Cavaliers-Bucks Preview

By JON PALMIERI
Posted Apr 04 2012 3:41PM

With a showdown looming against the team they're chasing for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks have to be careful they don't get caught looking too far ahead.

A very favorable portion of their schedule could make that difficult.

Milwaukee looks to complete a season sweep of the reeling Cleveland Cavaliers - who will again be without Kyrie Irving - on Wednesday night in the opener of a five-game homestand.

The Bucks (25-28) trail New York by 1 1/2 games for the East's final playoff berth and will face the Knicks for the last time this season April 11. Milwaukee has a golden opportunity to cut into that deficit before that matchup with its next three games versus Cleveland, league-worst Charlotte and Portland - teams it's a combined 5-1 against this season.

"We've got to make sure we take advantage of this spot on our schedule when we're at home, and not go home and kind of get lazy, laying around," coach Scott Skiles said.

Skiles' team took care of an inferior opponent with a 112-98 victory at Washington on Monday, as Brandon Jennings led six Bucks in double figures with 19 points - 17 in the third quarter. Ekpe Udoh chipped in 15 points, eight rebounds and a career-high five assists for Milwaukee, which shot 51.8 percent after connecting on 41.5 in Saturday's 99-95 loss to Memphis.

Playing at home hasn't been much of a benefit for the Bucks, who have split 24 games at the Bradley Center this season. They have, however, won six straight overall against Cleveland and four in row at home in the series.

"If you want to talk about what's the most important games, I'd have to say all five of these at home - just from the fact that we've been struggling at home lately," Jennings said. "But a good thing is we'll be back at home, be able to rest in our home bed, do our regular thing that we do every day. Hopefully that can give us a lot of confidence."

Monta Ellis - the NBA's eighth-leading scorer last season - had one of his better performances Monday in his 10th game since joining the Bucks, scoring 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Ellis has reached 20 points with his new team only once and is averaging 14.4 points with Milwaukee after scoring 21.9 in 37 games with Golden State.

A playoff spot is no longer a serious option for Cleveland (17-34), which has lost a season-high eight straight after Tuesday's 125-90 defeat to San Antonio.

Irving's return wasn't nearly enough to prevent the Cavaliers from losing their 11th in 12 games. Irving came back from a one-game absence after spraining his right shoulder during Friday's 121-84 loss to the Bucks, but aggravated the injury after contact Tuesday and didn't travel to Milwaukee.

An MRI revealed a bruise and sprain, and Irving is expected to miss at least a week to 10 days this time.

Cleveland is averaging 84.3 points during the losing streak, reaching 90 once in the past seven games.

"I worry more when me as a coach and my coaching staff want it more than my players. That's when I start to worry," coach Byron Scott said. "And I'm getting worried."

The eight-game skid is the Cavaliers' longest since a league-record 26-game slide Dec. 20, 2010-Feb. 9, 2011.

Jennings has averaged 23.0 points against Cleveland this season, helping the Bucks win all three meetings.

Ellis scores 30 points, Bucks fend off Cavaliers

By CHRIS JENKINS
Posted Apr 04 2012 11:40PM

MILWAUKEE (AP) With the Milwaukee Bucks' lead beginning to slip away, Monta Ellis said he got the green light from Brandon Jennings: Just keep going until they stop you.

The Cleveland Cavaliers never did.

"When it feels like that, it feels amazing," Ellis said. "My team and coach had the confidence to keep going to me, and I was just making shots."

Was he ever.

Ellis scored 16 of his 30 points in the final 5 minutes, helping the Milwaukee Bucks fend off a Cleveland team missing Kyrie Irving for a 107-98 victory Wednesday night.

Beginning with a jumper at the 4:32 mark, Ellis hit the Bucks' last eight shots of the game - exactly the kind of scorching scoring touch the Bucks wanted when they made their big trade with Golden State last month.

"He's so deadly from 19-20 feet on in," Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said. "You've just got to give him credit. He was the closer for them tonight. He did a real good job at the end of the game knocking down shots."

The Bucks have won four of their past five to close within a game of New York for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks were off Wednesday.

Jennings scored 19 points, and Ersan Ilyasova added 18 for Milwaukee.

"I think Brandon got hot first and then Monta got hotter," Bucks forward Larry Sanders said. "That's a recipe for victory right there, with those two guys."

Anthony Parker tied a career high with 27 points for the Cavaliers, who have lost nine straight and 12 of 13.

"We had some great looks," Parker said. "Unfortunately, it was one of those days where some of the easier shots that we usually convert on weren't just fallen."

Cleveland looked lost early on without Irving, who reinjured his sprained right shoulder Tuesday night in a blowout loss to San Antonio. Scott said before the game that he has considered shutting Irving down for the final few weeks of the season.

"We came out, played well in the first quarter and then they won the last three quarters," Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. "It's a team, you feel like, we should handle a little bit easier than we did. But we won the game, which is good to see, and made some shots."

Antawn Jamison scored 17 points for Cleveland on 6-of-17 shooting.

Scott said his team needed to take advantage of inside scoring chances.

