Cavaliers drop fourth straight to Thunder 117-112
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - Monday night was the start of a big six-day stretch for the Cleveland Cavaliers (4-2, 3-0 home) as they faced the Oklahoma City Thunder (4-2, 1-2 road) twice, the Philadelphia 76ers (6-1) and the New York Knicks (2-4).
The week opened with them hosting the Thunder on Monday night at Rocket Arena. The Cavs were 53-74 all-time against the Thunder franchise which included their time as the Seattle Supersonics. At home, the Cavs were 35-28 all-time against OKC. The Cavs were once again outclassed by the Tunder falling 117-112 in front of the 200th consecutive sellout for the Cavs the longest current streak in the NBA.
As expected, the game was close early with 10:03 left in the opening quarter and the game was tied 5-5. With 8:49 remaining in the opening quarter the Cavs led 9-5 after James Harden scored in the paint. With 7:46 left on the clock the Cavs led 11-9 after a finger roll layup by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson took a timeout. With 6:01 left on the clock SGA taught Cavs rookie Meleek Thomas a lesson, you make no contact with me or there will be a foul. The Thunder cut the lead to 15-13. Then with 5:12 left in the opening quarter the Thunder took a 16-15 lead when Kenrich Williams drained a three. The Cavs suddenly were ice cold shooting until Thomas scored in the paint to put Cleveland back on top 17-16 with 4:18 remaining, the Thunder took a timeout. OKC came right out of the timeout and regained the lead 19-17 when Williams drained a three. The lead changed hands several times in the final four minutes. With :30.1 left in the opening quarter Tyrese Proctor hit his second three, giving the Cavs 30-25 lead. When time ran out in the quarter the Cavs led 30-26. SGA led all scorers in the first quarter with nine points. Mitchell paced the Cavs with 8 points. The rebound battle was even with both teams pulling down 14.
OKC went on a 5-0 run to start the second quarter and take a 31-30 lead. Kenny Atkinson took a timeout with 10:22 left on the second quarter clock. The Cavs quickly regained the lead when Thomas Bryant hit an outside jumper. The Thunder took a 37-34 lead with 8:00 left when Jared McCain scored in the paint. With 6:28 left in the half the Thunder lead grew to 41-34 when Ajay Mitchell scored. With 3:41 left in the second quarter the Thunder lead was 52-46 and Atkinson took another timeout. The timeout didn’t help and by halftime the Thunder lead was 59-48. The lead looked like it was going to be eight points as it appeared that Mitchell hit a halfcourt shot at the buzzer, but after reviewing it was ruled to have been after the buzzer. The Thunder outscored Cleveland 33-21 in the second quarter. SGA led all scorers with 17 first half points. Mitchell led the Cavs with 12 points. The Thunder outrebounded the Cavs 29-26. The Cavs shot a miserable 38% (20 of 53) from the field while the Thunder shot 46% (22 of 48) in the opening half. The Cavs also shot a pathetic 29% (7 of 24) from three-point range at the same time the Thunder shot 44% (7 of 16).
With 2:19 off the clock the Thunder lead grew to 67-55. Then a disgusting call when Evan Mobley was charged with an offensive foul and replay clearly showed he never touched the Thunder player. The parade had begun for the most untouchable player in the NBA SGA as he had two trips to the foul line in the first half and two trips to the line in the first three minutes of the second half. The Cavs showed some life going on a 6-0 run and cutting the Thunder lead to 74-70 with 7:10 left on the clock and drained a three pointer. The rookie had 15 points. The Thunder are good at a lot of things, but drawing fouls that are not even close to being fouls is what they might be best at. SGA went to the foul line for the third time in the third quarter with just six minutes left. He cannot be guarded because if you even come near him the whistle blows and a foul is called. With that being said the Cavs cut the Thunder lead to 79-76 with 4:03 left when Mario Hezonja hit a three courtesy of Proctor. With 3:13 left Hezonja cut the Thunder lead to one point when he scored in the paint. When the quarter ended the Cavs trailed 90-84, most of the deficit was due to officials giving OKC every call.
The Shenanigans continued. After the Cavs cut the Thunder lead to 90-89 a phantom foul was called on Cleveland, and the Thunder lead was back at four points. Hezonja responded and once again cut the lead to 93-92 with 10:45 left on the clock. Then with 9:14 left the Cavs drew a rare foul when Proctor was fouled by Micah Peavy in the lane and went to the line for two shots which he hit giving the Cavs a 94-93 lead. With 8:04 left Thomas was charged with an intentional foul. SGA shot the free throw and tied the game at 94-94. Then, with 8:00 left James Harden was fouled behind the three-point line. He missed two of the three free throws, and the Cavs lead was one which was quickly erased at the other end and the Thunder led 96-95. The Cavs turned the tables, Allen scored in the paint and was fouled the Cavs led 98-96 with 8:25 remaining. With 5:47 left and the Cavs up 102-100 rookie Bennet Stirtz drained a three giving OKC a 103-102 lead. Atkinson took a timeout. After the timeout with 5:34 left on the clock Sam Merrill showed up, got fouled and hit both free throws to give the Cavs a 104-103 lead. The game continued to go back and forth. With 3:51 left after being fouled Jarrett Allen missed both free throws and OKC still had a one point advantage 105-104. With 3:49 left there was a jump ball which apparently take a rocket science degree to figure out how to throw the ball up for the jump ball. The Cavs won the jump ball Mobley was fouled and hit both free throws to give the Cavs a 106-105 lead with 3:43 remaining. After the Cavs defense stopped OKC at the other end Mobley scored in the paint on a dunk giving Cleveland a 108-105 advantage with 3:21 left. Atkinson was assessed a technical foul for calling the officials out on their blatant bias, calling very few fouls on the Thunder and everything on the Cavs. SGA shot the technical and the Cavs lead was 108-106. After the untouchable SGA tied the game 108-108 Mobley was fouled at the other end. OKC called a timeout to challenge the call. The Thunder lost a challenge which is rare and Mobley went to the line. He made one of two and gave the Cavs a 109-108 lead. With 1:51 remaining Isaiah Hartenstein scored and the Thunder led 110-109. The Cavs failed to score at the other end and the Thunder then led 112-109. With 1:01 left on the clock Merrill hit a three and tied the game 112-112. With :32.5 left SGA hit a wide open three, wide open because the opposing player cannot go near him without being called for a foul giving OKC a 115-112 lead. The Thunder held on and notched the 117-112 win. The clear and obvious difference was that OKC superstar SGA had 43 points in game and 13 in the fourth quarter and the Cavs superstar Mitchell had 17 in the game and three points in the final 12 minutes. That kind of thing cannot be ignored.
The Cavs will now head to Oklahoma City for game two of the back-to-back at 8 pm on Wednesday night at the Paycom Center. The entire NBA is off on Tuesday in observance of election day.
POSTED 11/02/2026 21:54
Lake County Sentinel
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Cleveland Cavaliers forward Mario Hezonja shoots a free throe in the Cavs 117-112 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night at Rocket Arena. Photo by Tim Shirer
