Without LeBron James with a sore knee and after a first-half scare involving Kyrie Irving, the Cavaliers’ eight-game winning streak ended Thursday night in a 103-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Oklahoma City (9-13) won its fourth straight, led by Russell Westbrook’s 26 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Kevin Durant added 19 on 6-of-14 shooting from the floor.
With James resting a sore left knee, Cleveland (13-8) put up a strong fight in the first 24 minutes, entering the break tied at 47. They also absorbed the sight of Irving writhing on the court after bumping knees with Westbrook late in the second quarter.
Irving returned to start the second half, but the Thunder found an offensive rhythm and held the Cavaliers to 19 third-quarter points to take a 78-66 lead going into the fourth. They denied the Cavaliers the inside, posting 11 blocked shots.
The Cavaliers’ resolve reappeared with a 17-4 run to trim the deficit to three with two minutes left. That’s when Durant scored two straight buckets to shift the momentum back to the Thunder for good.
It was a quality effort on the part of Cleveland, but James’ absence meant precious few easy baskets. The offense struggled to generate anything inside of 15 feet, evidenced by the team’s 37 percent shooting from the field.
Matthew Dellavedova started for James, and was the only Cavalier to shoot 50 percent or higher (5-of-8) from the field.
Irving ended the night with 20 points on 21 shots. Kevin Love got his 12th double double with 18 points and 16 rebounds.
Dion Waiters provided 14 points off the bench to go with four assists. Tristan Thompson had 14 points and 13 rebounds.
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