"Against this team, you're going to have to score," Scott said. "They just have too many guys that can flat out put the ball in the basket. We missed 30 shots inside the paint. That makes it real tough on you."

It was the first of five straight home games for the Bucks - and that isn't necessarily a good thing, given the fact that the Bucks are 13-12 at home, even after starting the season 7-2.

Wednesday night's win might not have happened without the late scoring surge by Ellis.

Ellis and Jennings provided an early highlight midway through the third quarter, when Ellis came up with a steal, charged out on a fast break and flipped the ball up for an alley-oop slam by Jennings. Milwaukee led 79-68 going into the fourth.

Alonzo Gee scored on a putback to cut the lead to nine early in the fourth, but Milwaukee answered with an 8-0 run that included a pair of layups by Jennings. Cleveland answered with a 7-0 run and trailed by 10 with 6:20 left, and cut the lead to six at 93-87 on Jamison's 3-pointer.

Ellis answered with a driving layup - the second basket in his late scoring spurt - and took over from there, knocking down six more jumpers to end the game.

"We knew coming into the game they were going to play hard all the way until the end," Ellis said. "There'll be games like that, and we just have to find a way to win. And we did."

Milwaukee appeared to have the game under control early on.

The Bucks led 53-39 at the half - the 11th time they've scored 50-plus points in the first half in their past 12 games.

Notes: Bucks center Drew Gooden sat out because of back soreness. Gooden has had two career triple-doubles, both against Cleveland. Ekpe Udoh started in Gooden's place. ... Milwaukee also was without Carlos Delfino because of a right groin injury.

Notebook: Bucks 107, Cavaliers 98

Posted Wednesday April 4, 2012 11:40PM

By Rick Braun, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Monta Ellis scored 30 points, including Milwaukee's final 16 points over the last 4:32, as the Bucks held off the Cleveland Cavaliers, 107-98, Wednesday night at the Bradley Center.

Ellis took and made Milwaukee's last eight shots, and a running hook by Brandon Jennings with 5:01 left gave the Bucks nine straight made shots to close the night. That kept the Cavs from getting any closer than six down the stretch despite outscoring the Bucks in each of the last three quarters.

The Cavs (17-35) lost their ninth straight game and 18th in their last 22 despite a career-high-tying 27 points from guard Anthony Parker.

Jennings finished with 19 points, and Ersan Ilyasova added 18 points for the Bucks (26-28), who pulled within a game of the idle New York Knicks for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

QUOTABLE: "The shots just were going down. When it feels like that, it feels amazing, and my team and my coach just had the confidence to keep going to me and I was just making shots."
-- Ellis on making the last eight shots.

THE STAT: The Cavaliers pulled down 21 offensive rebounds to hang around till the final minutes despite trailing by as many as 19 points in the second quarter.

TURNING POINT: Back-to-back 3-pointers by Omri Casspi and Antawn Jamison pulled the Cavs within 93-87, but Ellis answered with a scoop finger-roll on a drive down the right side of the lane with 3:10 left -- the second of his eight straight baskets -- and the Cavs would never get closer than six the rest of the way.

QUOTABLE II: "He had it going. They didn't know how to stop him, so I just told him, 'We're just going to keep running it until they stop it.' They didn't, so we kept running it."
-- Jennings on Ellis' late shooting streak.

HOT: Ellis was 7-for-17 before making his final eight shots to finish 15-of-25. Parker made 11-of-14 for the Cavs, including all seven of his 2-point attempts.

NOT: Forward Alonzo Gee made just 4-of-13 for Cleveland.

INSIDE THE ARENA: The crowd of 11,849 was Milwaukee's fourth crowd this year below 12,000.

GOOD MOVE: There was no wiser move down the stretch than putting the ball in Ellis' hands.

ROOKIE WATCH: Donald Sloan started at point guard in place of the injured Kyrie Irving and had 12 points and eight assists in 36 minutes.

NOTABLE: The Bucks were without starters Carlos Delfino (groin) and Drew Gooden (back), while Cavs rookie guard Irving did not make the trip after aggravating a shoulder injury Tuesday night in a loss to San Antonio. ... Ellis also had a team-best eight assists. ... Ellis and Jennings combined for 24 of the Bucks' 28 fourth-quarter points. ... The Bucks took the lead for good at 8-7 on two free throws by Ekpe Udoh, who started in place of Gooden and finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. ... The Bucks swept the season series with the Cavs, 4-0. ... The Bucks topped the 50-percent mark in shooting for the 12th time this season and the fourth time in five games. They're 11-1 when shooting 50 percent or better. Seven of their 12 50-percent games have come since the acquisition of Ellis and Udoh.

UP NEXT: For the Cavaliers, Friday @ Toronto, Sunday @ New Jersey, Tuesday vs. Charlotte. For the Bucks, Friday vs. Charlotte, Saturday vs. Portland, Monday vs. Oklahoma City.

• Cavaliers: Harangody, Varejao
• Bucks: Brown, Delfino

• Cavaliers: --
• Bucks: --

• Lead Changes: 5
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI
• Officials: #43 Dan Crawford, #61 Courtney Kirkland, #75 Eric Dalen
• Attendance: 11849
• Duration: 2:01