Cavaliers vs. Thunder NBA Finals would make for some fantastic basketball

If Wednesday’s Cleveland-Oklahoma City game was a possible preview of the NBA Finals, sign me up for it now.

I’ll take a best-of-7 final with the type of basketball played in the Cavaliers’ 129-122 win over the Thunder.

Spare me stories about market size. Just give me great, competitive basketball. Give me two teams with great players who play great on both offense and defense.

Give me Cleveland-Oklahoma City.

Right now they are the two best teams in the NBA – Cleveland at 32-4 and Oklahoma City at 30-6. That doesn’t mean it stays that way. Reaching the final is difficult, so there is no guarantee for any team. Oklahoma City will have to run the Western Conference gauntlet and the Cavaliers will likely have to beat defending champion Boston.

But there is enough evidence this part of the season that both the Thunder, whose 15-game winning streak ended in defeat, and the Cavs, who extended their winning streak to 11 games, are capable of doing so.

You pass the vision and data test. They have both stars (OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland) and future stars (Thunder’s Jalen Williams and Cavaliers’ Evan Mobley). They both have two excellent coaches (Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson and Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault) and were assembled by smart front offices (led by OKC’s Sam Presti and Cleveland’s Koby Altman).

And they also pass the entertainment test. Both teams are fun to watch – Cleveland is No. 1 offensively and No. 8 defensively, and Oklahoma City is No. 8 offensively and No. 1 defensively. And they share the basketball – Cleveland had 36 assists on 47 made field goals and Oklahoma City had 35 assists on 48 made field goals.

There were also 30 lead changes and eight draws in Wednesday’s game. There was an 84-point third quarter and a 46-point fourth quarter. Neither team led by more than nine points, and the lead was two points — 124-122 Cleveland — with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Allen, an All-Star in 2022, finished the game with 25 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals, and Mobley, inching closer to his first All-Star appearance, had 21 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and a block and one steals. The two 6-foot-11 bigs (twin towers in today’s NBA!) provide an old-school feel while adapting to a modern game.

And the Cavs have a modern 3-point shooting game under Atkinson: No. 1 in 3-point percentage and No. 3 in 3-point percentage per game.

They can beat opponents in a variety of ways, and they did that against the Thunder, scoring 60 points in the game on 65.2% shooting and 45 points on 41.7% shooting from 3-point range. Cleveland has a strong inside-outside game with depth.

The Thunder have an MVP candidate in Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 31 points, and if Williams, who had 25 points, nine assists, five rebounds, three steals and a block, doesn’t make the All-Star team, that is it a problem. And don’t forget that Chet Holmgren is expected to return from a hip injury at some point this season, which will give OKC more depth.

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Cavaliers vs. Thunder NBA Finals would make for some fantastic basketball

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