Cleveland (59-16) had two consecutive victories. LeBron James got 23 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists,and MO Williams had 21 points and 6 assists, and JJHickson added 14 points, Delong Te West got 12 points and Antoine Jia Mithen 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Bucks (41-33) end two game winning streak . John Salmons scored 28 points and seven assists,and Andrew Bogut 19 points and 12 rebounds,and Luke 11 points and 11 assists.
The Bucks, who went 11-4 in March to climb back into the playoff picture, overcame a 10-point deficit and took a 95-93 lead with 1:27 left on a 3-pointer by Ersan Ilyasova. The Cavs had been unable to separate from the Bucks in the fourth mostly because they kept missing free throws. They opened the period by going 5 of 11 from the line before James made two straight to tie it with 49.3 seconds left.
Salmons missed on Milwaukee's next possession and the Cavaliers called a timeout during which they set up a play that has worked all season.
Williams took the inbound pass and drove the left side and into the lane before threading a bounce pass from under the rim to a cutting James, who muscled in his layup over Bogut to put the Cavs ahead 97-95 with 17.4 seconds left.
Milwaukee called time and ran a play for Salmons, but as he started to the basket he was stripped by J.J. Hickson. The officials initially gave the ball to the Bucks but changed the call after a video review. Williams was fouled and made two free throws to make it 99-95.
Salmons then hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 8.6 seconds to go, giving the Bucks new life. But Williams, mired in a shooting slump from the field, then made his two free throws as the NBA's best team finally put away his former team by making its final six from the line.
Taking a bounce pass on the right wing, he began to elevate just as he was being wrapped up by Ridnour, who threw his arms around James' neck. But even with the 175-pound Ridnour clinging to him, James rose off the floor. He missed the layup but the awesome display of power drew oohs and aahs from the crowd as it was replayed on the giant scoreboard.
No comments:
Post a Comment