It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, and it was truly a tale of two halves for the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night. At one point in the first half, the Cleveland Cavaliers led by as much as 17. However, the Bucks were able to make adjustments after halftime and dominated the second half. At one point, Milwaukee had outscored Cleveland 22-2 to take the lead. They never let it go again. There were plenty of solid performances, but I will highlight three.
Three Studs
Giannis Antetokounmpo
There was a weird stretch in the first half in which Giannis Antetokounmpo did not play for about 10 minutes. When he was on the court, though, he was his usual dominant self. After checking into the game in the second quarter, he almost single-handedly got the Bucks’ deficit to a manageable margin before half time. At the break, Giannis already had 22 points. He would go on to finish the night with 38 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and two blocks. This was one of Giannis’ best shooting nights on the season, as he was 13-20 from the field (2-3 from three) and 10-14 from the free throw line.
The Giannis Takeover. 😤
38 PTS | 9 REB | 8 AST | pic.twitter.com/0ppY3yMDtk
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) November 26, 2022
Related: Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Top Five Games vs the Cavaliers
Jevon Carter
If there is any flaw in Jevon Carter‘s game, it is that he does not shoot the ball enough. Very often, he is the best shooter on the court, but is too unselfish to take over. He nearly made everything that he did put on Friday night, going 6-9 from the field (5-6 from three). Carter ended the night with 18 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Bulldog showing out.
18 PTS | 3 REB | 2 AST pic.twitter.com/wKDJxVUYBx
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) November 26, 2022
Brook Lopez
There was no need for Brook Lopez to shoot as much as he did in the last meeting between these two teams, but whatever he did shoot he made. He finished the night with eight points on 3-3 shooting. Most importantly, Lopez remained an absolute machine at the rim. He finished the night with six blocks, the fourth time this season that he has reached that many blocks in a game. Lopez currently leads the NBA with 2.8 blocks per game.
Brook Lopez contests 18.4 shots per game—by FAR the most in the league (2nd is Zu at 13.8). He has a disproportionally massive defensive burden, yet his rim protection numbers are ELITE and MIL has the best defense in the league by a mile.
Road to the DPOY goes through Brook… pic.twitter.com/HvaGw70UXW
— NBA University (@NBA_University) November 20, 2022
Three Duds
Jordan Nwora
After a couple of very nice games, including a 21-point performance against these Cavaliers a week ago, Nwora has regressed. He was 2-8 from the floor (0-3 from three) and scored seven points. However, he gave little-to-no effort on defense and killed the Bucks’ momentum whenever he came into the game. One has to wonder why he is getting playing time over MarJon Beauchamp at this point.
Jrue Holiday
I never like putting Jrue Holiday on a duds list because he does so many little things that do not show up in a stat sheet that are important to the Bucks. That being said, he was just 4-13 from the field. He also got into early foul trouble and was limited to just 23 minutes played. To put it plainly, without Khris Middleton, the Bucks need Holiday to be a more consistent shooter than he was on Friday night.
Sandro Mamukelashvili
The second-year power forward, Sandro Mamukelashvili, received nine minutes of playing time in this contest. Pat Connaughton, who had just returned from a leg injury, was out with an illness. Unfortunately, Mamu could not take advantage in his slight uptick in minutes against the Cavaliers. He finished with three points, but what really stuck out was how poor of a defender he was. Mamu was bullied on the glass and made almost no defensive impact on the game.
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