Without Giannis and Myles Turner, the Milwaukee Bucks put up a surprisingly good fight against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but their hot shooting wasn’t enough in Tuesday’s home loss, going down 123-116. Without Giannis and Myles Turner, Kevin Porter Jr. led all Bucks scorers with a 25-point, 10-assist performance. Evan Mobley and James Harden paced Cleveland with 27 points each.
Game Recap
Surprisingly, the Bucks kept it close against the Cavs heading into the first timeout. They balanced out Evan
Mobley’s tough paint buckets with solid shooting from the three-point line and throughout the midrange. However, a couple of physical buckets from Mobley only reinforced Cleveland’s size advantage, one they would exploit throughout the game. After some physical play between James Harden and Jericho Sims, Sims exited the game with a lacerated lip—he would return with stitches after halftime. Off of Harden’s 14 and Mobley’s 10, the Cavs ended the first quarter with 37 points to the Bucks’ 24.
The Bucks chipped away at the Cavs’ lead with a 17-4 run to start the second quarter. They found a reprieve from their offensive struggles via the three-point shot, with Ryan Rollins, Ousmane Dieng, and more all making shots from deep. A Dieng three from the wing with 7:02 left in the second quarter gave the Bucks their first lead of the game. From there, the Bucks took advantage of the Cavs’ lazy defense, going bucket for bucket to keep the game close going into halftime. Cleveland’s shooting, especially from the likes of Donovan Mitchell and Strus, was poor; they didn’t make a single triple throughout the entire quarter. KPJ converted a tough fadeaway over Strus to give the Bucks a 58-56 lead at half, capping an impressive second-quarter comeback.
The Cavs desperately needed some sort of three-point shooting boost, and they got that towards the middle of the third quarter. Sam Merrill began to find his rhythm, and James Harden baited defenders into heavy contact on three-point shots. Before long, Cleveland widened its lead to seven and threatened to extend it further. However, Kevin Porter Jr. continued to be the spark plug for the Bucks; on one side of the ball, he swatted away a Mitchell lay-up attempt, and on the other, he posterized Mitchell after getting downhill. Porter used his athleticism to wrench away tough buckets inside on defence, while stretching out the Cavs with a dangerous midrange shot on offence. His scoring and playmaking were vital as the Bucks fought off a late third-quarter rally, powering the Bucks to a two-point lead after three, 87-85.
Both sides turned it on to start the final frame. Mitchell finally began to click from three-point land, while the Bucks got to the paint in droves. Cleveland found its footing by drawing fouls and getting free throws; they had 34 free throw attempts to Milwaukee’s 17 for the game! Despite Pete Nance’s solid play off the bench, a couple of key Cleveland defensive stops paired with dynamic offense helped them build a seven-point lead with five minutes to go. Strus’ shot clock-beating triple essentially iced the game for the visitors, placing them firmly in the driver’s seat and forcing Milwaukee to play the foul game.
Stat That Stood Out
The points-in-the-paint disparity was large today; the Cavs put up 56 to the Bucks’ 34. Without Giannis or Turner, Mobley dominated the Bucks on the inside while frustrating their offense on the outside. It took an all-around great shooting performance from the Bucks to keep the game close.
