Category: Sports News

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Isaiah Johnson scored 18 points, and Colorado scored the last six points to beat Kansas State 79-70 on Wednesday night.

P.J. Haggerty and Andrej Kostic each scored four points in an 8-0 surge to pull Kansas State to 73-70 with 2:13 to play, but Colorado shot 6 of 8 from the free-throw line to seal it. The Wildcats were down 22 points with about 13 minutes remaining.

Johnson shot 5 of 11 from the floor and had nine rebounds and seven assists for Colorado (16-12, 6-9 Big 12). Ian Inman made five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points for the Buffaloes. Barrington Hargress added 15 points, Sebastian Rancik scored 13 and Bangot Dak had 10.

Haggerty scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to go with four assists to lead K-State (11-17, 2-13). Kostic and Nate Johnson added 10 points apiece. The Wildcats have lost eight of their last nine games.

Colorado took the lead for good about eight minutes in and led 37-18 with 3:45 left before halftime. K-State closed on a 15-5 run to cut the deficit to 42-33 at the break. Hargress scored 10 points and Inman made three 3s for the Buffaloes in the half. Haggerty scored 11 first-half points and grabbed six rebounds to pace K-State.

The Wildcats pulled within five early in the second half, but the Buffaloes answered with a 17-0 run for a 59-37 lead.

Up next

Kansas State hosts TCU on Saturday.

Colorado is on the road Saturday against fifth-ranked Houston.

___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

When the Houston Rockets took a 77-50 lead into the half against the Sacramento kings on Wednesday night, anyone who thought to themselves, “It’s over.” hasn’t watched Rockets basketball this season. Undoubtedly, you yourself may have has some reservations about switching over to your favorite Netflix show and calling it a night. Those reservations were briefly justified when the Kings started the second half on a 13-2 run, prompting Ime Udoka to call a time out, just few minutes into the quarter.

Udoka has seen what we have all seen before. A tale of two halves. To his credit, he pressed the right buttons and kept with the right combination of players that kept the offense from suddenly becoming stagnant. Alperen Sengun (26-point triple-double), Kevin Durant (21 points on 62 percent shooting), and Reed Sheppard (28 points on 43 percent from the three-point line) really powered the Rockets offensively, along with a much welcomed showing from Josh Okogie who shot an efficient 5-of-7 from the field, of which three of those shots were from behind the arc.

With Amen Thompson out with an apparent quad injury, Aaron Holiday got some run and not only shot well but gave the Rockets another ball handler that was able to help keep the ball movement crisp. Jabari Smith had 12 points on 6-of-12 from the field and even “Uncle Jeff” Green got some run in this game chipping in 5 points. It was a complete team victory over a bad Sacramento Kings team. However, given some of the issues the Rockets have had in these types of games, including against these very Kings, this win is not something to shake a stick at. In fact, Rockets fans hope it’s a sign that this team is on track to no longer struggle to win these types of games against lesser opponents.

If the Rockets are going to achieve what we all hope they are going to achieve, then these types of games need to be automatic. It’s especially helpful that the main rotation was able to rest in the fourth quarter headed into the second game of a back-to-back, this time on the road in Orlando. Getting a home win is also a welcome sight as the Rockets had lost four of the last 7 home games. In the end, a win is a win, and the Rockets need to start stacking as many of those as possible, so tonight Rockets fans can go home happy.

The shorthanded Cleveland Cavaliers, playing without Donovan Mitchell (groin), James Harden (finger), and Evan Mobley (calf), couldn’t keep up with a hot-shooting Milwaukee Bucks team, leading to their 118-116 defeat.

The stats in the table below are taken from Cleaning the Glass.

Now, let’s dive into the numbers.

