Thunder halts Cavaliers’ 8-game winning streak

James sidelined by sore knee

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY

The Cavaliers were already without their biggest star Thursday and for at least a few scary minutes, appeared to lose a second. Kyrie Irving ultimately checked out fine, but the Cavs’ eight-game winning streak ended Thursday with a 103-94 loss at the Oklahoma City Thunder.

LeBron James missed the game to rest a sore left knee, then Irving appeared to have left-knee problems of his own when it buckled on him following a shot from Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook’s knee collided with Irving’s late in the first half and Irving immediately collapsed to the court. He stayed down for a few minutes before he was helped to the locker room. He was diagnosed with simply a contusion, however, and returned to start the third quarter.

But without James, the Cavs struggled through one of their worst offensive nights of the season. Kevin Love had 18 points and 16 rebounds and Irving had 20 points and six assists, but the Cavs’ 37-percent shooting night tied for their second-worst of the season in losing for the first time in nearly three weeks.

Russell Westbrook had 26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds and Kevin Durant had 19 points, six rebounds and five assists in his fifth game back from foot surgery. The Thunder have won four straight, but the Cavs made an unexpected charge at the end in a game that wasn’t an entirely fair fight.

James’ injury isn’t considered serious. He is listed as questionable for Friday’s game at the New Orleans Pelicans, but since the Cavs don’t play again until Monday, it might make sense to hold him out again and give him the weekend to rest. Either way, no further testing is planned on the knee and no one seems overly concerned. The much-anticipated matchup between James and Durant was postponed for at least a month. These two teams meet again in Cleveland in January.

“I understand the desire of the people to see one of the great players in history to play,” Cavs coach David Blatt said. “It is no desire on our part to disappoint them, it’s just the reality of the NBA season.”

The Cavs led by 11 early in the second quarter before the Thunder’s talent and athleticism took over. The Thunder took a 17-point lead early in the fourth when the Cavs somehow fought back yet again using a lineup that included Joe Harris and Matthew Dellavedova, who started in place of James while Shawn Marion shifted to small forward.

Dellavedova made four 3-pointers to keep the Cavs in it, but had a fifth overturned. An official review with two minutes left determined he had his foot on the line during a corner 3-pointer, changing the score from 95-92 to 95-91. The Thunder held on to win after Durant dunked on consecutive possessions with Irving defending him, while Irving had a key turnover wedged in between.

Dellavedova had 14 points and four assists, while Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson each scored 14 points off the bench and Thompson added 13 rebounds.

The Thunder still have ground to make up in the West, but this was perhaps their finest showing of the season given the opponent and a fully healthy roster.

“We have our group back,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “The NBA is a long season and there’s a lot of ups and downs. We’ve had some tough times early on. Hopefully we can learn from that, get better from that and learn from it.”