Best in the Eastern Conference. Best in the Western Conference. The best shooting team in the NBA vs. the best defensive team in the NBA. A matchup like only two others in league history.
Clear the calendar for Wednesday night, when Oklahoma City goes to Cleveland.
Technically, any game between an East team and a West team is a potential NBA Finals preview — but this one certainly deserves that billing. A Thunder team on a 15-game winning streak, taking on a Cavaliers team on a 10-game winning streak (after having its own 15-game streak earlier this season).
“Every game is a challenge, and every game is an opportunity to get better,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “There’s a different challenge every single night in the NBA season. Every game tests you in different ways.”
He’s not wrong. But his team is 30-5. Cleveland is an NBA-best 31-4. Combined, that’s 61-9. Every game might test these teams, sure, but the Thunder and Cavs are passing just about every one of those tests with flying colors.
“We expect to win every game,” Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell said.
He laughed when he said that. Thing is, he might not have been joking around. And the Thunder, less than three years removed from going 24-58, probably should be expecting to win every time they take the floor as well.
“It’s cool,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I try not to think about where we were or where we’re going and just stay in the moment.”
These teams — the first game of an ESPN doubleheader on Wednesday, one with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee taking on Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio in the nightcap — are truly a clash in styles.
They’re the best in just about everything.
Cleveland leads the NBA in field-goal percentage (.504). Oklahoma City leads the NBA in field-goal percentage defense (.426). Cleveland is second in the league in points per game (122.5). Oklahoma City leads the league in points allowed per game (103.0). Cleveland leads the league in 3-point percentage (.404). Oklahoma City — you guessed it — leads the league in 3-point percentage defense (.327).
There’s still a long way to go this season. It’s not even half over. But the Cavs have a big lead over Boston in the East and the Thunder are running away with the West. Barring all-out collapses over the next month, it’ll be Daigneault, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson and their staffs heading to San Francisco to coach in the All-Star Game. And at this rate, it won’t be long before phrases like “home-court advantage” and “No. 1 seed” get bandied about in Cleveland and OKC.
“It’s so hard to win in this league. You know, there’s so much parity,” Atkinson said. “I do think you catch a wave, kind of a confidence wave and then everything flows. It seems like that’s what we’ve caught. And it’s a collective confidence. Sometimes it’s two or three guys. We have 12 or 13 guys that are playing with great confidence on both ends.”
There’s a lot of that going around the league right now.
There have been 16 teams this season — more than half the league — that have already had at least one winning streak of five or more games. New York just had a nine-game winning streak broken by the Thunder last Friday. Boston, Dallas, Milwaukee, Phoenix and the Thunder (exclusive of their current 15-game streak) have all had seven-game streaks so far this season.
But what the Cavs and Thunder are doing is historic on multiple levels. They are the first teams to have winning streaks of 15 games or more in the same NBA season since Toronto and Milwaukee did it in 2019-20.
And Wednesday will mark just the third game in NBA history when two teams on winning streaks of at least 10 games go head-to-head. The others: Feb. 29, 2000, when the Los Angeles Lakers played Portland (both were on 11-game streaks) and Jan. 26, 1995, when Utah played Seattle (both were on 10-game streaks).
Plus, this is the second time that two NBA teams have gotten off to 30-5 starts, or better, in the same season. The other was 1971-72, when the Lakers started 32-3 and the Milwaukee Bucks started 30-5.
They wound up meeting in that season’s playoffs; the Lakers beat the Bucks in the West finals on their way to the NBA title.
If the Cavs and Thunder meet in this season’s playoffs, it’ll be with the Larry O’Brien Trophy on the line in the NBA Finals. And with the way these clubs are playing, there’s no reason to say that isn’t a real possibility.
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