On Wednesday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder played in a thrilling game that could be a preview of this year’s NBA Finals. Cleveland won 129-122 and extended their win streak to 11 games, snapping OKC’s 15-game winning streak in the process. It was only the third time in NBA history that two teams with double-digit win streaks faced off in the regular season.
A Close Game For All 48 Minutes
Wednesday’s matchup against the top teams in each conference featured 30 different lead changes and eight ties. Throughout the first three and a half quarters, the Cavs and Thunder traded buckets, and neither team gained a clear advantage.
Cleveland found themselves up three with less than 90 seconds to go, and after challenging a foul call on Donovan Mitchell, they got the ball back with a chance to ice the game. Evan Mobley then hit a jump shot to take their lead up to five, and the Cavs never looked back. They outscored the Thunder by six points in the all-important fourth quarter and were able to walk away with a win against the first seed in the Western Conference.
“It’s so awesome,” Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson said of the energy in the arena. “It’s like you’re in the NCAA tournament. It’s like, ‘Man, we got here.’ There’s that type of buzz.”
By The Final Whistle
It was an off-night for Cleveland star Mitchell, who had only 11 points on 3/16 shooting in what was his second-lowest scoring game of the year. His shots weren’t falling all night, but he had that key foul call reversed, which allowed the team to close out the win. Jarrett Allen led the way for the Cavs, as the center had 25 points on 9/11 shooting, 11 rebounds, and six assists, battling for loose balls and generating foul calls.
Mobley also played great for Cleveland, finishing with a similar stat line of 21 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists while making the key shot late in the game. Both Allen and Mobley were perhaps the biggest factors in the Cavs coming out on top…