OKC Thunder losing streak continues falling to the Cavs for the second time

OKC Thunder loses the second half of the back-to-back to the Cleveland Cavaliers 87-94. This is the fifth loss in a row for the Thunder who are just 1-9 in their last 10 games. The Cavaliers’ win against the Thunder helps cement their fifth seed spot ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Perhaps the toughest part of the back-to-back was getting to the game itself. The team was stuck on the plane for 5 hours due to weather, and at one point had to push the team bus due to ice on the roads. For this young Thunder team on the road, we can chalk these experiences up for character development.

OKC Thunder fall to Cleveland to continue their losing streak

The game was close enough to be entertaining, but with both offenses struggling it would have been enough to turn off many fans. Cleveland kept the Thunder at arm’s length for the majority of the game, with the lead being cut down as short as five points in the fourth. OKC found a rhythm late in the fourth behind the offensive play of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander but was too little too late with the 2-man game of Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen proving to be enough to win the game. Both players excelled to get a double-double each.

Although it may have been a low-scoring game, there were plenty of interesting takeaways for both teams.

Both teams shot poorly from the free-throw line. Cavaliers shot 18 on 35 attempts from the foul line, which quickly displays where all the missing points were in the game. The 9 of 16 attempts of the Thunder highlights the lack of foul drawing and aggressiveness by the young team also. OKC rank in the bottom five of the league for attempts per game and is an area they may look to improve on.

This game saw Darius Bazley starting over Aaron Wiggins in an attempt to provide more length inside and disrupt Allen and Evan Mobley. Bazley was active defensively but struggled to provide much offensively, scoring only four points. The pair split minutes evenly, 22 apiece, and Coach Daigneault chose to close the game with Aaron Wiggins over Bazley. A more proficient scoring threat at this stage, Aaron Wiggins scored 5 of his 11 points in the fourth quarter to help cut down the Cavaliers’ lead.

On the defensive end, the game was dark for OKC. The low Cavs scoring should be attributed more to poor shot-making and free throw shooting than perimeter play from the OKC Thunder. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had an extremely difficult matchup. Jarrett Allen collected a few posters tonight, courtesy of JRE as both he and Mobley ran the rookie ragged. He was a team-worst -28 on the +-Plus/Minus chart and the offensive end, had a team-worst offensive rating of 35 (in non-stat nerd language, he struggled a lot). Considering how well Mobley and Allen have played this season it would have been expected that JRE would struggle, and it will be a good learning experience.

The only bright point offensively for the OKC Thunder was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. In the fourth, he was the focal point of the offense, making tough play after tough play. With the game close, he chose to rely on what he is best at with a flurry of attempts at the rim, despite the intimidating presence of Allen. The Thunder won the 8 minutes he was on the floor in the fourth, and if he came on a little earlier, they may have had the chance to steal the game from Cleveland entirely. He finished the game with 29 points and 6 assists.

We must also mention the ejection of Luguentz Dort early in the fourth. After a scramble for a loose ball with Cedi Osman, Dort elbowed Kevin Love in the jaw on accident, which resulted in the pair being separated and Dort ejected. This resulted in an extended play of Kenrich Williams who guarded Garland down the stretch and did as good a job as anyone could on Garland tonight. Perhaps Dort’s addition at the end could have changed the game’s outcome also.