Well, the Milwaukee Bucks lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers 136-11 in their second straight blowout. With Tyler Herro having his first bad game of the year, the Bucks’ shining lights were rookies Brayden Burries and Nate Ament, who each notched a career-high 14 points. Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen led the way for Cleveland, combining for 52 points.
NBA.com Box Score
Game Recap
Let’s just say the first quarter wasn’t exactly pretty, with both teams shooting 20/49 from the field. Jaime Jaquez Jr. got the Bucks started
with two of their first three field goals, but the Cavs’ big-man duo of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen punished Milwaukee inside to tie it at 10 after five minutes. Many bricks followed for both teams, but Kasparas Jakucionis came in and gave the home side some pace and pizzazz, nailing a driving layup and a three after his defender shot under the screen to give the Bucks a six-point edge. At that point, Kel’el Ware checked in, and the game shifted, with Ware struggling mightily to deal with the tall trees down low on both ends, missing two point-blank shots and getting put in the mixer on the block. Luckily, the Cavs gave the Bucks an easy target when they subbed in rookie Maleek Thomas; Tyler Herro scored six quick points on him, including a three at the buzzer to put the Bucks up 25-24 after one.
Although Milwaukee had some encouraging moments to start the second—including a great hustle play from Nate Ament to recover the long rebound and find Brayden Burries for three—the Cavs began to flex their muscle. Thomas may have defensive issues, but the kid can score, and he proved it with two quick threes in the opening few minutes. Donovan Mitchell also got going, dropping a transition bomb to force the Bucks to call a timeout, down 39-31 three minutes in. Milwaukee responded out of the timeout with buckets from Turner and Ament but couldn’t find a way to stop Cleveland as Mobley asserted his dominance with 10 straight points to extend the lead. Ware broke the seal from three after going 0/7 in the last two games, but other than that, the Bucks just could not get anything to go down (depsite generating decent looks), as the Cavs went on a 21-3 (!) blitz to close the quarter, leading 72-46 at the half.
Tyler Herro became the first Buck to reach double figures with a three of the chase action with Myles Turner, but the Cavs’ stout defence was yielding them easy shots on the other end as they took an 81-54 lead three minutes in. At least Kyle Kuzma gave the home fans something to cheer for, scoring a quick 10 points to keep pace with the rampaging Cavs, and a Myles Turner three to cap a 7-0 run forced the Cleveland timeout as their lead shrank to 21, 89-68. Unfortunately, two quick Cavs triples out of the timeout spoiled any momentum the Bucks had built as they reached a century with over two minutes to play. Cavs led 109-76 entering the final frame.
You wouldn’t have known the Bucks were down big from the way Jakucionis was flying around on defence; the second-year guard pursued loose balls and long rebounds with vigour, which helped Milwaukee open the fourth on a 9-3 run to force a Kenny Atkinson timeout. Another major positive was Nate Ament, who scored 11 points in the opening six minutes of the fourth, including a spine-tingling cram in transition that had Fiserv jumping. Of course, it wouldn’t be a blowout without the $64m man proving his worth, as Gary Trent Jr. nailed his second three of the year to cut the deficit to 24. Then came the highlight of the night: Brayden Burries caught it in transition with one man ahead and detonated all over Tristan Enaruna for the facial—a nice finish on an otherwise rough night for Milwaukee.
Stat That Stood Out
The Bucks actually played OK for three of the four quarters, but their second quarter—which they lost by a staggering 27 points (48-21)—was decisive.
Obscene Overreaction
Brayden Burries and Nate Ament should make the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team solely for those dunks!