• The Cavs have suffered their first loss when Jarrett Allen scores 20 or more points; they’re now 1-10. Allen was fantastic offensively, pouring in 27 points on 10-15 shooting.
• This is also the first time the Cavs have lost when Allen takes 10 or more shots; they’re now 1-14 when he does so. Allen was understandably featured early and often. He made the most of his opportunities and nearly sent the game to overtime, but his would-be game-tying hook shot came a fraction of a second after the final buzzer.
• Milwaukee posted an ethical 129.7 offensive rating (88th percentile). Their outside shot led the charge here.
• The Bucks took 49% of their shots from three (92nd percentile). This translated to 45 outside attempts.
• Milwaukee canned 42.2% of their triples (85th percentile). The Cavs, once again, dared their opponent to beat them from deep. The Bucks did so in a way the New York Knicks couldn’t the night before.
• Unlike against the Knicks, the Bucks converted 89.5% of their shots at the rim (97th percentile). Cleveland did a good job of limiting the Bucks’ ability to get to the basket. Only 23% of their shots came there (17th percentile). However, you can’t build your entire defense around giving up three-point shots to protect the rim while also not protecting the rim. The Bucks were able to have their cake and eat it too.
• Milwaukee did all of its damage in the half-court, with a 123.8 half-court offensive rating (97th percentile). The Cavs didn’t give them many opportunities in transition, but that doesn’t matter when the other team is executing that well in the half-court.
• The Bucks didn’t get to the line (0th percentile free-throw rate) and didn’t get many offensive rebounds (21st percentile). They simply out-executed the Cavs from the field.
• Cleveland shot poorly from three, going 12-40 (30%, 23rd percentile). There were guys out of the lineup, but this team is still built around outscoring its opponent. Shooting this poorly from deep isn’t going to cut it most nights, especially when your best three-point shooters — Sam Merrill (2-8) and Jaylon Tyson (1-6) — aren’t able to get anything to fall.
• Overall, the Bucks had 21 more points from beyond the arc. It’s a make-or-miss league.
• The Cavs outscored Milwaukee 25-6 in second-chance points. Winning this handily allowed the Cleveland to stay in this game despite not executing to the level Milwaukee did offensively.
• Dean Wade led the Cavs in plus/minus (+9) for the second game in a row. That said, he struggled offensively, going 0-4 from the field to finish with no points. He was a non-factor on that end.
• Dennis Schroder provided 26 points on 8-14 shooting. He did a great job of stepping into the starting point guard role. His scoring and playmaking kept the offense on schedule, which is all you want on a night you’re down this much firepower.
• The Cavs went 20-27 from the free-throw line, while the Bucks went 3-5. It once again felt like the Cavaliers were on the wrong end of some crucial calls, but the free-throw disparity paints a much different picture.

Looking for their 10th straight win for the first time in ten years, the Spurs continued their tour of Eastern Conference playoff teams, this time across the border against the Toronto Raptors. It wasn’t a pretty game, but despite more offensive struggles from Victor Wembanyama and some terrible free throw shooting making life harder than it had to be, the Spurs found a way, rallying back from 15 down late in the third thanks to some hot three-point shooting and clutch defensive play.

The Spurs scored the first six points and got out to a 9-2 lead, but similar to two nights ago in Detroit, things suddenly slowed down while they struggled with 5 turnovers, and the Raptors kept chipping away at the lead, closing the quarter on a 12-6 run to get within a point, 30-29. The main reason the Spurs were still ahead was, fortunately for them, Devin Vassell was also still in Detroit form with 8 points on 2-2 from three, and Dylan Harper came in hot off the bench for 9 points in the first quarter.

The Spurs seemed to wake up to start the second, with a Wemby block leading to a Harper fast break dunk, followed by a De’Aaron Fox three to force a quick Raptors timeout, but it was short lived. Wemby continued to struggle on the offensive end, and Toronto responded with a 7-0 run to take their first lead at 36-35. It stretched to a 10-0 run after a Spurs timeout, after they gave up a three by turning it over in the backcourt. The Spurs again briefly regrouped, regaining the lead and stretching it to five thanks to more offensive heroics from Vassell and Harper, but Wemby just couldn’t get involved on offense, and the Raptors closed on an 8-2 run to take a 57-55 lead into halftime.

