Winners and Losers: Cavs vs Thunder – Donovan Mitchell runs into his kryptonite

The Cleveland Cavaliers ran into a buzzsaw today as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat them 136-104. Let’s see who won and lost the game.

WINNER – Lu Dort

This is the first time I’ve given ‘winner’ to an opponent this season. That’s not to say there haven’t been great performances from the other teams all season long. There have been. But Lu Dort’s defense on Donovan Mitchell has been impossible to ignore, dating back multiple seasons at this point.

Dort is built in a lab to defend Mitchell. He’s one of the only backcourt players in the NBA who have a comparable build. Dort is a stocky, quick-twitch athlete who can give Mitchell problems that no other defender in the league has been able to. He can beat Mitchell to his spot, and he’s strong enough to stop Mitchell from simply powering through him.

Mitchell finished this game shooting 5-18. Last season, Mitchell shot 3-16 and 3-15 in his two games against the Thunder. That’s 11-49 (22%) across three games.

Of course, not all of that is because of Dort. OKC’s strength is their defense. But Dort is a huge part of that, and he’s the best Mitchell-stopper in the NBA, if you ask me.

WINNER – Jarrett Allen Blocks

Highlights were few and far between today for the Cavs. But Jarrett Allen took home the two biggest plays of the day.

It started with what might be the best block of the Cavaliers’ season. Jaylen Williams was barreling towards the rim, ready to throw down a thunderous dunk, before Allen met him at the rim and sent Williams back reeling. I’m not sure if I’ve seen Allen block a shot with this much force before.

His second block was less eventful. It was a simple rotate-and-recover to stop a layup at the rim. But considering how the rest of the game went, these two blocks will be cherished.

LOSER – Lonzo Ball

I’m sorry to say, but we might have seen enough of Lonzo Ball this season. He has struggled to find his rhythym and the Cavs can’t afford to keep waiting for him to figure it out. At the very least, he needs a prolonged stretch on the bench before Kenny Atkinson can turn back to Ball for minutes.

Ball is shooting 27% from the three-point line this season. That didn’t stop him from jacking up four three-point attempts in his first five minutes on the court today. One of which was a step-back jumper from the corner early in the shot clock.

Zo threw the ball out of bounds on the very next play and didn’t return.

LOSER – Efficient Offense

The Thunder have been a historically good defense for two years in a row. If you’re going to beat them, you really have to earn it.

Cleveland’s offense didn’t earn it today.

The Cavs didn’t hit their first three-pointer of the game until late in the first quarter when Craig Proter Jr. bailed them out of a possession. They entered halftime shooting 4-18 from deep and continued to shoot 5-27 as the fourth quarter started.

Cleveland finished the game shooting just 8-35 from deep (22%).

You can’t beat this Thunder team if your offense isn’t playing sharp. The Thunder already do enough defensively to make your life difficult. Missing open shots — or worse — committing unforced turnovers is a recipe for disaster.

The Cavs had 21 turnovers. You can credit some of that to OKC’s defense. But you can also credit a handful of those turnovers to simple miscommunications or bad decision-making from Cleveland. Take throwing the ball out of bounds in the backcourt after a defensive rebound, for example. Or driving into a crowd and finding yourself stuck without a dribble. All of this is avoidable — and all of it plays directly into OKC’s hand.

You can slice this game up a million different ways. But a poor shooting night and a high-turnover rate is a death sentence against the Thunder.