WRAP-UP
On Friday night, the high-octane Bucks waited until the fourth quarter to impose their will. On Saturday, Milwaukee took control not long after halftime.
Three Bucks starters topped the 20-point plateau while the Wine & Gold simply didn’t get enough production to weather the storm – with Milwaukee pulling away to take the 124-99 victory at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The win was the Bucks’ fourth consecutive overall, including their third over the Cavaliers this season and seventh straight in the series.
After an off-night from beyond the arc, Milwaukee drilled 16 triples on Saturday night – with Khris Middleton going 4-of-5 from deep and Bryn Forbes coming off the bench to drill all six three-pointers he attempted.
The Cavaliers were better at getting three-point attempts up on Saturday, but were just 6-of-28 from long-distance compared to 16-of-34 for the Bucks – the Conference’s second-best three-point shooting squad.
Andre Drummond led both squads with 28 points, going 12-of-17 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the stripe, grabbing a game-high-tying 11 boards to go with two assists and a pair of steals.
Cleveland’s starting backcourt followed up with 17 points apiece in the loss.
Collin Sexton was 6-of-18 from the floor, including 2-of-6 from long-range, adding three boards, three assists and a steal.
Darius Garland led both teams with nine assists and went 7-for-12 from the floor, struggling from long-range on just 1-of-6 shooting.
The only other Cavalier to notch double-figures on Saturday was Taurean Prince, who finished with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 2-of-3 from deep. Jarrett Allen led all Cleveland reserves with seven boards.
The Bucks were led again by Giannis Antetokounmpo with 24 points and 11 boards. Middleton and Jrue Holiday finished with 20 points apiece, with Holiday pacing Milwaukee with eight assists.
Miss any of the action? Find all the highlights and photos in the Game Tracker.
HIGHLIGHT
Darius Garland cuts inside to the baseline and finds an open Andre Drummond who rises up and puts his defender on a poster.
TURNING POINT
A loaded team like the Bucks can simply wear an opponent down, and that’s essentially what happened to the Wine & Gold on Saturday.
After a competitive first half in which neither team led by double-figures, Milwaukee took a five-point lead into the locker room. The lead was still five, 73-68, with 5:30 to play in the third quarter.
But the Bucks hit another gear from that point forward – using a 21-9 run to take a 17-point edge into the fourth quarter. In that final period, the Cavs got back to within a dozen, but no closer the rest of the way.
BY THE NUMBERS
By the Numbers - 16.4, 14.0 … Points and rebounds per game that Andre Drummond has averaged in 32 career games against the Bucks.
Saturday night’s effort was the 11th time Drummond has gone for at least 20 points and 10 boards against Milwaukee.
QUOTABLE
Andre Drummond, on the young Cavaliers getting back to their defensive edge from earlier this season …
"I don’t see why we can’t do it. We’ve done it before so it’s just a matter of getting that engine going again and watching what we do really well to get that back into our head – that this is what we need to do to be a good defensive team."
CALLS OF THE GAME
Enjoy the best broadcast calls of the night from Cavaliers Radio Network's Tim Alcorn and Rafa Hernandez-Brito from Power 89.1.
UP NEXT
With their four-game homestand in the books, the Cavs hit the road for their first West Coast trip of the season, tipping off on Monday night in Phoenix against Devin Booker and the Suns.
From there, the Cavs travel to Denver for a meeting against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets on Wednesday, up to Portland for a Friday night meeting with Damian Lillard and the Blazers before closing out the junket with a back-to-back on Sunday against the Clippers in L.A. and the Warriors on Monday in San Francisco.