The Raptors immediately got a three-point play to open the third quarter before Wemby finally got his first field goal of the game on an alley-oop dunk from Champagnie, who then hit a three to ties things back up. Lots of whistles had both teams in the bonus early, although Wemby, who couldn’t buy a call against former Spur Jacob Poeltl, was getting agitated and subbed out earlier than usual, likely to cool off. With him out and Luke Kornet seemingly a step slow after suffering a leg contusion in Detroit, the offense opened up for the Raptors, who continued to stretch out the lead in transition and from three. On offense, the Spurs were settling for threes and mostly missing, but a big one from Stephon Castle cut into a 15-point Raptors lead, and the Spurs found themselves down 78-90 with 12 minutes to go.

Matt Bonner, who is now a studio analyst for the Raptors but joined the Spurs broadcast for this game, mentioned Toronto’s biggest weakness is something Spurs fans can relate to: forgetting what got them there and getting stagnant in the fourth quarter. He was proven prophetic, as the Spurs opened the quarter on a 15-2 run to regain the lead, including threes from Castle, Vassell and Harrison Barnes, and a calmed-down Wemby’s presence on defense had the Raptors reeling. What they did have was the whistle in their favor and were already in the bonus less than five minutes in, which they used to stay close. More huge threes from Champagnie and Wemby got the Spurs ahead 106-100 with under 4 minutes to go, but poor offensive decisions after a timeout let the Raptors get back within two.

Free throws were a problem all night, with the Spurs hitting just 13-23 compared to 23-27 for the Raptors, and it reared it’s ugly head in the waning seconds of the game. Harper had a chance to get them up by 4 with 16 seconds left but missed both free throws. Fortunately, he got his own rebound, and Fox hit 1-2 to get the Spurs up 109-106 with 10 seconds left. Immanuel Quickley then hit 1-2 FT’s, and after a timeout, Wemby hit 1-2 with 8.7 seconds left. That meant the Raptors still had a chance, but Brandon Ingram’s three-point attempt went off the side of the backboard, and the Spurs were able to get the rebound and heave it down court as time expired, securing their ugly (but beautiful) 10th straight win for the first time since 2016.

Game notes

• Right after receiving a ton of praise on this site for the way he handled not being the center of attention on offense in Detroit, Wemby was back to trying to do too much when things weren’t going right in the first half. He forced what few bad shots he could find, going 0-4, plus he had a couple of turnovers when he tried to dribble into the Raptors defense. Then, he got subbed out earlier than usual in the second half after Poeltl got under his skin with holding, tripping and driving right into him. After some time to mentally cool off, Wemby was better (but not great) in the fourth quarter. His defense was there all night with 5 blocks and was why he was as team-high +19 on the court, but it was another bad night on offense with just 12 points on 3-12 shooting (although he had those four huge points in crunch time).
• A big part of the team’s free throws woes were courtesy of Fox (2-8) and Harper (0-2). While the rest of the team combined to hit 10-12, including 3-4 from Castle, it continues to be an issue particularly for the guards. They survived tonight despite shooting just 2-6 in crunch time (including Wemby’s 1-2), but overall the team is going to have to be better at the line. Once the playoffs hit, free throws will become harder to come by, and they’ll have to take advantage of whatever free points they can get.
• Despite a couple of blunders late, Harper was awesome on both ends tonight with 15 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. His performance off the bench was especially important with Keldon Johnson only playing 14 minutes after suffering a shoulder stinger. One great moment of maturity came late when Ingram tried to pump fake him three times to draw a foul, but he didn’t bite. Overall, Harper and Vassell (21 points on 5-6 from three) were the only two players who were steady on offense all night, and the Spurs desperately needed that.
• The win, combined with the skeleton Thunder losing in Detroit tonight, now has the Spurs just one game back in the loss column from the top seed in the West. They need to keep this tank rolling while OKC is injured and secure home court advantage.

