Thunder In Cleveland For A Matchup With The Reigning Champs

<p>The Thunder will be back in action on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 when they take on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. </p>

Saturday, January 28th 2017, 12:54 pm

By: Brett Coppenbarger

Thunder In Cleveland For A Matchup With The Reigning Champs

The Thunder will be back in action on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 when they take on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on ABC.

Here are a few things to know about the matchup:

Will the streak continue?

After dropping two straight games to the Clippers and Warriors, the Thunder has reeled off wins over the Jazz, Pelicans and Mavericks over the past week and look to make it four in a row against the Cavaliers.

Westbrook has a pair of triple-doubles and a 45-point game in that span, but Sunday’s matchup gives the Thunder its biggest test since losing to Golden State earlier this month. There's no doubt that a win over the reigning NBA champions would go a long way in boosting OKC’s confidence throughout the second half of the regular season.

Cavs struggling

Despite sitting atop the Eastern Conference rankings with a 31-14 record, the Cavaliers have been in a funk as of late and are 4-6 over their last 10 games with losses to the Kings, Pelicans and Trailblazers.

James is clearly frustrated with how his team has been playing as of late, and hasn’t held back when calling out Cavs’ management seeing he wants another playmaker added to the roster.

Even with their recent struggles, the Cavaliers are a major threat anytime they hit the hardwood. With James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love leading the way, Cleveland ranks No. 4 in points per game (110.0) and third in 3-point percentage (.362).

No Enes Kanter

Sunday will be the first time this season the Thunder will be without Enes Kanter after he fractured his right ulna after hitting a chair in OKC’s win over the Mavericks.

Enes Kanter spoke today for the first time since breaking his arm Thursday. He explains what led up to him punching the chair. #News9Thunder pic.twitter.com/OvtrgUmr7L
— Lee Benson (@LeeBensonNews9) January 28, 2017

This is a devastating blow for the Thunder, seeing Kanter has been playing some of the best basketball of his career. Kanter was averaging 17.2 points and 8.3 rebounds over his last 10 games while he’s been the focal point of the Thunder offense when Westbrook takes a breather on the bench.

It’ll be interesting to see how Billy Donovan adjusts his lineup with Kanter out for at least four weeks. It’s likely Domantas Sabonis, Jerami Grant and Joffrey Lauvergne will all get more minutes while it wouldn’t be surprising to see Nick Collison to crack to rotation.

","published":"2017-01-28T18:54:40.000Z","updated":"2017-01-28T20:28:54.000Z","summary":"

The Thunder will be back in action on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 when they take on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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