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Thunder look to make it two in a row as they host Cavs

Dec 21, 2008 - 8:20 AM Cleveland (22-4) at Oklahoma City (3-24), 7:00pm EST

OKLAHOMA CITY (Ticker) -- If the Oklahoma City Thunder want to put together their first winning streak of the season, they're really going to have to earn it.

Fresh off their first win of the month and their third of the campaign, the Thunder get the unenviable task of trying to slow down the powerful Cleveland Cavaliers.

The clubs met nearly a month ago in Cleveland and, as expected, the Cavs dominated. They stormed to a 19-point lead after one quarter and MVP candidate LeBron James only needed to play 17 minutes en route to a 117-82 triumph. The game was so out of hand that the Cleveland bench did the lion's share of the damage.

However, Oklahoma City has gradually gotten more competitive in the four weeks since - though it hasn't resulted in many more more wins. The Thunder finally did snap their skid on Friday as they toppled the struggling Toronto Raptors, 91-83.

Be it an enhanced defensive effort on the part of Oklahoma City or pure offensive ineptitude on Toronto's part, the Raptors managed to shoot just 36 percent (32-of-88), including a 6-of-18 showing by All-Star and Olympian Chris Bosh.

Despite all the team's struggles, one good sign has been the continued emergence of last year's No. 1 overall pick, Kevin Durant. The 20-year-old guard is the ninth-leading scorer in the NBA at 23.2 points per game while shooting at a respectable 46 percent clip.