Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’d sign up for seven games of Cavs vs. Thunder.
In today’s SI:AM:
✅ NFL playoff picks
🏈 Historic CFP coaching matchup
📝 MLB signing predictions
NBA Finals preview?
June is still a long way away, but the Cleveland Cavaliers are looking more and more like an NBA Finals-caliber team.
Cleveland hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday in a showdown between the teams with the two best records in the NBA this season. Both teams entered the game carrying long winning streaks, with the Thunder having won their last 15 and the Cavs having won 10 in a row. (OKC’s NBA Cup final loss to Milwaukee does not count toward its season record.) It was the Cavs’ streak that survived, though, as Cleveland came away with a 129–122 victory.
The Cavs are now 32–4 on the season, the best record in the NBA and best record through 36 games by any team since the 73-win Golden State Warriors in the 2015–16 season. Cleveland is just the seventh team in NBA history to win at least 32 of its first 36 games. Four of the previous six went on to win the championship.
Wednesday’s game was tight throughout. Neither team led by more than nine at any point. There were 30 lead changes and eight ties. The Cavs took the lead for good on a basket from Max Strus with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter and never looked back, although the Thunder remained within spitting distance right until the end. It was Darius Garland’s driving layup with 27 seconds left that put the game on ice.
DARIUS GARLAND CLUTCH 😤 pic.twitter.com/VE2Z3GovcC
— ESPN (@espn) January 9, 2025
“We got hit. Fought back. Hit again. Kept going back. Got the lead. Kept the lead,” Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell said. “That’s the sign of a championship team. How do we find ways to respond in adversity? How do we find ways to continue to be who we are through success?”
Garland finished with 18 points (on 7-of-15 shooting) and seven assists, and after the game lobbied for his inclusion on this year’s All-Star team.
“I’m trying to be [as] humble as possible. But, yeah, I should be an All-Star,” Garland said. “Yes. There should be four of us on this team that are All-Stars.”
Four All-Stars on one team? It may seem outlandish, but Cleveland did have All-Star-worthy performances from its two big men on Wednesday as they were able to take advantage of OKC’s diminished interior defense with star center Chet Holmgren still sidelined with a fractured hip. Jarrett Allen had 25 points on 9-of-11 shooting with 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals, while Evan Mobley had 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting with 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Allen and Mobley might not be totally deserving of an All-Star spot this season, but they are a major reason why the Cavs have been as good as they have. Both are excellent defenders (particularly Allen, who’s one of the best shot blockers of his generation, ranking 14th among active players in blocks per game) and strong rebounders. But they’re also capable of contributing on the offensive end, like they did on Wednesday. Mobley has added a more reliable three-point shot to his game this season (hitting 40.4% of his attempts) and is averaging a career-best 18.9 points per game. Allen isn’t asked to do much offensively but can score reliably in the shadow of the basket when required. He’s hitting 70% of his shots this season, which ranks third in the NBA. (He has ranked in the top 10 in field goal percentage in each of the last seven seasons.)
The Cavs have separated themselves from the pack in the Eastern Conference during this long winning streak. They had been neck-and-neck with the Boston Celtics atop the standings, but Cleveland’s winning streak has coincided with a 6–5 run for Boston as the Cavs strengthen their grip on first place. Securing home-court advantage would be huge for the Cavs, as they have gone 19–1 at home this season.
Wednesday’s loss snapped the longest winning streak in Thunder franchise history (even including the team’s time in Seattle). But at 30–6, OKC looks like the team to beat in the West and will only get better when Holmgren returns. Wednesday’s game in Cleveland may well have been a Finals preview, but we won’t have to wait until June to see these two teams square off again. They’re scheduled to meet in OKC next Thursday. We can only hope that game is as compelling as the first meeting was.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- As the CFP semifinals begin Thursday, Pat Forde ranked the four teams left standing by how likeable they are.
- Forde also wrote about the historic meeting between James Franklin and Marcus Freeman—one of whom will become the first Black coach to play for a national championship.
- Bryan Fischer is covering the other semifinal and has a good story on Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers’s full circle moment against the school where he started his college career, Ohio State.
- The NFL playoffs are also getting underway this weekend. Here are our experts’ picks for every wild-card round game.
- Our MMQB team also made fresh Super Bowl picks ahead of the postseason.
- Mitch Goldich laid out four fun story lines he’s looking forward to in the NFL playoffs.
- Albert Breer’s latest NFL mailbag leads with a question about Tom Brady’s impact on the Raiders’ coaching search.
- Will Laws and Nick Selbe tried to predict where the best remaining MLB free agents will sign.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. Tyrese Maxey’s late game-winner for the Sixers.
4. Pierre-Luc Dubois’s overtime winner for the Capitals. (Dubois scored Washington’s only other goal of the night as well, back in the first period.)
3. Zhuric Phelps’s step-back three to win it for Texas A&M. The Aggies had trailed Oklahoma by as many as 18 before coming all the way back.
2. Victory Wembanyama’s casual three-pointer off one leg.
1. Wembanyama’s mid-air adjustment for a wild layup. (Here’s another cool angle of the shot.)
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Cavs Keep Rolling With Statement Win Over Thunder.