The Milwaukee Bucks faced the Cleveland Cavaliers for the first time this season Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum. The Bucks emerged victorious 113-98 despite a slow start. This was a quality bounce back win after losing their first home game this season on Monday against the Atlanta Hawks.
The Bucks carried a 61-60 lead into halftime but outscored the upstart Cavaliers by 14 points in the second half thanks to some Splash Mountain magic. Brook Lopez is the biggest (literally) and first takeaway from this first Cavaliers matchup.
3 Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks win over Cleveland Cavaliers: Brook Lopez
Some skeptics of the early success Brook Lopez has had may be waiting for the cool off from Brook’s hot start to the season, Wednesday was not that day. If anything, Brook stoked the flames and added wood to the fire and then poured some gasoline on it for good measure to make sure everyone stayed warm in Milwaukee on a cold November night.
Brook Lopez scored 29 points on just 13 shots! Splash Mountain made 10 of the 13 including an absolutely scorching tally of seven made 3-pointers on nine attempts. There truly cannot be enough good things said about Brook Lopez, not only in this game, but to start the season. The man is playing 10 years younger than he actually is.
In addition to his 29 points, Brook added five rebounds and three blocks, adding to his league leading total 35 blocks in 14 games. Brook has more blocks than the next four players on the list despite playing one fewer game. In fact, Monday’s loss to the Hawks was the only game so far this season that Smash Mountain didn’t record a block.
Bucks nation will continue to sit around the fire that Brook Lopez has built in his first 14 games while we eagerly await the return of two of the Bucks big three that may need to be considered a big four.
3 Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks win over Cleveland Cavaliers: Giannis is a little rusty
This takeaway is far from any panic or negativity, but Giannis Antetokounmpo is just two games back from missing a week due to knee soreness and he is ramping back up. That said, facing John Collins, Clint Capela and Evan Mobely coming off a week missed with a knee injury is an absolute gauntlet for anyone to go against.
However, there are a few reasons this stands out as a takeaway, the easiest thing to look at is the box score of the last two games, since returning Giannis is 14-of-39 on field goals, 35.9 percent, far below the efficiency we’ve come to expect from Giannis and well below the 51.1 percent he’s shooting on field goals this season. The other box score standout that makes me believe Giannis is rusty is the fact that he has missed seven free throws in each of the last two games, on 18 and 11 free throws respectively. Free throws were an aspect of Giannis’ game that seemed to be improved going back to the Eurobasket competition this past summer, Giannis still needs more efficiency at the line.
That said, I do believe Giannis is shaking off some of the rust and will be back to his usual, freakish, league-dominating self in no time, thanks in part to finishing just two assists shy of a triple double. Early in the second half Giannis got the ball in transition and attacked three flat footed Cavaliers back on defense, he needed just two steps from the top of the key to get around the middle defender to the hoop for a lay-up. Also, pictured above, Giannis at one point took a baseline drive right into the chest of Evan Mobley and finished an and-one lay-in. The rust is coming off.
3 Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks win over Cleveland Cavaliers: Contributions from role players
It would not be fair to omit the often criticized Jordan Nwora from the takeaways of this game. Nwora had easily his best game of the season, from a point total standpoint, but also an efficiency standpoint. Nwora finished second on the team with 21 points on just 10 shots, shooting 6-of-10 from the field and 5-of-9 behind the 3-point line. Nwora also added three rebounds and one assist, block and steal. The aspect of Nwora’s game he still needs to work on is turnovers, Nwora did have three in this game but all in all, this game was a success for him and may keep him in the rotation a while longer.
The Milwaukee Bucks went into this game without Pat Connaughton, who was probable but held out to be safe, Grayson Allen, Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and obviously Joe Ingles, and got respectable contributions from George Hill and Serge Ibaka. Not massive impacts, but helpful impacts from role playing veterans thrust into more minutes due to injuries and both contributed to the win. Hill was 3-of-6 from the field for seven points and added three rebounds and three assists, one an energy raising alley-oop to Jordan Nwora.
As for Serge Ibaka, he (like Brook Lopez) is playing younger than he is, Serge was making pump fake moves and driving to the basket for a dunk, he made a 3-point shot and gave the Bucks 17 solid minutes. Ibaka finished with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and four rebounds. Modest output but still valuable for a player that most of us were surprised stuck around in Milwaukee this past off-season.
MarJon Beauchamp struggled from the field but also drew some of the toughest defensive matchups all season, spending time guarding both Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, both all-star caliber guards, while his scoring wasn’t there like previous games, this game might almost mean more in terms of experience guarding high level perimeter players.
Jevon Carter and Bobby Portis both efficiently backed up the big scorers of the evening, both 50 percent from the field, Carter 5-of-10, Portis 4-of-8. Carter also added eight assists and Bobby Board-is grabbed 11 rebounds.
All in all, this is a fantastic team win to get over one of the young upstart teams that is seeking relevance in the Eastern Conference, to win this game without some of the Bucks best players available is even more encouraging.
Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks analysis.