Bucks escape from New York for meeting with Cavs

Following three consecutive games in New York, the Milwaukee Bucks' road trip continues as they face the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.

Milwaukee came out of its week in New York with a 2-1 record after taking down the Brooklyn Nets 144-122 on Wednesday.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the way with 32 points on 10-of-12 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds and eight assists. Khris Middleton added 27 points and 10 assists and Cameron Payne scored 18 points off the bench.

"Not making excuses, but we've been in New York for five days and it's been a lot," Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin said. "These games you just try to find a way to win the game, it was tough to find some rhythm and continuity defensively."

Griffin gave special praise for Middleton's performance as well.

"I trust Khris 100 percent. It's great to have a player like Khris who sees the game at a high level," Griffin said. "The connection he has with Giannis and just having him as a coach on the floor. There's times I call a play and Khris already has something."

Cleveland delivered during a hard-fought battle Wednesday, taking down the Dallas Mavericks on the road 113-110 after needing to come-back from a 20-point deficit.

Caris LeVert led the way for the Cavaliers with 29 points and seven assists off the bench. Jarrett Allen put up a 24-point, 23-rebound performance down low and Isaac Okoro added 22 points.

"Guts, plain and simple. The ability to dig down somewhere when things weren't going our way," Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "We were struggling defensively in the first half but collectively we went out and just found a way. You don't do that without heart, courage and fortitude."

LeVert was 6 of 11 from 3-point range, while Okoro went 4 of 7.

"We just have that never-quit mentality," Okoro said. "Everybody was positive through the whole game. Give credit to the coaches. They switched up the coverage on Luka (Doncic), made him think a little more. Once we started making the guys around him try to beat us it started to work out in our favor."

Donovan Mitchell leads Cleveland with 27.7 points per game while Darius Garland leads with 5.9 assists per night. Evan Mobley leads the charge down low, averaging 10.5 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.

Antetokounmpo leads Milwaukee with 30.8 points, 10.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. Lillard is averaging 6.9 assists while Brook Lopez is second in the NBA with 2.9 blocked shots per game.

On the injury front, Milwaukee's Jae Crowder who remains out with an abdominal tear. Cleveland was without Mitchell, Garland, Mobley Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome and Sam Merrill. Garland (jaw) and Mobley (knee) will be out for an extended period, while Mitchell is questionable Friday with an illness.

The Cavaliers have been one of the few teams in the East to give Milwaukee problems in the regular season the past two years. They won three of the four games in the 2021-22 season and split the four-game series last season, winning the two most recent matchups.

—Field Level Media