Inside The Thunder

Thunder Rock Cavaliers

The Oklahoma City Thunder won their fifth straight on Saturday with 121-106 hammering of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Erik Gee

We've been waiting all season for the Thunder to play a full 48 minutes. We may not have gotten that on Saturday vs. the Cavaliers, but it was close.  On the backs of Danilo Gallinari, Dennis Schroder, Shai Gilegous-Alexander, and Terrance Ferguson Oklahoma City Rocked Clevland 121-106. 

Billy Donovan says no game is perfect. He's right; even on Saturday, the Thunder had moments of sloppiness, particularly at the end of the third quarter going into the fourth when the Thunder allowed the Cavs to go on an 11-2 run to cut the Thunder lead to eight. After that, the Thunder would cruise to a 19 point win. Oklahoma City has won 9 of their last 10 games and is now 20-15 on the season and five games in front of the Spurs for the seventh spot in the western conference. 

It was a costly victory Nerlens Noel sprained his left ankle at 1:33 in the third-quarter. Billy Donovan does not know the severity of the injury at this time. Noel's injury gave Mike Muscala a chance to get on the floor for the first time in five games. Muscala was 2-4 (from three) with six points in eight minutes of action. 

Let's hope Saturday is the start of something on the offensive end for Terrance Ferguson. In his last five games, Ferguson had a total of six points while going 2 of 16 from three. Against the Cavs, Ferguson racked up 13 points ( 5 of 10 from the floor, 3 of 8 from beyond the arc) Ferguson, who expends a ton of energy on defense guarding some of the NBA's best players, needs to show he can contribute on the offensive end. That being said, Chris Paul, Gallinari, Gilegous-Alexander and the emergence of Steven Adams doesn't make his lack of offense a pressing issue for the Thunder. 

Sharonville Ohio is 236.6 miles from Cleveland. While the Sixth City may not be Darrius Balzley's hometown, he used tonight as if he was in his backyard. Bazley scored 9 points all in the first half and grabbed seven rebounds. However, it was his block of a Kevin Love lay up 8:10 to go in the second quarter that will have his friends talking for days.

The Thunder have Sunday off before back to back with the 76ers and Nets. Game time on Monday is 6 pm on Fox Sports Oklahoma and NBA TV. 

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Erik Gee
ERIK GEE

With more than 20 years of experience hosting local and national radio shows, Erik Gee is a fixture of Oklahoma sports media. He has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past six seasons. He is also the co-host of the Pat Jones show on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa. 

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