Play of the Game

It may have been overshadowed by the missed free throws afterwards, but otherwise Fox was Mr. Clutch once again, including this huge bailout shot over the backboard with just over a minute to go.

Up next: Thursday at Brooklyn Nets

6:30 PM CT on FanDuel Sports

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Bennett Stirtz had 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting, Alvaro Folgueiras made 8 of 10 from the field and had a season-high 20 points and five assists, and Iowa beat Ohio State 74-57 on Wednesday night.

Cam Manyawu had 12 points and seven rebounds for Iowa (20-8, 10-7 Big Ten) and Tavion Banks scored 10 points.

The Hawkeyes shot 57% (27 of 47) from the field, 5 of 18 (28%) from 3-point range, and made 15 of 17 from the free-throw line.

Amare Bynum made back-to-back 3-pointers to give Ohio State a 14-2 lead, but Folgueiras answered with a three-point play and, after Devin Royal made a free throw, the Hawkeyes scored 18 consecutive points — eight by Stirtz — to start a 28-3 run. The Buckeyes missed nine consecutive field-goal attempts and committed five turnovers during their scoring drought of eight-plus minutes.

Devin Royal led Ohio State (17-11, 9-8) with 16 points and John Mobley Jr. scored 15. Bruce Thornton added 10 points.

Ohio State scores seven of the first 10 second-half points to trim its deficit to 10 points, but the Buckeyes got no closer.

Iowa was plus-11 (15-4) in points off turnovers and outscored the Buckeyes 44-18 in the paint.

Up next

Ohio State: Hosts No. 8 Purdue on Sunday.

Iowa: Plays Saturday at Penn State.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

DETROIT (AP) — Jalen Duren had 29 points and 15 rebounds, Cade Cunningham added 29 points and 13 assists and the Detroit Pistons beat the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder 124-116 on Wednesday night in a matchup of conference leaders.

The Thunder started the game without five of their six leading scorers — Shai Alexander-Gilgeous (abdomen), Isaiah Hartenstein (calf), Chet Holmgren (back), Ajay Mitchell (abdomen) and Jalen Williams (hamstring). The only one of the top six to start was Isaiah Joe, and he left at halftime because of a bruised hip.

Duncan Robinson added 16 points for East-leading Detroit. The Pistons have won six of seven to improve to 43-14.

Jaylin Williams had a career-best 30 points for the defending champion Thunder, and Cason Wallace added 23. The Thunder dropped to 45-15. They had won five of six.

After Oklahoma City cut it to 108-105 with 5:06 to play, Javonte Green answered with a 3-pointer on a possession where Detroit had four offensive rebounds.

WARRIORS 132, GRIZZLIES 112

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Will Richard scored 21 points, Brandin Podziemski and Gary Payton II added 19 apiece and Golden State routed Memphis in a game between two teams depleted by injuries.

Gui Santos added 17 points as eight of the nine Golden State players who saw action reached double figures. The ninth player, Malevy Leons, had nine points.

The Warriors built a double-digit lead in the first half, stretched the margin to 32 in the fourth quarter and coasted to the victory.

GG Jackson had 24 points and eight rebounds for Memphis. Ty Jerome finished with 22 points and five assists. Javon Small scored 16 points.

The Warriors are still jockeying for postseason positioning, beginning the night slotted eighth in the West after a 113-109 loss in New Orleans on Tuesday night. The Grizzlies have been on the skids since late January, dropping two straight and 12 of their last 15 entering Wednesday’s game.

The loss dropped Memphis into a tie for 12th place in the West with the idle Dallas Mavericks.

SPURS 110, RAPTORS 107

TORONTO (AP) — Devin Vassell scored 21 points, De’Aaron Fox added 20 and the San Antonio Spurs overcame Victor Wembanyama’s rough night to beat the Toronto Raptors 110-107 on Wednesday, extending their season-best win streak to 10 games.

Wembanyama scored 12 points on 3-of-12 shooting. He went 1 for 6 from 3-point range and 5 for 6 at the free-throw line, where his lone miss came with 8.7 seconds left in regulation and his team ahead by three.

