Cavaliers Deserve Respect After Momentous Win Over Thunder

After pulling off a 129-122 win over the Western Conference leading Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, the Cavaliers have passed every possible test to this point in the season

Jan 8, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) celebrates with center Jarrett Allen (31) after the Cavaliers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Doubt the Cleveland Cavaliers at your own peril.

The NBA's best team earned a statement win over the associations second best team the Oklahoma City Thunder. The matchup was as advertised, aside from those who may have thought OKC's no. 1 rated defense was going to muck things up and make it a low scoring affair. Instead the two team combined for 259 points, and the game featured 30 lead changes.

It's rare that a game lives up to the hype, but this one did. It was a heavyweight fight of NBA Goliaths, and small market teams vying for national respect. A perfect show for the national stage it was afforded, and the Cavaliers came out on top, show those who may be new to the wine and gold show that this meteoric start to the season – they're now 32-4 on the season – is not some cosmic fluke. They're legit.

Maybe the most defined mark of a great team though, is how the the players around the best player raise their games in support. On a night where the Cavaliers star player, Donovan Mitchell, wasn't quite right, his teammates picked hi1m up. Mitchell finished the night shooting 18% from the floor, with 11 points.

Jarrett Allen perhaps most notably rose to the occasion. Once considered the post child for withering under the bright lights of the playoffs,made a point in exuding his will on the Thunder on Wednesday night. He seemed to make every hustle play, out-muscle OKC's bigs for every rebound, and drain every second chance bucket. When the final buzzer sounded, he was the teams leading scorer with 25 points. He also dished out an impressive six assists though too.

Evan Mobley proved to be a nice sidekick to Allen, pouring in 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists of his own. When the Thunder's suffocating defense did take things away on the perimeter, the Cavs twin towers took it upon themselves to take over, especially early on in the first half. That helped loosen things up outside, where Dean Wade and Max Strus knocked down a whopping 10 three pointers combined. They both figured in double figures. Seven Cavaliers teach double-digit scoring numbers.

The game wasn't without its counter punches from OKC. Shea Gilgeous -Alexander looked as smooth as always, pouring in 31 points. There were plenty of runs for the Thunder as well, who held the largest lead of the game for either team of eight points.

One late fourth quarter run cut what was a 121-114 lead for the Cavs to two with about 1:30 to play. Naturally, it was an Allen tip-out on an Evan Mobley missed three that seemingly sealed the game for the Cavs, after a long review. Mobley made the most of the extra possession, getting a floater to go in close to push the lead to five. They never looked back from there.

If this was a finals preview, it lived up to the billing. Some people seem to doubt whether or not this Cavaliers team can hold up their end of that bargain in a top heavy eastern conference. The bottom line, however, is that they've passed every passing every test imaginable to this point.

Sure it's the regular season, which everyone tries to Illegitimatize at every turn. Similarly, some pundits have tried to illegitimize the Cavs. And yet, they just keep on plodding along at their record-setting pace.

This time the world was watching. But if you're just now catching on to how special this team is, you're late.