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The Milwaukee Bucks struggled mightily without Damian Lillard on Friday night.
With Lillard ruled out due to a calf strain, the Bucks suffered a lopsided 124-101 loss at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Head coach Doc Rivers’ team fell into an early 17-8 hole and couldn’t recover, as Cleveland led by 18 at the half due to a 40-point second quarter.
The Cavaliers shot 51 percent from the field as a team, hitting 20 of their 47 three-point attempts. The Bucks had issues with ball security, committing 20 turnovers compared to 23 assists.
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 33 points and 14 rebounds to go along with three steals, but no other member of Rivers’ rotation scored at least 15 points.
While Cleveland owns the best record in the association at 24-4, it was still a disappointing result for Milwaukee following the team’s 2024 NBA Cup victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
Fans called out Rivers and the Bucks.
Eric Nehm @eric_nehm
Doc Rivers might run out of timeouts in the first half with the way the Bucks are getting back in transition defense.
Bucks Film Room @BucksFilmRoom
Horrible game by the Bucks so far. Safe to say Doc Rivers is unhappy, as he just used two timeouts less than 75 seconds apart.
Brian Spaulding Jr @Bspauld12
The Bucks really sold lol
Ben Say @say_50
Bucks get blown out by the Cavaliers, it’s a “letdown” game. They didn’t show up tonight and got worked over post NBA Cup competition against a really, really good team in Cleveland.
It’s time to get back to it tomorrow quick and bounce back against a lesser opponent: Wizards.
Lance P @LancePiep
Bucks getting boat raced tonight was not on my bingo card
LETS GO GRIZZ!!!!! (18-9) @will_edmunds04
doc rivers bad at coaching
Nationalize Blizzard???? @CallMeGdubG
I don’t comment much on NBA but I gotta say that the Milwaukee Bucks played atrocious tonight and should be embarrassed.
Donovan Mitchell led the way for Cleveland, finishing with 27 points and six assists on 9-15 shooting. He also connected on three of his seven attempts from behind the arc.
NBA @NBA
SPIDA SHOW TO END THE 1H ????
Lob to Mobley for the HUGE slam… to the steal and slam of his own! pic.twitter.com/yZxuWGAnTO
Friday represented the third time this season that the Bucks and Cavs have met, with Cleveland winning all three matchups.
Milwaukee will attempt to bounce back against the Washington Wizards on Saturday. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. ET.
