Recap Cavs 114, Bucks 108 (or, that was not easy)

The Cleveland Cavaliers traveled to Milwaukee last night to take on the Bucks in the first night of a home-and-home back to back. The Cavaliers were down to just two big men as Kevin Love was sitting with a bruised knee, and Chris Andersen was lost for the season after tearing his ACL in practice last week. The Bucks were not much better off, as they were missing Michael Beasley (sprained left foot), and have been without Khris Middleton for the entire season. Still, the Bucks had run the Cavaliers off the court in their first meeting this season, and LeBron James and company knew they had their work cut out for them against this long, athletic team that always seems to give them trouble.

First Quarter

Richard Jefferson got the start tonight in place of the injured Love. The Cavaliers won the jump, but immediately turned it over on a pass from LeBron James to J.R. Smith, and the Bucks capitalized by scoring the first points of the game on a hook shot by John Henson.

https://twitter.com/joevardon/status/811378456353271809

The Cavaliers seemed to have trouble with the Bucks’ length on defense, but did a nice job of moving the ball, and were much more engaged on the defensive end than their last meeting. A pair of threes by Kyrie Irving and Smith fueled an 10-0 run as the Cavaliers took a 12-4 lead. While the Cavs were getting more of their points off of jumpers, the Bucks—a team not known for their outside shooting—continually tried to attack the rim. Initially, the Cavaliers did a great job of contesting those attempts. Eventually, the Cavs began to get inside as well, with James and Tristan Thompson having some nice finishes at the rim.

Double T: beast mode activated 💪#DefendtheLand https://t.co/bfXPKhWz0j

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 21, 2016

By the time Bucks coach Jason Kidd called a time out, the Cavaliers had an 18-6 lead. LeBron’s second basket of the night pushed him ahead of the great Moses Malone for eighth place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

Coming out of the time out, the Bucks began to hit some of their jumpers, but the Cavaliers matched them as the physicality of the game increased. James checked out with 3:08 left in the game and the Cavaliers up by 12. This seemed to cause Jabari Parker to perk up, and he began attacking the basket at will while hitting some nice jumpers. The Bucks were able to close the quarter on a nice run, but the Cavaliers still led 35-27. Althoough the Bucks shot 60% from the floor compared to the Cavs’ 56.5%, Cleveland made five threes and four free throws in the quarter, while the Bucks made just one three and no free throws.

Second Quarter

The Cavaliers started the quarter with a lineup of Iman Shumpert, DeAndre Liggins, James, Mike Dunleavy, and Channing Frye. The Cavaliers started the quarter on an 9-0 run on a layup by James, a pair of corner threes by Dunleavy and Frye, and a free throw by Shumpert, before Mirza Teletovic got the Bucks on the board with a corner three of his own. Shumpert then got into the act with a three of his own, and the Cavaliers pushed their lead to 18 behind that hot outside shooting and a much better defensive effort to start the quarter.

The Bucks went back to attacking the basket, and went on an 21-8 run behind Parker, Henson, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Milwaukee also picked up their intensity on the defensive end, holding the Cavaliers to just eight points over the last 7:50 of the quarter. Tristan Thompson drew his third foul, and had to be replaced by James Jones for the last two minutes of the quarter, making the Cavaliers even weaker around the rim as they were playing with no true big man at this point. James went into attack mode and scored four straight points to try to keep Milwaukee at bay, but the Bucks began to get to the line, and free throws by Henson and Antetokounmpo cut the Cavs’ lead to just four as they went into the half leading 57-53.

Jabari brings the JAMS!! #FearTheDeer pic.twitter.com/rLI9OHYQ8m

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 21, 2016

MIL's Parker leads everyone w/16pts, 7-10FG; Frye, Shump – 6pts each off bench; Bucks, 20pts in paint; Teletovic, 9pts, 4-5FG, off bench.

— Joe Gabriele (@CavsJoeG) December 21, 2016

Third Quarter

DeAndre Liggins started the second half for J.R. Smith, who apparently hurt his thumb near the end of the first half. The Bucks quickly took the lead after a three by—who else?—Matthew Dellavedova. The Cavaliers came back with a jumper by James and a three by Irving, but now the Bucks felt like they had the momentum. A jumper by Henson and a pair of free throws by Antetokounmpo tied the game, and Henson drew another foul on Thompson to get to the line and and give Milwaukee their second lead of the game. Kyrie went ice cold after his three, missing his next three shots badly, and the Bucks began to push in transition, as Parker scored at the rim again to force a Cavs timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, Irving hit a pair of free throws and James nailed a three to cut the Bucks lead to one, but Milwaukee responded with a three of their own by Dellavedova. The Bucks seemed much more energetic at this point, constantly attacking passing lanes while the Cavs’ ball movement stagnated and they took some poor shots. Despite this, the Cavaliers tied the game at 71 on a layup by Irving, who was beginning to heat up.

The Cavs kept their momentum by re-taking the lead behind a pair of threes by James and Frye, before Parker responded with yet another vicious dunk. Going with a lineup of Irving, Liggins, Shumpert, James, and Frye, the Cavs were able to play solid defense and space the floor on offense enough to regain some momentum. The Cavaliers were helped by by a series of poor offensive plays by the Bucks. Dunleavy came in for James, but rather than another Bucks run, both teams seemed to have a lid on the basket as the quarter drew to a close. The lid came off as Irving and Jason Terry traded layups before a three by Liggins and a reverse layup by Dellavedova closed out the quarter. Somehow the Cavaliers led 84-76 with a patchwork rotation .

