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The Cavaliers ride an eight-game winning streak into Oklahoma City to face a newly returned Kevin Durant and the Thunder. The Thunder have won three straight and the last five of six as Westbrook and Durant are returning to form. For the Cavaliers this is the third game in four days. Can they keep up the energy level? Will we see the best Durant has to offer? Will Dion Waiters continue to be the player he can be?

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Keys to the Game:

1. Rebound!
2. Play good team defense for all four quarters.
3. Move the ball on offense and get everyone involved.
4. One of the Big Three on God Mode.
5. Points from the bench.

Notes:

LeBron James sparked an international controversy after helping crush the Brooklyn Nets. The multinational row began when King James touched the Duchess of Cambridge during a photo opportunity. The British have denounced King James and the US could care less. The Britannic Butthurt has James non-plussed as the world moves on.

Contest: What would spark controversy in Oklahoma?

Behold the worst thing since PB & J in the same jar:

OKC seems to be rounding into form so this will be a nice challenge.

LeBron James out....

Well crap!

Well, game is rigged in CLE favour.

Oh, hell.

Not now.

Irving returns. Knee contusion.

Thank God.

I'd really appreciate it if Waiters and Jones never played for the Cavs again.

CPThree wrote:I'd really appreciate it if Waiters and Jones never played for the Cavs again.

Waiters is actually doing good tonight.

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Delly is underrated. He could be a starting PG on some teams.

zimpy27 wrote:Delly is underrated. He could be a starting PG on some teams.

Delly/Irving/Bron/Love/Varejao

It's the future.

Never like a loss. But I don't feel too bad when Irving is helped off and isn't injured and they claw, tooth and nail back from a 23 point deficit to bring it down to four in the last minutes.

If LeBron had played, this would have been a very different game.

Champions have heart and they showed some.

Observations:

1. Irving needs to be able to run the team when LeBron isn't out there. They were a hot, stupid mess on offense during the third and half the fourth.

2. For God sakes, give Love the damn ball already. He is an afterthought and is never able to get a rhythm. Lebron was out and Irving hobbled and they kept the ball out of the hands of a guy who averaged 26 ppt last year. Why did we trade Wiggins if he is being used like Spencer Hawes?

3. We need another big man desperately. No question.

Hey guys, just wanted to drop in to say good game. Hopefully next time Lebron plays and KD's back to 100 percent, he's still shaking off some rust. I was really impressed with Kyrie, I think he's a much bigger piece than Love to me. He' was great.

bondom34 wrote:Hey guys, just wanted to drop in to say good game. Hopefully next time Lebron plays and KD's back to 100 percent, he's still shaking off some rust. I was really impressed with Kyrie, I think he's a much bigger piece than Love to me. He' was great.

Thank you for being gracious. It was a great game.

Irving is key, but I think had they bothered to integrate Love into the offense tonight, no excuse not to with LeBron out, it would have been a different game. Traditionally he kills you guys. Instead, we get TT/AV getting 18 shots to his 13. On a night like this he should have had 20.

King Stannis wrote:

bondom34 wrote:Hey guys, just wanted to drop in to say good game. Hopefully next time Lebron plays and KD's back to 100 percent, he's still shaking off some rust. I was really impressed with Kyrie, I think he's a much bigger piece than Love to me. He' was great.

Thank you for being gracious. It was a great game.

Irving is key, but I think had they bothered to integrate Love into the offense tonight, no excuse not to with LeBron out, it would have been a different game. Traditionally he kills you guys. Instead, we get TT/AV getting 18 shots to his 13. On a night like this he should have had 20.

Yeah, esp. when Ibaka fouled out and the comeback was on. Hoping next time both teams are 100 percent. Durant's minutes restriction is still on and he just looks off to me, til the last 2 minutes at least. Waiters looks really solid too though, I wasn't a fan of his previously but he's been much improved IMO.

bondom34 wrote:

King Stannis wrote:

bondom34 wrote:Hey guys, just wanted to drop in to say good game. Hopefully next time Lebron plays and KD's back to 100 percent, he's still shaking off some rust. I was really impressed with Kyrie, I think he's a much bigger piece than Love to me. He' was great.

Thank you for being gracious. It was a great game.

Irving is key, but I think had they bothered to integrate Love into the offense tonight, no excuse not to with LeBron out, it would have been a different game. Traditionally he kills you guys. Instead, we get TT/AV getting 18 shots to his 13. On a night like this he should have had 20.

Yeah, esp. when Ibaka fouled out and the comeback was on. Hoping next time both teams are 100 percent. Durant's minutes restriction is still on and he just looks off to me, til the last 2 minutes at least. Waiters looks really solid too though, I wasn't a fan of his previously but he's been much improved IMO.

Against teams like yours, we should be feeding Love and LeBron inside a good deal. The best way to deal with the Ibakas of the world, is to foul him out or keep his PF number too high to keep him out there for half the game. When you have a post player that shoots 81% from the line, he should be getting looks.

King Stannis wrote:Against teams like yours, we should be feeding Love and LeBron inside a good deal. The best way to deal with the Ibakas of the world, is to foul him out or keep his PF number too high to keep him out there for half the game. When you have a post player that shoots 81% from the line, he should be getting looks.

Yeah, just looked it up, he's only shot less than 13 times vs. OKC 5 times out of 16 games.

Anyone believe that Love will learn to rotate on dee?

Man how good is Delly. His effort on Durant was great.

Anyway not a bad loss, needed more from love.

Also ibaka might be the most underrated defender in the league and yes I do realize he's highly rated on d by most. The difference between him being In the middle and someone else is like night and day. It's near impossible to score in the paint when he's on the floor. We saw the impact it had on the spurs / thunder series last year.