SGA scored 43 and hit the dagger with 32.6 seconds left as the Thunder won in Cleveland

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a season-high 43 points and made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 32.6 seconds remaining as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 117-112 on Monday night.

It was the first home loss of the season for Cleveland, and it came against a team missing three starters.

Gilgeous-Alexander attempted 35 shots, the most in the NBA during the first two weeks of the season, and made 14. He was 11-of-12 from the free throw line in 38 minutes.

The game was tied at 112-112 in the final minute when he gained just enough separation from Sam Merrill to pull up from the left wing.

The Cavaliers did not score again. Ajay Mitchell made two free throws with 15.4 seconds left to make it a two-possession game.

The fourth quarter had eight ties and eight lead changes before Gilgeous-Alexander's fourth 3-pointer of the night.

Cleveland had a chance to answer, but Merrill missed a perimeter shot from the corner, and Oklahoma City closed it at the line.

The shot volume was not elegance. Gilgeous-Alexander shot 40% from the field, and the Thunder needed every one of the 35 attempts because the rest of the rotation could not create consistently.

It was also familiar: he matched his highest-scoring total in 17 career games against Cleveland.

Oklahoma City has been adjusting since losing three starters to long-term injuries. Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Cason Wallace are all sidelined.

The Thunder also played Monday without Alex Caruso, who is nursing a sprained right ankle.

That left Mark Daigneault with a makeshift starting lineup and a short bench, which is why the offense ran through one player for most of the night.

Mitchell scored 20 points, and Isaiah Hartenstein pulled down 14 rebounds, the kind of supporting line a shorthanded team needs.

Cleveland's side of the box score is more balanced and less effective. Rookie Meleek Thomas, making his first NBA start, and Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 17 points apiece.

Donovan Mitchell also had 11 assists, and Evan Mobley added 16 points.

The Cavaliers had won at home to start the season and had the game tied in the final minute, but they could not get a stop when it mattered.

Daigneault described what he saw simply: his star put pressure on the defense all night and had the look, so the Thunder rode him.

Cleveland's next game is later this week, and the Cavaliers will have to decide how much of this loss was about a shorthanded opponent and how much was about their own late-game execution.

Oklahoma City entered the season on the short list of title favorites, then lost three starters and dropped two road games by 20 or more points.

Monday was the correction: a win on the road against an Eastern Conference hopeful, with the roster still incomplete.

The Thunder are 5-2, and the schedule does not get easier. A back-to-back follows, and the rotation will stay thin until the injured starters return.

For Cleveland, the loss is the first at home and a reminder that a balanced offense still needs a closer in the last minute.

The Cavaliers play again later in the week, and their next test is whether the late-game possessions look different.

The larger point is about what a superstar night looks like in a modern offense. Gilgeous-Alexander took 35 shots and handed out few assists, and it was the correct approach because the alternative was worse.

That is not a sustainable identity for eighty-two games, and Daigneault said as much.

It is, however, what a team does when it is missing three starters and needs one win to stop a slide.

The Thunder got that win, and they got it because their best player decided the game would be decided by him.

Oklahoma City's shot profile is worth a second look. Gilgeous-Alexander took 35 shots and the Thunder still finished with a normal assist count, because most of those attempts came inside the flow of the offense rather than out of isolation.

That matters for the next month. When three starters return, the same possessions will be available, and the team will not need to ask one player for 35 attempts every night.

Until then, the Thunder are going to keep leaning on him. The schedule has a back-to-back this week and a road trip after it.

Cleveland's issue is different. The Cavaliers have the depth to survive a night like this, but they do not have a player who can create a clean look in the final minute against a set defense.

That is why the last possession mattered more than the first three quarters.

The Thunder's next game is Tuesday, and the rotation will look the same until the injured starters return.

Cleveland's schedule gives it a chance to respond quickly, which is the only good part of a loss like this.

Oklahoma City has now won two of three without its starting frontcourt, which is more than the roster suggested it could.