Pressuring Donovan Mitchell, the multi-time All-Star failed to cross halfcourt as he lost control of the ball for a game-sealing turnover.
Holding onto a three-point lead, the Oklahoma City Thunder escaped Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse with a stunning 108-105 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was only the second game of the season, but it felt much more.
“It just comes down to trusting each other and what we can do out there,” Chet Holmgren said following the win. “We did a great job of that down the stretch of the game. We just got to continue that throughout the season.”
The win borders robbery as the Thunder finished the game on a 15-3 run after it looked like Evan Mobley slammed in the game-clinching dunk. The dunk awarded the Cavaliers a 102-93 lead with 1:56 left.
Instead of the Thunder settling for defeat after a tough second half saw them struggle to buy a bucket, OKC hunkered down and came away with the improbable win.
“I’m not surprised, there (were) definitely glimpses of this in previous times,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said about OKC’s 2-0 start. “There’s a contagiousness to this. They got a collective confidence that’s pretty impressive for any team.”
A trailing Holmgren — who collected a franchise-rookie record seven blocks — hit the top-of-the-key 3 to tie the game at 102 apiece with 1:03 left. On the next OKC possession, Lu Dort — who finishes with 25 points — grabbed the ball and hit on a running floater to recapture the lead.
On the immediate possession, Dort showed off his value as one of the best perimeter defenders in the league when he forced the hot-scoring Mitchell to take a highly-contested jumper that missed.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — who almost had his first game without free-throw attempts in nearly two years — sunk a pair of late free throws to seal the win and a stunning final two minutes.
After a strong first half where the Thunder built a 10-point lead, the Cavaliers exited the break with much better play and eventually built a lead as large as 10 points. A 63-point second half was led by Mitchell, who scored a game-high 43 points on 15-of-27 shooting.
For most of the second half, the Cavaliers did an excellent job at forcing the Thunder to play a low-scoring brand of basketball. Prior to the late 15-3 run, the Thunder shot 43% from the field for the second half and were forced to settle for contested jump shots in a stagnated offense. The offensive issues also extended to ball security, as OKC committed 18 turnovers.
The feeling around this game until the last two minutes felt like an inevitable OKC loss. The Cavaliers are a strong playoff contender and — even without Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen — posed a tough challenge.
If the Thunder would’ve lost this game, it wouldn’t have revealed any serious problems. It could’ve easily been shrugged off as a competitive loss to a playoff team.
Instead, the Thunder’s late run resulted in one of the more impressive OKC wins in recent history and continues to supply fuel for the evergrowing hype surrounding this team.
“Our compete level lifted us tonight,” Daigneault said. “I thought we were really, really competitive. Tough defensively — especially in the first half. And the great situational grit to hang in there. That was our best identity stretch of the game.”
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.