It took the Cavaliers three quarters to wake up, but once they did, they were finally able to do away with the pesky Milwaukee Bucks, 108-90 Sunday at BMO Harris Bradley Center.
LeBron James led a late charge by Cleveland (46-26), ending the third quarter on an 8-0 run to send the Cavs into the fourth with a two-point lead. From there the Cavaliers outscored the Bucks 33-17 to get their third straight win.
James finished with 28 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. The Cavaliers are 8-0 on the road when James registers a double-double.
A 2 p.m. start along with poor attendance numbers equated to a dramatic dip in energy and could have contributed to the Cavaliers’ casual, awkward start. They were sleepwalking in the first 36 minutes.
It wasn’t like they were going through the motions; it just looked as if they didn’t get enough sleep and were fighting themselves to break out of it. It was an odd feel to the game. Milwaukee (34-36) pushed the tempo every chance it got, realizing Cleveland wasn’t up to the pace.
Cleveland’s lack of enthusiasm was summed up in one play when James threw the ball out of bounds, missing his baseline target to close the half down nine. The pass sailed four rows high.
Milwaukee shot 61 percent in the first half. Before the game Cavaliers coach David Blatt wasn’t overly concerned about the early start.
“It never fazed me to begin with it,” he said. “It is different biologically. Your body is trained and fixed on a certain starting time, and then suddenly it changes to a very different starting time. We haven’t had a horrible time with the games that started earlier, but it’s not easy because it’s certainly different for the players.”
Kyrie Irving supplied 20 points and seven assists. Due to Matthew Dellavedova being a part of the fourth-quarter unit that helped extend the lead, Irving did not play at all in the fourth.
J.R. Smith knocked down three wide-open threes in the first six minutes of the fourth. Overall he was 7-of-9 from deep, ending with 23 points. Cleveland leads the season series 2-1.
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