Cavs Fall To Bucks After Imploding In Third Quarter

Cleveland's four-game winning streak was snapped after Milwaukee came back to take a commanding lead in the second half.

When the Cavs and Bucks met nine days ago, it was a one-sided game pretty much the entire game that saw Milwaukee take the win. This time it was only a one-sided game in the second half. 

Cleveland had their four-game win streak snapped after getting defeated by Milwaukee with a final score of 102-117.

The Cavs went into the half with a 62-53 lead. They had a strong defense and limited their turnovers to two over the first two quarters. However, they had a slow start to the third quarter which allowed Milwaukee back into the game and size moment. 

Cleveland was outscored an abysmal 35-10 in the third and imploded both on the offensive and defensive side. 

Cleveland was clearly missing some of their key rotational pieces in this one. Lamar Stevens, Caris LeVert, and Kevin Love were all out and their absence was felt on the offensive and defensive sides.

Unfortunately, the Cavs may be looking at some time with their big man Jarrett Allen as well. He took a hard fall on his hip as he went up to block a shot from Giannis Anteokounmpo. Allen stayed on the ground for a little bit and eventually limped back to the bench and was ruled out later on in the game. 

Even though he would check back into the game, Allen was clearly favoring one side of his body. He only finished with 12 minutes played.

Injuries weren't the only thing to blame for this one though. The Cavs ended the game with 9 turnovers after only committing two in the first half. They also only shot 36.4 percent from the arc while allowing the Bucks to shoot 50.6 percent from the field.

They allowed Anteokounmpo to explode for 38 points and he even knocked down two threes. Giannis is going to get his fair share of points during any given game, but to allow him to start dropping threes is a bad recipe for success. 

The disappointing part of all of this is that it seemed that as Cleveland's offense started to drop off, they allowed their defense to get affected too. That is certainly a bad habit to get into.

The Cavs have to forget about the one, no other way around it. It was ugly but it's also time to move on. They have a great opportunity to get back in the win column as they'll travel over to Detroit to take on the Pistons on Sunday evening. 

--------

You may also like:

Donovan Mitchell On Getting MVP Chants From The Cleveland Crowd

Cavs Will Be Shorthanded In Showdown With Bucks

This Day In Cavs History: Relive Kevin Love's 34-Point First Quarter

Caris LeVert And Kevin Love Out Against Trailblazers

The Cavs Should Trade For This Utah Jazz Veteran

-----

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel for more coverage of the Cavaliers!

Follow our comprehensive Cavs coverage through Sports Illustrated's FanNation network here:

Website: www.cavsinsider.com

Twitter: @CavsInsider_FN

Instagram: Cavsinsider_fn