Though they seemed a little off at times, the Bucks ultimately took care of their divisional foes, knocking off the Cleveland Cavaliers, 129-112.
It’d be a bit of the same story that defined the second half vs. Miami to start this one out. It seemed that the Bucks would be sleepwalking at times, with not a whole lot of energy. All in all, there’d be seven lead changes and five ties to begin, and Cleveland advanced into the second quarter with a 31-30 lead.
Things would begin to trend north in the second quarter. Pace began to start increasing in the Bucks’ favor and a 21-8 run catapulted Milwaukee in front. A large part of that would be thanks to Pat Connaughton, whose 14 points off the bench made an instant impact. Heading into the locker room at half, the Bucks built up a 59-52 advantage.
The Bucks would slightly expand on their lead in the third quarter, with their bench maintaining the cruise control. Connaughton would continue to do his thing and George Hill came in and poured in seven points and a few assists. A Larry Nance 3-pointer as the horn sounded would cut the deficit to 91-80 in favor of the Bucks.
Cleveland would slice things to just five points, but that’d be as close as they’d get. The Bucks would step on the gas pedal enough down the late to accelerate across the finish line, and put the finishing touches on their second win of the year, 129-112.
Stat That Stood Out
I’m gonna roll with Planet Pat here (or as he referred to himself in the Half Minute to Win It where the objective was to name the most baseball teams, Patty Fastball). When it appeared that the Bucks could be spiraling towards another uninspiring performance, it was his contributions that lifted the squad. Three games into the season, his shot has looked spectacular and he’s absolutely feeling himself. All in all, his finished stat line would read 6-of-8 from the floor and 4-of-5 from deep. We all know how big of an impact he had on the Bench Mob last season, and it’s looking like a very similar story to begin this year’s campaign.