Cleveland Cavaliers’ lack of playable depth shows in 117-101 loss to Oklahoma City Thunder – cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — After getting battered by a horde of playoff teams over the last month, Sunday night was supposed to be different.

Emphasis on supposed to be. Only it wasn’t. Just the familiar hopeless performance for the Cleveland Cavaliers, losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 117-101. It’s Cleveland’s 10th straight loss and 14th in the last 16 games.

Finally, the Cavs were playing against a comparable opponent — the rebuilding Thunder, also one of the league’s youngest teams that entered the night losers of six of their last seven. These are the games in which the Cavs should be able to compete. These are the teams the Cavs should be able to beat, providing a reasonable measuring stick.

Cleveland led 20-10 at one point early Sunday night, looking like a refreshed group. That fast start faded quickly. Shortly after the initial burst, the Cavs began mixing in their reserves, the Thunder wiped away the lead and Cleveland never recovered. At one point in the fourth quarter, Oklahoma City’s lead exploded to 20 points.

It’s one thing to get routed by the championship-contending Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers or Milwaukee Bucks — the brawny opponents during this relentless stretch. But the Thunder?

“I thought it was lost in the physicality department,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We just have to be better. We’ve got to make open shots in order to survive. We’ve got to guard better and be more physical. We have to be better.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, selected a few spots after Collin Sexton in the 2018 NBA Draft, led all scorers with 31 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 3-of-3 from 3-point range and 10-of-12 from the foul line. That performance won’t help silence the chorus of fans that believe the Cavs should’ve taken the smooth 6-foot-6 guard instead of Sexton a few years back.

Veteran stabilizer Al Horford chipped in with 16 points and eight rebounds. Oklahoma City, ranked 29th in offense this season, shot 54.4% from the field and 46.4% from beyond the arc.

Sexton scored 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting for the Cavs, who had four of five starters reach double figures. Jarrett Allen added a career-best 26 points, making all 11 of his shot attempts and grabbing 17 boards. Darius Garland had 21 points.

The Cavs’ starters weren’t the primary issue. It was their horrendous thinned-out bench. Oklahoma City’s second unit outscored Cleveland’s reserves, 42-9.

Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr., Taurean Prince and Andre Drummond — Cleveland’s four highest-paid players — were all sidelined, sitting on the bench in hoodies watching their teammates crumble without them.

Those absences have created a domino effect, forcing Bickerstaff to dig deeper. The losses of Nance, Love and Prince meant Cedi Osman starting at power forward. The Cavs didn’t get enough production from that spot Friday — and the same happened again versus the Thunder two nights later.

Osman scored six points, Lamar Stevens tallied two and Dylan Windler, forced into that position from time to time out of necessity, made one basket.

Those costly minutes — and a weakened second unit — played the biggest role in keeping the Cavs from a win they desperately needed.

“Nobody is coming to bail us out,” Bickerstaff said. “Nobody is coming to rescue us. The rest of the league does not care about our streak. They see us as an opportunity to get right right now. And we’ve got to find that grit and that determination where we actually draw the line in the sand and not only just hold the line, but push forward and cross the line. That’s the only way you get out of this.”

3-point disparity

The Cavs have made a commitment to shooting more 3-pointers. That’s a good start. But making them is another issue. They went 8-of-35 from deep. Osman was 0-for-8, Sexton just 1-of-6. The Thunder, meanwhile, was 13-of-28.

Up next

The Cavs will continue their homestand on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Hawks. Tipoff is 7 p.m.