NBANBAIn the matchup of the season, the unstoppable Cavaliers overcame the immovable Thunder—solidifying their contender status and delivering on the promise of regular-season basketball
Getty Images/Ringer illustration
By Zach KramJan. 9, 3:42 pm UTC • 6 min
The NBA really built up Wednesday’s clash between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers. And why shouldn’t it? The first-place teams entered their heavyweight bout with a combined 61-9 record. They were both on impressive win streaks: 15 consecutive wins for the Thunder and 10 consecutive wins for the Cavaliers, all by double digits. And they ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in point differential among all teams in NBA history. The previous top five all won championships.
So across social media and the wider internet, and on ESPN, home of the game, the league and its television partner played up the matchup between the beast in the East and the best in the West. This contest involved an MVP favorite and a host of young stars; it sent an unstoppable force (the Cavaliers’ league-best offense) at an immovable object (the Thunder’s league-best defense); it matched the two top teams at taking advantage of turnovers and protecting the rim.
25 REASONS TO WATCH THUNDER/CAVS🚨 7 PM ET, ESPN
1. Never before has a team on a 15-game win streak and a team on a 10-game win streak met in an NBA game. pic.twitter.com/hdfUydlf7V
— NBA (@NBA) January 8, 2025
The result was two hours of basketball glory—a reminder, amid the ongoing ratings discourse and concern about regular season indifference, that NBA gameplay can still matter and compel and entertain before April. So often in the modern game, would-be blockbusters falter because 3-point variance causes blowouts or injuries remove stars from our screens; just a night earlier, a meeting between the last two champions lost its luster when the Celtics beat a Nuggets team missing Nikola Jokic.
But this game delivered on the hype, and the fans in Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse witnessed a classic: a 129-122 Cavaliers win with 30 lead changes and a single-digit margin across all 48 minutes. “I wish I could just sit back and watch it,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said in his TV interview before the fourth quarter. Instead, he was content to coach it—and watch his Cavaliers make a statement that they belong among the very best teams in the league, after they’d appeared to fall off the national radar once their season-opening 15-game win streak was snapped.
“I think it’s a huge feedback game,” Atkinson said before his team faced the Thunder. “That’s why I am excited about the game. It’s a big test—where are we against the elite teams?”
The answer is encouraging in the utmost: The Cavaliers scored the most points the Thunder had allowed all season, and they routinely found the shots they wanted against the most effective NBA defense this century.
That’s especially notable because the Cavaliers’ leading scorer, Donovan Mitchell, managed only 11 points on 3-for-16 shooting. That Cleveland survived his poor performance shows just how different this squad is from previous versions. Last spring, Mitchell scored 50 points in a playoff loss in which he was the only Cavalier to score in the entire fourth quarter; now, the supporting cast is strong enough to withstand an off night from the leader.
“It just speaks to our growth,” Mitchell said. “I told everybody after the game, as a unit, we don’t win this game last year.”
Cleveland torched the Thunder from the inside out, starting with its Twin Towers duo. Jarrett Allen tallied 25 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists, and Evan Mobley contributed 21 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists, as the two bigs combined to make 71 percent of their shots. Allen and Mobley became the first double-big duo to each post 20-10-6 or better in a game since David Robinson and Tim Duncan did so in 1998.
On the perimeter, meanwhile, Cleveland thrived because of its depth: Max Strus, Ty Jerome, and Dean Wade—who is now 26-1 in games played this season!—combined for 43 points on 16-for-19 shooting, including an 8-for-10 mark from distance. Add in Caris LeVert and Georges Niang, and the Cavaliers’ rotation goes nine-deep with capable scorers and spacers; it’s no wonder they lead the league in so many offensive statistics.
As ever with these Cavaliers, who have disappointed two springs in a row, questions may linger about their legitimacy until they play this well in the playoffs. Beating Oklahoma City is the strongest possible regular-season answer, but regular season is the operative descriptor.
But this game wasn’t special because it confirmed the Cavaliers as true contenders for the title this June. In my eyes, they already were: They’d started 31-4, after all, and while they’d benefitted from the NBA’s easiest schedule to date, there’s no faking a plus-12 point differential, or a home-and-home split in two close games against the Celtics, or numerous blowout wins over the Nuggets, Lakers, and Bucks.
Rather, this game was truly special because it mattered in the moment, independent of what it might mean for the approaching postseason. Neither the Cavaliers nor Thunder really needed this win for the standings, as both teams have large leads for the no. 1 seeds. The Cavaliers have only four losses and are 5.5 games up on second-place Boston; the Thunder have only six losses and are six games up on second-place Houston.
Yet they still treated a Wednesday night meeting in early January as a must-win, and therefore transformed this small-market melee into a must-watch. Perhaps it’s because both teams are young and relatively healthy; perhaps they both wanted to maintain the magic of their starts to the season; perhaps they’re both hungry to prove themselves in games with stakes, since neither team’s core has even reached the conference finals before.
Everyone who stepped on the court in Cleveland played with urgency and tremendous effort. Seemingly every loose ball was contested, every drive-and-kick sequence crisp and on point. Despite a sound defensive approach on both ends, the offenses ran roughshod: The third quarter was the first period in any game this season in which both teams scored at least 40 points.
For Oklahoma City, there’s no shame in a hard-fought loss against a formidable opponent on the road, especially after so much recent success. Last Friday, the Thunder beat the third-place Knicks; on Sunday, they vanquished the second-place Celtics. But like a video game character advancing levels, OKC’s streak ended against the East’s final boss.
The Thunder can still find bright spots in defeat. Jalen Williams supplied solid secondary scoring behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, with 25 points and nine assists—the sort of performance he’ll need as playoff defenses focus on slowing SGA. Second-year guard Cason Wallace showed absolutely no fear playing a big two-way role. Isaiah Hartenstein seemed to be everywhere and finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists.
The Thunder could have used two additional boosts to win this game: extra size to combat Allen and Mobley inside—especially when Hartenstein got in foul trouble—and another scorer who could create his own shot. And here’s where it’s crucial to note that Chet Holmgren hasn’t played in two months, due to a pelvic fracture. A lack of proper size has been a key culprit in all of Oklahoma City’s recent losses in high-profile contests—against Cleveland on Wednesday, against Milwaukee in the NBA Cup final, and against Dallas in the playoffs last spring—and the theoretical fix of a Holmgren-Hartenstein double-big look is just waiting to be unveiled.
The bad news is that Holmgren probably won’t be ready for Oklahoma City’s next big game—but the good news is that the next big game is only a week away. And the even better news is that that big game is a rematch between the Cavaliers and Thunder next Thursday in Oklahoma City. The thrills of the first meeting indicate the second will also be required viewing.
Zach writes about basketball, baseball, and assorted pop culture topics.
