3 takeaways from the Milwaukee Bucks’ galling loss to Cleveland Cavaliers
By Dalton Sell
After three days off following a tough win over the Toronto Raptors, the Milwaukee Bucks retook the court to face the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Although there was some initial optimism that both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton would be back on the floor after missing time, neither returned. That didn’t doom the Bucks, but it made things harder against a good Cavaliers team. The Bucks put up a good fight and managed to battle back from a double-digit deficit to take the lead early in the fourth quarter, but it was quite short-lived. The Cavaliers quickly regained control of the lead in the final period and walked away with the 114-102 victory. The Bucks had a legitimate shot to get this one, but they could not get things going late. With that said, here are three takeaways from a tough loss on the road.
While it went down in vain, Bobby Portis put together one of his best games of the season in the Milwaukee Bucks’ loss to Cleveland
Starting in place of Giannis Antetokounmpo for yet another game, Bobby Portis received the task of stepping up, and he certainly embraced the challenge.
Portis got it going early by scoring 11 of Milwaukee’s first 13 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting. The big man kept his momentum going as the game went on as he continued to be aggressive on offense while attacking the boards. In total, Portis had 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting, the second most on the team, and 11 rebounds, which led the team. Portis added yet another double-double to his ever-growing total this season.
His 23 points were the second most points Portis has totaled in a game this season, and a major reason for that was his 3-point shooting. Portis buried five of his eight 3-point looks, which was a new season high for the big man. It is no secret that Portis has struggled to hit his shots from the perimeter with consistency this season, so this showing could serve as a silver lining in what was an ugly loss otherwise.
This is the latest strong performance from Portis in what has been a solid month of January, and hopefully he can build off of what was one of his best games of the season moving forward.