Recap: Bucks 110, Cavs 101 (or, Answer Me These Questions Two)

This game answered two important questions many basketball fans have been wondering for ages:

1. What happens if a championship contender starts their entire second unit against the starters from a bottom half playoff team in the East?
2. What happens if the contender’s third/fourth unit (also known as the “D-League select”) plays against the above mentioned playoff team’s starters?

The two answers are simple. The regular backups will hold their own, while the D-leaguers will get crushed. If it wasn’t for the NBA preseason, I would have never gotten those two pressing questions answered. Thank you, Jason Kidd and Adam Silver.

The first half, the Cavs started James Jones, Matthew Dellavedova, Mo Williams, Sasha Kaun, and Richard Jefferson against the Bucks’ starters (minus the Greek Freak and Jabari Parker). The Wine & Gold’s second line sprinted the ball up the court, and got into their offense instantly. Whoever had the ball would jet around a screen, attract an extra defender, and find another guy cutting off a secondary screen for an open shot or a pass to an open shot. 11 of the Wine & Gold’s 13 made shots in the first half were assisted. And when they weren’t scoring assisted buckets, the Cavs were getting to the line: 24 times against the foul happy Bucks. Defensively, the Cavs played it honest. Each quasi-starter fought to recover on picks, and Sasha Kaun made little Bucks feel queasy about taking shots at the rim. The Bucks went just 1-7 from beyond the arc, and settled for a ton of long twos instead of trying to penetrate. The Cavs went into halftime ahead by six points, despite missing three gimme layups in the second quarter.

During the second half, the Cavs managed to get into the bonus after just two minutes of the third quarter in the midst of a 9-0 run. Milwaukee could not stop fouling. The Bucks then came alive. OJ Mayo started penetrating and dished the ball out five times, adding 12 points before the game ended. Greg Monroe also picked up his scoring efforts to drop 13 points (for a total of 19). The floor opened up a little for the Bucks, and they dropped 35 to the Cavs’ 23 points in the fourth quarter. The Cavs second stringers were rotated out of the game, and men we may never see in a Cavs uniform again after this October got the bulk of the minutes. Offensively, the Cavs looked stagnant as Quinn Cook and Jared Cunningham failed to get into the paint, or failed to hit shots once there. The Cavs managed to convert just three shots at the rim, and coughed up the ball 11 times. With about seven minutes left to play, the Bucks tossed Monroe and MCW in to finish the game and to ensure a win.

The Gripes and Hypes for this game are going to be for both teams. This is preseason ball and the only people watching are the true hoop junkies. I appreciate all action right now because I’m clearly basketball deprived. That is the only explanation for a 1600 word piece on a pre-season game.

Gripes

-Joey Harris shot 4-8 from the filed, including two nifty fourth quarter layups, but he needs to slow his shot down. When Harris gets the ball and has time, you can just tell his shot is going to drop from deep. When he rushes his stroke, or tries to get it off with a defender closing on him, he risks shattering the backboard. Harris also had his shot chased down by John Henson when Delly found him on a fast break in the first quarter. It was an NBA Street level block. Henson had his hand fully on top of the ball, and could have two hand ripped it if the situation had worked out just a little bit differently.

-In the second quarter, the Cavs missed no less than three gimme layups. Kaun missed one on the second possession of the quarter, and Delly missed a fastbreak layup a possession later.

– For all the length the Bucks have, they sure seemed hesitant to use it in the first half. The Bucks’ defense is great in pick-and-roll coverage, and when they really body up on guys. If they aren’t doing those things though, they struggle to defend ball handlers going East-to-West and West-to-East in the paint. Whenever a Cavalier dribbled through the paint like that, an extra Buck would follow him out of it leaving another Cav wide open.

-All that length can be a detriment too, if you don’t move your feet. The Cavs went to the line 44 times in this contest because the Bucks just kept reaching, especially on shots and drives. Cleveland actually should have gone to the line more, but the officials wanted to go home, and stopped calling so much (more on this later).

-MCW shot 1-11 from the field. He’s slated to be Milwaukee’s starting point guard and is headed into his third season. He really needs to figure out the whole shooting a basketball thing soon. He only wound up with three assists and turned it over twice.

-Jared Cunningham went 1-12 from the field and was -21 in plus/minus. He can sure get into the paint, but much like former Cavalier Dion Waiters, he can’t finish. He doesn’t get calls. At least he plays defense all the time though.

