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Cleveland fans got their second official taste of Cavs basketball Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena as the Cavs played host to the Milwaukee Bucks. The game was a tight contest in which both squads allowed a great deal of offense for most of the game, no doubt wanting to explore just what they have to work with going into the 2014/15 season. In their victory the Cavaliers used a combination of great shooting and excellent ball movement led by 1st year Cavalier Kevin Love (25 points on 5 for 7 three-pointers made) and Dion Waiters (23 points on 3 of 6 three-pointers made). The result was a 106-100 Cavaliers win in which both the bench and the starters gave vital contributions in the success.
Cavaliers head coach David Blatt has to be content with the progress that the Wine and Gold are making thus far, especially in a game when they played without the services of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson. On Tuesday night it appeared that every Cavalier was attentive to the coach and bought into his philosophy, especially on offense. {adinserter 2}Defensively the Wine and Gold will have to make it tougher in the future for opposing teams to drive the basket as the Bucks outscored the Cavs 42-30 in points in the paint. While the Cavs showed some moxy on a night when vital pieces of the roster did not play, they were a bit too dependent on the play of Love and Waiters. While Kyrie and LeBron did all the coaching they could from the sidelines, there was a clear lack of leadership especially on the defensive side of the ball where Milwaukee simple got too many easy shots. The Milwaukee Bucks got great play out of many players, most notably Jared Dudley (15 points shooting a perfect 5 for 5 from three-point land) and Jabari Parker (18 points & 3 rebounds). They also had a more balanced offense, with seven players finishing in double figures versus just three for the Cavaliers. Jabari Parker displayed great shooting and off-the-dribble skill regardless of who was guarding him. His play has certainly put the Bucks in the conversation to make an impact on the central division and the NBA at-large for the coming years. Anderson Varejao, who started the game for Tristan Thompson, (who was given rest to recover from a sore shoulder) finished with 6 points and 4 rebounds but left the game after banging knees with a Bucks player in the paint. The Cavaliers next play the Indiana Pacers in another central division matchup, this time at Xavier University in Cincinatti, Ohio. Tipoff is at Wednesday Oct 15 at 7pm. Hopefully the Cavs can get healthier and thus fix their problems on the defensive end of the floor. One thing we don’t need to worry about after this specific matchup is the team’s chemistry:
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