The Bucks dropped back-to-back games for the first time since February 3rd, falling 112-100 to the league-leading Cavaliers, who won their 14th straight. No one for Cleveland scored more than Max Strus’ 17, though they had five in double figures. Milwaukee only had three, led by Giannis’ 30 and Damian Lillard’s 22. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below.
What Did We Learn?
Offensively, there seems to be a little bit of paralysis by analysis happening with the Bucks right now. Obviously, this was a poor offensive showing by Milwaukee. 17 assists is the Bucks’ second-lowest total on the year, and looks pretty rough compared to 18 turnovers. Post-game, Doc blamed it on the back-to-back, but also commented that the Cavs looked far more confident in their ball movement tonight and how they had more trust in their offense than the Bucks have in theirs.
Giannis had this to say postgame: “I could see it. Everybody is trying to get one another involved, it’s almost too much.” He also thought the Orlando loss caused this too, with the sloppiness on Saturday night shifting their mindset, but not eliciting results: “let’s be sharper, let’s move the ball more, let’s play more side to side, let’s get people involved, let’s create more open threes. Sometimes we think that way—we didn’t [do it].” Both he and Kyle Kuzma remarked postgame that the Bucks need to play more freely while also trusting in their game plan and habits.
Three Bucks
Despite the season series’ outcome, Giannis remains confident versus Cleveland.
While it was clear that he and other Bucks maintain a healthy level of respect for the Cavs, Giannis seemingly didn’t see this game much differently than the two early season losses by a combined three points, one of which he missed. But he thinks as the team gels more, now a month after the deadline, they’d have a chance against them even with four regular season losses. I can see why: he put up 30 points on 13/24 shooting while dealing with two plus interior defenders in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Just doesn’t seem like Cleveland has anyone who can effectively deal with him.
This was a mixed bag from Kuzma.
The final numbers look ok (14 points on 6/13 from the field and 2/5 from deep), but Kuzma’s night was punctuated by an error-riddled stretch soon after half. He finished with four turnovers and could probably have been credited for another one or two during that sequence, amid questionable shot selection. Nevertheless, Doc thought that overall, he was too focused on creating for others, saying “I think he’s being almost too unselfish right now... I want him to go start playing more aggressive and go downhill. I think he’ll do that, but we have to get him more comfortable.”
Quietly, Dame had a solid all-around game.
I thought Lillard did a nice job getting inside and finishing around bigger, lengthier defenders, finishing 7/12 inside the arc and somewhat making up for just 1/7 from distance. Cleveland iced Milwaukee’s pick-and-rolls all night, so a few of his three-point looks came a bit more towards the sideline than he probably would have liked. It would have been nice to see him get some catch-and-shoot opportunities. Both he and Gary Trent Jr. did a solid job on the other side of the ball, though: star Cavs guards Donovan Mitchell (15 points on 15 shots) and Darius Garland (13 on 13) were pretty neutralized. Dame came up with two steals as well.
Bonus Bucks Bits
As mentioned, Giannis joined the top 50 scorers in NBA history with his second field goal last night, surpassing Tom Chambers. He’s 280 back of Joe Johnson for 49th.
These are the top two three-point shooting teams in the league, with Cleveland entering the game at 39.2% and Milwaukee at 38.4%. But you wouldn’t know it from how things ended, with the Cavs at 40.4% (19/47) and the Bucks at 29% (9/31).
Overall, though, the Bucks defended well enough to win this game, as Doc mentioned post-game. Per Cleaning The Glass, they finished with a 113.0 defensive rating against the top offense in the NBA (123.8).
If it weren’t for Ryan Rollins scoring 10 garbage-time points, the bench scoring disparity of 43-21 in Cleveland’s favor would have looked even worse. The Cavs had no one in double digits off their bench, though.
Speaking of, Rollins became just the sixth player in NBA history to score at least 10 points in three minutes or fewer. The last time that was done was in 2022.
Oddly enough, the Bucks won the rebounding battle, including on the offensive glass (13-12). Still, the Cavs had a one-point edge in second-chance points with 17.
Trent came back after missing two games with a hyperextended knee, but it looks like he’ll need a game or two to recapture his previous hot streak: he was 1/9 in 20 minutes.
Up Next
The Bucks head to Indianapolis for the first of two matchups this week against the Pacers, who are 1.5 games behind them in the East’s fifth spot. You can catch the action at 6:30 p.m. Central on TNT or stream it on our Playback and YouTube channels.
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