Game 45 | Thunder vs. Cavaliers | January 23, 2010 | 7:30 EST

[MoGottiFor3]

(24-19) (33-11)

7:30 PM ET, January 23, 2010

Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH

PROJECTED STARTERS

THUNDER

R. Westbrook|T. Sefolosha|K. Durant|J. Green|N. Krstic

CAVALIERS

D. Gibson|A. Parker|L. James|J. Hickson|S. O'Neal

Guard Delonte West sustained a fractured left ring finger during the Cavaliers game last night at Quicken Loans Arena against the Lakers. He was evaluated today at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health by Cavaliers Head Team Physician Dr. Richard Parker and hand specialist Dr. Peter Evans. X-Rays have confirmed the fracture. Delonte is currently listed as Out for Saturday night’s game in Cleveland vs. the Thunder and he will be day-to-day following that. His finger will be re-evaluated early next week and his status will be updated as appropriate.

- via Cavs.com

​

 

[*L-Train*]

even windy is pumped up for this one:

Make plans to watch Cavs-Thunder tonight. I personally expect LBJ-Durant matchup to be better than LBJ vs. Kobe. And for years to come.

 

[Powerslave]

Boobie raising his trade value DEEP in the Q!

Our "easy" schedule just became difficult again. Concerned about overplayed Bron and Shaq while the rest of the guys make their way back.

Every time I hear "Gibson" and "run the team" in the same sentence, I instantly get visions of Daniel getting trapped in the half-court, posting up a bigger guard for some reason, then throwing an over-the-shoulder pass only to have it stolen.

Fun's over, back to work and negativity.

Leon Powe Tearing Shit Apart Watch: 35 days

 

[RunBMB]

I'm going to the game tonight, first and only of the year. Should be fun!

 

[moohead]

http://www.realcavsfans.com/showthread.php?t=25930

Another RCF postgame show right after the game tonight!!!

Moo

 

[Walter White]

Ok I am glad the game thread is finally up because I wanted to make a point on this game. We have to post up Shaq every freakin time. We can dominate them in the post. They are too small inside. Look to get Shaq involved early and often.

 

[Marcus]

Pound the ball inside, and... keep pounding the ball inside. For God's sake, they are starting Nenad Krstic at center. TAKE ADVANTAGE.

 

[MoFlo]

Here is your official NumbersDon't game preview for tonight:

Saturday January 23, 2010 – Oklahoma City Thunder @ Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavaliers are sky high right now, coming off of a bittersweet victory at the Q against the Lakers, to sweep the season series, 2-0. Not everyone came away unharmed, however, as Delonte West fractured his finger in the win. He will miss the Thunder game, and will be re-evaluated early next week.

The Cavaliers showed their fortitude by pulling away in the fourth quarter without their #2 option in a hard fought battle with the Lakers. LeBron again paved the way, scoring 37 points to go along with 9 assists & 5 rebounds on 13-25 shooting, giving him 6 30 point games in the past 7 Cavalier contests. J.J Hickson had a career game, going 4-6 for 11 points & 14 rebounds and some solid defense on the vaunted Laker front court.

The Thunder meanwhile had a 3 game winning streak snapped Friday night @ Memphis, who beat them 86-84 on a Rudy Gay jumper with 1 second left. Even though he did lead the way for the Thunder with 30 points and 8 rebounds, Durant missed a last second 3 point attempt at the buzzer. Jeff Green added 15 for the Thunder, who shot just 40% from the floor.​

Check out the full preview at: http://numbersdont.com/?p=865

Feel free to add comments, and check out the other terrific posts on the site.. and tell your friends!

And if you have any suggestions, complaints, or compliments, feel free to add to the NumbersDon't thread, here: http://www.realcavsfans.com/showthread.php?t=26252&page=4&highlight=numbers

 

[Numbers Guy]

Pound the ball inside, and... keep pounding the ball inside. For God's sake, they are starting Nenad Krstic at center. TAKE ADVANTAGE.

And their help man is the 6'9" Jeff Green. Shaq better be our focal point in this game.

 

[nime]

BW Blog

Cleveland Cavs vs. OKC Thunder: Windhorst Beat Blog

CLEVELAND -- Pregame from The Q:

Projected starting linueps:
Thunder: Russell Westbrook, Thabo Sefolosha, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Nenad Kristic
Cavs: Daniel Gibson, Anthony Parker, LeBron James, JJ Hickson, Shaquille O'Neal

Officials
James Capers, Mark Ayotte, Curtis Blair

• This is a letdown situation for the Cavs. Coming off the big Lakers win and down three rotation players for the first time, it was already going to be tough. But they are facing one of the best road teams in the league and perhaps one of their developing rivals for the future. Cavs advantage is that the Thunder is at the end of a tough trip, this is their fifth game and they are on the worst kind of back-to-back. They were on the road last night in the Central Time Zone (Memphis, where they lost by 2) and then had to fly East, losing an hour.

• The Lakers are tall, the Thunder are long. Very, very long. I was actually taken back when the Cavs played down in OKC last month just how long they are. What I mean is they have guys who have big wingspans. This was obviously a mission of GM Sam Presti in putting the team together. Westbrook is long, Durant is long, Green is long, Sefolosha is long, James Harden off the bench is long, backup forward Serge Ibaka is long. The point is they can bother teams with their length and make it hard to run offense. Without the two point guards, offense may be tough for the Cavs anyway. This may well turn into a grind out game because of it. The Cavs had to get a great shooing game from Mo Williams (remember the halfcourter) and LeBron (a bunch of 3s) to beat this team last time around. They are going to need great shooting again to beat them.

• I believe the Durant-LeBron matchup could be better than the Kobe-LeBron matchup tonight and for years to come. Durant is a high efficiency scorer, he gets to the line at a high rate, shoots at a high rate and he rebounds better than Kobe. At this point in his career, at least this season because of injuries, Kobe has turned into a volume scorer on a lot of nights. Durant, and James for that matter, aren't. That is why I predict a quality duel.

 

[Andrew]

The Thunder aren't anything to sneeze at, this game won't be determined until the final minute...

 

[DougHeil]

I hope my bad feelings about this game go away when the game starts and we start kicking butt. I'm not so sure though. Gibson scares the bejeevies out of me. Can't help it.

 

[nime]

The Thunder aren't anything to sneeze at, this game won't be determined until the final minute...

uhh, Parker was destroyed by Durant in the last meeting.

The OKC is very good this year.

The best lineup the Cavs can throw out is probably LBJ on Westbrook, Jawad on Durant, JJ/AV on Green, Shaq on Krstic, and Parker on Harden or Thebo.
(I'm sorry but Gibson has no shot at Westbrook tonight. I expect Gibson to be foul trouble early.)

 

[grizz1118]

Looking forward to seeing how we respond to adversity tonight, should be extremely interesting. I do have to say though that next to watching the Cavs, there is in my opinion no other team I enjoy watching more than the Thunder. It is a lot of fun to see a young team with a ton of talent (esp. Durant) develop into a formidable team and opponent. On that note GO CAVS!!

 

[Walter White]

Thunder coming off a back to back tough game last night........we need to run them. Take them out of the game early. I would also like to see LBJ play on Durant the entire game as well. I would take LBJs defense over his offense tonight (as in, I would rather have him shutdown Durant because it will be a key for a win and an easy win).