Keep an eye on these Milwaukee Bucks.
Yes, the Cavs gutted out a 114-108 overtime win here Tuesday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, behind 34 points from LeBron James on the night he became the NBA’s eighth all-time leading scorer.
Kyrie Irving added 28 points and Channing Frye contributed 15 off the bench. The Cavs were already missing Kevin Love (bruised left knee), and J.R. Smith (six points, 17 minutes) didn’t come back for the second half because of an unspecified right thumb injury.
But this is twice now this year the Bucks have either routed the Cavs — the 118-101 beatdown levied against Cleveland here on Nov. 29 was indelibly etched in the Cavs’ minds — or pushed them to the brink.
Milwaukee came from 18 points down early and scored the final seven points in regulation to overtime. The Bucks (13-13) were led by 30 points from Jabari Parker and 25 points and 13 boards from Giannis Antetokounmpo.
But the two, ahem, young Bucks made critical errors in overtime that proved costly.
Parker missed a layup with Milwaukee ahead 108-107, and as James corralled the rebound Antetokounmpo was whistled for his sixth foul.
With Antetokounmpo on the bench out of the stop in play, James had all sorts of room and drained a 33-foot 3-pointer for a 110-108 advantage. And then Parker missed two free throws with 19.1 seconds remaining.
The two teams play again Wednesday at The Q.
The Cavs led 100-93 on Irving’s 3-pointer with 2:33 left in the fourth quarter. Parker tied the game at 100 on a bull rush to the rim with 15.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and Irving’s look at a game-winning 3 with 1.9 seconds to go clanged off the rim.
James finished with 12 rebounds and seven assists in 48 minutes. He was 5-of-9 from 3-point range. Irving added five boards and five assists in 45 minutes.
“We still got two rocket launchers we can go to and we’ll be ready,” James said, when asked how the Cavs would navigate the Bucks without Love.
With his first basket, at 9:12 of the first quarter, James passed Moses Malone (27,409 points) for eighth on the all-time list. He did it, fittingly enough, on a putback of J.R. Smith’s missed 3-pointer. Malone is also fifth in NBA history with 16,212 career rebounds.
Awaiting James in seventh place is former teammate Shaquille O’Neal with 28,596 points. James is 31 and in his 14th season. Malone played 20 years.
Before Tuesday’s game, James said Malone visited him in his hotel room before his professional debut — Oct. 29, 2003, when the Cavs played at Sacramento — and talked while the two shared a pre-game meal. Malone died last year.
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