Recap: Cleveland 124, Milwaukee 117 (Or, The Power of Love)

(Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

With the return to Quicken Loans Arena came the long awaited return of Kevin Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers did not disappoint in this one, beating the Bucks 124 to 117. The energy the team had immediately after the trade deadline seemed be recaptured as everyone looked engaged and was playing with purpose. One of many positive things from the game is that Love had a better than expected return to action. Despite being on a minutes restriction, the big man finished with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks in only 25 minutes of play. His contributions were sorely missed and a welcome sight. Fortunately, Love wasn’t the only one playing well. LeBron continued his unparalleled brilliance by putting another notch in his career achievement belt as this game marked the first time in his career that he scored 15 or more field goals in three straight games. Seriously, in his 15th season, James is racking up triple doubles as he finished this one with 40 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals, and a block. At one point, the Fox Sports broadcast put up a stat comparing LeBron’s triple double totals in his 15th season compared with other all-time greats in their 15th season. If I remember correctly, both Jason Kidd and Paul Pierce were able to record three each. LeBron’s at 16 and only gaining speed as he’s on track to play all 82 games this season.

The first quarter started off a bit slow for the Cavs, however, as the Bucks were able to rattle off their first three shots in a row to take a quick 7-2 lead. Love immediately made his presence known as he was able to establish some good rebounding position early and prevent some of the second chance opportunities that so plagued this Cavs team in his absence. Love’s first rebound lead immediately to a Korver three. Speaking of Kyle Korver (12 points, 6 rebounds on 4 of 8 shooting and 3 of 6 from deep), with him in the starting lineup and Kevin Love back with the team, the court is absolutely wide open for the starters in a way that has been completely absent from the starting lineup all season long. Below you can see Korver’s first triple from the game. Watch as Kevin trails the play on the strong side of the court, preventing the Bucks from loading up off-the ball. LeBron works his way baseline, Love slides down with him, the defense shifts over, and Korver sees nothing but hard wood and blue skies as James wastes no time in hitting him in the Korner for three.

Love’s ability to stretch the court from the four or five spot is a luxury that makes Korver so much more lethal and it showed right away in this one as La Flama Blanca was able to get loose on multiple occasions throughout the game. The Cavs continued to keep pace with the Bucks throughout the quarter, forcing Antetokounmpo to commit two quick fouls in the first and sit for the final six minutes of the quarter. About midway through the quarter, Love got his own miss and hit a mid-range jumper to give the Cavs their first lead. Milwaukee was forced to take a time out, which didn’t help them too much as immediately following the timeout James followed Love as he got his own miss and finished it with an and-1. The King quickly followed that up with a layup on their next time down the court. With Kevin on a minutes restriction, Zizic entered during the previous timeout. Ante’s play over the past few games has been a revelation. The rookie continues to show poise and ability on the court. ZZ ended the Cavs quarter with an offensive rebound and put-back to give the Cavs a 26-25 lead to end the first quarter.

The Cavs started the second quarter featuring a lineup of Calderon, Smith, Clarkson, Green, and Zizic. Allowing Calderon to run the second unit over Clarkson was long over due and has lead to some really great shooting from the shooting guard. Jordan Clarkson is absolutely lethal with the spot up three. He canned three of them on the night and finished a respectable 3-7 from beyond the arc. Zizic continued to show his value right away in the quarter as he earned another offensive rebound and put back. The Croatian is also developing quite a good chemistry with underused point guard Jose Calderon. After the previous put back Ante came back down the court, immediately established position underneath and Calderon went over the top of the defense allowing ZZ an easy dunk underneath the basket. These two need to continue to get minutes on the second unit, they both do what they need to do on the court. Zizic would finish the night with 13 points, 6 rebounds (4 offensive), and a block in 17 minutes. Tristan Thompson just cannot replicate that production.

With about four minutes to go in the half, Love re-entered the game and the Cavs promptly finished the quarter on a 16-9 run. The power that Love gives this Cavs team has been understated from his first game in Cleveland and anyone who says Love is a defensive liability isn’t watching closely enough. Watch below as Kevin perfectly times his help defense and blocks Henson’s shot as he comes into the middle of the court. The last few minutes were a clinic in floor spacing for Cleveland as LeBron hit Kevin for two threes and saw wide open space underneath the hoop for a dunk of his own. Hill fed Korver for another three to end the quarter and the Cavs finish up the half up 64-57. 

