The Cavaliers are starting to click.
Showing how far they’ve gone from a sluggish start to the season, surging Cleveland overcame the Milwaukee Bucks, 135-95, on Wednesday night in front of a raucous Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse crowd and a national television audience.
Milwaukee had little chance because MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo was dressed like a street player. Not against this new Cavaliers team, a cohesive one with a fierce оffensive, stifling defense, and a strong sense of confidence.”
Over their current six-game winning run, Cleveland is not just defeating opponents, but destroying them.
Out of 288 potential minutes, the Cavs have led for 257 of them, including all but 13 seconds on Wednesday night. With this most recent joke, their average margin of victory has increased to 22 points. Their оffensive and defensive rankings are seventh and second, respectively, demonstrating the flexibility and two-way play that has propelled them up the Eastern Conference rankings.
Georges Niang, a reserve forward and one of the team’s key free agent additions from the previous summer who goes by the moniker G-Wagon, got off to a quick start and ended his incredible night with a cheer from the spectators.
In 27 crucial minutes off the bench, he scored a career-high 33 points on 13 of 14 shots from the field and 5 of 6 from beyond the arc. Prior to a miss in the fourth quarter, Niang made his first ten attempts. Additionally, he scored the most points in any half of his eight-year NBA career—20—in the first half.
Not unexpectedly, Donovan Mitchell, the probable All-Star, was quite the showman. In 26 outstanding minutes, he scored a game-high 31 points on 12 of 19 field goals and 5 of 8 three-pointers, while also dishing out seven assists and pulling down five rebounds.
Center Jarrett Allen increased his run of straight double-doubles to a career-high ten games. Allen is aiming to join Mitchell in Indianapolis for the yearly showcase of the league’s greatest players. Allen finished with 13 rebounds and 21 points. His run of at least ten consecutive double-doubles makes him the fifth player in club history. He is just one double-double away from matching Elmore Smith and Andre Drummond for the team record for the longest sequence ever.
Caris LeVert, a swingman who was doubtful before to the game due to a painful right wrist, persevered despite the ailment despite not seeming like himself. LeVert’s first six attempts were missed. He finished the game with four points on one of his seven shots.
In the fourth quarter, none of Cleveland’s starting players saw action. That was not necessary.
The Giannis-less Bucks were led by Damian Lillard, who finished the game being harassed by Cleveland’s defense and scoring 17 points on only 7 of 20 from the field and 1 of 5 from three.
Six rebounds and 16 points were contributed by Bobby Portis.
The Cavaliers took an early 20-point lead in the contest by scoring 22 of the first 24 points. They had only barely begun. They had a 25-point advantage at the half, which was their largest since they had a 30-point advantage against the Los Angeles Clippers at the half on January 29, 2023. At one point in the second half, the Cavs’ advantage grew to a game-high 47, but they soon let off and easily won another outstanding game.
After only going 4-6 in their first ten games this season, many thought the Cavs were a failure and wondered whether the roster needed to be reorganized or if significant changes were needed.
That rumоr has died down. Since then, they are 20-9. Since Darius Garland (fractured) and Evan Mobley (knee surgery) were forced to miss games due to serious injuries, they have won 11 of the last 14.
Wednesday night gave them a chance to showcase their current selves:
a real contender for the Eastern Conference.