Written by Brian McPeek

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Had Wednesday's game between the Cavs and Oklahoma City Thunder been a championship fight it would have been the 1988 Mike Tyson-Michael Spinks debacle that ended 1:44 into the first round. The opening tip was the only thing the Cavs lost all night as they slammed the accelerator down on the Thunder Wednesday night at

Had Wednesday's game between the Cavs and Oklahoma City Thunder been a championship fight it would have been the 1988 Mike Tyson-Michael Spinks debacle that ended 1:44 into the first round. 

The opening tip was the only thing the Cavs lost all night as they slammed the accelerator down on the Thunder Wednesday night at ‘The Q' and never let up until it became Oklahoma City face-saving time half way through the fourth quarter. 

How badly did the Cavs beat up the Thunder? Well, in a literal sense they beat them 117-82 to run their record to 12-3. But all you really need to know about this one is that Sasha Pavlovic and J.J Hickson each played more minutes than LeBron James and The King was perfectly healthy. 

It was 13-0 and 19-4 Cleveland before Oklahoma City even realized their plane had landed in Cleveland and they were expected to play an NBA game the night before Thanksgiving. The Cavs continuously forced the action against the Thunder on the second night of back-to-back games for each team. The Thunder was overwhelmed at each end of the floor. 

Despite playing only 13 minutes Zydrunas Ilgauskas led the Cavaliers with 17 points on 7/9 shooting that included a three-pointer from the corner. It was that kind of night. Daniel Gibson added 15 points, LBJ and Hickson each scored 14 and everyone else that got onto the court (and that was pretty much everyone except Moon Dog) scored at least 3 points. 

Chris Wilcox and Kevin Durant scored 14 and 13 points for Oklahoma City. 

Takeaways 

• The Cavs are focused. That may be an understatement but coming into the season it wasn't necessarily to be assumed. In the past this team had a tendency to take games and possessions off.

Not any more. 

They're blitzing the teams they should blitz and they're coasting to big victories. Even with a 66-32 halftime lead the Cavaliers came out in the 3^rd quarter and added to their huge lead by outscoring the Thunder 26-20 and slamming the door on any 3^rd quarter doldrums. That's the mark of a very good, very confident basketball team and the Cavs are playing as well as any team in the league at this point. 

• Delonte West, like the rest of the starters, had an easy night. He made the most out of 27 minutes that saw him bounce between point guard and shooting guard by hitting 4/6 shots for 8 points, grabbing 5 rebounds and handing out 10 assists. If you're looking for the poster boy of how well the Cavs are rolling right now look no further than D West.

West is getting after it defensively and on the offensive end he been spectacularly effective. He's above 50% from the floor on the season and has embraced the 2 guard role he assumed when Mo Williams was brought in to run the point.  

• You can see the confidence coming in leaps and bounds to the rookie Hickson. The best part of the ballgame Wednesday evening was that Hickson got extended run. The 20-year old from North Carolina State logged 31 minutes and he was active for every one of them. Hickson scored a season-high 14 points on a variety of shots ranging from spectacular dunks, to short jumpers to nifty little shots in the post that showed off his evolving floor game. More impressively was that Hickson grabbed 6 rebounds in a ton of traffic and blocked 4 shots on the night.
  
• The young guys looked good. Along with Hickson fellow rookie Darnell Jackson also got a long look Wednesday night. And Jackson looks to be one of those ‘glue guys' that isn't to be trifled with down low. He contests every shot and plays hard each minute he's on the court. The 6'9" rookie out of Kansas is a physical player and one of the things that stuck out in watching Hickson and Jackson on the court together was seeing how much talking they did, especially Jackson. I'm not talking about yapping or trash talking, I'm talking about calling out picks and communicating with the Cavs on the floor in regard to defensive assignments.
  
• These are not your older brother's Cavaliers. Gone are the days of watching guys like Ricky Davis and Darius Miles that seemed disinterested in what was going on on the court when they weren't out there jacking up bad shots and making us sick. With the game decided early and guys who aren't accustomed to playing time getting tons of it, the starters watched, instructed and cheered for the 2^nd unit throughout most of the ballgame.

I still keep praying I don't wake up and see Kevin Ollie and Jeff McInnis running the show while Davis and Miles lob horrible alley-oop passes to each other. 

• The writing is on the wall for Sasha Pavlovic. In fact, if he shows up for the Golden State game on Friday and the name on the back of his jersey has been changed to "Doesntfitinovich" I won't be surprised.  The guy is the human embodiment of rain on a parade.

In Pavlovic's first minute on the floor Wednesday night he had a shot blocked, had his pocket picked on the dribble and committed a foul. I understand wanting to make sure his folks saw his name in the paper but Pavlovic is regressing before our eyes. He may be a terrific athlete and a tough cover on the practice floor, but he's not suited for inconsistent minutes and a backup role. Which is a situation made even more difficult by the fact he's not a starter either.  

They Got Next 

It's Golden State coming to ‘The Q' on Friday night for a 730pm tip. The Warriors will be coming off a loss to the Celtics in which they scored 67 first half points but still a found a way to cough up a 13 point lead in falling to Boston Wednesday night. 

After Friday night's ballgame the Cavs will hop on a flight to Milwaukee for a 9pm local start against the Bucks.