1 stud and 1 dud for Cavs in signature win over Bucks on WED

Cavs stud: The bench

The Cavaliers starters did their thing, and I’m not taking anything away from Garland and the job Okoro, even with just three points, did against Holiday defensively for much of it, and Allen made Antetokounmpo work for everything. Cleveland’s rotations defensively and their help was far, far better from the first quarter on, and some of the whistles for Antetokounmpo were pretty questionable.

That said, the stud for the Wine and Gold from this impressive W over Milwaukee was the play of the bench, which outscored Milwaukee’s 57-15; they were the difference and their work played into Cleveland having 19 threes and 27 assists.

We have to give Kevin Love his props, as “Uncle Kev” had 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including a 5-of-9 shooting night from three-point land, to go with nine rebounds. Love and Cedi Osman, who had 23 points, four assists and two steals in 34 minutes and knocked in six triples in the game, were huge in sparking the Cavs here, and their efforts got Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse rockin’.

It’s been amazing to see how Love has thrived this season in a shift role after an injury-riddled past season, and while I’m never too high or low on Osman, given his inconsistencies and recent shooting slump, this was an amazing game from Cedi. These types of outings are part of why I get so frustrated at times from the swings over stretches of games from the 26-year-old wing, but Wednesday still showed he’s capable of being quite the bench spark.

From there as far as other notable bench contributors, Rajon Rondo did a solid job to me filling in as a bench playmaker, and while there were three turnovers from him, as he’s still getting his feel down with Cleveland, he did have five assists. His organizational sense has stood out when he’s been in there with the Cavaliers.

And last but not least, Lamar Stevens in 19 minutes was off offensively on 1-of-5 shooting, but he was impactful in other ways in getting floor burns going for loose balls, and his defensive efforts undoubtedly ignited the team.

The sturdy Stevens is an impactful on-ball and versatile defender, and his team defensive awareness continues to jump out; he had five rebounds (albeit two offensive) and three steals in this one. It’s been awesome to see Lamar contribute regularly when given the opportunities for much of this season, and he’ll only get better.

Okay, so next, we’ll look into where Cleveland could’ve been better in this one, and put our coaching hat on.