CLEVELAND, Ohio – Scribbles in my notebook after the Cavs 129-122 victory over Oklahoma City Wednesday night.
1. Coaches, players and fans from both OKC and Cleveland were raving about the excitement and the high-quality of play in this game. Perhaps it has happened before, but I never recall an in-season NBA game where one team (OKC) entered with a 15-game winning streak to face another (Cavs) with a 10-game winning streak.
2. The morning after the game, I checked the video of the post-game press conference by OKC Coach Mark Daigneault. That often is a way to discover a different perspective on the team you follow – the view of the other team. Twice, Daigneault mentioned the “stress” the Cavs put on OKC, “especially our defense. Our issue was we couldn’t get enough stops.”
2. OKC entered the night allowing only an NBA-low 103 points per game. The Cavs had 103 after three quarters. For the game, the Cavs scored 129 points, shooting 52% from the field and 42% on 3-pointers. They delivered those 129 points with Donovan Mitchell having one of the worst games of his 3-year Cavs career, scoring only 11 points on 3 for 16 shooting.
4. OKC has a strong perimeter defense. They want to take away the 3-point shot. It has worked well for the Thunder, who entered the night with a 30-5 record. But not on this night. Not against this team. Not with the Cavs growing into an NBA power. It’s like the Cavs said, “Want to take away our outside shooting? Fine. We’ll punish you inside.”
Jarrett Allen scored 25 points on 11 shots. He also had 11 rebounds.Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com
5. Daigneault said: “The way (Darius) Garland and Mitchell play the game … well, it’s pick your poison.”
6. By that, Daigneault meant the Cavs turned to Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Their two big men were a force, taking advantage of the room inside to score because OKC was defending the Cavs outside shooters. OKC was without 7-foot-1 center Chet Holmgren (16.4 points, 8.7 rebounds). The Cavs exploited that. Mobley and Allen shot 17 of 21 on 2-pointers. Remember the debate about having Allen & Mobley together, how the two big men would bog down the offense? At one point it was true, but not now.
7. Allen scored 25 points on 9 of 11 shooting. He had 11 rebounds. He delivered six assists. Mobley had seven assists. The Cavs ran part of their offense through the two big men, who often passed to each other for open dunks. It was beautiful basketball.
8. Daigneault said: “Allen was a force on the glass. A lot of our foul trouble came from him.”
9. The OKC coach meant some of the plays run by the Cavs led to smaller OKC players defending Mobley or Allen. In the old days, it was called “Mouse in the house!” The big man would put up his hand when a shorter player defended him. Some even yelled “Mouse in the house.” That meant, “THROW ME THE BALL!”
Evan Mobley often muscled his way to the rim en route to scoring 21 points.Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com
10. Cavs Coach Kenny Atkinson had another brilliant game plan. If his big men had room to operate among the mice, feed them! Late in the game, Atkinson put the ball in the hands of Mobley, who out-muscled 7-footer Isaiah Hartenstein on a couple of drives to the rim. In the 2023 playoffs, Hartenstein was part of the Knicks front court that dominated the Cavs. Things have changed.
11. Atkinson said: “(Allen’s) skill level is better than people [realize]. The ability to pivot in the lane and the stuff he does … They blitzed us a lot tonight. So when they blitz right, your bigs got to be able to play in the pocket. So he got it in the pocket, made plays.”
12. Blitz means run multiple defenders at ballhanders. In this case, that was Garland and Mitchell. The “pocket” is the room closer to the rim for the big men. According to Automaticnba, Allen and Mobley are the first big pair of men since San Antonio’s David Robinson and Tim Duncan to have at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists in the same game. Duncan and Robinson did that in 1998!
13. The Cavs outrebounded OKC 40-38. They won the points in the paint (60-54) and second-chance points (24-20). The those are important stats. But the most impressive was how Mobley and Allen turned 24 shots into 45 points. They rarely missed. OKC loves to swarm on defense and come up behind players, stealing the ball. But Mobley and Allen had only a combined three turnovers. OKC “picked the poison” of trying to shut down the guards, and the Cavs big men killed them inside.
14. Daigneault said: “We let them loose on a lot of plays … We played on their terms … when you let the opponent set the terms like that, it’s difficult to win.”
15. OKC is used to setting the pace. But the Cavs made the Thunder crack because of their ball and player movement. Cavs fans are used to seeing their team throw the extra pass, hunt for the open man. But a big factor in this game was how Mobley and Allen consistently sprinted down the court after the Cavs gained a possession. They’d set up near the rim – another “Mouse in the house” situation. The Cavs guards would spot Mobley or Allen defended by the mouse, and the Cavs would deliver the ball to the big man at the right moment.
Just a fun night for the the Cavs and their fans.Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com
16. Mitchell (3 for 16 shooting) had a miserable shooting night. He helped in other areas with six rebounds and four assists. Garland (7 for 15) scored 18 points and had seven assists. He was solid most the game, then made a couple of spectacular plays at the end.
17. What also pushed the game in the Cavs favor was the shooting of Ty Jerome and Max Strus off the bench. They scored 32 points in 38 minutes, shooting 12 of 14. They were another factor in the “stress” that OKC felt. Strus was a sizzling 5 for 6 on 3-pointers. Jerome scored on several of his sneaky, change of direction, almost flat-footed drives.
18. The Cavs bench outscored OKC, 43-26. That’s game-changing. Isaac Okoro didn’t score a point, but the Cavs were a plus-12 with him on the court. In his 13 minutes, he usually defended OKC star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The OKC star scored 31 (his season’s average), but needed 27 shots to do it. He also had five turnovers.
19. A huge move by Atkinson was switching to a zone defense for most of the fourth quarter. OKC struggled with it, scoring only 20 points. That came after OKC thundered for 43 points in the third quarter. The Cavs also forced OKC into 13 turnovers that became 19 Cleveland points. While OKC is the NBA’s highest rated defensive team, the Cavs rank 8th. They’re good, and it showed.
20. Final words from Atkinson: “The players said, ‘We don’t win this game last year.’ That says a lot about our growth, their maturity, kind of where they are and their evolution as a team. We know we’re being judged at this level now. I think the guys feel good that they rose to the occasion and I’m sure there was doubt before the game. Can we do it? So, it was an important win for us.”