OKLAHOMA CITY — Avoiding Sam Merrill’s attempt to play wolf, Isaiah Hartenstein passes it out to Isaiah Joe. With a man advantage, the seven- footer cut to the basket without any stoppages. He flew off the floor and posterized Jarrett Allen to pen an exclamation point.

The Oklahoma City Thunder had one of their most impressive games of the season with a 121-113 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The short-handed squad extinguished one of the NBA’s hottest teams.

“I thought we were great in the game. Major League shot-making, which obviously makes everyone look better optically. But we had great energy,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “Threw the first punch in the game, which was important against the team that has played as well as they have lately and has as much firepower as they do.”

No Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams had most folks pencil this in as a scheduled loss. The Thunder were home underdogs for the first time in forever. Made sense, too. The Cavaliers have been red-hot since James Harden joined Donovan Mitchell.

Early on, the Thunder showed they can still show up with the league’s best despite a skeleton crew. The start of this game resembles OKC’s usual second-half runs to put games away. Those have become rarer with each additional injury. They scored the first nine points of the game to force a quick timeout.

Forcing a turnover on every other possession, the Thunder got running. Even without a true go-to scorer, they generated offense in transition. Eventually, the scoreboard conjured up some uncanny numbers. At one point, OKC had a 30-8 lead.

Opening up a 23-point lead just seven minutes into the game gives you an elephant-sized margin for error. The Thunder had a 40-25 lead after the first quarter. Considering the circumstances, this has gotta rival as OKC’s best start to a game.

Alas, the second quarter showed the Cavaliers weren’t going to trail wireto- wire. They eventually settled down on offense. The ball security was tightened. Meanwhile, the Thunder began to cough up possessions. When that didn’t happen, they had to really work for a quality look.

The Thunder crashed back down to Earth with just 24 points in the second frame. They entered halftime with a 64-55 lead. Isaiah Joe was once again on another heater with 14 points. Let’s put things into perspective, though. Before the game started, you’d easily take a ninepoint lead at the break. But considering how the opening moments played out, a little disappointing to see OKC only be up by single-digit points.

It didn’t take long for the Cavaliers to have everything back to square one. They started the second half on a 12-3 run. Mitchell’s banked layup tied things up at 67 points at not even three minutes into the third quarter. Just like that, OKC’s 23-point lead evaporated into smoke.

Let’s see how the Thunder can handle a close game with the revitalized Cavaliers. They had 25 points in the third frame. A slight 89-86 lead had most folks anxious to see how the short-handed squad would handle highstress minutes without a traditional scorer.

As the final frame played out, the Thunder created a little bit of breathing room. Cason Wallace’s 3-pointer made it a 102-95 lead with eight minutes to go. Hartenstein’s back-to-back floaters pushed OKC’s lead to 106-98 soon afterward. Finally, some elbow space.

The Thunder kept things there the rest of the way. When Merrill hit a big-time outside jumper, Wallace immediately answered. They did a great job at stiff-arming the Cavaliers on the scoreboard. Allen’s pushshot cut it to a six-point game, but Joe knocked down another 3-pointer in the next possession.

Harden’s 3-pointer had OKC’s lead down to 118113 with a minute left, but the Thunder did a great job at playing the freethrow game. That turned out to be Cleveland’s last bucket. The Thunder had 32 points in the final frame to ensure a hot start didn’t go to waste.

The Thunder shot 49% from the field and went 21-of-41 (51.2%) from 3. They shot 16-of-25 on free throws. They had 32 assists on 42 baskets. Seven Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Chet Holmgren had a monstrous 17-point and 15- rebound double-double. Joe continued his hot stretch with 22 points. Wallace did it on both ends with 20 points and 10 assists. Hartenstein had 13 points and seven rebounds. Lu Dort scored 12 points. Jared McCain and Jaylin Williams each tallied 10 points off the bench.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers shot 48% from the field and went 13-of-39 (33.3%) from 3. They shot 14-of-19 on free throws. They had 28 assists on 43 baskets. Six Cavaliers players scored double-digit points. Mitchell was held to 20 points and five assists. Harden had a quiet 20 points and nine assists. Merrill dropped 20 points off the bench. Evan Mobley had 15 points. Allen put up 11 points and 13 rebounds. Dennis Schroder tallied 11 points and seven assists.

Can’t get over-emphasized loud enough just how gargantuan this win was for the Thunder. With the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs licking their lips to usurp them in the standings, the C squad punched Cleveland just hard enough to steal a win over one of the NBA’s hottest teams since it added Harden and others.

The middle might’ve been ugly, but the Thunder had a strong start and finish to ensure they came away with the Herculean win. All five starters plus more stepped up. Gilgeous-Alexander’s absence continues to cloud over the team, but they’re buying him time with wins like these. As coach-speak as it is, this was a program win where OKC flexed its depth.

“There are some nights where you get it flowing, and there are other nights where you don’t. And tonight, obviously, we got it going, but I thought we generated good shots,” Daigneault said. “Generally, we found good ones. We turned it over. We’re a little sloppy in the first half and we cleaned it up in the second half.”

Next up for the Thunder is an away game against the Raptors tonight.

The game is set to start at 6:30 p.m. and can be viewed on FanDuel Sports Network and NBA League Pass.

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