For all the talk regarding the popularity—or lack thereof—of the NBA’s regular season, the league put forth perhaps its best on Wednesday night. And if the matchup between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder wasn’t enough for some fans, then, according to Brian Windhorst, that’s on them.
The Wednesday showdown between the Cavs and Thunder wasn’t just flexed into a nationally televised spotlight on ESPN; it also lived up to the hype and then some. The game featuring the two teams with the best records in their respective conferences saw eight ties and 30 lead changes, and both teams looked like legitimate championship contenders throughout.
Ultimately, Cleveland won the contest, snapping Oklahoma City’s 15-game winning streak while extending its own to 11. Simply put, according to Windhorst, it was one of the best regular season games he’s ever seen.
“Can I digress just for a second and say what an amazing night this was for NBA basketball? This was an advertisement of NBA regular season basketball at its best,” Windhorst said on Thursday’s episode of ESPN’s First Take. “Both of these teams, playing their systems… the Thunder won the third quarter 43-41. That 12 minutes of basketball and the way these two teams operated the way that they play with that mastery was as high as a level as I’ve seen in the regular season in my 20+ years covering the NBA.”
Windhorst added: “And yes, there was a lot of threes shot, but it was within the system. If you don’t love this game, if you watched this, you don’t love basketball. This was a display of great, high-level basketball.”
Brian Windhorst on Cavs-Thunder: “This was an advertisement of NBA regular season basketball at its best… that 12 minutes of basketball (in the third quarter)… was as high as a level as I’ve seen in the regular season in my 20+ years covering the NBA… if you don’t love this… pic.twitter.com/WYmwiN2t3T
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 9, 2025
For all of the talk and hypothesizing about the issues that have led to the league’s ratings decline — is too many threes? Are there not enough young American-born stars? Is the regular season too long and lacking in importance? — Windhorst’s point is simple: Good basketball is good basketball, and this was great basketball.
If a midseason matchup between the NBA’s two best teams (from a record standpoint), with both of them treating it as a potential NBA Finals preview, didn’t reinvigorate your love of the league, then maybe this isn’t the sport for you.
