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Looks like they're working out of the slump. Destroying the Knicks tonight. Not missing a beat without JR in there, but the big 3 are logging a lot of minutes so far. Up by 27 at the end of the 3rd.

LeBron and Love probably won't play the 4th.

Sucks, because I have LeBron in 3 leagues.

j/c....

lol, love the broadcaster giving the play by play.

CJ Fogler
@cjzero
Cavs so bored they are flipping a water bottle on the sideline

Liggins looks so confused. Like, "This is what I worked my arse off for in the d-league." all while RJ and LBJ fight over a water bottle.

lmao this is great

Pretty solid beat down last night, when love gets going right off the bat it seems we play so much better. I actually have to say I liked the way Liggs played last night, he's that aggressive on the ball defender we need..and he knocked down his open 3's and hustled. He has a place on the bench and should see regular minutes. Glad to see Lue come out and say we still need a backup PG, so atleast it's not just me. Knicks have some pieces but they just seems to be content to be middle of the road, never did it feel like they had a chance.

Anyone else think that flipping the water bottle was another one of LeBron's head games? What's a better way to tell an 11 time NBA Champion, you don't like him, besides blowing his team out and then flipping water bottles onto his court while the game is still going on.

Oh, it was absolutely a statement that we don't even take you seriously.

No doubt, LeBron took that opportunity to further rub Phil Jackson's nose in it.

Lebron's not stupid. That was calculated as an F you to Phil Jackson. Even if it was a small thing. When's the last time we saw Lebron dick around like that on the bench?

There must be something deeper going on with Lebron and the Knicks. I remember his Championship speech, he made it a point a couple times to rub it in their noses that they had given up on JR, Shump and Mozgov.

And tonight might be stick it to Riley, night.

It's like I said about Westbrook, he's stad padding intentionally. Rajon Rondo used to be the same way.



It was a January game last season, and the Oklahoma City Thunder led the Miami Heat by 23 points midway through the fourth quarter. Russell Westbrook, positioned where many superstar players would be near the end of blowout, was sitting on the bench.

There was one problem: Westbrook was three rebounds short of a triple-double.

To many watchers' surprise, Westbrook popped up and walked over to check back in. He quickly grabbed his three boards, and with the Thunder up 22, they took a timeout and Westbrook sat back down, a 24th career triple-double in hand.

In was obvious what had happened, and it wasn't the first time Westbrook had apparently worked for the statistical trinity. A year before, he was on a triple-double roll, but went to the bench with two minutes left in the game, one rebound shy of a triple-double.

"Tip? he said. "Tip?"

From the bench, he was lobbying the official scorekeeper for an offensive rebound, and after reviewing a replay during a timeout, the scorekeeper obliged, giving him the triple-double before the buzzer sounded. Westbrook denied politicking for it after the game.

This season, Westbrook is recording triple-doubles at a historic pace, notching 11 such feats in 22 games, maintaining a current streak of six, and averaging 31 points, 10.9 rebounds and 11.3 assists per game.

No politicking or late-game stat-stuffing needed.

As is usually the case when anything fun or cool starts happening, skeptics emerge, ready to rain on the history parade. For some, whether it's by comparisons or discounting the validity of the numbers, Westbrook's near-nightly showcase inspires more questions than admiration.

Is he stat-padding? Chasing rebounds? Hunting assists?

Westbrook cares about winning first and foremost, but there's no doubt he pays attention to the triple-doubles. Why wouldn't he? It's an impressive achievement, and one to be proud of. Ricky Davis and Andray Blatche embarrassed themselves just trying to notch one. Westbrook racks them up at will, piling up the stats almost like he can't help it.

When he does, the Thunder win. In Westbrook's 48 career triple-doubles, the Thunder are 42-6. In his 11 this season, they're 9-2. The two losses were a two-point loss to the Orlando Magic on a buzzer-beater and an overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers.

There's also this: Via Nylon Calculus, there's evidence to suggest the Thunder's best offense comes from a Westbrook defensive rebound.

When Westbrook hauls in a rebound, the Thunder's pace cranks up, and the team shoots a higher effective field goal percentage (55.3 percent) than when he doesn't grab the board (50.3). One of the Thunder's primary struggles this season is in the halfcourt, but they remain lethal in transition. The Thunder's best path to transition is getting the ball in Westbrook's hands as quickly as possible.

So Westbrook just cuts out the middle man, sometimes at the expense of his big men. But they're in on the take.

Against the Hawks on Monday Westbrook undercut Steven Adams for a rebound, with Adams literally pulling his hands back as Westbrook snared it.

"No one cares. We'd rather it be him [getting the rebound]," Adams said. "I like it because I can actually box out my dude. It's good that he actually gets to come in and take it. I don't mind it."

Both Adams and Enes Kanter have joked about needing to box out Westbrook because he's taking their rebounds. Those are big man stats, and Westbrook, a 6-foot-3 point guard, currently resides first on the team in boards, and ninth overall in the league. The Thunder bigs jab Westbrook about taking their rebounds in the film room, recently noting one where he ripped the ball right out of Joffrey Lauvergne's hands.

"As long as our team gets a rebound, it doesn't matter," Adams said. "There's just some funny ones that we kind of mock him about."

Westbrook rebounding isn't some new development, though. Last season, he was only 2.2 rebounds per game away from averaging a triple-double. He's always ranked among the best in the league from the guard position, but this season, he's taken a statistical leap.

"What makes him a great rebounder," Billy Donovan said, "besides the strength and athleticism, he is great at following the flight of the ball. He understands where it's going to go and he gets his speed and quickness and athleticism off the floor and into the game because he knows where the ball is going to go."

