Russell, Bucks bow out to Arizona
March 22, 2015Craig’s first trip to Swenson’s plus Browns on Hard Knocks – WFNY Podcast – 2015-03-22
March 23, 2015A 3 p.m. Sunday game that is not on national television is a bit of a rarity in the NBA. So, it’s no surprise that the Cleveland Cavaliers came out a little bit flat against a Central Division foe. The Milwaukee Bucks shot 61% in the first half, but the Wine and Gold used a late third-quarter charge and rode a bit of an unconventional fourth quarter lineup to a 108-90 win in the Bradley Center.
Cleveland Cavaliers 108
Milwaukee Bucks 90
Box Score
36 – Slicing and dicing through the heart of the Cavalier defense, the Bucks dominated in the paint in the first half. They shot 18-for-25 in the key and outscored Cleveland 36-22 there as they took a nine-point lead into the break. In the second half, the Cavs did a much better job in keeping Milwaukee out of the middle. The Bucks only managed seven buckets for 14 points in the second half on the interior, while the Cavs shot 60% overall as well as in the paint.
62-33 – Milwaukee fell back to earth early in the second half. After extending their lead to 11 just over one minute into the half, the Bucks were outscored 62-33 for the rest of the game.
23 – The Bucks coughed it up 23 times in this game, including 13 times in the sloppy first half. In the first half, there were 23 turnovers between the two teams as both squads displayed some signs of that early Sunday afternoon hangover. The Bucks boast one of the largest and longest starting lineups around the league with Michael Carter-Williams and Giannis Antetokounmpo hanging around the perimeter. Jason Kidd’s team did a nice job of disrupting things in the first half and making the Cavs feel like settling rather than attacking with multiple passes to set up good shots.
54-50 – As fundamentally lacking as both teams were with taking care of the basketball, the Cavs and Bucks shot well with Milwaukee shooting 54% to edge the Cavs there. They also kept each other off the offensive glass as there were only 15 between the teams for 19 second chance points.
23 – J.R. Smith gave the wine and gold a fantastic lift with his hot shooting. He was 7-of-9 from behind the arc, and he was active on defense too. His 23 points included 11 in the fourth quarter as him and James carried the fourth-quarter load with Love and Irving sitting.
102 – That’s J.R. Smith’s three-point make tally through just 37 games in Cleveland. He’s now connecting at a 39.5% rate, and this was his eighth game with five or more threes with the Cavs. When Smith gives the Cavaliers 10 or more points, the Cavs are 18-5. Smith’s contributions have been tremendous, and they’ve been game-changing enough that on certain nights, he can and has effectively replaced Kevin Love as the third star-level scoring force for the Cavs.
9-of-17 – It wasn’t just Smith that contributed to the second-half trey bombardment. Cleveland outscored Milwaukee by 24 from beyond the arc in the second half. Smith made 4-of-5, but James, Love, Irving, Shumpert, and Dellavedova each made one in the third or fourth. Milwaukee was 3-of-12 for the entire game, while Cleveland was 13-of-31 as they continue to take a ton of three point shots.
21-6-5 – After a very disinterested and timid first half for LeBron James where he shot just 2-for-6 and handed out one assist, he exploded in the second half. Instead of settling, he caught the ball on the move and attacked to open things up for himself and others. LeBron scored 21 of his 29 points in the second half, adding six of his 10 rebounds and five of his six assists in that stretch too. James shot 8-of-11 in the second half and added five steals and five turnovers in this contest. The entire team in general moved the ball much better in the second 24 minutes, notching 14 assists against just three turnovers.
