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Tim MacMahon, ESPN Staff Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY — The rematch between the NBA’s top two heavyweights ended with an early knockout.
The final score of the Oklahoma City Thunder‘s 134-114 home win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night only hinted at how dominant the Thunder were in avenging a loss in the Jan. 8 thriller between the teams with the NBA’s best records.
In the previous matchup, the Cavaliers pulled out a 129-122 win in a game that featured 30 lead changes and wasn’t decided until the final minute. The Thunder put this game out of reach by halftime, when Oklahoma City had a 26-point lead, the largest deficit of the season for Cleveland.
The lead swelled to 42 points in the third quarter before the benches emptied.
“They imposed their will in every sense,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said after the Cavaliers dropped to 34-6, matching the Thunder’s record. “We knew it was coming. We knew their force was coming. That’s their identity. They imposed their identity. It was an avalanche, and we never responded.”
Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander singlehandedly outscored the Cavaliers by a 15-14 margin in the first quarter en route to finishing with 40 points in only 29 minutes. He became only the second player in NBA history to score 40 in fewer than 30 minutes, according to ESPN Research, going 17-of-26 from the floor and also dishing out eight assists.
“I was just playing basketball, the game I love,” Gilgeous-Alexander said, playing down the notion that the recent loss to the Cavaliers provided extra motivation. “I work hard. Try to give the game my all and see what it gives back to me.”
Oklahoma City’s top-ranked defense gave very little to the league’s most efficient offense, only eight days after Cleveland had the highest-scoring outing of any Thunder opponent this season.
“It felt like seven pitbulls out there. Not five,” Atkinson said. “They were scratching, reaching — in a good sense. Their speed and athleticism, they kind of toppled us over. It was that simple. That’s their calling card. They’ve done it to a lot of teams. They dominated in every aspect.”
The Thunder held the Cavaliers to 49 points in the first half and forced 13 turnovers that Oklahoma City converted into 22 points, almost matching the Thunder’s league-leading average of 23.2 points per game scored off of turnovers by halftime.
“That’s our DNA,” said Thunder star forward Jalen Williams, who finished with 19 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks in 30 minutes. “We just try and play hard the whole time. When we can get our communication and just our core principles in the game — and we didn’t do a good job of that the first time we played them and were able to do that tonight — and I think that makes it hard for teams.”
Cavaliers star guard Donovan Mitchell had a poor performance while being harassed by Thunder defensive stopper Lu Dort, scoring a season-low eight points on 3-of-15 shooting. Mitchell credited the Thunder for being the “more mentally and physically tough team” and said blame for the Cavaliers’ abysmal performance should begin with him.
Dort also played a major role on the offensive end, scoring a season-high 22 points and going 6-of-9 from 3-point range.
“They just set the tone,” said Mitchell, who was held to 11 points on 3-of-16 shooting in the recent win over the Thunder. “We didn’t come ready to play. Put this one on me. As a leader, you’ve got to set the tone. That’s twice now the against this team that I haven’t been that. When your leader’s not doing it, it trickles down.”
The Cavaliers’ big tandem of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley were nonfactors in Oklahoma City despite the Thunder missing their 7-foot tandem of Isaiah Hartenstein (calf strain) and Chet Holmgren (fractured pelvis).
Allen and Mobley combined for 18 points, 10 rebounds and one assist, compared with their production of 46 points, 21 rebounds and 13 assists in the previous meeting between the contenders. The Cavaliers played significant stretches before garbage time without either of the big men on the floor in an attempt to match up with Oklahoma City’s speed.
“The obvious is they’re bigger than us, and our whole goal was to just be so good playing small that they’d try to play small and can’t have both of them out there on the court at the same time,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And I think we did a really good job of that tonight. Being grimy when the bigs brought the ball down, getting the loose balls, helping each other out, scrambling. We obviously got on a run and they had to make some changes, and then once the game goes small it’s pretty much our game, our style.”