Westbrook's instincts are particularly spectacular. Like this play and this play. He flows to the rebound, and the Thunder are instantly on the attack.

"It makes everything faster," Andre Roberson said of Westbrook rebounding.

Then there's the fact, as Donovan points out, that opposing guards don't try to rebound against the Thunder much because they fear Westbrook in transition. So that gives him free rein to attack the glass.

"If that was becoming a trend where guards were offensive rebounding against us, we'd pay more attention to that," Donovan said. "I think because of the player he is in transition, more teams are sending back three [players]."

There's concern about Westbrook's ability to sustain this level of play throughout the season. He's running a monopoly on the Thunder's offense, on pace for the all-time high in usage rate (40.2 percent) while also leading the league in assist rate (54.5).

It's an astonishing offensive responsibility, on top of everything else. But Donovan is unconcerned. The Westbrook way since his rookie year is to play every game, regardless of opponent, at the highest level of energy possible.

"I don't see him playing any differently than the way he played last year," Donovan said. "Except he's better."

Then there's this: Westbrook's season is a welcome respite and distraction from the events of the summer which saw the franchise turned upside down with the departure of Kevin Durant to the Golden State Warriors. The Thunder aren't as good as they were, but Westbrook is still providing every reason to watch. They're as must-see as they've ever been.

Westbrook's individual achievement has spilled over to team success, with his teammates feeding off the triple-double run. It's given the Thunder an identity as they rally around their new solitary leader, and Westbrook's nightly commitment is showcased by the numbers he puts up.

"You want to always appreciate it and not take it for granted," Nick Collison said. "It is pretty special. And it would be different if he was out hunting these statistics. Guys can do that. There's a lot of guys that do that. But he's really not. He's really just playing the game. And that's what's best about it."

LeBron could have a triple double on any night he wanted to if he wasn't worried about pesky things like team chemistry and winning and stuff.

The 10 points is a given, he could score that in the first quarter every night. Then once he got his 10 points he could just start passing up shots and kicking the ball to shooters and crashing the boards for rebounds.. it wouldn't be that hard if that was his goal.

I watch quite a bit of basketball and I don't get the negativity that some of you have w/Westbrook.

The guy is a fierce competitor and the best athlete in the game, maybe in all of sports.

The points being made seem very petty.

LOVE the Unis! and the team isn't bad either...

came to play last niught

I think Westbrook and his triple double hunt has had a positive effect on the NBA. I'm paying more attention to their/his games. Sure, there's an element of stat padding to it but every player on every night is doing the same thing. Anyone that says they aren't keeping track of their points or rebounds is lying through their teeth.

Two things:
1. Westbrook's ability to score and get assists are fine, but I'm amazed the guy can get so many rebounds with his height and position. He's 6'3" and a guard. Crazy. You have a guy like Wiggins who is 6'8" and is a forward and he's averaging 4 rebounds a night. Maybe it's scheme or just effort, but that amazes me.
2. All this discussion on stats just brings up my dislike of the assist. Player X completes a perfect pass to a teammate under the basket and then he misses a layup, no assist. Player Y forces a sloppy pass late in the shot clock to a covered teammate at the elbow and then he make it, assist.

Man, the Cavs just toyed w/the Heat last night. Awesome.

Liggins defense looked really good.

Loved him at Kentucky, he's always been able to play defense at a high level. If he was stronger he'd be a Andre Roberson for us.

loved the 80's throwbacks...would have been awesome if they had brought Tait in to do some play by play for a quarter or half. The big 3 are on a different level right now..just to put it in perspective given our record, we're scoring 111/game, and our number 4 scorer is channing frye with 10 points a game...its shows how good the big 3 have been, also how bad our bench is..lol

Lebron has lost 1 time in his last 25 games against Charlotte.

Call me crazy, but is Shump doing better with shooting this year? Or is he streaky?

All I know is I'm glad we're up 15 at the half.

Marc Gasol will never have the stats, but he has played like an MVP candidate.

Yeah, that was nice...(up by 5 as of this posting)

Yawn is it XMAS yet

Something not being talked about in regards to the Warriors: Iggy has fallen off a cliff. He's banged up and he's been awful offensively. If Iggy continues to struggle, Golden State is not as invincible as they look on paper.

j/c:

Good game last night. That's the most I have seen LeBron take over in awhile now. He pretty much said: Get out the way...I'll win this game.

I still would like to see a back-up PG. Sessions would be a nice addition. There are some teams, such as Sacremento, that have a surplus at that position. Is there any way we could make a trade? I'm talking financially.

I have sad all along they are nowhere near invincible. Yeah their big three are great players, but they are all finesse players.

GOAT

However, there's no excuse for any player to score this easily-

https://vine.co/v/5xFYLMOtJ3Y

What was Marco and Kaminsky doing?

I was talking about Memphis and a crazy idea came to my mind. If Melo played for Memphis, where would you rank the Grizzlies in the west? I'd put them ahead of the Clippers.

good point candy ... he's not been the same. Maybe age/injury/etc ... but he's not the same player

I feel the Cavs will hold off on getting a backup PG. I can see them drafting one next year.

Let Birdman, James Jones, Mo Williams, and Jordan McRae possibly go.

My guess is that we get Chalmers around February.

yeah there is no way we're not going to get a backup PG this year..especially with kyrie already complaining about dead legs....he played all summer so he hasn't had a break in over a year...going to have to give him some games off throughout the season i'm betting

Lebron is the only player ever to reach 27K points, 7K assists, and 7k rebounds.