The Cavs started off the third quarter with their starters and saw their lead quickly dwindle to just three points. A combination of the refs swallowing their whistles on a couple of Cleveland threes and their inability to stop Khris Middleton from making his shots prevented them from extending their lead to start the half. Middleton was hot all night and finished 30 points on 11 of 16 shooting and 5 of 9 from three point range. Fortunately, associate head coach began to run the offense through Kevin Love up top for a few plays and they were rewarded with some beautiful high-low passes. Including an alley-oop from Kevin to LeBron. Those actions need to be implemented more and more in the next couple weeks as they are absolutely lethal. Love, Korver, and Clarkson weren’t the only ones who had it going from three though as the third quarter saw LeBron heat up from the outside. Including this one all the way from Euclid after a long rebound.

Thon Maker recaptured some of his rookie season magic that made him such a promising prospect as he absolutely abused the Cavs at various points throughout the game. His jumper was working for him and his touch was smooth tonight as he quickly added a couple buckets and a steal midway through the third. Fortunately, Cleveland could match Maker’s size with their own foreign born big man. Zizic subbed in for Love and spent the rest of the quarter making the Milwaukee big man work. Zizic earn a layup and some free throws while capturing a couple more rebounds, including another offensive one. Having his size down low as a valid option is a great tool to have in the toolbox. Cavs end the third ahead by eight with a score of 93-85.

Cleveland started off the fourth quarter with good energy and defense sprinting out of the gates and extending the lead to 15. With assists on three of the first five buckets, the Cavs were sharing the ball and hustling to loose balls, earning them extra possessions. One of those extra possessions ended with a Calderon three. That extra hustle and effort that has been missing throughout large chunks of the season goes a long way in translating to winning basketball. After shooting out to a 105-90 lead at around 8:30 left to go, the Bucks began to junk up the game. The Bucks held the Cavs to just three points over the next two and a half minutes and shrunk the lead to ten before Clarkson made one of his spot up threes. The Cavs were able to get the score up to 117 before Milwaukee began to slow the game back down to a crawl. Some poor decisions by JR Smith combined with quite a few fouls, and several timeouts extended the last four minutes of the game to around 25 minutes of actual time and made the game seem a little less exciting than the box score makes it out to be. Fortunately, Cleveland made most of their free throws and were able to keep the Bucks at arm’s length for the remainder of the game. LeBron sealed the game with this final coast to coast dunk. The Cavs take this one 124-117.

Some Thoughts:

1. Now that Kevin Love has returned, I can go back to beating my number zero drum (Did I ever stop?). Love’s value to this team goes so far beyond strict box score numbers, though those are pretty good too. Remember, before he went down, Love was averaging almost 20 and 10. And that was with the busted roster that featured zero spacing. He will absolutely thrive on this team. I can’t wait for Larry Nance Jr. to get back. Those two should pair quite well together. Not only does Kevin provide some much needed spacing and size in our front court, he also is one of the best defensive rebounders in the game. The Cavs have struggled rebounding the ball this year and without Love, they were absolutely putrid. Oh, and did you see how well he was moving and how good his shots looked after not playing for seven straight weeks? Anyone who tells me Love doesn’t have what the Cavs need can “take that weak stuff outta here”, to quote the beloved Austin Carr.

2. JR Smith has become an after thought on this team. When he was side by side with the other old geezers on the roster pre-trade deadline, he at least looked fast and athletic still, even if he was a bonehead and struggling shooting. Now that the roster is younger and quicker, it looks like JR is playing in the sand. Yes, he still made a three and had an interesting tear drop in this one, but he also got absolutely abused by Thon Maker at the end of the first and had a couple of poor turnovers. When Hood and Cedi get back, I hope we see JR’s minutes drop to around 10-15 minutes unless he goes en fuego.

3. This Antetokounmpo alley-oop is just ridiculous.

4. Watching Larry Drew’s post-game interview was much, much different from watching Lue’s interviews. Granted, if Lue has been struggling as much as the reports and his statement said, maybe that is being reflected in his interviews. Drew contrasted those with some great information, actually discussing what is going on out there rather than just referencing the need to watch film. Drew had some interesting things to say as he mentioned adding some more sets in Lue’s absence and the need for Ante to get minutes even with the inevitable return of Tristan. Catch the full interview here.

This was a much needed win as the Cavs slowly begin to make their way back to the court. It’s insane that this team has only played one game with a full rotation. Even if that rotation was flawed from the start, its still difficult to deal with. It was good to see their energy levels return as the season begins to wind down. They will need to maintain that same effort as the team begins to assemble and Lue comes back for the start of the playoffs. Cleveland faces off against the Raptors on Wednesday which is sure to be a difficult game. As always, go Cavs!