0 – That’s the number of fourth quarter minutes for Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and Timofey Mozgov on Sunday afternoon. Coach David Blatt chose to ride the five-man crew of LeBron James, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Tristan Thompson, and Matthew Dellavedova for the entire quarter until the outcome was decided. We’ve seen Blatt not think twice about playing a player riding a hot streak or a strong stretch of play for an entire quarter. We’ve also seen Love and Mozgov sit out other fourth quarters. However, it’s an entirely different thing to see Irving sit for the entire fourth quarter in favor of Dellavedova. Irving struggled against Michael Carter-Williams (19 points, 9-of-14 shooting, five assists, six turnovers) a bit on the defensive end, and Delly came in and helped solidify the defensive effort. It didn’t hurt that Delly also canned an open trey and found James for a pair of well-timed and crucial buckets. The Aussie point posted five points, four rebounds, and two assists along with a +23 in only 17 minutes. Delly also had a team-best-by-far 140.6 ORtg and 72.4 DRtg. The LeBron-and-D lineup has always been a little bit dicey, but inserting Smith in favor of Marion or James Jones could work wonders going forward. In my opinion, there’s no reason to not have two of the quartet of Irving, James, Love, and Smith on the floor at all times to help balance the scoring and maximize the scoring opportunities for those four.
1 – One big problem that the Cavaliers have is complaining about the officiating. James spent most of the first three quarters doing more complaining than finishing, and Timofey Mozgov, the worst offender in the bunch, earned another technical foul for his slamming of the basketball on the floor. He was also lucky not to pick one up earlier when he took exception to a little extra contact from Zaza Pachulia in a tie-up situation. It’s one thing for James to complain, but it’s an entirely different thing of Mozgov’s caliber to complain every single time he receives contact. The Cavaliers need to button up a little more heading into the playoffs and power through looks inside rather than expecting a foul.
The Cavs will see these Bucks one more time next week at The Q, but they are also a potential first round opponent should Miami catch them for the sixth seed (currently one game back). I would MUCH rather see these young Bucks without playoff experience over the battle-tested Pacers or Heat. The Bucks were missing O.J. Mayo and Jared Dudley off the bench in this game, and they of course have been playing without Jabari Parker for months, lost for the year to a knee injury. I’m very sold on the Bucks being a tough out long term, but this would be the year to catch them in the postseason.
2 Comments
Cavs just had too much talent for the Bucks once LeBron the Cat got tired of just batting around the mouse. A few likes and dislikes about this one, understanding that the Cavs are just idling now:
– Blatt was right sticking with Delly in the 4th quarter. Kyrie lapsed into last year’s defensive habits, barely bothering until his man was entering the lane. Kyrie’s probably tired, given that he’s getting close to his career high in games in a season and he’s certainly not used to giving full effort so late in the year.
– Maybe same with Love. Yesterday was maybe the worst Love has looked. Not just that his shot was off but after a while it appeared he just didn’t want the ball. If it’s a late-season mini-crisis in confidence LeBron and Kyrie better force feed him and tell him he’s chucking when he’s open, hit or miss. They need him ready to access his inner dog in the playoffs. J.R.can go ice cold as quickly as he heats up.
– Agree about the complaining on calls. I get why LeBron is frustrated; he’s working hard to change momentum in a a game and some blatant grabs and smacks are ignored. But he also got at least one unjustified call and must remember his leadership responsibilities. When he skies for rebounds and dives for loose balls his teammates do. When he stops to complain after every missed layup so do they, and the opponent has a 4 on 3 the other way. You don’t want to enter the playoffs with the refs viewing you as the eastern conference version of the whiny Clippers. Suck it up. Argue only the most egregious missed calls and win back some credibility.
I’ll wholeheartedly agree with the “they’re tired” diagnosis.
We know what the Cavs look like when rested: They rain in the 3’s, they lob it up for Moz or TT or LeBron to grab (relatively) easy dunks, they play staunch defense that turns into easy transition points, they run fast breaks like clockwork, and are more-or-less unstoppable.
When the Cavs aren’t rested, they have to hope that LeBron or Kyrie or Love can carry the rest of them over the line. They don’t move as well, they don’t move the ball as well, and rely on their sheer talent to muddle through. Thankfully, they have sheer talent in spades. but that’s not really enough to be champions.
JR Smith is really an interesting conundrum. For what it’s worth, it sure looks like the trade did him a lot of good, and Blatt has figured out exactly how to use him effectively.
What that means is that the key for the playoffs will be to win series quickly rather than let them drag on to 6-7 games. Otherwise they’re going to run out gas.