Cavaliers 94, Bucks 82
MILWAUKEE -- Dion Waiters scored 18 points and C.J. Miles added 16 off the bench as the Cleveland Cavaliers snapped a six-game losing streak with a 94-82 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
All five Cleveland starters scored in double digits. Kyrie Irving had 15 points, Tristan Thompson scored 14 and Tyler Zeller and Alonzo Gee scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Monta Ellis led Milwaukee with 37 points on 15 of 27 shooting but as a team, the Bucks shot just 39 percent from the field and made just 4 of 20 three-point attempts while turning the ball over 14 times, leading to 22 Cleveland points.
After winning six of their last eight, including a comeback overtime victory Friday night at Boston, the Bucks came into the game with a chance to pull into a first-place tie with Chicago atop the Central Division. However, Milwaukee came out flat, shooting 33 percent in the first quarter as the Cavaliers built an early nine-point lead.
Up 46-37 at halftime, the Cavaliers stretched the lead to 20 points with a 15-3 run capped off by an Irving layup that made it 67-47 with 4:01 left in the quarter. Milwaukee countered with a 12-2 run of its own and got within 10 on a Mike Dunleavy jumper with 1:44 left in the third.
Ellis hit a three from the corner with 22 seconds left to bring Milwaukee within six but an Irving layup at the buzzer gave Cleveland a 71-63 through the third period.
The Cavaliers opened the fourth quarter on a 9-1 run and Milwaukee never got closer than 10 points.
NOTES: Anderson Varejao missed his third consecutive game because of a right knee contusion and did not accompany the Cavaliers on their trip to Milwaukee. Tyler Zeller started in place of Varejao, who leads the league with 14.4 rebounds per game. ... Tobias Harris was inactive for Milwaukee because of a right elbow laceration. ... The Bucks have won nine in a row against the Cleveland, but coach Scott Skiles doesn't put too much stock into such streaks: "We haven't beaten Phoenix in Phoenix in 20-some years, whatever it is," Skiles said. "You look at something like that and you're like, 'How does that possibly happen?' One night you figure something's going to happen on the other team -- somebody's going to sprain an ankle or you're going to shoot 60 percent or something. I don't know. I don't read too much into that." ... The Cavaliers chose to stay home last night after losing to Indiana, instead flying to Milwaukee on Saturday morning. ... In four games against the Bucks, Irving has scored 27.5 points per game.
