3 takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks’ brutal loss to Cleveland Cavaliers
By Dalton Sell
The Milwaukee Bucks’ bench production failed in comparison to their opponent, which outright dominated the night
It is far from breaking news that Milwaukee’s bench has not been good this season. The reserves have struggled mightily to contribute on a nightly basis, which was once again painfully evident in last night’s ugly loss to the Cavaliers as the Bucks’ bench scored a measly 15 points.
DiVincenzo led the bench unit by scoring nine points, but it was an abysmal shooting night for him as he went just 4-of-11 from the floor, including 1-of-5 from three. This is just one game after the guard’s season-high 20-point performance against the Kings in the team’s last outing as his roller coaster ride of a season continues. With a bad shooting night to go along with his turnovers, it was yet another subpar game from DiVincenzo.
The next leading scorer off the bench was Jordan Nwora, who tallied a mere four points on 1-of-4 shooting from the floor. With Grayson Allen and Wesley Matthews both sidelined, the forward had an opportunity to step up and provide a spark off the bench, but it did not pan out that way. Yet, he was still better than George Hill, who went scoreless in over 22 minutes after missing all three of his shot attempts. Milwaukee’s other two bench points of the night came from Semi Ojeleye, who scored an easy bucket during mop-up duty.
While Milwaukee’s reserves could not throw a rock in the ocean, Cleveland’s bench brigade was scorching hot as they scored an astounding 57 points. A significant portion of that came from the tandem of Kevin Love and Cedi Osman, who were both fantastic. Love scored 25 and Osman 23 as the pair combined to shoot 17-of-33 from the field in a game where it seemed like the shot was going in every single time they let it fly. Lamar Stevens and Rajon Rondo added in the other nine points to help propel this uneven bench outing between the two teams.
This game only heightens how important the trade deadline will be for the Bucks as they look to add some reinforcements to the second unit. This should be a noisy wake-up call.