CLEVELAND - The Cavaliers had enough offense to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night. They just didn’t handle the small stuff, and that was enough to sink them in a 117-112 home loss.
The box score gives away the problem pretty quickly. Cleveland went 14-of-24 at the free-throw line, a margin that coach Kenny Atkinson didn’t try to dress up. “That’s a reason you lose,” he said.
It wasn’t only the misses at the stripe, either. The Cavs also gave up 15 offensive rebounds, and that extra work for Oklahoma City kept possessions alive over and over again.
Atkinson put it plainly: “Giving them second chance after second chance, it kind of demoralizes your defense. That’s why everybody’s doing it.
Everyone’s crashing (the glass).”
That was the story of the night. The Thunder were missing Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace and top reserve Alex Caruso, but they still found ways to grind Cleveland down. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the center of it all, pouring in 43 points and repeatedly creating just enough space to get his shot off.
The Cavs had their own scoring spread. Donovan Mitchell and rookie Meleek Thomas each finished with 17 points, Evan Mobley added 16, James Harden and Jarrett Allen scored 14 apiece, and Mario Hezonja chipped in 12 off the bench. Thomas started in place of the injured Peyton Watson and tied for the team lead in scoring.
Still, the balance never turned into a win. Cleveland’s offense had enough pieces working, but the little failures kept stacking up. Mitchell and Harden combined to go 2-of-7 from the line, another ugly detail in a game decided by five points.
For Atkinson, the rebounding issue stood out because it looked familiar. The Cavs were supposed to clean that up after last season, and missed free throws were already a talking point then, too. Yet here they were again, running into the same problems.
The Thunder’s style made the punishment even sharper. They kept crashing, kept finding shooters, and kept making Cleveland pay. Oklahoma City’s depth was missing several regulars, but the structure around Gilgeous-Alexander still gave the Cavs trouble.
Cleveland is now 4-3, and the schedule doesn’t give it much breathing room. The rematch comes Wednesday night in Oklahoma City, then the Cavs return home to face LeBron James and the 76ers on Friday before welcoming the defending champion Knicks on Saturday.
Atkinson’s message after the loss was simple. “I like our team.
… (But) the NBA’s tough. Every game this year is gonna be a battle.
I think we should expect more of this.”
That’s the uncomfortable part for Cleveland. The talent is there.
The depth is there. The problem, at least right now, is that the Cavs keep leaving games to the details, and the details keep beating them.
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