CLEVELAND – Cleveland and Milwaukee split the season series as the Cavaliers beat the Bucks 114-102 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Saturday night, with each team holding serve on their home courts. The Cavaliers improved to 29-19 during the season while the Bucks fell to 29-17.
The Bucks are currently 6-5 in a year played without Giannis Antetokounmpo, who missed five straight games with a sore left knee. Drew Holiday led the Bucks with 28 points and 10 assists he had.
Some points from the game are:
Cavaliers turn to Evan Mobley, Darius Garland
After a disappointing loss to the Golden State Warriors’ reserves on Friday night, the Cavaliers bounced back against the Bucks by running their offense through second-year 7-footer Evan Mobley. Mobley averaged 14.6 points on 10.6 field goal attempts per game and topped those totals by halftime, scoring 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
Darius Garland scored 10 points in the 3rd quarter. This includes his 6 consecutive runs at one point. Mobley also scored his 6 points. The promising big man continued to attack in the fourth quarter, scoring his 14 of his career-high 38 points in the closing stages.
Garland then took the baton with several baskets from a Bucks turnover and kept the visitors at arm’s length for the final minutes.
Even with Brook Lopez able to patrol the Bucks’ paint, Mobley was aggressive throughout the game, but he also found open space thanks to a penetration of the Cavaliers’ dribble drive that knocked Lopez to the rim. Mobley’s 27 shooting attempts were his career high.
Garland has 21 points and 10 assists.
Three-pointer-focused Bucks can’t find a shot in the second half
Without Giannis Antetokounmpo in the lineup for the last five games, the Bucks were drawn to the offensive three-point line.
Over the past four games through Saturday night, the Bucks’ 3-point numbers were:
- Miami: 22 successes, 57 attempts
- Miami: 19-48
- vs Indiana: 23-46
- vs Toronto: 19-39
The Bucks continued their deep barrage Saturday night against the Cavaliers, starting five of their first seven games. But there was a feast-or-famine element to that strategy, and when the Bucks missed 3 in a row of 7 from the end of the first quarter to the beginning of the 2nd, the 26-21 lead fell to his 40. It turned into a deficit of -28.
A string of 3s from Pat Connaughton and Joe Ingles in the second half gave the Bucks a brief 90-88 lead early in the fourth quarter before tying the score again at 95, but in the final 8 minutes and 45 seconds, the Bucks scored. Beat Milwaukee. Didn’t make another three.
They finished 14-for-39, but couldn’t land too many of those shots as the ball started to roll slowly.
Bucks Can’t Hit Magic Numbers vs. Cavs
The Cavaliers entered the weekend with the No. 1 scoring defense in the NBA, allowing just 107.1 points per game. But the Warriors hit 120 on Friday night. This was his ninth time an opponent had reached his 120-point threshold.
In their two wins against the Cavaliers in Milwaukee, the Bucks scored 117 and 113 points respectively.
His 110 points against Cleveland was a magic number for his opponents. The Cavaliers are only 6-14 in the game, at least if they give up that number. And four of his wins were overtime wins.
The Bucks scored 106 points in their December 21 loss at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Milwaukee looked likely to get to that point early in the fourth quarter, but the Cavaliers threw in a strong defense in the final eight minutes of the game. The Bucks scored just 7 points in that stretch and he recorded 6 of 16 turnovers.
Bucks don’t take breaks in schedule
All NBA teams have scheduling quirks that can strain even the best rosters. Like the Bucks in his December when he played his 13 games in 10 cities over 24 days. It was a stretch where they started 4-1 and finished 1-3. The Bucks didn’t have many “breaks” that month. The Bucks played back-to-back and straight at home because he only had a day off or he had two days off.
However, it can be said that they took a break in preparation for Saturday night’s game. The Bucks have been in Milwaukee for six straight days, and even with back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday, he had three straight days off so he could practice, work on his individual skills, and catch his breath.
Cleveland is one of the best home teams in the NBA, but the Cavaliers played their second night in a row without star guard Donovan Mitchell (28.4 points per game). But while the Cavaliers showed pride after Friday’s disappointing loss to Golden State, the Bucks struggled to produce a consistent offense.
Heading into Monday in Detroit, the Bucks will face the Pistons team, who will play their first game in the United States after Thursday’s loss to Chicago in Paris.
