Milwaukee Bucks: Win over Cavaliers a much-needed statement
The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night. For this team to prove itself a contender, they needed a statement win like this.
The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 119-116 in one of the most exciting games either team has played this season. For 48 minutes the two teams traded big shots, dunks, blocks and a roaring comeback before Milwaukee grabbed hold of the lead in the final minute.
Coming into Tuesday night, the Milwaukee Bucks were 1-5 against the five best teams in the NBA, the lone win in their season opener against a Boston Celtics team reeling in the wake of the Gordon Hayward injury. While the Bucks have had success against the league’s middle class, the elite teams were out of their grasp.
Saturday night the Bucks showed out against the Houston Rockets, finally losing in Houston by four points in the final seconds. They kept that intensity through the first three quarters on Tuesday night, at times holding a lead as large as 20 points.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was steadily brilliant throughout the game, finishing with 27 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists — including 11-of-12 from the line. He scored almost entirely at the rim, using his impossibly long arms to fit layups around the defense.
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Antetokounmpo was also sharp moving the ball, throwing passes ahead in transition and finding open shooters when he was double-teamed. It was the excellent performance we’ve come to expect from the MVP candidate.
His running mate Tuesday was Eric Bledsoe, who rained down 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting. He was terrorizing the Cavaliers in transition, first knifing to the rim for three first-half layups and later taking advantage of expectations to pull — and hit — from deep.
The Bucks were helped by the return of two injured players. Matthew Dellavedova started for the Bucks and played 11 minutes, and Tony Snell played 23 off the bench and was part of the closing lineup. This was crucial to shoring up head coach Jason Kidd‘s rotation, which had been stretched thin in their absence.
Defensively the Bucks are settling into their new approach, where they trap much less frequently and instead depend on individual defenders. Even with a more conservative approach to pick-and-rolls, this team was getting its hands on everything, deflecting passes and sparking fast breaks the other way.
As good as Milwaukee looked through three quarters, they came close to losing the game. Up 103-83 early in the fourth quarter, the Bucks proceeded to give up a 24-3 Cavaliers run that put them down one. From 10:49 remaining in the fourth quarter to the 3:40 mark, the Bucks did not score a single basket.
LeBron James was unstoppable for the entire quarter (sans the final play). He was taking step-back 3-pointers, bullying defenders inside, and keeping his teammates involved. The King finished with 39 points as he brought his team back to take the lead with five minutes to go. His wingman, Dwyane Wade, hit a pair of 3-pointers himself to go from down five to up one.
The back-and-forth game saw Milwaukee down one with a minute remaining. Antetokounmpo rebounded a Cleveland miss and passed ahead to Bledsoe, who pushed into the paint and drew the double-team in transition. He then passed out to a wide open Tony Snell, who canned the triple of give Milwaukee the lead.
Cleveland missed its next shot, giving the Bucks the ball up two with about 30 seconds left. After running down the clock, Khris Middleton tried to hit a cutting Antetokounmpo, only for LeBron James to knock the pass away. In the scramble, the ball roll right to Antetokounmpo, who scored immediately with five seconds left to put the game away.
The BEST down the stretch moments from a wild finish between the @cavs and @Bucks in Milwaukee! pic.twitter.com/PefnsweIFc
— NBA (@NBA) December 20, 2017
Milwaukee has given up multiple fourth quarter comebacks this season, and generally fail to hang on once they give up the initial lead. It took incredible perseverance to keep contact with Cleveland and ultimately take back the lead and the victory. This team grew up a little on Tuesday night.
The quality of the opponent matters too. The Cavaliers had won five straight games coming into Tuesday, and 18 of their last 19. For the Bucks to come away with the victory shows they can hang with the best in the league — and specifically the Eastern Conference.
Soon there will be a changing of the guard in the East. LeBron James, one of the best to ever play the game, cannot win the East perpetually. There will come a time when James loses a playoff series in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and another team will represent the conference in the NBA Finals.
The Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors are both prime candidates to do so, and everyone is raving about the future of the Philadelphia 76ers. But the Milwaukee Bucks have a superstar, strong secondary scorers, and depth pieces around them with upside. They want to earn their place in the discussion of contenders. Wins like this are the way to do so.
Next: 2017-18 Week 10 NBA Power Rankings
In the end it’s just one game, and one where the Bucks failed to hold onto a 20-point lead. But it’s also a demonstration that this squad can beat elite teams. Can they win four times out of seven? That’s a question for April. But Tuesday night they won the game in front of them, and that was the statement this team needed.