Bucks 105, Cavaliers 102
MILWAUKEE -- Brandon Jennings hit a three-pointer as time expired to give Milwaukee a 105-102 victory over Cleveland Saturday night at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
A night after both teams played in blowouts -- a Bucks victory at Boston and a Cavs loss at Chicago -- they played down to the wire. After giving up the lead to Milwaukee and trailing by as many as nine in the final two minutes, Kyrie Irving hit a pair of free throws to bring Cleveland within two, at 102-100 with 33 seconds to play.
Jennings appeared to connect on a three-pointer from the corner that would have put Milwaukee back up by five, but the officials ruled that Jennings' shot came after the shot clock expired. The call stood after review, and Cleveland came back to tie the game with 0.7 seconds left on the clock, setting the stage for Jennings' game-winner.
The victory capped off a strong effort by Milwaukee's bench players, who accounted for 62 of the Bucks' points. Mike Dunleavy led the way with a 29-point, 12-rebound effort, while Larry Sanders added 17 points and seven rebounds and Beno Udrih scored 11, nine of those coming in the second quarter.
Dunleavy also went 6-for-7 from beyond the three-point arc.
Irving led the Cavaliers with 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting, while Anderson Varejao hit 10 of his first 11 shots to finish with 20 points while adding 17 rebounds.
Out of the gate, the Cavs hit seven of their first nine shots to take an 18-10 lead before Milwaukee called time out with 5:37 left in the first quarter.
The Bucks came out firing in the second quarter, opening with a 12-0 run, with seven of those points coming from backup point guard Udrih, who scored nine of his 11 first-half points in the second quarter,. That enabled the Bucks to take a 35-27 lead when the Cavs called time out with 8:52 left in the half.
The Bucks added four more on baskets by Epke Udoh and Sanders before Cleveland finally got on the board when Irving hit one of two free throws at the 7:17 mark.
Udoh hit a pair of free throws at 5:55 to extend the lead to 12, but Cleveland rallied back with a 17-3 run of its own, cutting the lead to 45-41 with 2:58 left in the half and went into the locker room down six, 55-49.
NOTES: Neither John Henson (left knee sprain and bone bruise) nor Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, still recovering from off-season knee surgery, was active for Milwaukee ... Cavaliers assistant coach Paul Pressey was Milwaukee's first-round draft pick in 1982 and spent eight seasons with the Bucks.