Toronto’s Brandon Ingram missed a 3 that would have tied the game, and Wembanyama grabbed the rebound.

Wembanyama finished with eight boards and three assists in 30 minutes. He also had five blocks, including a pivotal one on Jakob Poeltl with 44 seconds left.

Dylan Harper scored 15 points, Stephon Castle had 13 and Julian Champagnie 10 as the Spurs won their fifth straight meeting with the Raptors.

Ingram had 20 points and a season-high 11 rebounds, Immanuel Quickley scored 20 points and Scottie Barnes added 15 as the Raptors lost their third straight at home.

ROCKETS 128, KINGS 97

HOUSTON (AP) — Reed Sheppard made a career-high seven 3-pointers and scored 28 points, Alperen Sengun had 26 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, and Houston beat Sacramento.

Kevin Durant added 21 points for the Rockets in their most-lopsided victory of the season. Houston has won two in row since blowing an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter at New York on Saturday.

Russell Westbrook scored 22 points for Sacramento, but 17 came in the first quarter. DeMar DeRozan added 15 on a night he moved ahead of Paul Pierce into 20th place on the NBA’s career scoring list.

The Kings were coming off a victory over Memphis that snapped their franchise-record 16-game losing streak.

Westbrook was 8 for 14 in the first quarter, with his 17 points his most in a first quarter since getting that many against Utah on Feb. 9, 2020. But the rest of the Kings were 1 for 10 and Houston led 33-22. The Rockets then outscored the Kings 44-28 in the second, going 8 for 12 from 3-point range, to lead 77-50 at the break.

Sengun had his third triple-double of the season and 11th of his career. Houston shot 54.7% from the field and hit 17 of its first 30 shots.

The Rockets led by 36 points in the fourth quarter.

BUCKS 118, CAVALIERS 116

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Kevin Porter Jr. had 20 points, Ryan Rollins added 18 and Milwaukee held off short-handed Cleveland for its fifth victory in six games.

The Cavaliers appeared to tie it on Jarrett Allen’s basket underneath at the buzzer, but it was ruled that time had expired. Allen had 27 points and 11 rebounds.

Cleveland was without James Harden after he broke his right thumb Tuesday night in a home victory over New York. Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley also sat out, with Mitchell nursing a strained right groin. Giannis Antetokounmpo missed his 13th consecutive game for the Bucks because of a strained right calf.

Jaylon Tyson pulled the Cavaliers to 116-114 with two free throws. After Milwaukee’s Kyle Kuzma missed a 3-pointer, Dennis Schroder scored from the right side of the lane to tie it 116 with 35.6 seconds left. Porter hit a free-throw line jumper to put the Bucks up 118-116 with 20.2 seconds remaining.

NUGGETS 103, CELTICS 84

DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic had 30 points and 12 rebounds on a rough shooting night to help Denver beat Boston.

Denver played most of the game without guard Jamal Murray. He left after logging 7:51 due to an illness and did not return.

Tim Hardaway Jr. added 14 points as the Nuggets bounced back from a 1-2 trip out of the All-Star break, which included a loss at Golden State on Sunday. They kept pace with Houston in the tight Western Conference standings. Denver is percentage points behind the Rockets for third place.

Jaylen Brown returned to Boston’s lineup after sitting out Tuesday night at Phoenix with a right knee contusion. Brown had 23 points for the Celtics, who finished 3-1 on a Western Conference trip. They had won five straight and nine of 10 before running out of steam in the thin air.

The Knicks have struggled with one of coach Mike Brown’s core principles coming out of the All-Star break. 

He has spent all season urging the Knicks to play with pace. They remain in the bottom half of the league in that regard, but they have played faster than last year under Tom Thibodeau. 

In four games since the break, though, the Knicks are averaging 97.25 possessions per game — down from their season-long mark of 98.57 per game. 

