CLEVELAND — After the Cavaliers earned their 11th straight victory Wednesday night with a thrilling 129-122 triumph over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the most anticipated game of the regular season, Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson walked into the locker room and received a message from his players.
“The players said, ‘We don’t win this game last year,'” Atkinson said.
On a night franchise cornerstone Donovan Mitchell shot 3-for-16, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen — who combined for 46 points and 22 rebounds — were ferocious inside, repeatedly fighting off multiple Thunder defenders to secure offensive rebounds, or flying over them to throw down easy dunks. And Darius Garland, who spent last season dealing with a fractured jaw and its lingering effects, had 18 points and 7 assists — including the game-sealing bucket in the closing seconds.
As a result, Cleveland ended Oklahoma City’s 15-game win streak and improved to 32-4 — on pace to match the Golden State Warriors‘ record of 73 regular-season wins in 2015-16.
“It just speaks to our growth,” Mitchell said. “I told everybody after the game, as a unit, we don’t win this game last year. … Everybody that came in did something positive to affect the game, whether it was scoring, rebounding, defending, whatever it may be. That’s a team win, and that’s what it’s going to take for us to be the team we want to be.
“And honestly, man, that’s a big win. I think we’re all excited about it and obviously this is one game and no championships are won tonight, but it’s something to be proud of.”
It is only the first full week of January, but the hype and buildup to this game — featuring two teams that already had eclipsed 30 wins and were on pace for 70 — gave it the feel of being played in the spring instead. The fact that both teams hadn’t played since Sunday, giving them two full days to prepare, helped add to what both coaches called an “elevated” atmosphere, one looked at as an opportunity for their young teams to learn and grow ahead of what they hope will be deep postseason runs.
“It’s so awesome,” Atkinson said of the energy surrounding the game during his pregame news conference. “It’s like you’re in the NCAA tournament. It’s like, ‘Man, we got here.’ There’s that type of buzz.”
And for all of the buildup leading into the game, the product more than lived up to it. It was a thrilling back-and-forth with 30 lead changes, eight ties, tons of end-to-end action and lots of ball movement and excitement throughout. And while there were many contributors to Cleveland’s win — from Max Strus and Ty Jerome going a combined 12-for-14 for 32 points off the bench, to the rebounding and Garland’s play — the thing that stood out most was Mobley’s continued ascendance.
The fourth-year big man, who finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, a steal and a block in 35 minutes on 8-for-13 shooting, gave the Thunder fits at both ends. He repeatedly caused problems for Oklahoma City when it attacked the basket, and in a sign of just how much he has grown since even last season, on the game’s biggest possession — with Cleveland up by 3 with just over a minute remaining — Mobley isolated at the top of the key, drove right into the chest of Isaiah Hartenstein and finished over him to put the game out of reach.
“They finally learned who Evan Mobley is, and they still have a lot more to learn,” Allen said of the national audience watching the game. “He was doing everything for us. On the defensive end, he was getting stops. On the offensive end, we literally just drew up a play and gave him the ball and said go to work, and he got us a big bucket at the end. So they’re learning about him.”
For the Thunder, it was an opportunity to learn. MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points but took 27 shots to get them, while Jalen Williams had 25 points and 9 assists in a big bounce-back performance from a rough game Sunday against the Boston Celtics.
“It’s very clear that we belong here. I don’t think we are waiting for the national media to be like, ‘Oh, they belong.’ I think for us we knew, but you got to go out there and prove it. We went 31-4, people still don’t believe. We win tonight, people still don’t believe. We got to continue to just to be us.” Donovan Mitchell
And while the Thunder struggled to contain Mobley and Allen on the boards, the presence of 7-foot-1 Chet Holmgren — plus defensive ace Alex Caruso — on the sidelines in street clothes was a reminder of how much different a potential matchup between these teams could look in a few months with both fully operational.
It also was the second high-profile game the Thunder have dropped in recent weeks, having lost the NBA Cup final — although it didn’t count in the standings — to the Milwaukee Bucks. When asked if there was anything to take away from those two games, or if anything tied them together, Gilgeous-Alexander shrugged.
“No,” he said. “We just lost twice in a month and a half. It sucks that they’re the high-profile games, but like I said, we’re human out there. Can’t be perfect. And losing twice in a month and a half I’ll take no matter what stage the games they’re on.”
For the Cavaliers, though, it was a high-profile game that further reinforced their belief that they are every bit the title contender their record says they are.
“It’s very clear that we belong here,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think we are waiting for the national media to be like, ‘Oh, they belong.’ I think for us we knew, but you got to go out there and prove it.
“We went 31-4, people still don’t believe. We win tonight, people still don’t believe. We got to continue to just to be us.”
