Both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder have some breathing room atop their respective conferences, leaving them — at this point at least — with few games that singularly affect the standings.
The Thursday meeting between the two in Oklahoma City, though, will be different.
Heading into the matchup, the teams have combined to go 67-11 this season.
The Cavaliers are the only team to beat the Thunder in the past four weeks, posting a 129-122 victory in Cleveland on Jan. 8 to open the two-game season series.
Oklahoma City has won 18 of its last 19 games, not including the NBA Cup final defeat to the Milwaukee Bucks in mid-December that doesn’t count in the regular-season standings.
The Cavaliers have won 17 of their past 19 games, including a bounce-back win at Indiana on Tuesday after the Pacers snapped Cleveland’s 12-game winning streak two games earlier.
The Thursday game features two of the best guards in the league, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Mitchell is coming off a 35-point performance against Indiana, his first 30-plus-point scoring output since Dec. 27.
The game also features the top offense in the NBA against the league’s top defense.
The Cavaliers lead the league with a 121.3 offensive rating — points scored per 100 possessions — while the Thunder are sixth at 115.7.
Oklahoma City leads the league in defensive rating at 102.9, well ahead of the rest of the pack.
Cleveland has a 110.8 defensive rating, tied for eighth.
Mitchell’s recent mini slump included the meeting with the Thunder, when he scored just 11 points on 3-of-16 shooting.
“There’s so many things you can point to,” Mitchell said recently on the difficulty of matching up with the Thunder. “They’ve got an MVP guy in Shai, all-defensive guys around him, lot of talent over there.”
Cleveland has shown off its depth as well, with not only Mitchell but with Darius Garland and Evan Mobley showing they can carry the load when needed.
The trio combined for 81 of the Cavaliers’ 127 points against the Pacers.
“They’re unique players in this league that can just, you know they just … put the stamp on the game,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said of Mitchell, Garland and Mobley.
Oklahoma City went 3-1 on its just-concluded road trip, with the only loss coming against the Cavaliers in a game that featured 30 lead changes.
Though Mitchell and Garland combined to go just 10-for-31 from the field in Cleveland, they still put plenty of pressure on the Thunder.
“You got to do (everything) well against them,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said of Cleveland’s backcourt in addition to Jarrett Allen on the inside and shooters such as Max Strus on the perimeter. “That’s the stress they put you under.”
The Thunder, already without 7-footer Chet Holmgren since mid-November, will be further limited on the interior.
Oklahoma City’s other 7-footer, Isaiah Hartenstein, strained his left calf on Tuesday in the Thunder’s 118-102 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. He will be sidelined for at least the next three games.
Hartenstein has 15 double-doubles in 24 games after missing the season’s first 15 games because of a broken hand.
Cleveland’s Ty Jerome, who sat out the past two games due to illness, is questionable for the Thursday contest.
–Field Level Media
