The Bucks wrap up their Vegas adventure against the Cavs at 5:30 central time. I'm once again courtside so I'll be liveblogging the action. You can follow the game live over at NBA.com.
Pre-Game
- Ramon Sessions was in street clothes during the shootaround so expect Darius Washington to get another start at the point.
- Joe Wolf will be taking his turn as the head coach of today's game for the Bucks.
- Starting lineup: Washington, Matt Lojeski, Luc, Alexander, and John Thomas. Alexander will once again be taking the opening tip.
1st Quarter
- Alexander drives right baseline on J.J. Hickson for the layin. 3-2 Cavs.
- Alexander elevates in the post and gets the friendly roll from the right side. 4-3 Bucks.
- Hickson bangs on Alexander but misses, but Romel Beck gets the putback. Next time down Hickson puts it in from the post over Luc.9-6 Cavs.
- Mbah a Moute knifes between defenders for the layin. 9-8 Cavs.
- For once Alexander is off to a hot start, as he feathers in an 18-footer from the left baseline. Alexander's now being guarded by the much larger Darnell Jackson, who seems resigned to let Alexander shoot jumpers over him.
- Washington makes a bad entry pass and then watches as the Cavs go the other way. Hustle, please. 14-14.
- Alexander now has a couple assists, the first a backdoor feed to Washington, the second a dump off to Thomas down low. 16-14 Bucks.
- Another PNR leads to an Alexander drive and short glasser. Alexander missed on pull-up last time down, but he's now 4/5 for 8 pts, matching his output from yesterday. 20-20.
- Roderick Riley's size is causing some problems down low for the Cavs. He fends off two defenders for the and-one as the Bucks' bench erupts. Riley now has 7 pts in 5 minutes. 25-23 Bucks.
- Joe Wolf and Kelvin Sampson are giving a lot of instructions from the Bucks' bench.
- J.J. Hickson's been tough inside for the Cavs and leads all scorers with 11 points on 4/5 fg. The score is 25-25 after one.
2nd Quarter
- Johnson, Wilmont, Freije, Riley, and Storey start the second.
- Great ball movement leads to a corner triple for the Cavs' Jawad Williams. On the other end, Trey Johnson comes off a screen to hit the medium-range jumper. They've run that play a lot for Johnson this week. 28-27 Cavs.
- Johnson drives and kicks for a wing three from Freije, who's had that shot all week. Johnson then gets a steal and transition two coming back the other way. He's pretty solid as a combo guard, and he's played mostly point this weekend with Sessions out. Don't expect to see any of them in November, but the Bucks' lesser-known free agent guys have done a very nice job this week. 32-28 Bucks.
- Wilmont draws a double and finds Freije for the open triple. "Yes sir! Yes sir!" Gotta love the enthusiasm these guys bring. On the other end, Riley is cleaning up on the glass and now has seven boards, aided by the Cavs' cold shooting. 35-28 Bucks.
- Hickson powers through Freije on one end, but the Vandy big man makes up for it with a beautiful backdoor pass to Storey followed by another three. You gotta give the coaching staff credit for the way the free agent guys are playing together as a team. 41-30 Bucks.
- With the Bucks battling down low for an offensive rebound, Alexander goes tearing back to play defense. I'm guessing Scott Skiles (seated courtside with John Hammond, Billy McKinney, Dave Babcock, and Jeff Weltman) appreciated that.
- Washington scores in transition, then steals the ball in the backcourt. He misses the acrobatic layup but Mbah a Moute is there to acrobatically clean it up. Typical Luc play. 45-32 Bucks.
- The Bucks are having a good time at the moment. Alexander's made two lookaway passes for open teammates, and they're actually playing some defense too. 51-36 at halftime.
3rd Quarter
- The Bucks begin the third with their starters. Washington leads the way with 10, while Alexander has 8 points (4/6 fg) and three assists.
- The crowd gets agitated when Washington throws a bad alley-oop after Alexander had come loose on a backscreen.
- Hickson's gotten little help, but Romel Beck tries to give him a hand with a tough leaner and one over Luc. Beck has 10. 55-43 Bucks.
- Washington-Alexander-Luc-Lojeski equals an open corner 3. 60-45 Bucks.
- Alexander and Hickson has been an interesting matchup. Hickson's clearly bigger but Alexander has hung in pretty well in the post, and drew a foul posting up the bigger Hickson earlier in the quarter (he made both throws). Still, Joe's doing nothing on the boards, which might be his biggest defensive weakness as a 4.
- Alexander just missed a straight-away three, the interesting part being that he barely got off the ground shooting it. There's been talk about him trying to be more of a stand-still shooter given his hops sometimes throw him off balance.
- The Cavs are moving the ball a bit better but they may have dug themselves too big of a hole. The Bucks are still shooting 58% from the field, compared to 36% for the Cavs. 63-48 Bucks.
- Hickson scoops it around Freije and now has 17--he looks really solid. But Freije gets free for a dunk on the other end as the shot clock expires. 70-54 Bucks.
Fourth Quarter
- Hickson plows through Freije and Riley for a tough two and a foul. He's now got 20. 70-57 Bucks.
- David Noel just walked through the tunnel and hugged Sessions, who's chilling on the end of the bench. As for the game, Hickson keeps taking it to Freije and Riley, getting blocked but keeping after it for another layin. Next time down the bucks double him and force an airball from eight feet. 75-62 Bucks.
- Trey Johnson goes around a screen and calmly strokes a three. He's now got 11 on 4/7 shooting. 79-65 Bucks.
- Alexander misses a three with the shot clock running down, but the Bucks recover and Alexander finds Luc cutting. He misses the dunk but heads to the line for two. "Nice pass Joe Alexander!" Sampson likes it. 82-67 Bucks.
- Washington threads a nice pass to Lojeski underneath, who finishes with one of those not-really-dunks. He grabbed the rim and the ball went in, but not really at the same time. Final score: 88-72, Bucks.