Rapid Recap: Bucks 119, Cavaliers 110

The Milwaukee Bucks didn’t show any signs of a slowdown post-Turkey day against the Cleveland Cavaliers, shedding off the frisky Cavs at the end to secure a 119-110 win. The first quarter started with a Giannis Antetokounmpo posterizing dunk at the rim, and ended with an equally insulting Robin Lopez triple directly in the face of a Cavalier defender. Biting on Robin’s pump fake should automatically result in a 2-point deduction, but it didn’t matter for Milwaukee who still led 38-29 after one. The second quarter saw the Bucks bludgeon the Cavaliers even further, bursting forth towards a 67-47 halftime advantage. Then, the Cavs got hot, downing 10/15 3-point attempts in the third to close the gap, a trend that continued into the forth when they made it less than a five point game in crunch time. Giannis imposed his will late with a couple of clutch baskets, with hustle boards and steals sealing this one up for the Bucks.

Giannis Antetokounmpo continued his otherworldly start to the season, notching yet another double-double (now 19 straight) and finishing at 33 points and 12 rebounds. Once again, there wasn’t really a second standout behind Giannis, with a balanced scoring effort that saw George Hill as the high man at 18 points. Khris Middleton had 12 coming off the bench once again and Eric Bledsoe went with a quieter night, only taking six shots for 10 points and five assists.

For Cleveland, their shooters were hot from three all evening, and rookie Darrius Garland outstripped all other Cavs with 21 points on 8-14 shooting. Larry Nance Jr. was massive off the bench for them with 18 points and 9 boards, while Kevin Love flirted with a triple-double (16/8/7) and Tristan Thompson had 11 points and 13 boards.

Stat that Stood Out

The Cavaliers were en fuego from beyond the arc, particularly in the second half, going 17-34 (50%) for the game and it kept them in this one the whole night. However, they also put up a pretty decent fight in the paint, with the Bucks only winning that battle down low by 10. It’s that 3-point percentage that really stands out though, with Milwaukee continuing to find ways to wins despite opponents hitting a huge chunk of triples against them.