Photo: AP/Sue Ogrocki

With just over four minutes to play, the Cavaliers were up just four points with the ball. A deflection sent the ball past the midcourt line, and the Cavaliers looked certain to suffer a shot clock violation. They needed a miracle heave to at least draw iron, but Mo Williams did better than that. Mo Gotti's 48-foot set shot was as pure as his 23-foot jumpers, and it broke the backs of the young Thunder, who never climbed out of the seven-point hole.

Shaq, no Boobie: Shaquille O'Neal returned without missing a game after getting scratched across the eye by Blazer center Joel Przybilla on Friday night. Daniel Gibson's right pinky, however, was too swollen for him to participate. He was questionable and participated in shootaround, so hopefully we'll see him on Tuesday.

Why is everybody always pickin' on me?: The Cavalier big men must have had a bullseye on their backs, because Stafford, Wood, and Workman were working them the entire evening. Shaq picked up two fouls in the first three minutes of the game, and Anderson Varejao had two before the end of the first. In fact, J.J. Hickson and Zydrunas Ilgauskas each picked up two in the first half as well, with O'Neal picking up a third in the second quarter. Two of O'Neal's five fouls were offensive, and I thought they were both cheapies, and both were drawn by Nenad Krstic. He was the only Cavalier player to remain in foul trouble throughout the game, but the free throw disparity was frustrating. The Cavaliers shot 15 free throws to the Thunder's 29 attempts. I'm pretty sure that the Cavaliers are through with getting any favors from any of the officiating crews. It seems that their whining has finally caught up to them in terms of the amount of calls they are getting.

They're free, you say?: To make things worse, the Thunder are the best in the league when it comes to making their free throws. They made 25 of those 29 attempts (86 percent). Kevin Durant and Jeff Green were 19-of-21 combined, and they both got a ton of calls, especially Durant. Now, I understand that Durant is the third leading scorer in the league, but even LBJ (#2 in scoring) wasn't getting those calls. The Cavaliers made 11 of 15 charity tosses (73%).

What, no ketchup?: In the first quarter, LBJ sliced to the hoop, drew a foul, made the bucket, ate a french fry, and converted the three point play. What, you've never had a craving for a french fry after getting an and-one? As LBJ entered the seating area, he saw a tray of fries, picked one up from the young Thunder fan decked out in a blue Durant jersey, and high-fived the youngster. It's never a dull moment with LeBron James.

With so much talent in the O-K-C...: The Cavalier defense faced a couple tough matchups tonight. First, Kevin Durant was a tough cover for Anthony Parker obviously. Next, Jeff Green is a surprisingly powerful post presence, and he gave both Hickson and Varejao some problems. The two of them took turns pouring it on the Cavs in the first three quarters. Durant had 29 points in the first three quarters, and Green had 21 after three.

Cavalier fastbreak: The reason the Cavaliers were able to stick around in this game early was their fastbreak offense fueled by forcing OKC turnovers. The Thunder turned it over 16 times, and the Cavaliers got 14 points off those turnovers. The wine and gold had 25 fastbreak points in all compared to 17 for Oklahoma City. The Cavaliers turned it over 15 times themselves, but the Thunder were able to get just six points off of those Cavalier mistakes.

The return of the post-up: LeBron spent a decent amount of time working out of the post tonight and from the free throw line. He used his size advantage on Thabo Sefolosha to get position. LeBron doesn't get cheated in the post too often, and it beats the heck out of him jacking up outside shots on most nights. When you can change things up from dumping it only into Shaq in the post, it keeps the defense on its toes. If you haven't noticed in the last ten games, Coach Brown has often went small for key stretches of the fourth quarter, a trademark of last season. This is possible because of the solid play of Jamario Moon and Anderson Varejao mostly.

Was that who I thought it was?: With Green scoring 15 points in the first half, Mike Brown tried someone different late in the second quarter.... Jawad Williams. Yep, Jawad got his first real meaningful action of the season playing the power forward in a small lineup for about a minute before the end of the first half. While 'Wad didn't really do anything, it shows that Brown is trying to keep Hickson on notice considering his play lately. J.J. did get 22 minutes tonight because he scored a couple of important buckets early and rebounded a little better. Hickson had 9 points and 4 boards.

LBJ vs. KD: The third quarter was really fun to watch if you're a fan of NBA basketball. Two superstars, LeBron James and Kevin Durant, trading buckets up and down the court all quarter. James scored 15 points in the quarter, including three three-pointers in a row to close out the quarter from 24, 25, and 26 feet. Durant had 12 in the third, including several difficult jumpers that fell. Between Durant and Green, the Cavalier D had its hands full, and they had just a two point lead after three.

Mo Gotti and Cavalier D fashions some cement boots for Thunder: It was Mo Williams, not LeBron James, who got the save tonight and closed out the Thunder tonight. Williams had 11 fourth quarter points, drilling three triples in the final twelve minutes. It wasn't just Mo's offense either. He adjusted his defense on Russell Westbrook, who carved up the Cavaliers a couple of times in the first three quarters for his 10 points. The Cavalier defensive unit was downright cut-throat in the fourth. They allowed just 13 points and 2 in the final 7:16 of the game, giving up a Krstic layup with 29 seconds left. They held the trio of Durant, Green, and Westbrook, who had 60 points in the first three quarters, to 5 fourth quarter points, all from Green. Mo and Delonte get credit for forcing Westbrook to shoot jumpers, where he is below-average (4-of-15 shooting on the night), Moon did a dynamite job on Durant, and Varejao made Green work incredibly hard.

goes to: LeBron James and Mo Williams. LeBron was feeling it in all aspects tonight. His 44 points on 16-of-29 shooting included 5-of-8 from three point range and 7-of-10 from the line. He also chipped in 7 boards, 6 assists, 4 steals, and chasedown block number seven in victim Thabo Sefolosha. Mo's 22 points came in timely fashion with half of them coming in the fourth. He was 8-of-18 from the field (4-of-9 from three point), adding 4 rebounds and 4 assists. The third leading scoring duo looked like it tonight.

Team Grade: B+

The Cavaliers flashed their three-point shooting prowess for the first time in a few games tonight, hitting 11-of-22 shots, nine coming from James and Williams. They shutdown the Thunder's capable scorers in their own building in the fourth quarter. The Thunder will fight all year long for a playoff spot. In other words, these aren't last year's Thunder. The turnovers were still too common, however, and they were a bit stagnant offensively, getting bailed out by James's dynamic third and Mo's gritty fourth.

The wine and gold head home for one game on Tuesday night against the worst team in the league, the New Jersey Nets, and this baby has trap game stamped all over it. If the Cavaliers don't come ready, Devin Harris, Brook Lopez, and Courtney Lee will make them pay.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

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