“One of the things we have to try and do better, especially offensively, is play with pace,” Brown said after the Knicks’ blowout loss in Cleveland on Tuesday night. “Our pace is not good. We have to do a better job of getting to the corners. We have to do a better job of playing with pace in the frontcourt.”

In Tuesday’s loss, the Knicks had just 95 possessions.

“We were running through mud tonight,” Brown said, “no matter what happened.” 

With that loss to the Cavaliers, the Knicks are now tied with Cleveland in the standings. And the Cavaliers are red-hot since acquiring James Harden ahead of the trade deadline — they are 6-1 with Harden. 

But the Cavaliers suffered a few injuries. 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST NBA STANDINGS AND KNICKS STATS

Harden suffered a fracture in his right thumb in that game, the team announced on Wednesday. The outlook is positive, however — he was listed as questionable for the team’s game against the Bucks on Wednesday night. 

Donovan Mitchell also suffered a groin strain in Tuesday’s game and was out Wednesday. 

If the Knicks and Cavaliers meet in the playoffs, Cleveland has established its best option to guard Jalen Brunson. 

Across the three matchups this year, Dean Wade has primarily guarded Brunson for the Cavaliers. According to NBA.com’s tracking stats, Brunson has just six points and has shot 1-for-16 from the field and 0-for-6 from 3-point range when Wade was matched up with him. 

On Tuesday, Brunson went 1-for-4 from the field and 0-for-2 from deep with Wade on him.

Al Horford alone was apparently an upgrade over Draymond Green and De’Anthony Melton.

After a lineup change, the Warriors pulled a 180 from their performance the previous night to cruise to a 133-112 win over the Grizzlies in the second half of a road back-to-back.

“Just a really good night for everybody who stepped on the floor, missing so many guys,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

Green (back) was listed as questionable and ruled out shortly before tipoff with the same issue that kept him out of Sunday’s win over the Nuggets. Melton (knee) has yet to be cleared to play on consecutive days.

The 39-year-old Horford returned and led a rejuvenated effort from an undermanned Warriors squad, which had only nine players in uniform — including two-way player Malevy Leons — but had no problem dispatching a team that dismantled its roster at the NBA trade deadline.

Eight of them — all but Leons — scored in double figures, led by 21 from rookie Will Richard. Brandin Podziemski celebrated his 23rd birthday by stepping into the starting lineup and followed up his double-double effort Tuesday with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Playing against his younger brother, Pat Spencer was a game-best plus-23 while dishing out a team-high nine assists in 32 minutes off the bench. In some kind of law of brotherly inverse, Cam Spencer was a game-worst minus-29 for the Grizzlies.

All nine Warriors also hit at least one 3-pointer as Golden State rebounded from a dismal shooting effort the previous night, knocking down 49 of 91 shots from the field (53.8%) — 19 of 46 (41.3%) from 3.

It was nearly a teamwide 50-40-90 shooting performance — until Leons missed two free throws late in the fourth quarter, which also prevented him from becoming the ninth and final Warrior to reach double figures.

What it means

After their 113-109 loss to the host Pelicans on Tuesday, the Warriors avoided the disaster of being swept on back-to-back nights by teams almost trying to lose.

Turning point

Richard responded to a statline of zeroes in 17 minutes in Tuesday’s loss to score eight of his eventual 21 points in the first quarter as Golden State jumped to a 34-31 edge.

The Warriors widened that advantage to 74-53 by halftime, using a 27-8 run that lasted most of the second quarter to take control until Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo finally called timeout with 4:46 left.

In a rare matchup having a size advantage, the Warriors pounded the paint for 18 points in the opening quarter, which they used to create the looks that resulted in 8-of-16 shooting from beyond the perimeter in their dominant second quarter.

Illustrating it all was none other than Horford.

The veteran backed down a mismatched Javon Small for an easy bucket on the game’s opening possession and then delivered one of the most dynamic sequences of their second-quarter run, draining a 3 from the top of the key and swatting Small on the other end.

