3 Takeaways From Cavaliers’ 124-116 Loss to Thunder

Two days after losing at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to them again Wednesday night, 124-116 at Paycom Center. Monday’s score was 117-112.

That makes three losses in four games for Cleveland (4-4), with a 114-111 defeat at Atlanta on Oct. 29 in the mix. Jaylon Tyson and Peyton Watson sat out again.

Twelve Cavaliers turnovers turned into 12 Thunder points. Five came in the first quarter, when Oklahoma City outscored Cleveland 11-0 in transition, and the Thunder won the fast-break battle 21-12 for the night.

Isaiah Hartenstein had a hand in two of those early giveaways, both on Donovan Mitchell passes. The center finished with 12 rebounds and 2 steals. Micah Peavy’s steal of a James Harden pass at 6:32 set up Kenrich Williams in transition.

Evan Mobley traveled once in the quarter. Meleek Thomas stepped out of bounds for another.

It looked like the loss in Atlanta, Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said.

“Like I said, the turnovers are the ones,” Atkinson said. “To me, that’s what gets. I think Atlanta, same similar thing happened. That gets, and then they get out in transition. They get easy ones. So got to do better. Got to do better taking care of the ball, executing better.”

Sam Merrill said Ajay Mitchell, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Alex Caruso still wreak havoc in this building, even with Thunder regulars hurt.

“I don’t know, especially here, for whatever reason,” Merrill said. “I bet if you went through these last three seasons, the first quarter we’re probably averaging at least six turnovers. That’s their style, even with some of their guys hurt. You’ve still got Mitchell and Shai, Caruso come in and kind of wreak havoc, and some of their other guys. So that’s probably the biggest thing is turning the ball over. They get out in transition, they get open threes, and then before you know it, you’re down 15 to 20.”

Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, and Cason Wallace were all out for Oklahoma City. Caruso, back from an ankle injury that cost him three games, was plus-16 in 20 minutes.

Bennett Stirtz is getting real minutes as a rookie because of them. He made 4 of his 7 3s for 16 points, and in the second quarter he took the ball from Harden twice, the first time running out for a layup and a 52-30 lead. None of this was in the plan when the season started, Stirtz said.

“Just next man up mentality,” Stirtz said. “Had no idea this was going to happen to start the season. So I’m just ready when my name’s called. That’s pretty much it.”

Down 14 going into the fourth, Cleveland made 14 of its 24 shots in the quarter. Ten were 3s, on 17 tries, and the Cavaliers outscored Oklahoma City 42-36 in the period. The deficit was still 18 with 3:41 left.

Donovan Mitchell scored 14 of the 42. He went 5-of-8 in the quarter, and all four of his 3s came after the 3:11 mark.

Before that, Mario Hezonja knocked down two from deep in a span of 64 seconds, and Thomas Bryant opened the period with his only 3 of the night. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 16 in the fourth, and 9 of those came on free throws.

The Thunder crowd made the comeback count for more, in Atkinson’s view.

“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 continued. “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.”

Tristan Enaruna’s first 8:38 came in the second quarter, after he checked in with Cleveland trailing 46-22. Craig Porter Jr. hit him for a fast-break dunk at 7:29, and Harden found him for another run-out layup at 5:45. Cleveland was plus-8 in that stretch.

In 15:59 overall, Enaruna shot 2-of-7 and finished with 4 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.

Atkinson wanted another athlete on the floor against Oklahoma City, he said.

“He’s been good in practice and good in our stay-ready games,” Atkinson said. “Just the athlete, especially against their athleticism. And I thought he did. I thought he played well. I thought we need another body tonight. He came in, gave us some good minutes.”

The Philadelphia 76ers come to Rocket Arena on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. ET game.