OKC Drubs Cleveland Cavaliers, 134-114; Ties Season Series, League Best Record
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 17 Jan 2025
In the second meeting between two of the highly fancied teams in the NBA which fittingly happened in the mid-season today, the Oklahoma City Thunder manhandled the Cleveland Cavaliers, 134-114 squaring their series and allowing OKC to tie the Cavs for the league's best record thus far at 34-6.
OKC rode high on leading MVP bet Shai Gilgeous Alexander's hot shooting and their stingy team defense to virtually clinch the win right in the first two quarters where the Thunder posted an incredulous 75-49 at the end of the half.
Despite playing at home, the Thunder had been feared to be pounded by the Cavs on the slot with relief center Isiah Hertenstein joining main big man Chet Holmgren on injury list.
But Alexander turned the game into a display of impeccable shooting, banging 30 of his top scoring 40 points in the first half to dash whatever advantage the Cavs may have had through their tall and talented frontline of Jarett Allen and Eric Mobley against OKC's Jaylin Williams who had to move from power forward to center.
Alexander poured 15 points in the opening quarter virtually outscoring the entire Cavs team who could only score 14 points in the face of the Thunder's resolute team defense that held them to only two points the rest of the way from a 12-all tie midway through the frame. First quarter ended at 32-14 in favor of OKC.
Shai banged in another 15 points in the second quarter which greatly helped OKC to continue to pull away. Cleveland managed to put up 35 points in the period but with Jalen Williams and Lue Dorf joining the fray, the Thunder tallied 43 more points to practically sew up the game right in the very first half, 75-49.
With Donovan Mitchell and Mobley's offense not clicking or stiffled, Darius Garland and Allen bore the brunt of scoring for the Cavs but they could only do so much as the OKC margin was simply too huge.
Alexander continued to spew fire in the third quarter, scoring ten points more as Isiah Joe and Alex Caruso came off the bench with reserve center Branden Carlsson to sustain the offense as well as defense to still outscore the Cavs, 44-32 for an unsurmountable 119-83 lead going to the final quarter.
With the result practically settled, both teams decided to field mostly their reserves in the payoff period where the Cavs finally outscored OKC, 33-15 mostly through so called "garbage baskets".
After Alexander's top scoring 40 points, Dorf followed with 22 and Jalen Williams managed 19. Joe contributed 12, Carlsson 11 and Caruso 10.
For Cleveland, Garland topped with 20 points and Allen finished with 13 as Mitchell and Mobley could only scrape for 8 and 5 respectively. Reserves Ty Jerome had 12, Caris Levert and Sam Merrill added 9 points each.
Cleveland defeated OKC, 129-122 at home last week.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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