The Oklahoma City Thunder didn't get off to the best start to the season, but they've won five games in a row, albeit against an iffy slate of teams. They certainly aren't facing a suspect opponent on Thursday, as they visit the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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SCHEDULING
Part of the reason the Thunder have had a nice run here is the fact that the schedule has left a lot of soft spots as well. They've played against three teams in their last five who were in the midst of back-to-backs, and they only had to play one back-to-back themselves.
In this case though, the schedule isn't kind at all. A game against Portland at home on Wednesday looks mildly tougher than it projected to be at the beginning of the year, and having to follow that up with a road game in Cleveland is about as high of a degree of difficulty as it gets.
Live bettors will love the spot the Cavs are in, though. Their road date at Boston on Tuesday is a game they'll be incredibly focused on, but the off day after that will provide a chance to reset. There's only one game from then until two days before Christmas, that coming at home against Philly, so David Blatt and the crew will be able to give their undivided attention to the task at hand against the Thunder.
KEY MATCHUP
It's a shame we didn't get a chance to see Kevin Durant against LeBron James more often over the course of their respective careers. Both men play like point guards and have the size of centers, yet they can still dish the ball like a one and rebound like a five.
Thus far this year, James is good for 26.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. Durant's numbers basically match at 27.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.3 blocks.
Both men have the ability to take games over all by themselves. Theoretically, the rest of the matchups on the court are going to be close to pushes, and the best advantage OKC has with Russell Westbrook at the point guard spot will likely be negated by the value of home court advantage.
It's superstar vs. superstar for sure on Thursday, and live bettors know that whichever one of these two studs is in tip top shape will likely end up on the winning team.
KEY STAT
Kevin Love averages 17.8 points per game thus far this year, but we aren't sure that he's going to be able to keep that up. Love really lost focus for much of the NBA season last year, and now that Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert are back, that's two more players to shoulder the scoring load and take the ball out of Love's hands.
We just aren't much for seeing Love shoot the ball seven times per game from beyond the arc as he has averaged this year, and we think that his game is going to be a lot more focused inside the paint once Irving is back to full strength.
This isn't a fun matchup for Love either, knowing that he'll have to contend with Durant and Enes Kanter for large stretches of this game. The Cavs will have to decide if they want to go with a big lineup with Love on the floor or let him play the five, and either way, there's an advantage which Oklahoma City can exploit. If the Thunder are forcing Love to play down low on defense, easy buckets could be had for sure with both Kanter and Serge Ibaka on the floor at the same time. If the Cavs go big though, they tend to have problems scoring, which could slow the game down and give OKC an edge.
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