Cavaliers bomb Bucks 115-99

 Kevin Love scored 25 points off the bench and Cedi Osman popped in 23 from the second unit as the Cleveland Cavaliers overcame an awful start to overwhelm the defending world champion Milwaukee Bucks 115-99 at Rocket City Field House in Cleveland.

Cleveland trailed by as many as fifteen in the first quarter and was fortunate to trail by only nine at the end of the quarter.

Cleveland would outscore Milwaukee by seventeen in the second and ten in the third and cruised to the win whereafter.

Cleveland's win was their third in a row and eighth in their last nine games.

The Cavaliers are off until Sunday when they travel to Detroit to play the Pistons.

Swashbucklings

1) Cleveland allowed Milwaukee to connect on six three-pointers in the first quarter and only three others in the final three.

Milwaukee lives and dies with the three-pointer and their bombs rarely hit their target/

2) Cleveland's hit nineteen three's on the game and seven came in the third quarter as the Cavaliers swallowed up their first-period deficit and blew by them in the second quarter.

3) The NBA game has evolved a great deal with the three pointer playing such a larger role in today's game and this game shows how when a team drills nineteen three-pointers and it really isn't all that unusual.

4) Darius Garland left the game with back spasms but did return after missing a few minutes.

Those few minutes likely cost Garland another double-double after finishing with nineteen points and eight assists in twenty-six minutes.

5) Kevin Love had been a target for many (including myself) over the last two years for lack of effort, a massive contract ( which still doesn't get off the books until after 2022-23 ), and an attitude that threatened to infect a young team in the locker room.

This season has been entirely different in play and attitude for Love, who initially appeared to resist being used off the bench as an offensive force.

Instead, it might have saved his career.

6) Cedi Osman can be streaky and both good and bad can come from that.

Osman was six of fourteen from three-point range in the win finishing with twenty-three points.

Osman had combined for twelve points in his previous three games.

7) The win moved the Cavaliers to fourth in the Eastern Conference and their thirty wins pulled them even with the three teams ahead, although playing more games to reach the number than the other teams.

Bucks pull past Cavaliers

   The Cleveland Cavaliers pushed the Milwaukee Bucks to the limit for two and a half quarters but were unable to keep pace for the entire four as the Bucks outscored Cleveland by eight in the third and thirteen in the final quarter with Milwaukee winning 123-105 in Cleveland.

Collin Sexton finished with 19 points to lead Cleveland's offense.

The Cavaliers will receive a rematch Saturday night in Milwaukee.

Swashbucklings

1) The game was close for most of the contest, but when you play an elite level team you cannot afford to allow them to get on a run and the Cleveland defense seemed to either relax or tire out midway through the third period.

2) Hopefully that defensive lapse was not an effort problem and it was fatigue-related or a plain answer- when you go for blow for blow with a much better team, the better team usually wins 90 percent of the time.

3) The Cavaliers had talked of shooting more three-pointers after their two games against Minnesota and their last game against the Clippers and they did- for a half.

Cleveland hit eight in the first half, but when the Bucks began to dominate in the second half, Cleveland would only connect on three from long range.

4) Damyean Dotson didn't get off the bench for the third time in four games.

Dotson apparently is in someone's doghouse and while some of this comes with the trade that added Taurean Prince and the Cavaliers beginning to use more mixes with Isaac Okoro, Darius Garland, and Collin Sexton together on the floor.

I'm not saying Dotson is a standout, but I'm also not sure what he has done (or not done) to have earned a deep seat on the foldup chair.

5) Another guy that may or may not have a long career in the league that I like is rookie Lamar Stevens.

Stevens is a high motor guy that isn't afraid to do some dirty work.

He's a rookie and an undrafted one at that, so defense is a problem as he learns the league, but it's not the effort and sometimes guys can learn if the desire is present. 

Bucks bounce Cavaliers 100-90

  The Cleveland Cavaliers' ailments may limit the number of players that they can use, but the final game of their six-game road journey found them in Milwaukee against the high-scoring Bucks, and the Bucks without the defending MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo weren't at full strength either.

