Cavaliers vs. Thunder: Pregame Primer
vs.
Cleveland Cavaliers (14-23, 6-11 road) vs. OKC Thunder (31-8, 17-1 home)
TV: FS OK (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 754)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CT
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 108.8 (2nd), Cavs– 101.5 (22nd)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 102.4 (13th), Cavs – 106.3 (24th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.5 (5th), Cavs – 92.1 (11th)
View from the enemy: Cavs: The Blog
Wednesday night, I had this weird feeling. The Thunder were trailing by 16 to the Suns and I really wasn’t all that worried. Why? Because it was at home and the Thunder don’t go down quietly at home. But that game revealed a little bit of a worrisome trend. It almost seems like the Thunder take home games for granted. Like they know they’re good in OKC and if it’s not a marquee opponent, they sort of just try and cruise.
Well, here’s another crack at it. The Cavaliers aren’t that good and OKC should handle them at The Peake. Will they come out firing, or will it be a slow start and something where the Thunder have to wake up in the fourth quarter and battle one out?
Cleveland coming in: The Cavs upset Denver in Denver on an Irving buzzer beater on Wednesday.
Three Big Things
1. Kyrie Irving. You know what? I’m excited to watch Kyrie Irving in person. Like really excited. Like maybe more excited for him than any other player coming to OKC this season. That’s crazy, but I’m really intrigued to see how he and Russell Westbrook go at each other.
2. Ryan Hollins and Perk. Hollins is a bit of a wannabe tough guy and Perk is a tough guy. Chances of a scrap? High.
3. 36 minutes. With another game 24 hours later, it would be wise of the Thunder to handle this one in the orderly fashion of three quarters and prepare to move on to the next one while the garbage time unit cleans up the mess.
Tip at 7:00 CT. Go Loud Team.
