Cavaliers Spoil Thunder’s Potential Comeback

The Cavaliers outlasted the Thunder 110-102 in a back-and-forth matchup.

The 11-14 Oklahoma City Thunder traveled to Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers. With many pushbacks, the Cavaliers eventually won the game 110-102. 

The Cavaliers were without key players in Donovan Mitchell and Kevin Love. This paved the way for Darius Garland to carry the load with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, who would prove too much for the Thunder.

With that matchup in place, the Thunder were going to have to find ways to keep up offensively.

The first half, which finished 59-46 in favor of the Cavaliers, proved that the Thunder would not be able to keep up offensively. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, per usual, led the charge with 17 points. Beyond that, there wasn’t much help.

With the Cavaliers topping their first half with a run that gave them a comfortable lead, they avoided any attempts at a comeback from the Thunder. Of course, the Thunder hung around, finishing the quarter down just three points.

Josh Giddey provided some solid help in the third quarter, getting up to 13 points on the night. Aleksej Pokusevski pulled down a career-high ten first half rebounds, too.

As we’ve seen all season, the Thunder don’t give up. They had a 19-7 run to cut the Cavaliers lead to four points, as they trailed 87-84 a quarter of the way through the final frame. The run was sparked by a couple Pokusevski 3-pointers.

Isaiah Joe played a big part of the comeback, as he knocked down some timely 3-pointers. He's continuing to show his value as a floor-spacer for the Thunder. 

The Thunder tied the game at 89 points apiece with roughly seven minutes to go, but Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen would rattle off five quick points to build a lead.

The Cavaliers half court defense proved to be too much for the Thunder, though, as the game slowed down and the Cavaliers were able to protect their lead. The Cavaliers sparked a small run that closed out the game.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddey both had respectable games, but the top performer of the game was Pokusevski. He ignited the run that kept the Thunder in the game, and finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks on 6-of-14 shooting, and 3-of-3 on 3-pointers.

SGA finished with 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting, which is his lowest field goal attempts of the season. He fouled out with 1:03 remaining in the game.

As mentioned, with Donovan Mitchell out, the Cavaliers had a post-centric approach. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley both had 21 points apiece. Garland wasn’t quite a scoring factor, finishing with seven points on 3-of-9 shooting, but he added eight assists and was a playmaking threat.

Evan Mobley, who had made five 3-pointers combined this season, knocked down two of his three attempts from beyond the arc. 

The Thunder's next bit of action will come against the Dallas Mavericks on December 12th. 

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