Cavaliers end two game skid with 114-102 win over Bucks

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - One night after the Cleveland Cavaliers disastrous loss to the shorthanded Golden State Warriors they were back in action on Saturday Night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse against the visiting Milwaukee Bucks. Prior to the game the Cavaliers honored former Cavalier great Anderson Varejao. Varejao owns several Cavs records or is in the top ten. The Wild thing holds the record for rebounds in a game tied with Rick Roberson with 25 boards on January 2, 2014. All-time record for offensive rebounds in a game with 12 (tied with Michael Cage, Zydrunas Ilgauskas (2) and Tristan Thompson) on October30, 2012. He ranks 7th in Cavaliers history in defensive rebounds with 2,968 and 7th all-time in Cavs history in total rebounds with 4,454. The big man from Brazil is also 11th all-time in career field goal percentage for the Cavs at .511. Needless to say he is one of the greatest Cavaliers of all-time and is one of the most popular players in the history of the franchise. The Cavs did not disappoint Varejao or the 19,562 in attendance as they rebounded from Friday night to beat the Bucks 114-102.

After Friday night’s humiliation most thought the Cavs would come out strong. It was not the case early as they fell behind 13-6 on a Bobby Portis, Jr. three, his third of the game at that point with 7:58 left in the first. The Cavs went on a run, outscoring the 13-5 over the next 4:13 to take a 19-18 lead on a Jarrett Allen dunk. The Bucks regained the lead at 23-19 on a three by Jordan Nwora with 2:51 left on the clock in the first. The Cavs cut it to 23-21 on a fadeaway by Evan Mobley with 2:01 left. The period ended with the Bucks on top 26-23. Portis, Jr. led all scorers with 11 points. Darius Garland led the Cavs with seven. Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen each had six points. The Cavs outrebounded the Bucks 13-11 in the first 12 minutes.

The Cavs took off in the first 4:30 of the second quarter outscoring the Bucks 17-2 finished off with a jumper by Mobley with 7:30 left on the clock and the Cavs ahead 40-28. The Bucks hit 5 of their first nine three point attempts and it seemed as though the Cavs had no answer. Over the next 12 minutes the Cavs did have an answer and held the Bucks to 2 for 11 form beyond the three point line. The Cavs lead did shrink in the final minutes of the second period, but the Cavs did take a 50-47 lead into the halftime break. Portis, Jr. was still leading all scorers at the break with 19 points. Mobley was not far behind leading the Cavs with 18 first half points. The Cavs struggled from behind the three-point line shooting only 3 for 13 for 23%. Overall from the field the Cavs outshot the Bucks 47% (22 for 47) to 43% (19 for 44).

The Cavs got off to a good start in the third taking a 60-51 lead with 9:50 left when Isaac Okoro stole the ball and took it the length of the court to slam it home. The Bucks cut the lead to 69-64 with 5:45 left in the third when Portis, Jr. put a rebound in the basket. The Cavs pushed the lead back to eight points when Kevin Love hit a three with 3:42 left on the clock putting the Cavs up 76-68. The Bucks scored the next five points to cut the lead to 76-73 on a Jrue Holiday three-point play on a fade away jumper and a foul shot with 3:04 left. The Cavs responded regaining a nine-point lead when Garland was fouled, hitting both to give the Cavs a 84-75 lead with 1:24 left in the third. The Bucks cut the lead to 86-81 as the third quarter clock ran out. Holiday led all scorers after three quarters with 26, 18 of which came in the third period. Mobley led the Cavs with 24. The Cavs continued to lead in rebounds 32-28.

With 10:52 left in the game Milwaukee regained the lead 87-86 when Pat Connaughton hit a three pointer. The game went back and forth the next two minutes with the Cavs taking the lead 97-95 with 8:21 left on the clock on a layup by Mobley who now had 32 which was a new career high. Mobley continued to be the Cavs offense. With 6:47 left he gave the Cavs a 101-95 lead scoring his 36th points of the game. The Cavs built the lead to 105-95 with 5:19 left on an Allen layup. For the next several minutes the two teams traded baskets. With 2:44 left on the clock the Cavs lead was 109-101 after Holiday drained two free throws for the Bucks. Mobley scored his 38th point on a layup giving the Cavs a 111-101 lead with 2:25 left in the game. The next time down the floor Mobley was charged with a foul after getting a rebound courtesy of a great acting job by nobody’s favorite player Grayson Allen. With :20 left on the clock Caris LeVert was fouled he hit both free throws and capped off the scoring on the night giving the Cavs the 114-102 win.

Mobley finished with a career high 38 points. The second-year man from USC scored 18 first half points and 20 in the second half. Mobley fell one rebound shy of a double with nine boards. Garland had 21 points for the Cavs, 14 of those 21 came in the second half. Garland had a double double as he had 10 assists. Three other Cavs were in double figures LeVert and Osman each had 13 point and Allen finished with 12. The Cavs dominated the boards all night out rebounding Milwaukee 41-36. Cleveland took care of the ball better on Saturday as they only turned it over nine times resulting in 12 Bucks points. Meanwhile the Bucks turned it over 16 times resulting in 21 Cavs points. The Bucks were without Giannis Antetokounmpo, and it was apparent inside as the Cavs won the battle of the paint 66-44.