Fourth Quarter

The Cavs started the fourth with a lineup of Shumpert, Liggins, Dunleavy, James, and Frye. As was the case when either of James or Irving sat tonight, the Cavs struggled to score, but so did the Bucks. Antetokounmpo made another pair of free throws to cut the Cavaliers’ lead to four, but a jumper by Frye and a DEEP three by James pushed it back to nine and forced the Bucks to call time.

Milwaukee didn’t role over though. Parker made a layup , and Dunleavy had a terrible turnover off a behind the back pass that led to Antetokounmpo getting to the line yet again, where he split a pair to cut the lead to six. He followed that up with a three before a layup by Frye stopped the bleeding for a moment. Anetokounmpo then hit another three, and the Cavaliers’ lead was just two. Jefferson and Thompson then returned to the game for Liggins and Frye. This quickly paid off as Thompson secured his fourth offensive rebound of the night after a missed layup by Shumpert. Thompson split the pair, and James followed up a layup by Parker with another deep three to push the lead back to six. Parker finished another layup, but Antetokounmpo badly missed on a three-point attempt, and Irving nailed a three of his own after a timeout to give the Cavaliers a seven-point lead. The Bucks responded with a basket by Monroe and a clutch three by Tony Snell, and just like that, the Cavaliers’ lead was down to just two points with 47 seconds left. John Henson blocked a jumper by James, but the Cavs were able to retain possession. James then missed a turnaround jumper and Frye blew the putback to give Milwaukee the ball down by two with just 22.1 seconds left. Parker then tied the game with a quick basket, and the Cavaliers had 15.5 seconds with the ball in their hands. Irving missed a three, and the Bucks didn’t get a shot off at the other end as the game headed to overtime.

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Overtime

Milwaukee won the jump ball, but a three-point attempt by Delly went in and out. After a missed three by Jefferson, James had to foul Antetokounmpo on a layup after Irving was late to help. Giannis converted both to give the Bucks the first lead of overtime. James then nailed a jumper over Parker to tie it back up. Irving and Shumpert then missed a pair of threes and Parker nailed a floater to put Milwaukee back on top. Jefferson was then able to hit all three free throws after being fouled behind the line by Antetokounmpo. The Greek Free responded with a jumper of his own, but Jefferson came back with a dunk as both teams seemed to be running out of energy, particularly at the defensive end. Antetokounmpo tipped in a shot by Snell, and Irving missed a three at the other end. Parker missed point blank shot on the other end, and Giannis fouled out after becoming entangled with LeBron on the rebound. LeBron then nailed another DEEEEEP three behind a pick by Frye to give the Cavaliers a 110-108 lead with 24 seconds left. Parker was able to draw a shooting foul on Thompson, but missed both free throws, and the Cavaliers were able to secure the rebound. The Bucks then sent Irving to the line, where he hit both, giving the Cavaliers a four point lead, and bringing Irving to 39-of-40 shooting on overtime free throws attempted for his career. James secured the rebound after a miss by Teletovic, and converted both free throws for a six point lead as the Cavaliers held on to take the first half of their back-to-back against the Bucks by a final score of 114-108. James finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists as he willed the Cavaliers to victory on a night when Irving wasn’t at his sharpest and their depth was unexpectedly thin.

Trey number cinco en FUEGO! #DefendtheLand pic.twitter.com/Eg1iM9bizN

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 21, 2016

Things I Noticed

If J.R. Smith is out for any length of time—x-rays were inconclusive, but the Cavs fear that he has a broken thumb—the Cavaliers may not be able to wait to make a move. LeBron is already playing too many minutes, and even with Liggins stepping up, this team needs some players on their bench who can contribute on the court. Dunleavy is shooting 50% from deep in December, and he looked decent on defense in the first half of tonight’s game, but was much worse in the second half. He isn’t giving anything that James Jones doesn’t, and Jones is a better shooter. Even if Dunleave does come around, the Cavaliers are in desperate need of another big man as well as a guard who can run the offense and help limit LeBron’s minutes. Whether those players help in the playoff may not be as important as whether or not they can help the Cavs cope with injuries right now.

The Bucks’ length and athleticism really give the Cavs problems. Good teams have a style that defines them and Jason Kidd has a team with great length that he has coached to be aggressive on defense and attacking the rim. They could still use more shooting, but look like a playoff team. With more experience and the return of Khris Middleton, they could be much more than that.

On that note, Jabari Parker is a bad man. When Parker came out of Duke, it was a real debate over who would be the better player between he and Andrew Wiggins. Then he missed most of his rookie season and Wiggins became a high-volume scorer for the Timberwolves. Now with each player in his third season in the league, the debate is back. Antetokounmpo deserves all the praise he gets, but Parker has a real chance of becoming a star in his own right.

That’s all for now, but these two teams will be back at it tonight at Quicken Loans Arena. Hopefully the Cavs receive good news on Kevin Love and J.R. Smith. Until then, Go Cavs!