OKLAHOMA CITY – An exasperated Kenny Atkinson was already all over referee Zach Zarba, and the game wasn’t even halfway into the first quarter.
“We’re not gonna play like this, Zach,” the Cleveland Cavaliers coach barked at Zarba over the deafening roar of an Oklahoma City Thunder crowd that had reached an early fever pitch with its team off to a 13-2 lead.
Atkinson’s complaint was a common one in NBA circles, logged from corners far away from OKC. The Thunder, opponents say, foul on every play. Cleveland committed 10 turnovers in about seven minutes in Sunday’s 121-113 loss on ABC, one that snapped the Cavs’ seven-game winning streak. In that first quarter, they appeared unprepared for the relentless physicality that has become a trademark of Oklahoma City.
“I mean, they foul,” said Cavs All-Star Donovan Mitchell, who was hounded for most of the game by stout, physical, handsy defender Luguentz Dort. Mitchell scored 20 points but shot 9 of 19 and missed all six 3-point tries.
To be fair to Mitchell, and to all the Cavs quoted here, they were responding to questions about Oklahoma City’s physicality instead of bringing it up themselves.
“There’s no secret to that — they foul,” Mitchell continued. “But at the end of the day, it’s been a season and a half, two seasons. What are ya gonna do? Keep saying the same things, and they’re not calling. They’re fouls, but (officials) are not calling it, so it’s not a foul.”
“They’re the most physical team in the league,” added Cavs reserve guard Sam Merrill, who scored 20 off the bench and connected on six 3s. “They put a ton of pressure on the officials, but it’s not just that. They do have a high amount of elite, on-ball defenders.
“You combine the way they guard with the way they play, it puts a ton of pressure on us and on the officials.”
Added James Harden, he of 20 points, nine assists and five turnovers: “They’re a really good team. That’s what they hang their hats on, in the passing lanes (and getting) deflections. That’s how they get up in the league.”
Donovan Mitchell (45) of the Cleveland Cavaliers is surrounded by Oklahoma City Thunder defenders on a drive to the basket. (William Purnell / Getty Images)
This isn’t a story about officiating.
It’s about why Oklahoma City — and an increasing number of teams around the league — can lose stars and still win, because their advantage isn’t built on any one player. It’s built on structure.
In the NBA’s first marquee Sunday slot after the All-Star break, with the league now in its stretch run to the playoffs, most of the star power between Cleveland and Oklahoma City was on the Cavs’ side.
Mitchell and Harden have 18 All-Star appearances between them. Cavs center Jarrett Allen is a former All-Star who has been playing like Shaquille O’Neal the last few weeks. Evan Mobley was an All-Star last season and is the reigning defensive player of the year.
Meanwhile, the only Thunder player in uniform who has appeared in an All-Star game was Chet Holmgren, with his lone appearance coming last weekend. Granted, he played like it Sunday with 17 points and 15 rebounds, but there’s something bigger going on here.
The Thunder had four, count ’em, FOUR of their top guards out, including the reigning MVP and NBA Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Yet Oklahoma City made 21 3s and turned Cleveland’s 17 turnovers into 31 points.
Maybe you look at the box score and see 22 points and six 3s for Isaiah Joe, who made just his fourth start this season, and 20 points and 10 assists from Cason Wallace, while SGA, all-NBA selection Jalen Williams, Alex Caruso and Ajay Mitchell were all out for the Thunder, and think it was a bad loss for Cleveland.
I look at the same data and think, if the NBA is not going to reduce the number of games, if calf injuries are going to rise, and load management is here to stay, then the league should rethink how it markets itself. Rather than focusing on its stars, use the advertising from the $77 billion media rights deal to convince the general public that the understudies are pretty good, too. That, and, the better teams, as in the ones with systems in place to withstand injuries, are worth watching even when a household star is out. The Boston Celtics, in second place in the East without Jayson Tatum this year and Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis traded away, are another shining example.
“I think we do discredit ‘team,’” Mitchell responded when the question was posed to him. “This wasn’t a situation where we were like, ‘all right, we’re going to come in here (and dominate, because of OKC’s injuries).’ They’re a championship-level team. But I do think you see that, no SGA, no J-Dub, as fans, not as us (the Cavs), and you do think, ‘oh, it should just be a (cakewalk).’ You know what I mean? These guys can go. They can play. We’ve seen that. This league is very talented.”
Mitchell then mentioned a game Cleveland should have lost, based on who was missing, but won anyway. It was Nov. 12 against the Heat, and the Cavs were without Mitchell, Mobley, Darius Garland (who has since been traded for Harden) and Jaylon Tyson, but beat Miami 130-116. In fact, the Cavs were fined for sitting Mitchell, Mobley and Garland out of the same game, even though they won.
Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren (7) rebounds during the first half against the Cleveland Cavaliers. (William Purnell / Getty Images)
The Utah Jazz were fined $500,000 for egregious tanking earlier this month in a game they … (checks notes) … won. The egregiousness was removing starters for the entire fourth quarter, but their understudies were enough to get past the Heat (perhaps Miami is the problem).
Tanking, of course, is a terrible look for the league and questions the integrity of the games. But the practice of holding out stars, or limiting their playing time, to lose for a shot at a better draft pick sometimes gets interrupted by an overlooked truth that the players you haven’t heard of, or don’t know as much about, can be pretty good, too.
“This happens across the league,” Mitchell said, about teams winning with star players out. “I think it’s happening more so now nowadays than a few years ago.”
The Thunder are a process-driven and system-based team. Yes, SGA drives their offense, but, as the Cavs mentioned, they are more reliant on a defensive system and commitment to it than on anything they do offensively. But their “process” of trying to improve after winning the finals last year has been disrupted, substantially, by injuries.
The Thunder are 44-14 and in first in the West, but their starting lineup from the finals has played in just two games together. Williams has appeared in just 26 games due to offseason wrist surgery and two hamstring injuries. Gilgeous-Alexander has missed the last seven games with an abdominal strain.
“The injuries are a challenge, but there’s a vast number of challenges that you face in the 82-game season,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “It’s just not an easy season for anybody. Every team goes through different challenges and adversities, and it’s less about avoiding those and more about figuring out how to leverage the circumstances to your benefit and still make investments and still improve and find ways to thrive despite difficult circumstances. If you’re inconvenienced by difficult circumstances, then you’re going to be very disappointed every year with an 82-game season.”
This was Cleveland’s first loss since acquiring Harden at the trade deadline. Harden and Mitchell had been unstoppable together, and Allen was already wreaking havoc before Harden’s arrival. The effect Harden typically has on centers who are his teammates — they find more room to cut to the rim, and Harden delivers them the ball — has rubbed off on Allen. The Cavs also acquired versatile, impact-making backups Dennis Schröder and Keon Ellis.
They’re now among the deepest teams in the NBA, and were compared before Sunday’s game to the 2024 Dallas Mavericks, who acquired P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford at the trade deadline and reached the finals.
“If we can get that similar jump (from Harden, Schröder and Ellis), and obviously Dallas end up going to the conference finals, right?” Atkinson said, misremembering how good that Mavericks team actually was.
When the questioner corrected him and said “finals,” Atkinson said, “holy (moley), all right, I’m all in on your theory.”
After the game Sunday, someone who, let’s say, watches the NBA for a living texted me: “If that OKC lineup can beat fully healthy Cleveland, Cavs have no chance.”
I fundamentally disagree, but the text proved my point.
The league has a marketing problem.