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With LeBron out, surging Bucks get best of Cavs 85 - 92
March 6, 2010
On a night when Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown decided to give a weary LeBron James an evening off, the majority of James' teammates also decided to take a break offensively. Already short-handed without starting center Shaquille O'Neal, Antwan Jamison and Delonte West were the only two Cavaliers to reach double figures in a 92-85 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks Saturday that ended Cleveland's six-game winning streak. Though James scored 40 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while rolling his ankle in Friday's 99-92 victory over the Detroit Pistons, Brown opted to let his MVP candidate take a breather. The move was not based on injury. James was physically able to go. "It's just a coach's decision," Brown said. "He's played a lot of minutes for us and I thought it would be a good opportunity for him to get some rest. This has nothing to do with the injury. This is my decision based on the minutes that he's played. " James averaged more than 40 minutes in three of his last five games and is logging 39 minutes a game this season. He had started all of Cleveland's 63 previous games.
"He's carried a big load and played a high volume of minutes for us," Brown added. "Even though he may not like it, even he needs to sit down and recuperate." Missing 42 points from their regular lineup, Jamison and West shouldered the offensive burden and kept the Cavaliers (49-15) in the game. However, the duo didn't get much assistance. Jamison and West scored a combined 57 points on 22 of 36 shooting. No other teammate scored more than seven points. Jamison had 20 points in the first half and kept his new team within 42-41 at halftime. However, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute limited the veteran forward to 10 points and four field goal attempts in the second half as the Cavs couldn't overcome their large offensive losses. "They have a lot of weapons," said Bucks coach Scott Skiles. "You don't win 49 games at this stage without that. "The main difference was that they didn't have LeBron," said Bucks guard Brandon Jennings. "We did a good job of closing them out."
Jennings broke out of a dreadful shooting slump as the surging Bucks continued to push toward the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Jennings hit 5 of 7 3-point attempts, including three in the third quarter. Prior to Saturday, Jennings had made just 13 of 53 shots in his previous five games. He also added a team-high six assists. Jennings also did an excellent defensive job on former Buck Mo Williams, who appeared to be looking for his shot more than usual due to the absence of James. Williams connected on just 3 of 17 attempts and was 1-for-7 from the 3-point arc. He never was able to give Cleveland the offensive spark it needed. "He's gotten a lot better as the year has gone on and gotten better pressure on the ball," Skiles said. "He's learning how to play the angles and he's taken a couple of laps around now so he knows the players in the league better." Carlos Delfino (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Mbah a Moute (10 points, 11 rebounds) added a pair of double-doubles. Andrew Bogut finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. Many of the offensive opportunities that came in the decisive third quarter were because the Bucks were able to get some easy baskets off of mistakes. The Bucks scored 12 of 27 third-quarter points off of turnovers and had 12 fast break points in the second half.
"We had a lot of guys chipping in. That's how we win," Skiles said. "We started getting our hands on some balls and we started to run a little bit." Bogut, who has not had much success against Cleveland this year, found it much easier to operate in the paint without the presence of O'Neal. "It's a much different game with him there," Bogut said. "It's certainly easier to get the ball inside and make plays." With the victory, Milwaukee (33-29) has won 15 of 19 games and nine of its last 10. Thirteen of Milwaukee's final 20 games are against teams at or above .500. Including the victory Saturday, the Bucks are in a stretch where they play six of 10 games against clubs that would currently qualify for the postseason. The Bucks are now 18-2 when they hold opponents under 90 points and have held foes below that magic number in 12 of the last 19 games. Jawad Williams started in place of James and finished with six points and three rebounds.