Tag Archives: Evan Mobley

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Thunder preview (Game 8 of 82)

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  • Cleveland Cavaliers (3-4) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (4-3)
  • When: Wednesday, 08 November 2023 at 7:00pm CST
  • Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Offensive Rating – CLE: 107.0 (27th) / OKC: 114.0 (11th)
  • Defensive Rating – CLE: 109.9 (11th) / OKC: 113.6 (20th)
  • Net Rating – CLE: -2.9 (18th) / OKC: 0.4 (15th)

The Set-Up

The NBA is crazy sometimes. You could play a team twice in a span of two weeks and see a completely different team on the floor each time you play them. On October 27th, the Thunder played a Cavs team in Cleveland that was missing both Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen. Oklahoma City had to launch an amazing comeback in the last 2 minutes of that game to overcome a 10-point deficit in what was probably their most exciting game of the year.

Conventional wisdom would tell you the Cavs probably stand a better chance today because of the addition of the two starters that were injured in the previous game. But, Cleveland has weirdly not played well this season on the offensive end. They are 27th in offensive rating and have a negative net rating. The twin tower experiment seems to be languishing a bit and spacing for the guard duo of Donovan Mitchell and Garland is severely lacking. That could be something or it could be nothing. Seven games is an extremely small sample size and the Cavs rode this same line-up last season to a 51-31 record. OKC is also getting over an injury bug and may be a little different than the team Cleveland faced with the addition of Jaylin Williams to the rotation.

Injury Report

OKC

  • Ousmane Dieng (wrist) – Questionable
  • Luguentz Dort (hip) – Questionable
  • Kenrich Williams (back) – Out

CLE

  • Ty Jerome (ankle) – Out
  • Sam Merrill (illness) – Out
  • Isaac Okoro (knee) – Out
  • Ricky Rubio (personal) – Out

Three Big Things

  1. Rebounding and the size problem – In the previous game against Cleveland, Evan Mobley and Chet Holmgren essentially negated each other because of their similar size and positionality. But with the addition of Jarrett Allen to the line-up, the Thunder may find themselves staring up at another behemoth in the paint. I love Jalen Williams at the 4, but these are the nights where the height disparity could rear it’s ugly head on the boards. It’ll be interesting to see if coach Daigneault plays bigger line-ups involving Holmgren and Jaylin (J-Will) Williams.
  2. Giddey redemption game – With Isaac Okoro likely being out with a knee injury, there may be a mismatch on the floor for Josh Giddey to take advantage of. He struggled in the previous game against the Hawks, as he never found his rhythm and missed a lot of shots that he normally makes. He was visibly frustrated throughout the night, especially with how great he performed in the 4th quarter of the Warriors game. I could see him taking either of Cleveland’s smaller guards into the post or driving by someone like Max Strus.
  3. The immovable object vs. the unstoppable force – Cleveland’s defense has been great this season. They are 11th in defensive rating and first in scoring. The Thunder have been pretty good on offense this season. They are 11th in offensive rating, first in free throw percentage, 6th in 3pt percentage, and 5th in FG percentage. Cleveland is 20th in pace, while the Thunder are 5th. Whoever exerts their will on their end of the floor will likely win this game.

Never Say Die

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The Oklahoma City Thunder might well be “America’s Team”. It’s a moniker that is mostly referred to the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL. Back in the 70’s, the Cowboys were on TV so much that people recognized them as much as movie stars and US Presidents. So they were nicknamed “America’s Team”. The Thunder, sadly, are not on TV enough this NBA season to earn that title, but you can still feel that this team holds a special spot in the hearts of not only the United States, but the world.

Going back to the offseason, as Presti seemingly nailed yet another draft, our stars represented in FIBA competition, and the return of our own 7 foot unicorn, and the buzz around the team was deafening. Guys like Kevin O’Conner, Adrian Wojnorowski, JJ Reddick, and even former world renowned Thunder/Sam Presti hater Bill freaking Simmons were buying what the Thunder was selling and was letting the world know about it with seemingly preposterous claims. Top 4 seed in the West. 4 future All-Stars. 50 wins. Each proclamation making them sound more homer-y than any other Thunder fan. Granted, I myself predicted 51 wins and the 3 seed, but I admit I am an optimist in most aspects of life. However, 2 games into the season; we might be onto something.

The Thunder have played 2 games this season, one against the Chicago Bulls and one against the Cleveland Cavaliers. They couldn’t have been more different games. The 1st game the Thunder kept close throughout the 1st half, then asserted dominance throughout the 2nd half. The 2nd game the Thunder took the lead early on, and let the Cavs back in it.

The Cavs led by 10 with 2:37 left in the game, after back to back jumpers from infamous Thunder killer, Donovan Mitchell. Those 2 buckets gave him 40 on the night and it was seemingly all she wrote for the Thunder. But over the years the Thunder have developed much more than a winning and selfless culture, much more than skilled and intelligent players across each position, and so much more than a mentality of “we sell our soul for draft picks”.

They have developed a “Never Say Die” mentality.

Over the last 3 seasons we have seen it done time and time again, whether it’s 5 points, 10 points, 15 points, sometimes even 20 points, the players on the Thunder never roll over and quit. They always keep fighting and more likely than not, they close the deficit, if not win the game. And last night was no different.

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Thunder @ Cleveland Cavaliers preview (Game 2 of 82)

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  • Oklahoma City Thunder (1-0) @ Cleveland Cavaliers (1-0)
  • When: Friday, 27 October 2023 @ 6:30pm CST
  • Where: Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, OH

The Set-Up

When you are a rebuilding team, you tend to latch yourself onto a couple teams in order to track your progress. When this rebuild first started, we usually kept track of teams like the Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, and Detroit Pistons. Those were the teams that were on par with us in terms of where they were in their rebuild. But we also kept track of teams that were seemingly just getting out of their rebuild and looked to them as a sort of the mechanical rabbit in a greyhound race. Those teams, for the Thunder, were the Memphis Grizzlies and Cleveland Cavaliers.

The game tonight against the Cavaliers can feel like a bit of a measuring stick for this young Thunder squad looking to learn how to win consistently. The Cavs win totals over the past 5 seasons look very familiar for Thunder fans (19, 19, 22, 44, 51). It truly feels like the Thunder are a year behind the Cavs, in terms of development, and are looking to achieve a similar amount of success this season as the Cavs did last season.

Injury Report

OKC

  • Jaylin Williams (hamstring)
  • Kenrich Williams (back)

Cleveland

  • Jarrett Allen (ankle)
  • Ricky Rubio (not with team)

Three Big Things

  1. Fun match-ups – Both these teams are chock full of great young talent. Names that will likely be featured on All-NBA teams, All-Star teams, and All-Defense teams for the next decade. With Jarrett Allen being out, the Evan Mobley vs. Chet Holmgren match-up likely becomes a reality. And the SGA, Giddey, and Jalen Williams vs. Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell match-up is always an extremely fun one.
  2. Perimeter Defense – A lot like the Thunder has done over the past few seasons with the additions of Isaiah Joe, Davis Bertans, Lindy Waters III, etc, the Cavaliers have added a plethora of shooting to their team in the form of Max Strus, Georges Niang, and, former Thunder legend, Ty Jerome. Their offense is a lot of drive and kick, so the Thunder have to aware of how far they dip into the middle to help defend. The Cavaliers attempted 43 three-pointers in their last game and that trend likely won’t change.
  3. Giddey – Josh Giddey should be in line for a good game. He has shown a knack for taking advantage of smaller guards in the post and Cleveland boasts two of the them who aren’t very good defensively. Look for the Thunder for hunt for these match-ups throughout the game.