Giannis Antetokounmpo misses five straight games with knee pain
Despite practicing in Milwaukee on Thursday and participating in light practice and individual work on Friday, the Bucks missed Antetokounmpo for the fifth straight game Saturday afternoon with a sore left knee.
Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said before the game, “There’s something he’s still working on to get to the point where there’s a big difference between practice and the game.” He’s doing a good job and getting a good lift.”
Budenholzer said Antetokounmpo has no additional injuries that have prevented him from playing, and said the former MVP has gone 5-5 in the last few days. He added he doesn’t feel he will need a practice session with the Wisconsin Hard to get back to playing.
He hasn’t played for Atlanta since January 11th.
He had pregame routines on Jan. 16 and 17 before the games against Indiana and Toronto, but didn’t play.
The 28-year-old missed five straight games last season from December 15-23 amid the league’s health and safety protocols. The last time he missed many games due to injury was a sprain in his left knee from April 3, 2021 to his 14th.
Antetokounmpo missed three of the four games earlier this year with a left knee injury from November 5-11. Budenholzer said it would be a joint decision on whether to keep the players.
“I think in our world, it’s the players who make the ultimate final decision, whether it’s Giannis[rookie]Mahjong[Beecham]how they feel and are they ready in the end.” Budenholzer said. “Whether it’s on our team or another team, I think the players can ultimately feel best where they are and how ready they are.” The Strength and Conditioning Group and Coach (VP of Performance) Troy (Dr. Flanagan) are doing a great job and Jon Horst and I have a lot of communication and collaboration and making decisions together.”
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Serge Ibaka stays away from Bucks in search of trade
The Bucks officially move forward with 14 guaranteed deals to their roster as veteran backup center Serge Ibaka leaves the team and general manager Jon Holst tries to find a destination for the big man.
Ibaka was acquired at the trade deadline last season as Brook Lopez appeared in 19 games after recovering from back surgery. He re-signed this offseason, but played in just 16 games as Lopez and Bobby Portis proved to be the two most durable players on the roster. He has played only two games since the 21st.
Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said at the shootaround on Saturday morning, “John and Surge and they will work to find the best solution for Sergi and the organization.” will not only help everyone, but it will help Serge, it will help me, it will help John, so we can keep moving forward and figure out how to find the best solution.”
five numbers
Five Best 3-pointer of the season made by Bobby Portis. Portis scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds.
Ten Holiday’s assists moved him past Michael Jordan for 49th all-time assists. Holiday’s first assist passed Allen Iverson to monopolize the No. 50 all-time.
11 Double-double in 35 games on Holiday. He played 12 of his 67 games with the Bucks, and his career-high was his 20 in Philadelphia in 2012-13.
17-2 / 12-4 / 12-2 Cleveland runs to start the second and third quarters, and the fourth quarter respectively. The Cavaliers took the lead in the first run, and in the second he extended his 50-47 halftime lead to 62-51. A final surge effectively ended the game, resulting in a 95-95 draw.
20-5 The Cavaliers set a home record and were the best in the Eastern Conference.
The play of the game is Cleveland forced a Milwaukee shot clock violation in the 4th quarter
The Bucks recovered from a double-digit deficit to take a slight lead in the fourth quarter, but after the Cavaliers entered the game with an 8:26 lead, 97-95, they defensively held back the Heat. raised. On the ensuing Bucks possession, Brooks Lopez was forced to take a contested step-back 3-pointer that went off the rim, resulting in a violation of the Bucks’ shot on his clock. The turnover led to the Cavaliers’ basket to start the stretch and saw the Bucks flip it over six times and the game slip away.
Video of the match is Bobby Portis poster dunk
The Bucks big man took it down authoritatively around Cavaliers’ Kevin Love in the second quarter, creating his second poster dunk in many games.
Milwaukee Bucks injury report
- Serge Ibaka (outside team), absent
- Chris Middleton (right knee pain), out
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (left knee pain), out
Who will the Bucks’ next opponent be?
Milwaukee heads to Motor City to face the Detroit Pistons on Monday. The teams last saw each other early in the season when the Bucks won back-to-back in Milwaukee on October 31 and November 2. The Pistons are once again rampaging to the top of the lottery as he is one of the worst teams in the league.