Mitchell, Cavaliers pull away from Bucks

DONOVAN MITCHELL scored 32 points and Jarrett Allen chipped in 24 to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 112-100 win against the host Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.

The Cavaliers earned a 2-2 series split with the win in their second straight game against Milwaukee.

Allen also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for Cleveland. Milwaukee was led by Giannis Antetokounmpo with 22 points as well as 11 rebounds and nine assists.

Damian Lillard added 22 points, while Kris Middleton scored 14.

It was a tightly contested first half, albeit an unusually slow start for both teams.

The Bucks went into the second quarter trailing 30-28 before Lillard scored nine points in a row in the second to help the Bucks go into the half up 57-54.

It was the third-lowest shooting percentage for the Cavs in a half this season at 32,7 percent (16 of 49) from the floor.

Mitchell and Antetokounmpo led the way for their teams with 17 points each.

In the third, Cleveland took advantage of a rough offensive quarter for Milwaukee.

The Bucks went over nine minutes without a field goal and trailed by nine at one point.

However, Milwaukee would find some life, going on a 12-6 run right before the end of the quarter to get within three, 80-77. The Bucks made four consecutive 3-point attempts in that stretch.

That run would be short-lived for the home team. Cleveland quickly jumped to a double-digit lead in the fourth, growing an advantage as large as 13. Milwaukee missed its first five attempts in the quarter.

The Bucks wouldn’t go down easily as they got their deficit down to six with just over a minute to go.

Caris LeVert hit a key 3-pointer to put the Cavs back up by nine and Cleveland secured it from there. — Reuters.