3 takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks’ solid win over Cleveland Cavaliers
By Dalton Sell
The Milwaukee Bucks have been outright dominant against their Central Division opponents over the past few seasons, and they continued that trend last with a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers put up a great fight throughout, even giving the Bucks a scare in the final period as they made it a two-point ball game midway through. However, the Bucks managed to hold off a comeback attempt from the youthful Cavaliers to pick up the 112-104 win at Fiserv Forum. With all that being said, let us take a closer look at three takeaways from Milwaukee’s 15th win of the NBA season.
Led by Bobby Portis, the Milwaukee Bucks dominate the rebound battle in win over Cleveland Cavaliers
Rebounding has been among Milwaukee’s strongest suits this season, and they certainly put that on full display in the win against Cleveland. The defending champs just dominated the rebounding battle by hauling in 63 boards compared to the Cavaliers’ 44. A difference like this typically might not warrant a headline on its own, but it is interesting considering the Cavaliers have a trio of big men that are all nearly above 7-feet tall. The Bucks just outmatched them on the boards all night, outworking the Cavaliers at every turn.
A massive reason why the Bucks were so successful with their rebounding was Bobby Portis, who pulled down an impressive 16 boards on the night. While he struggled mightily with his shooting in the game (4-of-12 from the floor), he made sure to make up for it on the glass by fighting for all of these rebounds. Portis has been fantastic on the glass recently as he also hauled in 16 rebounds in the team’s recent win over the Miami Heat and 11 in the game before that.
Portis has practically turned into a double-double machine for the Bucks as he continues to thrive in the starting five. Compared to Brook Lopez, the team’s usual starting center who is sidelined as he underwent a back procedure recently, Portis provides much more rebounding as a starter. This could be a significant reason why the Bucks are the second-best rebounding team in the league at this point. It is undeniably a team effort on a nightly basis, but there is no questioning how crucial Portis’ rebounding has been for Milwaukee early on.