The ESPN broadcast had its usual coach interview at the start of the fourth quarter, but the dialogue was far from typical. Instead of anodyne coach-speak, a smiling Kenny Atkinson marveled at the basketball being played before him.
“What a great basketball game,” the Cavaliers coach gushed. “I wish I could just sit back and watch it.”
As someone who did precisely that, I can say that Atkinson sure wasn’t wrong.
Cleveland/OKC had something for everyone. There were loud dunks, post moves, occasional but far from overwhelming flurries of three-pointers, high-level shotmaking, ping-pong ball movement, and great all-around defense (despite what the final score might indicate).
The major players exerted maximum effort on both sides and played more than their usual share of minutes. Coaches unveiled tactical adjustments at a lightning pace, counters to counters at a rate you usually only see in the playoffs. There was even a lot of zone defense (which, if you read Basketball Poetry, you would’ve been prepared for!). The refs were largely inobtrusive and inconsequential.
Frankly, if you didn’t like this game, there’s not much hope for you.
Something that struck me halfway through an exquisite third quarter: everyone on the court was simply doing their job. I don’t love how that sentence reads on paper; it makes it sound like a dull affair, people clocking in and clocking out before going to a chain bar with flashing neon signs instead of character for their preferred domestic light pilsner of choice.
That couldn’t be further from the truth. What is an NBA player’s job if not to entertain?
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s job is to make our jaws drop, which he often did on the way to 31 points and five stocks. Jarrett Allen dysoned up offensive rebounds with insatiable hunger but also dropped 25 anvils on the Thunder’s collective heads. Isaiah Hartenstein plopped teardrops like he’d just seen a Nicholas Sparks movie. Darius Garland pirouetted his way through the paint against the league’s best defense, and while Donovan Mitchell’s final stat line disappoints, he did have a monster offensive rebound (confirmed by the refs) that led to a bucket, extending Cleveland’s tenuous lead from three to five points, an ultimately insurmountable gulf.
It goes further. Lu Dort made Cleveland’s guards miserable all night (what kind of damage could he have done with his Bash Brother, Alex Caruso, healthy?). Max Strus was automatic from deep. And Evan Mobley and Jalen Williams played arguably their teams’ best offensive games. Mobley beasted defenders bigger and smaller for dunks, finger-rolls, and silky-soft-touch alley-oops to Allen, while Williams showcased his trademark combination of grace and power for a diverse array of buckets as colorful as a painter’s palette while logging a game high in assists (nine).
Job might not be the right word, after all. These are vocations; these are callings.
There are numerous reasons for both teams to feel optimistic. The big one, of course, is literally big: the Thunder are still missing snarling scarecrow Chet Holmgren and defensive ace Alex Caruso. It’s not as simple as saying Holmgren and Caruso’s presences would have won OKC the game — basketball injuries aren’t as additive as people think — but they definitely would have changed the tenor of the match.
On top of that, Gilgeous-Alexander and Isaiah Hartenstein both struggled with foul trouble. SGA was uncharacteristically inefficient, needing 27 shots to get his 31 points and only making it to the free throw line four times, half his season average.
Cleveland will counter that Donovan Mitchell won’t shoot this poorly again, going a dreadful 3-for-16 from the field. They have to feel good about their offense’s ability to execute against such an elite defense, as they routinely got up excellent looks.
Tactically, it was a grandmaster chess match. Cleveland was determined to attack. They routinely crossed halfcourt with 20 seconds or more on the shot clock, determined to make their moves before OKC could erect their dreaded defensive shell. They also maximized the Ty Jerome minutes with a simple tweak. After watching Jerome get roasted by SGA in isolation, they immediately switched to a zone in the fourth quarter (as they had at times previously), and Jerome responded with two quick steals, momentum-changing plays down the stretch. Cleveland even had Max Strus running some pick-and-roll!
OKC hounded and trapped Mitchell for much of the night, tilting the defense his way like a cheating pinball player. It worked well in limiting the damage he could do individually, although Cleveland generated a number of corner threes against the scrambling Thunder defense. Oklahoma City ran large parts of their offense through Hartenstein, as his position in the high post let him spray the ball to shooters or find backdoor cutters (eight assists total). They also attacked Jerome and Strus in isolation whenever the Cavs weren’t in zone, to mixed success.
This felt like Game 1 of an epic series, and the best part? We get to see them do their jobs again in a week. Neutral fans should hope we see them a third (and fourth, and fifth, and sixth…) time in the Finals.
