Cavaliers decimated by Thunder 136-104
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - It was a day of celebration at Rocket Arena on Monday as Cleveland and the rest of the country celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr Day. The Cavs (24-20, 14-11 home) welcomed the defending NBA championship Oklahoma City Thunder (36-8, 16-5 road) to Rocket Arena for an afternoon affair.
After a stirring player introduction which brought many in the crowd to tears, the game was close early. That didn’t last long as the Thunder decimated the Cavs in front of the 19,432 in attendance 136-104.
With 9:56 remaining in the opening quarter Donovan Mitchell scored in the paint and was fouled by Jaylin Williams. OKC challenged the call and it was overturned and Mitchell was charged with an offensive foul and the Thunder remained in the lead 7-6. Then at the other end Evan Mobley barely touched Chet Holmgren and was called for a foul. Holmgren converted one out of two free throws, and the Thunder led 8-6 with 9:42 remaining. They increased their lead to 11-6 with 9:15 left when Williams drained a three. Then 13-6 when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored with 8:43 left on the clock in the first. With 6:32 left the Thunder lead was 19-12 and Kenny Atkinson took a timeout to talk about it. The Thunder lead grew to 23-12 with 5:51 remaining. At that point the Thunder were shooting 90% (9 of 10) from the field, they could not miss. The Cavs were shooting 50% (7 of 14) which is normally very good. With 5:10 left the Cavs cut the Thunder lead to 23-16 when Jarrett Allen was fouled and hit both free throws. With 1:05 remaining in the quarter Craig Porter, Jr cut the Thunder lead to 30-25 and then Evan Mobley trimmed it to 30-27 with :38 left with a put back dunk. When the quarter ended the Thunder lead was 32-27. The Thunder shot 52% in the opening quarter while the Cavs shot 46% (11 of 24). SGA led all scorers with 10 first quarter points. Mobley led the Cavs with eight in the opening 12 minutes. The Cavs turned the ball over five times resulting in five OKC points. The Cavs did have a slight edge on the boards outrebounding OKC 13-12.
With 8:52 left in the second the OKC lead was back at 10 points when Luguentz Dort drained a three. The Cavs could not make a huge dent in the Thunder lead and with 6:03 remaining Jaylon Tyson trimmed the OKC lead to 47-40 after he was fouled and hit one of two free throws. The OKC lead was then cut to 48-42 after Allen was fouled and hit both free throws with 5:35 left on the clock. One thing teams know when they play OKC is the SGA will get the call every single time there is no question about it. One of the problems the Cavs have had this season is finishing in the paint and this game was no exception as in the first two quarters at least three opportunities the Cavs did not score in the paint when they should have. With 2:05 left Dort extended the OKC lead to 62-47 when Dort him a turnaround jumper in the paint. As time ran out on the first half clock the route was on as the Thunder led 66-51. If it wasn’t clear heading into the game, it was clear who the better team was.
After turning the ball over nine times in the first half the Cavs wasted little time turning the ball over for a tenth time just 29 seconds into the second half and the Thunder took advantage extending their already insurmountable lead to 18 points. With 8:08 left the Thunder took a 74-54 lead and Atkinson took a timeout hoping to salvage something with 20 minutes still left in the second half. With 5:05 left in the third the Cavs cut the Thunder lead to 13 points. The Thunder took a timeout. With 4:08 left Cleveland cut the lead to 10 after Tyson scored and was fouled. With 3:41 remaining Nae’Qwan Tomlin cut the lead to eight points. After SGA drained a three the Cavs were the victims of a flop by Isaiah Joe and the officials bit. Atkinson was livid. The Cavs defense couldn’t stop the Thunder as they scored nearly every trip down the floor. What has been apparent in the NBA for a while is opposing players are not allowed to play defense on SGA Porter found out the hard way drawing two fouls within in a minute while guarding SGA. The Thunder had an 87-73 lead with 1:46 left in the third. With :38.3 remaining Porter blocked Holmgren at the hoop, and it was initially called a foul. The officials talked and it was overturned. Then at the other end Mitchell and Dort had a disagreement and both were charged with technical fouls. As the third quarter ended the Thunder led 91-79. SGA led all scorers with 26 after three and Mobley paced the Cavs with 15 points. Allen and De’Andre Hunter also had 14 apiece.
With 11:32 remaining in the final quarter Mitchell hit a three and cut the Thunder lead to 10 points, but the lack of defense struck again as the Thunder retaliated just 19 seconds later to extend the lead back to 13 points. Then with 10:25 Holmgren slammed the ball home with ZERO resistance and OKC led 99-84. Holmgren struck again with 9:40 left when he was left WIDE OPEN at the top of the three-point arc and swished it giving the Thunder a 102-84 lead. Not only has the Cavaliers defense been atrocious for most of the season turnovers are now a problem as the Cavs turned it over 21 times resulting in 23 OKC points. As the Thunder ravaged the Cavs 136-104.
SGA led all scorers with 30 points, Holmgren had 28. Mitchell led the Cavs in scoring with 19, Tyson, Hunter, and Mobley each had 16 in the embarrassing loss.
The reigning NBA champs dominated every statical category with the exception of scoring in the paint which the Cavs had the edge 48-42 mainly because Holmgren OKC’s big man scoring threat can score from anywhere on the floor and the Cavs had no answer for him as he shot 11 of 16 from the field including four 4 of 5 from behind the three point line. Also, in a rare occurrence the Cavs did outrebound the Thunder 54-38.
The Cavs will now travel to Charlotte to play the Hornets on Wednesday at 7 pm at the Spectrum Center. The Cavs have split two games with the Hornets this season..
POSTED 01/19/2026 17:34
Lake County Sentinel
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Oklahoma City superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores in the second quarter of the Thunder's 136-104 win over the Cavs at Rocket Arena Monday afternoon. Photo by Tommy Shirer
