Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 takeaways from Bucks’ trampling of Cavs

Collin Sexton will bounce back.

It’s never wise to judge a basketball player by their best or worst games. Sexton played his best game as a pro on Saturday as he lit up John Wall with 29 points and six assists. Monday night was the exact opposite as Eric Bledsoe was the one that ran Sexton off the floor in the first half.

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The Bucks have defended the paint better than any team this year. A staple of a Mike Budenholzer-coached team is packing the paint on defense at all costs, even if it means allowing the opponent to get open looks from three (rarely open corner threes, though). Elite three-point shooting teams like the 2015 and 2016 Cavs are able to expose those weaknesses, but bad shooting teams will suffer.

Milwaukee packed the paint against Sexton and the Cavs couldn’t make them pay. Milwaukee cheated off of players on the perimeter and forced Sexton to beat them from the outside and he couldn’t as he went zero-for-eight from the field in the first half.

One of the most encouraging parts of Sexton’s game is that he never gives up and is always looking to improve. Sexton did a great job of staying persistent as he finished the game off with 15 points as he went five-for-10 from the field in the second half. This was a tough matchup for Sexton and he did a great job of fighting all the way until the end.

We’ll see if Sexton is able to bounce back from this on Wednesday night as the Cleveland Cavaliers face off against the New York Knicks.