Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Scores 43 as Thunder Edge Cavaliers 117-112

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's step-back 3-pointer with 32.6 seconds left Monday night was the last of his 43 points, and it put the Oklahoma City Thunder ahead to stay. The Cleveland Cavaliers lost 117-112 at Rocket Arena, their first loss in four home games this season.

Along with the points, Gilgeous-Alexander had 3 rebounds and 8 assists in 38 minutes. He needed 35 shots to get there, made 14 of them, and went 11-of-12 at the line. The NBA's official scorer's report lists the 43 as his season high.

Six Thunder players sat with injuries, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams among them, along with Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Nikola Topić, and Thomas Sorber. Oklahoma City is 5-2.

It does not matter who is out for Oklahoma City, Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said, likening the Thunder to the old San Antonio Spurs teams.

"Well, first of all, let's give them credit," Atkinson said. "I thought obviously Shai was in MVP form. I do think we tried to throw the kitchen sink at him. Tried everything. Blitz, reds, switches. … Tried to mix it up, but we never really found a solution. Tried different guys on him. He was obviously the difference maker."

"And I always feel like the Thunder, you got to make your threes, and I thought we had some good looks that you want to go down, they didn't go down," Atkinson continued. "They had 22 second chance points, 15 offensive rebounds, a couple of big possessions."

Cleveland made 18 of its 49 3-point attempts. Oklahoma City went 12-of-31 from deep, but it outscored the Cavaliers 50-30 in the paint and made 21 of 23 free throws. The Cavaliers went 14-of-24 at the line.

Isaiah Hartenstein finished with 5 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 assists for Oklahoma City. Seven of his rebounds came on the offensive end, and the Thunder outrebounded Cleveland 54-46.

Donovan Mitchell had 17 points and a season-high 11 assists for Cleveland (4-3). Rookie Meleek Thomas also scored 17 in his first NBA start, a career high exactly one week after his debut against Minnesota.

Evan Mobley added 16 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. Jarrett Allen and James Harden scored 14 apiece.

Through one quarter the Cavaliers were up four, 30-26, with two late 3-pointers from Tyrese Proctor off the bench. The second came from 30 feet, with 30.2 seconds on the clock.

Then came a 33-18 Thunder quarter. Cleveland made 6 of 23 shots in the second and 2 of 10 from beyond the arc, and Ajay Mitchell scored 12 of his 20 points in those same 12 minutes.

By halftime it was 59-48, with Gilgeous-Alexander at 17 points and Ajay Mitchell one behind him.

Oklahoma City's biggest lead of the night, 14 points, came at 69-55 on a pair of Gilgeous-Alexander free throws with 9:26 to go in the third. Cleveland never led by more than 5.

From there, the Cavaliers went 9-of-17 from 3-point range in the third quarter. Thomas hit two of them on back-to-back Cleveland possessions, at 7:42 and 7:11, and the second got the Cavaliers within 74-70.

Mario Hezonja, scoreless in the first half, scored 9 points in the third. His driving layup with 3:12 remaining made it 79-78.

Early on, Hezonja said, the Cavaliers were trying to test Oklahoma City at the rim.

"It's obvious they have a lot of injuries. They're a brand-new team," Hezonja said. "You've got to spend some time to figure them on the court, live repetitions. So kind of maybe that started a few confusions for us. We were trying to test them at the rim as well."

"And then I guess in the second half, everything started to be more fluid, more open," Hezonja continued. "We kind of, I don't want to say shared the ball way more, but we kind of played much more in the flow."

The Thunder carried a 90-84 lead into the fourth. Proctor's two free throws with 9:14 to play put the Cavaliers ahead 94-93, their first lead since the second quarter.

There were eight lead changes and eight ties in the fourth quarter alone. The game had 23 lead changes in all.

Thomas was called for a technical foul with 8:04 left. Atkinson drew one at 3:21, right after a Mobley layup put Cleveland up 108-105, and Gilgeous-Alexander made both technical free throws.

Gilgeous-Alexander tied it at 108 with a 14-foot turnaround 12 seconds later. After the Thunder lost a challenge on Hartenstein's shooting foul at 2:47, Mobley split the free throws, and Cleveland led 109-108.

That lead lasted 56 seconds, until Hartenstein dropped in a 7-foot floater off a Gilgeous-Alexander pass. Ajay Mitchell's 15-foot pull-up put Oklahoma City up 112-109 at 1:16, and Sam Merrill tied it on the next trip, a 3-pointer set up by Donovan Mitchell with 1:01 left.

Gilgeous-Alexander missed a 13-footer with 43.2 seconds left, but Oklahoma City kept the ball, and he hit the step-back 3 on the ensuing possession. Merrill missed a 3-pointer at the other end. Ajay Mitchell made two free throws with 15.4 seconds left, and Donovan Mitchell missed a 25-foot pull-up at 7.2.

Cleveland played without Peyton Watson, listed inactive with right hamstring tightness and soreness. Jaylon Tyson missed a second straight game with a right ankle sprain, and Nae'Qwan Tomlin is out with a low back stress reaction.

At shootaround Monday morning, Mobley said Cleveland's bigs had a plan for when to help on Gilgeous-Alexander, who does not always get all the way to the paint.

"It's a little bit like a playoff series where you're playing back-to-back or playing them again," Mobley said. "So there's probably going to be some adjustments each game and stuff like that. So first game we're going to take it for what it is, and second game we'll see what the adjustments are."

The teams meet again Wednesday at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, with tip-off at 8 p.m. ET. The Thunder won both meetings last season, 136-104 on Jan. 19 and 121-113 on Feb. 22.

Cleveland returns home Friday to host the Philadelphia 76ers at 7:30 p.m. ET.