Even without Milwaukee's biggest star, the Cavaliers didn't have enough to get by the Bucks in a 100-90 defeat to end a 2-4 trip.

Andre Drummond led the Cavaliers with 26 points and 24 rebounds with support from Damyeon Dotson's 21 points.

The Cavaliers are home Monday and Tuesday with games against the Memphis Grizzlies and Utah Jazz.

Swashbucklings

1) What I've liked most about the start of this season for the Cavaliers is how they have bought into the team/hustle concept.

They haven't used the injury excuse, although it could be justified to do so, and they never give up on a game and not in a "Steve Robinson" way either.

That's exactly how you make progress in building a future.

2) Andre Drummond almost singlehandedly kept this game in reach with his 26/24 evening. Drummond's 20/20 was the first for a Cavalier since Anderson Varejo in 2012.

3) Drummond has been even better than expected for the Cavaliers and during an off-season that had me wondering if the day of a more conventional big man was changing into an antique, Drummond has improved his shooting range and has worked hard every night.

4) Damyean Dotson played with 21 points and eight assists.

Dotson has been playing out of position during a time that the Cavaliers are essentially playing without a point guard and Dotson's play is even more impressive considering he's not a true passer and isn't playing with one either.

5) Larry Nance Jr. finished with 17 points, but also had four steals and maintained his lead as the league leader in steals.

Nance is excellent at getting into passing lanes, deflecting the ball, and seems to have an innate knack for finding the ball.

That likely sounds basic, but when you watch enough basketball you see players that can get to the ball but knock the ball out of bounds or get into a lane and not gain possession.

Think of it as similar to the shot blocker that leaps up to swat the ball away, but always seems to knock it out of bounds.

The point is to have a possession change....

Cavaliers bring Dellavedova home-Trade with Bucks

After a two year and a little more absence, Matthew Dellavedova is coming back to Cleveland as part of the Cavaliers trade with the Milwaukee Bucks and Washington Wizards.

The Cavaliers are adding Dellavedova along with center John Henson along with the Bucks first and second round picks in 2021 and Washington's 2022 second rounder.

Cleveland will be sending veteran guard George Hill to the Bucks and forward Sam Dekker to the Wizards, along with returning the Wizards 2011 second rounder that was obtained in a previous trade.

Matthew Dellavedova was a tremendously popular player in his previous stint with the Cavaliers and at 28 could still have some good basketball left in him.
Delly has seen his playing time reduced each of his three seasons in Milwaukee moving with 26 minutes a game to 18 to a mere eight minutes a night with the Bucks this season and averaging 1.7 points and 2 assists a game in that time.
The loss of playing time does make you wonder a bit, but in a deal that seemed to be made mainly to create cap space by moving George Hill and add draft picks down the road, the chance is minimal and bringing back a popular player never hurts in the eyes of the fans.
Dellavedova is under contract next year at 9.6 million.

Henson is a 6'11 power forward that underwent wrist surgery last week.
The 27 year old from North Carolina was averaging five points and five rebounds this season before the injury.

George Hill was making twenty million for the season and veteran leadership with ten points and just under three assists a night certainly wasn't worth all that.
Just adding cap flexibility to perhaps make more deals at the deadline makes this a good deal for the Cavaliers and Hill is a player better suited to be a role player on a good team than a stalwart on a mediocre one, especially at the money that he is making this season.

Sam Dekker moves to Washington (Washington sent Jason Smith to the Bucks in the trade) for his third team in 2018.
Dekker was around his career averages of six points and two rebounds, his numbers were similar to that of John Henson and likely included in the deal in order to make the salaries match up.

Anytime that you are able to add a future first and a second rounder (even if it could be as late as 2024 before the picks could be used) and save over ten million dollars in cap space, it's a good move.
It's even better when you could even move John Henson at the trade deadline for some more assets and add a popular player like Matthew Dellavedova as well.
Adding players with longer contracts to add future picks is smart and the type of move that a rebuilding team needs to make more of- Good job.