Cleveland Cavaliers at Milwaukee Bucks gamethread and mini preview

On the heels of a nice road victory over the San Antonio Spurs the Cleveland Cavaliers head to Milwaukee. They’ll find a team that may easily clear the 60 win threshold. They have the league’s reigning MVP, a 23-3 record, and no signs of slowing down. Sure they’ve lost Malcolm Brogdon, but Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton might be all you need to get through the East this year.

The Cavs appear to have put the Tristan Thompson-John Beilein rift behind them, and have had back to back games where a young player excelled - first Kevin Porter Jr., and then Collin Sexton. Neither have “arrived” and neither can legally drink alcohol yet, but we’ll take good games from those folks any way we can. Perhaps tonight is Darius Garland’s turn.

The Cavs had moderate success earlier in the year putting Tristan Thompson on Giannis, and it’s fair to assume they’ll try that again. The big thing I’ll be looking for is if the Cavs can generate offense that is not based around Kevin Love or Thompson post-ups. The young guards have to create high quality looks for teammates - a lot of the frustration from Thompson and Love probably stems from the fact that it isn’t happening enough.

I’m not sure anyone’s expecting a win here, but a competitive game where a young player takes a step forward or gives us reason to believe is probably all we’re hoping for.