OKLAHOMA CITY — The rematch between the NBA’s high two heavyweights ended with an early knockout.
The ultimate rating of the Oklahoma City Thunder‘s 134-114 residence win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday evening solely hinted at how dominant the Thunder had been in avenging a loss within the Jan. 8 thriller between the groups with the NBA’s greatest information.
In the earlier matchup, the Cavaliers pulled out a 129-122 win in a sport that featured 30 lead modifications and wasn’t determined till the ultimate minute. The Thunder put this sport out of attain by halftime, when Oklahoma City had a 26-point lead, the most important deficit of the season for Cleveland.
The lead swelled to 42 factors within the third quarter earlier than the benches emptied.
“They imposed their will in each sense,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson stated after the Cavaliers dropped to 34-6, matching the Thunder’s file. “We knew it was coming. We knew their pressure was coming. That’s their identification. They imposed their identification. It was an avalanche, and we by no means responded.”
Thunder famous person Shai Gilgeous-Alexander single-handedly outscored the Cavaliers by a 15-14 margin within the first quarter en path to ending with 40 factors in solely 29 minutes. He turned the primary participant in Thunder/SuperSonics historical past to attain 40 in fewer than half-hour, in accordance with ESPN Research, going 17-of-26 from the ground and likewise doling out eight assists.
“I used to be simply enjoying basketball, the sport I really like,” Gilgeous-Alexander stated, enjoying down the notion that the latest loss to the Cavaliers supplied further motivation. “I work exhausting. Try to provide the sport my all and see what it offers again to me.”
Oklahoma City’s top-ranked protection gave little or no to the league’s most effective offense, solely eight days after Cleveland had the highest-scoring outing of any Thunder opponent this season.
“It felt like seven pit bulls on the market. Not 5,” Atkinson stated. “They had been scratching, reaching — in an excellent sense. Their velocity and athleticism, they form of toppled us over. It was that easy. That’s their calling card. They’ve finished it to a number of groups. They dominated in each side.”
The Thunder held the Cavaliers to 49 factors within the first half and compelled 13 turnovers that Oklahoma City transformed into 22 factors, nearly matching the Thunder’s league-leading common of 23.2 factors per sport scored off turnovers by halftime.
“That’s our DNA,” stated Thunder star ahead Jalen Williams, who completed with 19 factors, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a pair of blocks in half-hour. “We simply attempt to play exhausting the entire time. When we will get our communication and simply our core rules within the sport — and we did not do an excellent job of that the primary time we performed them and had been ready to try this tonight — and I feel that makes it exhausting for groups.”
Cavaliers star guard Donovan Mitchell had a poor efficiency whereas being harassed by Thunder defensive stopper Lu Dort, scoring a season-low eight factors on 3-of-15 taking pictures. Mitchell credited the Thunder for being the “extra mentally and bodily robust group” and stated blame for the Cavaliers’ abysmal efficiency ought to start with him.
Dort additionally performed a significant function on the offensive finish, scoring a season-high 22 factors and going 6-of-9 from 3-point vary.
“They simply set the tone,” stated Mitchell, who was held to 11 factors on 3-of-16 taking pictures within the latest win over the Thunder. “We did not come able to play. Put this one on me. As a frontrunner, you have to set the tone. That’s twice now towards this group that I have not been that. When your chief’s not doing it, it trickles down.”
The Cavaliers’ huge tandem of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley had been nonfactors in Oklahoma City regardless of the Thunder lacking their 7-foot duo of Isaiah Hartenstein (calf pressure) and Chet Holmgren (fractured pelvis).
Allen and Mobley mixed for 18 factors, 10 rebounds and 1 help, in contrast with their manufacturing of 46 factors, 21 rebounds and 13 assists within the earlier assembly between the contenders. The Cavaliers performed important stretches earlier than rubbish time with out both of the massive males on the ground in an try and match up with Oklahoma City’s velocity.
“The apparent is that they’re greater than us, and our entire aim was to simply be so good enjoying small that they’d attempt to play small and might’t have each of them on the market on the court docket on the identical time,” Gilgeous-Alexander stated. “And I feel we did a very good job of that tonight. Being dirty when the bigs introduced the ball down, getting the unfastened balls, serving to one another out, scrambling. We clearly received on a run, they usually needed to make some modifications, after which as soon as the sport goes small it is just about our sport, our fashion.”
