Unable to overcome too many key missing pieces
If Saturday night’s game between Milwaukee and Cleveland at Fiserv Forum had been played on paper, the ledger would have weighed heavily on the side of the visiting Cavaliers before the teams even took the court.
Cleveland came in as winners of 9 of 11, including five in a row, the longest active streak in the East. They also came to Milwaukee rested and boasting a defense that was second in opponent points per game (101.5) and defensive rating (103.6). They were, however, without starters Evan Mobley (13.8 points, 8.3 rebounds) and Isaac Okoro (9.3 points) due to the league’s health and safety protocol.
Milwaukee on the other hand was playing its fifth game in seven days (and the second of a back-to-back) and its third straight with only 10 players available. Among the seven players unavailable were starters Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis (health and safety) along with Khris Middleton (left knee hyperextension).
Then just before tipoff the Bucks announced that Jrue Holiday, Grayson Allen and Pat Connaughton would not start.
So once the teams did take the hardwood, the Bucks couldn’t make up for such lopsided accounting in a 119-90 loss.
Connaughton would play for the Bucks, but just 19 minutes off the bench as head coach Mike Budenholzer elected to go to with an eight-man lineup. Two-way rookies Javonte Smart and Sandro Mamukelashvili, second-year guard Jordan Nwora and veterans George Hill and DeMarcus Cousins started while Semi Ojeleye and Thanasis Antetokounmpo returned from calf injuries to contribute some time. Holiday and Allen did not play. “Those guys have played a lot,” Budenholzer said. “I was to think if it would be like the bullpen analogy, we went with a bullpen game and then we never got to the high leverage innings. Those guys have given us so much, including (Friday) night. They really, really laid it out. The whole group did. They did again tonight. So just trying to be big picture. Grayson’s a little bit under the weather, but proud of the guys that played. They really competed.”
Even when the Bucks had their full complement of players in a tough eightpoint win over the Cavaliers on Dec. 6, the Bucks had problems with the Cleveland bench trio of Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and Cedi Osman and that was the case again Saturday. Osman had a team-high 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting while Rubio had 15 points, 10 assists and three steals. Love added 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Darius Garland (22) and Jared Allen (14) were the only Cleveland starters to reach double figures.
Cleveland inched ahead of Milwaukee into third place in the East at 19-12 overall while the Bucks dropped to 19-13. They are 2-4 when Antetokounmpo doesn’t play and 6-11 if one or more of the Big Three of Antetokounmpo, Holiday and Middleton are absent.
Nwora led the Bucks with 28 points on 11-of-21 shooting, including 4 for 8 from behind the three-point line. He also recorded his second straight double-double by pulling down 11 rebounds.
“It’s good – I get to learn, grow with my teammates that are out there with me and have fun,” Nwora said. “I wish we could’ve won the game, but it was good to be out there, get reps against a good Cleveland team.”
Mamukelashvili had 17 points and Hill had 14.
Cousins played a season-high 27 minutes and had a double-double with 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting and 12 rebounds. He also had four steals and four turnovers.
“Just getting that feel, the rhythm of finding my shots throughout the offense, of getting used to taking those shots and being able to knock down those shots, I think I got a good opportunity tonight,” Cousins said of the importance of extended minutes. “Obviously a lot of shots didn’t fall, but as I said it’s part of the process. I’m confident in my ability, I’m confident I’ll be able to find my rhythm eventually. So, I’ll just keep pushing forward.”
Milwaukee used a 19-6 run over five minutes that bridged the end of the third and the start of the fourth quarter to trim a 30-point deficit to 97-80 on a Mamukelashvili three with 8:58 to go, but Garland put a halt to that momentum by picking Mamukelashvili’s pocket and turning it into a basket for Lauri Markkanen. Dean Wade then followed with a three to put Cleveland back up comfortably 103-80 with 7:13 to go.
The Bucks never got within 20 again. The Cavaliers were finally able to distance themselves from the Bucks in the third quarter, using a 19-2 run midway through to turn a 72-59 lead into a 91-61 advantage. The bench scored 17 of those points.
“They made threes is what it felt like,” Budenholzer said of that key stretch. “It felt like Osman – really the whole night, but that stretch – made a few threes and Love the same thing, the whole stretch made some threes. Rubio is just kind of setting the table and mixing in a couple threes. He’s just a really smart player. All three of those guys I think just smart, kind of see and feel the court in a good way and they were able to go on a nice run.”
The Bucks managed to get it down to 93-69 by the end of the quarter thanks to an 8-2 run, capped by an Ojeleye threepointer with 40 seconds left.
Ojeleye played for the first time since Nov. 15, logging 18 minutes. He went 1 for 7 from the floor for three points and pulled down seven rebounds.
Milwaukee looked to be in danger of watching Cleveland run away with the game in the first half after the Cavaliers went up 42-24 early in the second quarter, but the Bucks rallied to stay connected and trailed 62-51 at the break.
It took the Bucks almost 2 12 ⁄ minutes to get up their first shot of the second quarter once they began the frame with five turnovers, and they didn’t score until the 8:59 mark. But the Cavaliers only managed to stretch a 14-point first-quarter lead to 18. The Bucks used a 15-7 run to get back within shouting distance at 49-39 at the 4:06 mark, a stretch fueled by Hill (four points, two assists) and Cousins (five points). The Cavaliers lead yo-yoed between 10 and 14 points the rest of the way.
Nwora led the Bucks with 16 points while Cousins had 10 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three turnovers in the first half. Osman came off the bench to lead the Cavaliers with 15 points at the break, making 3 of 4 three-pointers. Garland had 14 points and Rubio added nine point and six assists.
Cleveland shot 53.3% (24-for-45) from the field in the first half and scored 11 points off 10 Milwaukee turnovers. The Bucks shot 41.7% (20-for-48) from the field.
The backup Bucks started the game strong, taking a 15-11 lead when Cousins hit a three at the 6:47 mark of the first quarter, but the Cavaliers were bolstered by Osman, Rubio and Kevin Love off the bench to outscore the Bucks 23-5 the rest of the way.