Cavaliers Fall 124-116 to Thunder as Slow Start Proves Costly

Evan Mobley missed a 26-foot 3 on the game’s first possession. Ajay Mitchell grabbed the rebound and found Kenrich Williams for a 28-footer in transition, and the Oklahoma City Thunder led the rest of the way Wednesday night, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 124-116 at Paycom Center.

It was the second meeting in three days. Oklahoma City also won Monday in Cleveland, 117-112.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 42, getting to the free-throw line 19 times and making 15. He had 16 points in the third quarter and 16 more in the fourth.

Donovan Mitchell answered with 27 for Cleveland on 10-of-17 shooting. Most of that came late: 14 points in the fourth, including four 3s in the final 3:11.

James Harden went 0-for-4 in the first quarter and still finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Mobley put up 16 and 10 with two blocks. Mario Hezonja scored 12 in 23 minutes off the bench.

Jarrett Allen played only 7:08. He came out with 1:11 left in the first quarter with a right knee injury and stayed out. Tyrese Proctor’s night ended in the fourth: after scoring 11 in his second career start, he left with an apparent ankle injury.

Cleveland dropped to 4-4, its third loss in four games, and Oklahoma City moved to 6-2.

Two of Cleveland’s five first-quarter turnovers were Isaiah Hartenstein steals off Donovan Mitchell passes, at 9:40 and 1:36. In between, Micah Peavy stepped in front of a Harden pass, and Williams laid it in at the other end for an 18-9 lead. Oklahoma City outscored the Cavaliers 11-0 on the break in the quarter.

From deep, Oklahoma City went 6-of-10 in the opening quarter and the Cavaliers 2-of-9. Bennett Stirtz’s step-back 3 off a Gilgeous-Alexander pass made it 28-12, and his transition 3 at 1:33 pushed it to 35-16. Williams had 10 points by the end of the quarter, and the Thunder led 37-20.

Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson put the 3-point gap right next to the turnovers.

“You can’t come in on a road, especially against a really good team, and five turnovers, I think,” Atkinson said. “I think four of them were live ball. And then I think we were two for nine from three in that first quarter. They go six for ten. So the combination of turnovers, make or miss league, that’s how the big separation happened. Give the guys a lot of credit for fighting back, keeping our composure.”

“You’re in a situation like that, especially on the road, you can fold,” Atkinson continued. “And like I said, plus eight in the second half, much better job.”

Stirtz went 3-of-3 in the quarter for 8 points. The rookie said Cleveland switched up some of its looks from Monday, and the Thunder spent shootaround on their own fixes.

“A really good team,” Stirtz said. “And they switched a little bit of the things up that they were doing the last game. So I think more of the focus at shootaround today and during the game was, what can we do better? We weren’t focused about them as much as, what can we do better in different coverages and defense and offense.”

Jared McCain’s driving layup with 6:27 left in the second quarter made it 50-25. Harden hit two step-back 3s in the period, and Mobley’s 3 off a Harden pass with 18.6 seconds left sent Cleveland to the locker room down 60-44.

Harden opened the second half with two free throws, a floater, and a step-back 3. Donovan Mitchell’s fast-break layup capped a 9-0 run, and the lead was down to 60-53 at 9:37. Stirtz’s 3 off a Gilgeous-Alexander pass with 46.4 seconds left in the third made it 87-74, and it was 88-74 after three.

Alex Caruso set up Aday Mara for a dunk with 3:41 left, and Oklahoma City was up 18 at 111-93. Proctor got 3 of it back on a driving floater and a free throw. Mobley added a foul shot and a tip-in off a Harden miss to make it 115-102.

Donovan Mitchell’s 24-footer at 3:11 was the first of four 3s. He hit from 28 feet at 1:40 and 24 feet at 1:15, then pulled up from 26 with 46.7 seconds left to get Cleveland within 117-111.

Hezonja found Mobley cutting for a dunk at the 38.5-second mark, and Sam Merrill’s 3 off a Mitchell pass with 18.1 seconds left made it a six-point game. Gilgeous-Alexander went 6-of-6 at the line in the last 41 seconds. Mitchell’s 27-footer with 13.8 seconds left was off.

The response in front of a sellout crowd of 18,203 pleased Atkinson.

“I mean, disappointed,” Atkinson explained. “Like I said, disappointed in our first quarter. Three quarters, really solid, solid play. And you have one quarter where you’re not up to par. And I think, like I said, the turnovers, the live-ball turnovers, they just get the other team going and kind of snowballs there. And then we obviously didn’t make shots, but I was really pleased with how we respond, especially with this crowd.”

“You can go the other way,” Atkinson added. “You can take one on the chin, lose by 40 here. So I’m going to take the positives, kept our composure, made a comeback there. So some good things out there.”

Merrill said the Cavaliers went over a list of fixes after Monday and started applying them late in the first quarter.

“I think that’s three straight years now where they’ve kind of blitzed us in the first quarter,” Merrill said. “We turned the ball over, and they hit quite a few threes in that first quarter, and then we settled in, and really we talked about a bunch of stuff after the last game and felt like we did a much better job of applying that from the end of the first quarter on, playing better basketball. But give up a big lead like that in the first quarter, it’s going to be tough to win.”

Ten of Cleveland’s 19 3-pointers came in the fourth, on 17 attempts. Oklahoma City shot 35 free throws to Cleveland’s 19 and made 27.

Cleveland played without Jaylon Tyson for a third straight game because of a sprained right ankle. Also out: Peyton Watson (right hamstring tightness) and Nae’Qwan Tomlin (low back stress reaction).

Next up is the Philadelphia 76ers at Rocket Arena on Friday, a 7:30 p.m. ET start that opens NBA Cup group play for the Cavaliers. The New York Knicks visit Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, and Cleveland goes to Charlotte on Monday for a 7 p.m. ET game.