MVP: Al Horford

The Warriors haven’t won any of their three games without Horford since Jan. 3. During that span, they are 12-8 with him in the lineup after their win in Memphis. Golden State improved to 6-5 without Green this season.

“Al was fantastic,” Kerr said. “(We) went to him early to establish the post, and he created a lot of advantages for us.”

Stat of the game: 33-14 points off turnovers

The Warriors played a cleaner game than Tuesday night, decreasing their turnovers from 21 to 16 (many in garbage time). The Grizzlies also turned it over 16 times.

Golden State was simply much, much better at turning them into points.

Up next

The Warriors head home to host the Lakers at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, when they should be closer to full strength. They should have Melton and Green back, and Kerr said he is optimistic about Kristaps Porzingis returning, too.

Golden State (31-28) is four games behind the Lakers (34-23) for the No. 6 spot in the Western Conference — the cutoff to avoid the play-in tournament. The teams have split their season series so far and will square off one more time April 9.

The Cleveland Cavaliers came up short on the road against the Milwaukee Bucks. Let’s see who won and lost the night.

WINNER – Dennis Schroder and the Bench

We’re lumping all of the winners into one category tonight.

It’s pretty difficult to lose three starters and still compete on the road. The Cavs were without Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, and Evan Mobley tonight. But those losses are easier to overcome when you have a roster full of guys ready to step up and seize the moment.

We can talk about some of the individual performances soon. But the intensity that this second unit can bring to the floor is worth commemorating on its own. This isn’t a B-Squad that hangs its head or feels discouraged whenever they lose minutes. This is a group that’s hungry and foaming at the mouth to take the floor.

Schroder earned his first start as a Cavalier, putting up 26 points and 5 assists. His constant attacks both as a ball-handler and point-of-attack deterrent eventually helped break the dam and put the Cavs in front. Even after rolling his ankle, Schroder continued to lay it all on the line and get into Milwaukee’s defense to convert the game-tying floater with under 40 seconds to play.

Before that, Keon Ellis and Craig Porter Jr. joined Schroder to create a beautifully chaotic trio.

Porter’s downhill drives got Cleveland back into a groove during the third quarter. They had previously struggled to break Milwaukee’s shell. But Porter attacked open space and dished the rock to Jarrett Allen to re-establish their presence in the paint.

As for Ellis, he’s quickly becoming a fan favorite. It’s one thing to go after every loose ball and come up with steals while diving to the floor. But to combine that frenetic defensive energy with a 4-of-8 three-point shooting night is going to win you a ton of good favor in Cleveland.

And then there’s Thomas Bryant, who has given the Cavs a reliable option in their frontcourt whenever they’ve needed him.

It’s rare for a roster to have one of these plug-and-play guys. Let alone a whole rotation full of them. The Cavs ultimately weren’t able to get over the hump tonight, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. This was as hard fought of a loss as you can have.

LOSER – Three-Point Defense

Milwaukee clearly had one plan for this game. Launch three-pointers and pray for the best.

Jokes aside, the Bucks were deliberately hunting for three-point shots. Or, at the start, settling for them. But once the Cavs showed they werene’t going to rotate and recover with proficiency — those shots stop feeling like last resorts. Milwaukee quickly found a rhythm and took off with a lead as the Cavs couldn’t keep up.

It started with poor defense at the point of attack. Turning past one defender put the rest of Cleveland’s defense in a bind. The Bucks were then able to drive and kick far too easily. Sure, they went bombs away from downtown, but that’s in large part because the Cavs couldn’t stop them.

AJ Green shot 5-10 from deep. Kyle Kuzma, who is shooting 32.5% from downtown this season, also converted on 5-10 of his attempts tonight. Each one felt like a haymaker.

This game shouldn’t have been a shootout. A shorthanded squad like Cleveland’s needed to make sure of that. The fact that Milwaukee was able to nail 19 of 45 (42.2%) three-point attempts should have been a dealbreaker.

Somehow, the Cavs still did enough to nearly steal this one. But a better defensive showing would have guaranteed them the win.