The Cavaliers – who haven’t lost at home this year and came into Thursday’s matchup having won 25 of their last 26 – put their two-game losing streak to rest, taking a three-point lead midway through the first period and not looking back to take the 115-100 win at The Q.
LeBron James led Cleveland with 27 points in the win, going 9-for-13 from the floor and 8-of-9 from the stripe, adding nine boards and six assists.
Kevin Love followed up with 22 points and 15 rebounds – good for his seventh double-double of the season and fifth in Cleveland’s last six home games. Love was 7-of-10 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from long-distance.
While Love has been solid from the field and beyond the arc all season, J.R. Smith has just started warming up over the past couple games. He notched double-figures again on Thursday, going 7-of-12 from the floor, including 4-of-8 from deep as part of his season-high 18-point effort.
With Mo Williams out of the lineup with a sore lower right leg, Matthew Dellavedova got the spot start and responded by dishing out a career-best 13 helpers – one less than Milwaukee’s starters combined – in the victory.
The Cavs also got excellent production from their reserves against the Bucks – outscoring Milwaukee’s, 39-12.
Tristan Thompson went 5-of-7 from the field to finish with 12 points and 11 boards – notching his second double-double of the season and 92nd of his career. James Jones went 2-of-4 from long-distance and finished with nine points and Jared Cunningham added seven points and four helpers.
But the story off the bench on Thursday was Anderson Vareajo – the Cavs 11-year veteran who’s played sparingly so far this season.
With Timofey Mozgov sitting out the second half with a strained right shoulder, Varejao took the opportunity to net nine points on 4-of-4 shooting to go with a pair of boards and an assist in 11 critical second-half minutes.
The Cavaliers dominated one of the East’s better rebounding teams on the boards, 43-22 – (the first time since 2005 they’ve held a team to 22 or less) – and outscored them in the paint, 21-14. Cleveland handed out 29 assists 40 made baskets.
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