-James Jones just couldn’t hit his open threes. At one point, he shot one in the third quarter that bounced straight back to him. He shot it again from the same exact spot and missed. He was 2-8 from deep tonight.

-If the Bucks can’t penetrate and draw defensive attention to free up guys stationed in the paint, the paint becomes way too crowded to operate in. Then the long twos have to be launched. Byron Scott probably watched the first quarter and felt vindicated. “Other teams like long twos too.”

Bucks first quarter shot chart.

-Sasha Kaun gave up several offensive rebounds to Greg Monroe and John Henson because he forgot to box out.

-What is Mo Williams? At times Mo looked to run the offense. He would penetrate and dish. Other times, he would launch a contested three, and then let his man blow by him on defense. David Blatt must carve a specific role for Mo, so he knows what is expected of him each night. Mo Gotti put up 16 points to go with six rebounds and four assists.

-In the third quarter, the Cavs were in the bonus with ten minutes left. They ended up taking 15 free throws, making 12 of them. The Bucks took 12 and made eight of them. The quarter took forever. If I ever want to officially end any interest my girlfriend has taken in basketball, I will sit her down and make her watch all 45 plus minutes of this quarter.

-If you combine Nick Minnerath, Austin Daye, and Chris Johnson, you get Dayerath Johnson. This player will get you four points in 31 total minutes.

-Quinn Cook showed he could get into the paint when the Cavs were down ten (He made one of the three made Cavs shots at the rim in the 2nd half). He also showed he could assist too getting four in 14 minutes of playing time. He should have been taking more threes to try and bring the game back when he was on the floor in the fourth quarter, but he’s young and will eventually learn better game awareness.

Hypes

-The Cavs’ second unit hung with the Bucks’ starters. Enough said.

-Look at this shot selection by Cleveland:

Cavalier shot chart for entire game

That’s some money ball right there.

-Dellavedova had a great outing. He hit 3-4 from deep when he was found by people carving up the paint. And, he even hit one of his nifty little floaters to keep the guys covering him honest. He was a Cavalier high +14 when on the floor.

-OJ Mayo must have been working out hard this summer, because he looked fantastic on the floor. He had ten assists in 24 minutes, and seemed to be in great control every time he drove the ball. He was also able to find the right guy on nearly every play in the second half. Mayo assisted or scored on 14 of the 35 fourth quarter points for the Bucks, and was +29 for the night.

-Sasha Kaun was 3-5 for eight points in 23 minutes. He also played textbook defense on Monroe. Monroe may have had 13 points in the second half, but Sasha did everything possible to stop him. Kaun kept his hands up high and didn’t try to block Monroe. He kept his feet set, and Greg didn’t get anything easy.

-The Cavs offense looked glorious for much of the night. It’s amazing what happens when the ball is pushed up the floor and guys dribble to move around screens, instead of for the sake of just dribbling. Transition defenses are a lot easier to defeat than set defenses.

– Speaking of defense, the Bucks looked terrifying when they started to pressure the Cavs late in the game. When they picked guys up at half-court and played the passing lanes, they managed to cause 11 turnovers in about a 20 minute span.

The spirit animal of the Bucks.

-James Freaking Jones is rejuvenated. Even though he missed a bunch of threes, he acted like a true veteran. You could see him giving the ball to some of the young guys, and saying “Now, watch. I’ll run near you, and my guy will pay attention to the possibility of me setting a screen just long enough for me to pop out for an open three.” Jones sprinted back on defense and even blocked John Henson on the break.

-John Henson had 16 points on 5-8 shooting to go with four offensive rebounds (ten total rebounds), four blocks, and two assists. I also recall him making a jumper and displaying a nice turnaround hook shot. I have never recalled Tristan doing any of those offensive things, and he wants how much money over the next five years?

-Jerryd Bayless balled out in the fourth quarter to deliver five of his eight assists. Those five dimes resulted in 13 total points.

-Old man ball is awesome to watch sometimes. In the first quarter, Mo Williams, James Jones, and Richard Jefferson had ten free throws. All of them were from goading young Bucks into dumb decisions. Lawyer ball for all.

-Dionte Christmas had a beautiful looking turnaround jumper off a baseline curl maneuver on his way to ten points.

-Real NBA games are less than two weeks away!