Diving deeper into Cavs 124-116 loss to Thunder: Cavaliers are too reliant on James Harden

A sloppy start cost the Cleveland Cavaliers in their 124-116 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. They’ve now dropped five straight games to OKC.

Three stars of the game

First star: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

42 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds

Advertisement

It was another day in the office for the reigning back-to-back MVP. SGA got to his spots on the floor, no matter how many defenders they threw his way. This allowed him to score over 40 points for the second time this week against the Cavs.

There was simply nothing Cleveland could do to slow down Gilgeous-Alexander, or really, even make it challenging.

Second star: Ajay Mitchell

23 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists

Ajay Mitchell provided timely baskets whenever it seemed like the Cavs were getting any kind of momentum. He served as the offensive engine when SGA was off the court, and as the counterpunch when he was.

Advertisement

Third star: Donovan Mitchell

27 points on 10-of-17 shooting, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal

Mitchell’s stat line is a little deceiving. He was an incredibly efficient scorer, but he didn’t make a constant impact throughout all four quarters.

The Cavs needed something to wake them up in the first half, but Mitchell couldn’t do it. He was a non-factor, as he had just six points in a half the Cavs only had 44.

Something flipped in the second half, particularly down the stretch. Mitchell put up 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting with four assists in the final frame alone. Unfortunately for Cleveland, that all came after the game was effectively decided.

Advertisement

Support us and rep the Browns with Homage!

Anything bought from the links helps support Fear the Sword. You can buy the Browns throwback shirt HERE. You can also shop all of Homage’s Cleveland gear HERE.

Dud of the game

Meleek Thomas

9 points, 0 assists, 1 rebound, 2 turnovers, 6 fouls

Thomas looked like a rookie for one of the first times this season. He struggled to make an impact on the scoreboard and was picked on defensively — particularly by the reigning MVP when he got an opportunity to do so. This led to Thomas fouling out in just 18 minutes.

Cavaliers who deserve shoutouts

Mario Hezonja

12 points on…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/diving-deeper-cavs-124-116-050721653.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-11-05 05:07:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.