OKC Thunder: 3 keys to sweeping Cavaliers

For the first time this season, the OKC Thunder have lost four games in a row. Although it’s been a tough slog of late with a trio of blowout losses the team did perform better on Wednesday in spite of losing again, this time to the Hornets.

Charlotte was also shorthanded missing their standout rookie LaMelo Ball, veteran Gordon Hayward, and Malik Monk, but it’s a far cry from the core contributors missing for the OKC Thunder.

The 103-113 loss was more palatable, but still a loss. It does reinforce the goal of ‘tanking’ for the best possible lottery seed. Yet, it also reminds us of just how impressive this club was through more than 40 games of the 2020-21 season.

As several pundits noted this week in the power rankings the lineups being utilized by Mark Daigneault are closer to a college team or G-League squad than an NBA roster and it’s leading to losses.

While the games aren’t as entertaining there are positives to pull from the games but they are limited to individual performances and the growth of those individuals.

Three keys to OKC Thunder sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers:

There is no time to wallow in the loss of Wednesday to the Hornets as the Thunder are right back in action tonight facing another team likely bound for the lottery.

In contrast to the Thunder, Cleveland arrives on the heels of a big win in San Antonio that ended a five-game losing streak for the Cavaliers.

While both teams are expected to hit the lottery here are three keys to the match…

Which young star follows up big performance?

In the Cavaliers’ win over the Spurs, Darius Garland posted a career-high 37 point performance getting hot from the perimeter connecting on half of his ten 3-point attempts.

On the Thunder side of the hardwood, both rookies had big nights Wednesday, and while they each scored 25 points that marked a career-best for Aleksej Pokusevski. Like Garland, Poku was on fire from deep connecting on seven 3-pointers out of his 11 attempts.

Which team finds their offense?

The bottom-ranked offensive team in the NBA is an equally owned position by these two clubs with a 104.1 rating.

The Thunder haven’t performed as well offensively particularly missing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and their other core young talents like Luguentz Dort and Darius Bazley. In the nine games without SGA the Thunder are performing worse with an offensive rating of 98.6 and 102.4 points per game. The Cavaliers in the same timeframe are scoring 97.4 points per game but have a better offensive rating of 100.4.

Glass Cleaners:

While one player can’t win a game they can dominate certain aspects of a game. The perfect example is Andre Drummond. Before the Cavaliers stopped playing him (and eventually bought out his contract) the Cavaliers ranked second in offensive rebounding.

And, while they added Jarrett Allen they’ve dropped to 14th without Drummond to clean the glass. Likewise, before February 12th, the Cavaliers were the top paint scoring team with 54.1 points and while they still rank seventh without Drummond their paint total is now slightly less (51.2). Similarly, without Jarrett Allen in the last five games, the Cavs drop to 16th for paint scoring (46.4).

Game specifics:

Records:

• Thunder: 20-31
• Cavaliers: 18-32

The Venue:  Chesapeake Energy Arena

Tipoff:  8:00 PM ET  | 7:00 PM CT

TV: Fox Sports  Oklahoma | NBA League Pass

Radio: WWLS 98.1 FM OKC

Odds:

Injuries:

The Thunder hadn’t provided an updated list for the NBA injury report as of this posting, but the assumption is the same players are expected out again.

OKC Thunder:

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will miss his ninth consecutive game with plantar fasciitis
• Al Horford has been shut down for the season.
• Darius Bazley will miss his 16th consecutive game with a shoulder contusion.
• Mike Muscala is out with an ankle injury missing his 14th of the last 15 games.
• Luguentz Dort is out in the concussion protocol program, and presumed to be out again for his seventh game in a row.
• Ty Jerome is day-to-day with an ankle injury.

Cavaliers:

More from Thunderous Intentions

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

Jarrett Allen missed the last five games in the concussion protocol program and won’t play on Thursday.

Dylan Windler has also missed the past five games dealing with a knee injury and is also out.

Larry Nance is definitely out with an illness.

History:

This is the second and final meeting of the Cavaliers and Thunder this season. In the initial meeting on February 21st, the Thunder won 117-101.  That victory extended OKC’s winning streak versus Cleveland to five games in a row.

All-time the squads have faced each other 116 times in regular-season history. The OKC Thunder have the advantage of winning 68 wins of those matches compared to 48 for the Cavaliers.

In the 2019-20 campaign the teams played twice with OKC winning both matches.