Cavaliers at Thunder
Their extended funk in January is now a distant memory as the Cleveland Cavaliers aim for their seventh victory in eight games when they visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday. Cleveland lost six of eight games in the stretch during which LeBron James was critical of the organization but has rebounded to win six of its last seven contests.
James sharply insisted the team needed to acquire some better players, but nothing seemed to be wrong with the current group during Wednesday's 132-117 victory at Indiana. The Cavaliers are averaging 127 points during their four-game winning streak while point guard Kyrie Irving and swingman Kyle Korver each scored 29 points against the Pacers. Oklahoma City has dropped four of its last six games, a slump that began with a 107-91 road loss to the Cavaliers. All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook recorded 27 points, a season-best 18 rebounds and nine assists in Monday's 93-90 road setback against Indiana but missed two 3-point attempts in the final 7.6 seconds.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (36-15): Korver had his best game since joining the team in the win over the Pacers, establishing season highs for points while sinking eight 3-pointers - his most since 2007. The 35-year-old missed only one of his nine long-range attempts and moved into seventh place on the all-time list with 1,992 3-pointers, passing Jason Kidd (1,988). "I got a bunch of great looks and finally had a game where I could knock down a bunch of them," Korver told reporters. "I didn't know this was going to happen, obviously. The first couple went in, felt great, and I decided to keep on firing away."
ABOUT THE THUNDER (30-23): Oklahoma City is in the midst of a tough stretch that continues against the defending champion Cavaliers and is followed by a home encounter with Golden State. The hype for Kevin Durant's return to town already is eclipsing the excitement for James' lone visit, and Westbrook will have to guard against thinking too much about his now-disliked former running mate prior to the contest versus Cleveland. Westbrook fell one assist shy of his 26th triple-double of the campaign - his 25 are the most in a single season since Hall-of-Famer Wilt Chamberlain posted 31 in 1967-68 - in the loss to the Pacers.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Cavaliers have won the last four meetings while James contributed 25 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists in last month's victory.
2. Cleveland SG Iman Shumpert (sprained left ankle) sat out Wednesday's game and also will miss the contest against Oklahoma City.
3. Thunder F Andre Roberson has registered back-to-back double-doubles - the second and third of his NBA career.