LeBron got the night off and the Cavaliers couldn’t dig themselves out of an early deficit as the Bucks snapped the Cavs’ six-game streak, 92-85, on Saturday night in Milwaukee.
. The Cavaliers have been consistently winning without one of their Hall of Fame frontline players. Being down two was too many.
Already without Shaquille O’Neal, the Cavaliers gave LeBron James his first night off of the season. With James in street clothes, the Wine and Gold got off to a slow start and, unlike their rally one night earlier at The Q, couldn’t catch up – dropping a 92-85 decision to the Bucks in Milwaukee.
James twisted his ankle in Friday’s win over Detroit, but Coach Mike Brown maintained that – with a favorable hole in the schedule – he was just resting his hard-working superstar.
Jawad Williams got the start in James’ place, and the Cavaliers were noticeably (and naturally) off-kilter without the reigning MVP. The league’s top first-quarter scoring team managed only 14 points in the opening period and had to play catch-up all night.
The Cavaliers trailed by just a point at intermission, but the red-hot Bucks went on a 15-4 run to give themselves all the breathing space they’d need for their 10th win in the last 11 games.
“I have to give my guys credit,” praised Coach Brown. “I thought that the effort that they gave, especially defensively, was terrific. I thought the energy was pretty good, there were a couple of times where we had some breakdowns defensively, but for the most part I thought we were pretty good on that end of the floor.”
Antawn Jamison led both clubs with 30 points to go with a team-high 11 boards. Jamison went 11-for-18 from the floor, including 4-of-6 from long-distance. The former Wizard led everyone with five steals in his first loss as a starter with the Cavs.
