Thunder Offense Catches Fire, Buries Cavaliers in Cleveland

The Oklahoma City Thunder left nothing to chance on Saturday afternoon in Cleveland, riding a wave of explosive offense to blast LeBron James and his Cavaliers by a final score of 148-124. It was the Thunder’s highest-scoring effort of the season, as Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony and Steven Adams combined for 113 points on 65.7 percent shooting.

The Thunder jumped out to an 8-0 advantage to start the game and never trailed, leading throughout and holding LeBron to 18 points on 8/17 shooting. The Thunder hit 58 percent of its shots — including 14 makes from downtown that helped break the game open early.

Full Highlights:

The win moves the Thunder to 26-20 on the season and pushes the winning streak to four games. Back in action on Tuesday against the Brooklyn Nets.

Numbers

120: The Thunder got 120 points out of its starters, a season-high.

58: OKC shot 58 percent from the floor in the game, compared to 51.7 for Cleveland.

52-28: In an incredible statistic, the Thunder out-rebounded the Cavs 52-28. The 24 boards between the two teams is the biggest difference of the season.

43: The Thunder scored 43 points in the first quarter — a season-high for any quarter — and scored at least 33 points in every quarter.

16-3: OKC had a 16-3 advantage on the offensive glass. That translated into 14 second-chance points.

37: The Thunder notched 37 assists in this one — another season-best.

66: The paint belonged to OKC — 66 points in the paint.

OK3 +1

It’s hard to describe how fantastic Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Steven Adams were against the Cavs. The four men combined for 113 points, shot 44/68 from the floor and each scored more than 20 points.

Their individual stat lines:

George: 36 pts, 7 reb, 12/19 FG, 5/11 3P, +29

Paul George came storming out of the gate, scoring 25 points on 5/7 shooting from downtown in the first half. He was aggressive, decisive and played outstanding defense on LeBron James. It was easily his best game in quite some time, perhaps of the season. His highlights:

Westbrook: 23 pts, 20 ast, 9 reb, 9/17 FG, +26

Russell Westbrook was an absolute terror for the Cavs’ defense, attacking them into submission from the outset. He recorded a season-high 20 assists and finished one rebound shy of another triple-double. His highlights:

Anthony: 29 pts, 10 reb, 11/19 FG, +22

Carmelo Anthony continued his recent hot streak, scoring a season-high 29 points on another efficient shooting night. He shot 3/6 from downtown and pitched-in 10 rebounds for good measure. He’s rolling.

Adams: 25 pts, 10 reb, 12/13 FG, +30

Steven Adams was an absolute beast in the paint, hitting 12/13 field goals and creating a number of them on the offensive glass. He had another five offensive boards in this one and probably would have had an even gaudier stat line if not for some early foul trouble.

Highlights

Russell Westbrook high-steps his way toward a lefty finish in traffic:

Terrance Ferguson added another highlight dunk to his resume:

Notes

No Love. The Cavs were without Kevin Love for all but three minutes, as he left early due to illness.

The OKC Bench. The Thunder bench contributed 27 points: Ferguson (9 pts), Felton (8 pts), Patterson (6 pts), Grant (4 pts).

Another Day for 30K. LeBron James finished seven points shy of what he needed to reach 30,000 for his career. He wrapped-up with 18 points points on 8/17 shooting. The Thunder defense did a great job defending The King.

PG2. In an incredible advertisement for Sony, Paul George debuted the Nike PG2 in the “Playstation” colorway. He proceeded to light up Cleveland all day. Check this out for photos/video of the shoe.