The Cleveland Cavaliers will immediately get another shot at slowing down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander when they visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
“We’re going to need to be more diversified than we were (Monday), probably when we play Cleveland again next game,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after OKC’s 117-112 win in Cleveland on Monday. “I would imagine they’re going to go try to take it out of his hands more.”
In Monday’s victory, Gilgeous-Alexander scored a season-high 43 points on 14-of-35 shooting, including 13 points in the fourth, to lift Oklahoma City to its second win since starters Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace and Chet Holmgren were injured. Each is expected to be sidelined for an extended period.
“We tried to throw the kitchen sink at them,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Tried everything — blitz, reds, switches, played a couple possessions of zone, tried to switch it up. But we never really found the solution.”
With Gilgeous-Alexander shouldering much of Oklahoma City’s offensive load, Daigneault emphasized the need for contributions across the injury-depleted lineup.
Among those is veteran Kenrich Williams, who has been elevated into the starting lineup since the Thunder trio went down.
Williams has started four games this season. The last time he started more than 10 games for the Thunder was 2020-21, and he has never started more than 13 in his previous six seasons with Oklahoma City.
“He’s been able to put on so many different masks for us,” Daigneault said. “He played the five a couple years ago quite a bit as a small-ball player and in the years in between that and now, he played a limited role but was a staple in our locker room and a huge part of the cohesion of our team. To start this season, he’s risen … and he’s really taken on the challenge. When you have guys step into the competition like that, they’re going to get scored on sometimes but it sets such a tone for the rest of the team.”
In Monday’s game, the Thunder attempted eight more shots than Cleveland.
Early in the season, the Cavs are averaging 4.5 fewer shots than their opponents.
“You’ve got to get more shots than the other team,” Atkinson said. “That’s a big part of the NBA now. Rebounding is a big part of it. You give a good team like that second chance after second chance, it kind of demoralizes your defense, right? That’s why everybody’s doing it, everybody’s crashing.”
One of the bright spots in Monday’s game for Cleveland was rookie forward Meleek Thomas, who made his first career start and scored 17 with five rebounds and no turnovers.
Just as encouraging for Cleveland was Atkinson’s willingness to keep Thomas on the floor during the closing minutes of a tight game.
“Guy’s going to be a heck of a player,” Atkinson said.
–Field Level Media
