The Milwaukee Bucks survived the fashionable Cleveland Cavaliers, 100-90.
NBA.com Box Score
The Bucks seemed a little out of control all night, which has been going on since Giannis Antetokounmpo lost the game with back spasms. Fortunately, Bobby Portis was more than happy to take the day off, scoring 12 points in the first quarter of the game, which ended with a 27-14 lead for Milwaukee. The Bucks ‘attack stopped skidding for most of the second quarter, but the Cavaliers’ limited squad and improved Bucks defense (perhaps due to a lesser degree of difficulty?) Kept the game closed. A late attack by Khris Middleton pushed the Bucks’ lead back to double digits, but the break score was still only 47-37, indicative of how low the case was.
The second half was more of the same, as Cleveland was forced to flee huge formations that included Andre Drummond, Larry Nance, Javale McGee and old friend Thon Maker. The Bucks managed to maintain a nominal lead over time, but the legs were tired enough and the shots were short enough that the attack looked as ugly as the final score suggests. The final minutes of the game were hard work, but the Bucks did just enough to maintain the lead against a squad of understaffed Cavaliers.
Stat that stood out
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With the absence of Giannis and half of Cleveland’s regular rotation, the pace of this game was slow and errors were plentiful on both sides, taking many aspects of the scorecard out of control. However, the biggest highlight of the game was Khris Middleton in the attack, and how well he managed to score on the rim. According to NBA.com, Khris was a perfect 6-6 for photos taken in the painting, and most of those photos were taken outside of drives. This is a wrinkle in Middleton’s game that we haven’t seen consistently before, and the improvement in this area would be a major development for him (becoming a true three-tier top scorer) and for the Bucks in the postseason.
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