Bucks vs. Cavaliers: When it rains, it pours

Darius Garland throws cold water on Milwaukee’s epic comeback 

The Milwaukee Bucks lost yet another heartbreaking game to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 116-114, after threatening to steal it late. The Bucks entered this game without Giannis Antetokounmpo and (obviously) Khris Middleton. Many fans were preparing for a good ol’ fashion whooping at the hands of the Cavaliers, but were treated to a nail-biting finish behind a combined 57 points from Damian Lillard and [checks notes] AJ Green. Darius Garland dragged Cleveland across the finish line with a ridiculous 39 points. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below.

What Did We Learn?

The biggest takeaway from this game was that the Bucks are not far off the mark. The fact that they didn’t let go of the rope when the Cavs lead ballooned multiple times was a great sign. We’ll touch on a few individual players who played key roles in keeping the team afloat in the next segment. But overall, the stick-to-itiveness [editor’s note: love this] of the team was very admirable when their backs were against the wall.

If the Bucks make a few more plays or a few less mistakes at the end of the game, they probably win. Chief among these mistakes was committing a half-court violation on a crucial possession, Milwaukee up 111-100 with 57 seconds remaining, that led to a Garland three to give Cleveland a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Doc Rivers explained his frustration with the sequence postgame:

“We worked [on their high trap] this morning, and I thought ‘Dre got to the rights spot… we probably should have got rid of it early… if we got it to ‘Dre, AJ green’s guy was already going, and he would have been standing there all by himself.”

“They pinned [Dame] to the line, I thought he was so far back, and that allowed them to trap him. But we’ll work on that… and we’ll get better at it.”

“Those are the things that just kill you. You play so hard, and then you make these little self-inflicted wounds. Really proud of our guys. They fought their butts of tonight.”

Three Bucks

The early-season AJ Green scepticism was probably an overreaction.

Green went an uber-efficient 7/9 from three—including a literal half-court heave—in a whopping 33 minutes, and always seemed to hit crucial shots to stem Cleveland’s runs. Coach Rivers was very complimentary of Green’s resolve throughout the early season, even when he wasn’t playing:

“We told him going into the game, even before we knew that Giannis was not playing, that he was playing tonight. He’s earned it. He’s been working his butt off. And we thought we needed some life there.

Andre Jackson Jr. continued to prove his value tonight.

Jackson’s impact won’t show up in the stats sheet, but his team-leading plus/minus tells the story. There were a few hiccups—shooting when he’s at the rim being the main one—that we’ve come to expect from AJax, but that shouldn’t overshadow his positive impact:

“‘Dre played well again tonight. He just plays so hard. We love that.” – Rivers.

Pat Connaughton finally broke through.

Connaughton was able to play off screening actions, get into the teeth of the defence, and spray out to shooters. PC notched seven points, five assists, four rebounds, and two steals on 75% shooting. He led the team’s plus/minus along with Jackson:

“This was [Pat Connaughton’s] best game in a long time. And he needed that. Needed it for himself and needed it for us.” – Rivers.

Bonus Bucks Bits

• Andre Jackson Jr. was 2/5 from three tonight. And although we’d usually take that, it did become a problem amid Milwaukee’s third quarter run when the Cavs couldn’t score, but were also blatantly leaving Jackson open on defence—which meant the Bucks also couldn’t score. This was why, in my preseason writing, I wondered if they’d look at playing Stanley Umude in these types of scenarios.
• Gary Trent Jr. continues to struggle mightily as a Buck. Shooting 29% from the field and 23% from three on the season. He was a -19 in 21 minutes tonight. Yikes.
• Ryan Rollins, one of the Bucks’ two ways, played backup point guard minutes throughout the second half and did an admirable job, I thought.
• Delon Wright played a measly four minutes. Maybe he isn’t back on track?

Up Next

Milwaukee will fly back home and rest for a few days before their must-win game against the Utah Jazz on Thursday night at 7:00 PM Central on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.

---

Support our site! | BreakingT | ESPN+ | ESPN+ 30 For 30 | fuboTV | Disney+