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Milwaukee Bucks Grades, Reactions From 115-100 Loss To Cleveland Cavaliers

By Jeff Herrmann

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Nov 19, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) drives against Milwaukee Bucks center Greg Monroe (15) in the fourth quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Reactions: The Bad

  • Rebounding has far and away been the Bucks biggest weakness this young season. How bad are things on the rebounding front? Well, the Bucks are in the bottom three in every major rebounding metric. Differential (-65), 28th. Differential per game (-5.9), 29th. Rebounds per game 38.6 (DFL, or 30th). The Cavaliers out-rebounded the Bucks 43-22 Thursday night. That number MUST get better for the Bucks or they will be looking up in the standings the rest of the year.
  • Michael Carter-Williams has got to be the most polarizing player on this Bucks roster. That’s because he’s far and away the Bucks most inconsistent performer. One night you get an All-Star caliber effort (Saturday vs. Cleveland), the next you get a turnover filled freak-fest, and the night after that you get a wildly uneven performance culminating in bad fourth quarter shot selection and a final turnover in the last two minutes that makes you scratch your head until it’s bald. Does Monroe have hands by his feet? No. Then why pass it there? Those sorts of inexplicable gaffes are unacceptable.

LeBron James is ridiculous. We’ve gotten so used to this sort of excellence that it’s hardly impressive anymore.

  • Like Tuesday night in Washington the Bucks did a good job of whittling down a lofty halftime deficit. This time they managed to get the Cavalier’s advantage down to just five before the start of the 4th quarter and an implosion which included three fouls on one possession culminating in a Matthew Dellavedova three pointer. The Bucks never took a realistic stab at the Cavs after that shot.
  • There are two necessary creeds to follow when covering a so-so sports team. 1. Blame injuries. 2. Blame officiating. With the injury card firmly out of play (the Bucks are finally healthy), it’s time to start blaming officiating for the Bucks woes. Look, the NBA gives preferential treatment to its preeminent stars. I suppose LeBron James has earned that. But that doesn’t make it any less annoying when LeBron rumbles down the lane and gets an anticipatory foul call or gets Khris Middleton T’d up for fighting for post position. If I was Middleton I would be pretty upset too. LeBron plays a physical style of basketball, but is allowed to do so without recourse. Thursday night the refs extended that rope to the rest of the Cavaliers, calling 29 fouls on the Bucks to only 24 for the home team.

Next: Grades: Starters

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