CLEVELAND — The voices inside the losing locker room weren’t whispers.
The top 15 teams’ winning streak was snapped, and the team that lost it barely wore it on their faces. There were undoubtedly periods of calm, although most of those moments came with the extroverts out of the room.
The Thunder’s locker room experienced existential terror. Playoff losses to Dallas made it even closer. Wednesday’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 129-122, was not.
Wednesday He was For the first time in a while OKC was outscored in a significant fourth quarter. It was certainly one of the only instances where a grown man had imposed his will on her Cavaliers Center Jarrett Allen did alongside Evan Mobley.
And the Oklahoma City stars admitted it all. And then they continued.
“We couldn’t win the rest of the matches of the season.” Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander He said. “We were not going to be perfect the rest of the season, and tonight was not our night.”
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The battle for first place was almost everything expected. Thirty lead changes, and Gilgeous-Alexander’s fingerprints are all over them. A furious offense collides with brutality from the defense.
This was the first time in league history that a team with a 15-game winning streak met a team with a 10-game winning streak. One band had to be reminded of how inconstant I felt.
Cleveland, who was behind the strong performances in its frontcourt and the shotmaking that made its name from underneath, made note.
Gilgeous-Alexander and his Thunder seemed relatively enamored with the idea of pushing Wednesday’s game nationally. They enjoyed the theater, the way they enjoyed and embraced the setup and shortcomings of the NBA Cup Final.
The only resemblance Gilgeous-Alexander saw was death.
“No, we’ve only lost twice in a month and a half,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 31 points on 13-for-27 shooting, his third-most in any game this season. “It’s unfortunate that these are high-profile games. But as I said, we’re human, we can’t be perfect. I’ll take losing twice in a month and a half, no matter what stage the games are in.
Coach Mark Daigneault’s postgame monologue took him on a convenient but startling circuit.
He thought about Cleveland’s backcourt, which combined to shoot just 10 of 31, though it remained a focus for OKC. He thought of the Cavaliers’ pair of problematic bigs. He thought of shooters like Max Strus, who went 5-for-6 from deep. The Thunder haven’t met many teams that have asked it to patch holes with more than two hands.
“You have to do everything good against them,” Daigneault said. “That’s the pressure they put you under. They deserve credit for that.”
Throughout 36 games, the Thunder have been the source of tension, and rarely the other way around. The reason teams are introducing Advil into Gatorade, the reason they’re rethinking defense and shuffling personnel. He’s been primed to win games that seem designed for star center Chet Holmgren, including Wednesday’s games. For once – twice in the last month for those who concede a cup final – it hasn’t happened.
He stomached it. Gilgeous-Alexander laughed at the idea that it would take some trend, some underlying patterns, for the Thunder to lose twice in 38 days.
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Allen’s Revenge, Mobley’s Assistant
Allen entered Wednesday with a foul taste in his mouth.
Isaiah Hartenstein, OKC’s shiny new starting center, has been a solid contributor for the Knicks in the not-so-distant past. He was there when New York pummeled Cleveland and stole its identity in the 2023 postseason, and he got his share of the glory at Allen’s expense.
Allen came back for everything.
He scored 25 points, 12 rebounds and six assists on 9-for-11 shooting, ending a 15-game winning streak. Any ball that went off the rim, he was welcomed with open arms. Any player under the rim, he showed his love for them as well.
Hartenstein included.
Allen was solid, hitting all of his shots and ruining Cleveland’s chances late in the game with his long arms. His arrival and greed forced OKC into foul trouble. Gilgeous-Alexander picked up four fouls just three minutes into the second half, and Hartenstein finished Wednesday with five fouls.
His frontcourt teammate, Evan Mobley, slapped his hands to tag the team. He finished the game with 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
The way the Thunder defended Cleveland forced the big duo to make decisions. Between each other’s high hitting and short-throw excellence, they decided to dictate the game.
In the fourth quarter alone, Mobley scored seven points and four boards.
Hartenstein, who added 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, suffered torn limbs. Some plays forced him to help keep Allen away from shooters, a possession he was still missing often. Some plays required him to leave Allen to play up front, and the opportunities Allen enjoyed.
Holmgren could only sit back and watch Hartenstein’s past revisited.
“We need (Holmgren) every night,” Hartenstein laughed. “He’s an All-Star. But we’re still a great team in the game. We can still win those games in those situations.”
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Thunder at Knicks
advice: 6:30 p.m. Friday at Madison Square Garden in New York (FanDuel Sports Network)
