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The Cavs continued their winning ways tonight, knocking off the visiting Milwaukee Bucks at the Q. It wasn’t easy, and the game wasn’t in hand until the final minutes, but the Cavs locked in on defense in the second half and dominated the paint throughout the game for the 113 to 104 win. For the game, the Cavs scored 52 points in the paint, as they took advantage of a smaller Milwaukee team with great ball movement and an attacking mentality all game long. LeBron James and Kevin Love, who returned after missing just one game with an illness, filled the stat sheets to lead the Cavs’ effort. LeBron finished with a game-high 26 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds. Love was not far behind him with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, continuing his strong play against the Bucks.
The Cavs started hot in the first quarter, racing out to a 35-25 lead. Just a game removed from a season high 38 assists, the Cavs continued that trend, moving and sharing the ball on their way to 10 assists in just the first quarter alone. The defense let the team down in the second quarter, however, as they allowed Milwaukee to score easily and cut a 10-point first quarter lead down to just two at halftime, 63-61. Until tonight, the Cavs were just 1-5 when giving up more than 60 points in the first half.
The defense stepped up for the Cavs in the second half, helping them to hold the Bucks to just 43 points to seal the win. After the Bucks took the lead at 69-68, the Cavs stepped up on both ends to take over the game and build a double-digit lead at 88-78. The 20-9 run included highlight reel dunks by LeBron, wide open 3s by Love, and defense and ball movement by everyone in a Cavs uniform. The energy and execution during the run was dominant, and the Bucks didn’t have an answer for it. The Cavs didn’t end the quarter well, though, as the Bucks made a mini run to cut the lead to 91-87 heading into the final period.
The defense really stepped up in the fourth quarter for the Cavs. They were able to hold Milwaukee without a point for more than four minutes to start the final twelve minutes. They built the lead back up to 10 behind a three pointer from Love and an and-1 from Tristan Thompson. The Bucks wouldn’t get closer than 6 points for the rest of the game, as the Cavs were in command for the entire fourth quarter.
The Cavs put all five starters, plus Thompson in double-figure scoring. Behind LeBron and Love was Kyrie Irving with a great well-rounded game with 16 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds. JR Smith had 13 points and Thompson had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Timofey Mozgov finished with 10 points. For the game, the Cavs did not shoot well from behind the arc, but from inside the arc they were better than 60%. They also moved the ball well enough to rack up 29 assists, giving them an impressive 67 assists in their last two games. The win, combined with a Toronto Raptors loss, puts them 2 games ahead in the race for first place in the eastern conference. Next up is the Brooklyn Nets on the road as the Cavs look to continue their streak of strong play and build on their momentum.
Click “Next” to see all the highlights from tonight’s game!
LeBron James posterizes Giannis Antetokounmpo with no foul call despite getting his arm hooked.
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 24, 2016
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