CLEVELAND: They were all tired. It’s to be expected the night after an overtime game when both teams had to travel. But the Cavaliers’ two best players outgunned the Milwaukee Bucks’ best two Wednesday and now have won eight of their last nine games.
Kyrie Irving scored 31 points and passed for a career-high 13 assists, while LeBron James scored 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the Cavs’ 113-102 victory for their second win against the Bucks in 24 hours. With Kevin Love again sidelined by a knee injury, James and Irving logged heavy minutes one night after James played 47 and Irving 45 in Tuesday’s win at Milwaukee.
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue was originally inclined to rest Irving and James, but both insisted they felt great and James’ trainer, Mike Mancias, signed off on it. So Lue ran them both back out there and they did what stars do — they won the Cavs the game.
Tristan Thompson grabbed 15 rebounds on a night when James and Irving combined for 60 points, 15 rebounds and 19 assists. This time, at least, Lue was able to limit both to 34 minutes.
It was the Cavs’ first appearance knowing J.R. Smith would be out for an extended time. Smith fractured his right thumb in Tuesday’s win at Milwaukee and will require surgery, but the Cavs still exceeded their season average (13.5) for 3-pointers per game with 15 on Wednesday.
“We’re going to miss J.R., his defense, his tough shot making,” Lue said. “But that’s no excuse for us. Next man up, we’ve got to be ready to play and we’ve got to be ready to help J.R. out until he gets back and gets healthy.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points and Jabari Parker scored 27 on a night the Bucks relied just as heavily on their stars.
Irving scored 14 points in the third quarter and has now passed for at least 12 assists in two of his past three games. He combined with James to score 10 of the Cavs’ final 13 points of the third quarter, extending an eight-point lead to 92-77 entering the fourth.
Smith’s absence will give opportunities to others such as Jordan McRae, who scored eight points in 16 minutes, including a nifty three-point play when he made an off-balance layup while falling down near the end of the third quarter.
Iman Shumpert also scored 10 points off the bench, including shooting 3-of-4 from the 3-point line.
“Got to try to make two in one I guess,” Lue said of Smith’s absence. “Shump’s a defender and Shump’s knocking down his shots and [DeAndre Liggins] gives us defense like J.R., and then get some scoring from [Mike Dunleavy] and [McRae] and those guys. Just have to do it by committee and having the right rotations. Guys stepping up and getting a chance to play some significant minutes and knowing they’re going to play for however long J.R. is going to be out.”
Richard Jefferson scored 10 points starting in place of Love and was ejected in the game’s final minutes after he got tied up with Thon Maker. Jefferson threw Maker to the ground for his first technical, then was given another when he wouldn’t stop arguing. Jefferson stomped off the court and flung his jersey into the stands on his way to the locker room.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.