Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 124-117 loss to Cleveland Cavaliers
Despite being able to keep pace for much of the game, the Milwaukee Bucks fell short of snagging a much needed victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night in Cleveland.
On the back of their unconvincing victory last time out, the Milwaukee Bucks came up short against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night in Quicken Loans Arena, losing 124-117.
With the level of stakes attached entering into the night, the Bucks were up to the challenge of facing off against the new look Cavs for the first time as they got off to a solid start in the first few minutes. But the Cavs weren’t far behind and after going back and forth for the remainder of the first quarter, it was the LeBron James-powered team who were on top 26-25 after one quarter.
The tightly contested affair continued into the second, often with the Bucks looking to break through to hold momentary leads while lacking an answer to slow the Cavs down on the defensive end.
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Eventually, the Bucks were bogged down by miscues and a spell of ineffectiveness offensively, all of which led to them being down 64-57 heading into halftime.
Fortunately, the Bucks acted relatively quickly to make up their deficit during the beginning moments of the third quarter, falling into the pattern that came to define the game from there on out. Despite their efforts to close the gap even further, the Cavs controlled the game and kept it out of harm’s way all for the latter stages of the period as they led 93-85 with 12 minutes to go.
From there, the Bucks’ comeback pursuit suffered a massive hit, especially as the fourth quarter unfolded. Even without James on the floor in the few minutes he got rest on the sidelines, the Cavaliers strengthened their lead over the Bucks, which they built up to as much as 17 at the 4:36 mark of the fourth.
That prompted the Bucks, mainly Giannis Antetokounmpo, to leap into action and make one last push to make things interesting on the night. It wound up eventually being that, considering they went on a 18-8 run in what remained of the game, but it all wound up being too little, too late for the Bucks once the final buzzer sounded.
So without further ado, let’s dive deeper into what stood out in the Bucks’ loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday night.