The Cleveland Cavaliers' seven-game winning streak ended on Sunday, as the shorthanded Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the NBA's hottest team with a 121-113 victory on their home floor. It's the Cavs' first loss since Jan. 30, before they acquired James Harden, Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder to join Donovan Mitchell, Kenny Atkinson and company at the trade deadline. After falling into a 28–5 hole in the opening seven minutes due to a 10-turnover start, Cleveland battled back.
"The recovery was great," Harden said after the game. "Don't turn the ball over, get shots at the rim, and then defensively, step back, stay in front of your man, contest shots. We're pretty good. It's just us doing that every night. It's a different team. Even without Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander]without j-dub [Jalen Williams]They're still obviously a very good defensive team.
Sam Merrill said, "Probably the best defense this league has seen in a while." "Even with some of their leading scorers out, they still have a lot of good defensive players. You just get avalanches to start the game; that's what happened last year. Obviously, we responded a lot better this time. Gotta figure out the turnovers. But that's just not the way they defend. Even without SGA and Jalen Williams, they really move the ball. They cut, they pass. Obviously, they Shot the ball really well today."
Led by Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe and Jaylin Williams, the Thunder made 14 of 22 three-ball attempts in the first half. The Cavs got into a better rhythm in the second quarter and hung on well enough to wreak havoc with the defensive pressure led by Ellis and Schroder, and the halftime margin was only nine. Merrill felt the Cavs made simple plays to counter the home team's early punches.
"I think we got a little rushed to start. The margin probably wasn't good to start with," Merrill said. “You still want to play with speed, obviously, but doing that by getting into the right spots and not playing too fast, I think, has helped.”
Cleveland struggled to take the lead at times midway through the third quarter, yet OKC could not hold on.
Donovan Mitchell said, "Missed some easy looks, had some key defensive rebounds that we didn't get. I'm not really worried about that start." "The biggest thing is that once we got to the point where it was 67-67, for me it was, 'Okay, how do we fix it from there?'"
"I felt like we had some bad offensive possessions that allowed them to get transition buckets," Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said. "The quality of our shot wasn't very good. I probably blame the offense more than the defense for that. With this team, you can't give them possession, whether it's turnovers or bad shots. They're No. 1 in the league in transition efficiency. They cause turnovers, which is the equivalent of layups. And if you take bad shots, they go down, and they score."
Although Atkinson didn't like some of those possessions in the latter half of the game, Cleveland still shot 48.3% from the field and outrebounded the Thunder in the paint 56-40 overall. The problem is that OKC scored a total of 31 points on 17 possessions in the opener. The Cavs had 20 points each from Mitchell, Merrill and Harden, but the big players were not involved against the Thunder frontcourt, possibly due to the threat of their passing-lane defense.
The Cavs' recurring problem comes at the wrong time.
Very often, especially in the final period, a familiar issue rears its head.
“I felt like they got some important offensive rebounds when we got stops,” Atkinson said. "We've got to clean it up. For me, that's our Achilles heel right now, defensive rebounding. They got some big ones at the end. Best team in the league, extra possessions. It really hurts you."
“I think we just have to work on rebounding,” Mitchell said. "That's been an ongoing theme. We've got to bounce back and give ourselves a chance to get out there and get there. Once we get back [from the deficit]We were just giving them extra opportunities. Some people took shots, credit goes to them, it is not necessary that they always take shots. But at the same time, it's easier to make threes when you don't get the rebound. These are the things I focus on. We'll see it on film and get better."
If you look at the stat sheet, the battle of the boards was also at 44 copies. However, the difference between Chet Holmgren's 15 and Evan Mobley's 2 sticks like a sore thumb compared to the Jarrett Allen-Isaiah Hartenstein matchup that was in favor of the wine and gold (13-7).
These were the times OKC kept it alive or the key points in the game where the Cavs needed to come up with the basketball that hurt them. Gang rebounding needed to improve in those situations, especially when Mobley and Allen were switching near the perimeter.
“We missed some open looks, which happens, but we couldn't get the boards,” Mitchell said. "Hertenstein, I think we were up one or the game was tied, and he scored six straight points, two of them off Hartenstein's floaters. Little things like that. Or, we make a great possession play, the ball is on the floor, JA gets in the back door because we're trying to scramble.
"It's little things like that on top of rebounding. When you're against a team like that, every little thing matters a lot. We're not sitting here with our heads down. We've got things we can clean up, and we'll figure it out and get better."
After all, there's no need to point any fingers after the new-look version of Cleveland loses its first game.
"We did a lot of positive things," Mitchell said. "We're still figuring things out as a group. Even in that fourth quarter, figuring out, 'Okay, is it me or is Eve coming to set the screen? Is it JA? Is it Sam? Sam is Roller, what are you doing?' There are a lot of things to figure out. At the end of the day, we won't turn our heads over this. This is a part of it. “We weren’t going to go 29-0, but we still have stuff to clean up and fix.”
“Listen, it's no excuse, but it's a tough schedule: 3-in-4, afternoon games,” Atkinson said. "On the road, it makes it a little different. It is what it is, and we have to overcome those tough schedule games. I'm proud of the way the guys battled and gave us a chance."
Although it may be lacking now, it could eventually pay off if Cleveland uses it correctly.
“This is our sixth game together,” Harden said. "I think it's bigger than them. I think it's on us every night, no matter who we're playing. It's a lot of things we're still figuring out — rotations, lineups, all that stuff. Once we get to that and figure out how we're playing and the lineups and all that, we'll be a lot better. But give them credit, they played a great game today and we still have some work to do."
"The games and the reps. You look at this team. They've had postseason failures a few years and they're finally over the hump. It all takes time, so these games are very valuable. We've got to cherish them like practice in games because it's our sixth game. Lesson learned. Watch film, get better, and be ready for the next game."
