-9 when he shoots less than 20 shots.

Cleveland career stats vs. Thunder:

Player	Games	Minutes	Points	Rebounds	Assists	FG%	FT%	3pt%
Daniel Gibson	5	23.2	11.0	1.6	2.4	51.2%	60.0%	41.7%
Zydrunas Ilgauskas	18	26.3	11.9	6.6	1.5	45.8%	83.8%	50.0%
LeBron James	11	38.3	29.3	5.9	6.2	51.0%	80.0%	37.5%
Shaquille O’Neal	46	34.8	24.7	10.0	2.8	60.1%	52.3%	-

Oklahoma City career stats vs. Cavaliers:

Player	Games	Minutes	Points	Rebounds	Assists	FG%	FT%	3pt%
Kevin Durant	5	35.6	23.2	4.0	1.8	50.0%	85.2%	38.5%
Jeff Green	5	31.6	14.6	4.4	1.2	50.9%	75.0%	33.3%
Nenad Krstic	12	30.5	12.3	5.0	1.0	47.7%	76.7%	0.0%
Thabo Sefolosha	10	19.9	3.2	3.1	1.3	27.3%	83.3%	27.3%

Who’s Hot:

Player	Time Period	Points	Rebounds and/or Assists	FG%	Misc
Nick Collison	6 games	5.5	6.8 RPG	50.0%	1.2 BPG
Kevin Durant	8 games	32.6	8.5 RPG/2.5 APG	50.6%	63.6% 3pt
Jeff Green	6 games	14.3	8.3 RPG/1.7 APG	44.2%	42.0 MPG
James Harden	6 games	12.2	4.5 RPG	48.0%	47.8% 3pt
Sergie Ibaka	5 games	5.0	5.6 RPG	50.0%	20.2 MPG
Nenad Krstic	5 games	9.2	4.6 RPG	52.5%	1.8 ORPG
Eric Maynor	10+ minutes – 16 out of 28 G w/ Utah. 16 of 16 w/ OKC.
B.J Mullens	1 minute in first 35 games. 26 in last 8.

Who’s Not:

Player	Time Period	Points	Rebounds and/or Assists	FG%	Misc
Kevin Ollie	0 minutes in last 29 games
Thabo Sefolosha	8 games	4.4	4.7 RPG	37.8%	20.0% 3pt
Etan Thomas	0 minutes in last 24 games
Kyle Weaver	Has not played since 11/27
Russell Westbrook	3 games	7.8	8.0 APG	30.3%	5.5 TOPG
D.J White	Expected to miss 6-8 weeks

Match-up to Watch:

Russell Westbrook vs. Daniel Gibson.

With Mo Williams and Delonte West both out for this game, will the Thunder go to Russell Westbrook more? Possibly, but the Thunder are better when Westbrook is the facilitator, as they are 9-3 when he gets 10+ assists, and only 6-5 when he scores 20+ points.

Rotation to Watch:

Maynor-Harden-Durant-Ibaka-Collison.

By far their best 5 man unit. They are +43 when on the court together, giving up just 0.8 points per possession, while scoring 1.22. It’s only their 6th most used rotation, but definitely their most effective.

*The Rotation & What to Watch Stats do not include OKC’s  Friday night game @ Memphis.*

What to Watch:

• Defense. Both of these teams are in the top 6 in points per game allowed, the Cavs #4 at 94.5, OKC #6 at 95.9. They are also 2 of the top 3 teams in FG% allowed, the Cavs tied for 1st w/ the Lakers at .436, OKC right behind at .437. The difference is the Cavaliers average 100.9 points per game, while the Thunder average just 98.6. However, when the Thunder score 100, they are 16-2. Conversely, when they give up 100, they are just 4-14.

• Guard play/Match-ups. Will the Cavaliers give Daniel Gibson the chance to make Westbrook work on the defensive end? The Thunder, with all their size, would be a good team to go big against, with lineups such as LeBron-A.P-Jawad-Andy-Shaq/Z. One thing is for sure: this time around we won’t counter their height with our 3 guard rotation.

• LePost-up. Yes, the Thunder have height. However, they lack the strength to contain LeBron in the post. Will he take advantage?

• Turnovers. While Oklahoma City doesn’t take good care of the basketball (they are 27th at 15.7 per game), they do force the 8th most turnovers in the league, at 15.0 per game.

• LeBron vs. Durant. The best in the game today vs. his successor. The best team in the NBA vs. the best young up & coming team in the NBA. Enjoy the show!

Game Preview – Saturday January 23, 2010 – Oklahoma City Thunder @ Cleveland Cavaliers

Comments

About Author