Monta Ellis drops 30 points as Milwaukee Bucks spank Cleveland Cavaliers 107-98: NBA Recap
On Wednesday night, at the Bradley Center, Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-98 as they pulled to within a game of the New York Knicks for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. This was the ninth straight
loss for the Cavaliers, who were playing without their rookie point guard Kyrie Irving.
Monta Ellis had 30 points, with 16 of them coming in the last 4:32 minutes of the game. Brandon Jennings finished the night with 19 points, and Ersan Ilyasova added 18 points for the Bucks.
Anthony Parker had a career night with 27 points for the Cavs while Antawn Jamison also chipped in with 17 points.
It took exactly a minute for the action to start, when Jamison opened the scoring with a 3 pointer for the Cavaliers. Both teams traded baskets as the action went along. Midway during the first quarter, Bucks went on a 12-0 run
to open things up in their advantage. The lead got as big as 15 points as the hosts closed out the opening period with the score line of 29-14.
Milwaukee controlled the game from that point onwards till the end of the game. At one point during the first half, the lead went to as big as 19 points in Bucks favour as they looked to decide this one early. Cleveland did manage
to reduce the advantage but only to a small extent as the difference at the half way stage was 14 points, 39-53.
Cavs never really bothered the Bucks in the third period either but they did manage to at least to get some of their offense working, which enabled to cut back down on the lead. Cavaliers closed the play after three quarters, behind
by 11 points at 68-79.
Early in the fourth it did not look that the visitors will trouble the home side. Bucks were able to extend their lead to as much by 17 with 8:55 remaining in the game. But there is no fun in a game with no drama.
Cavs who were being led by Anthony Parker started to make a comeback into the game, as they successfully managed to chip down the lead to 6 with 3:26 minutes remaining in the game. The game was getting back to competitiveness.
From the Bucks side though, up stepped Ellis, who had a 7 for 17 night till then.
He managed to connect on his last eight attempts, scoring 16 in the last quarter. His eight and one hook shot from Jennings combined together for nine successful trips to the basket for the Bucks in the last 5 minutes of the game
as Milwaukee held on to win this one.
This was a very good result for the Bucks who are right on the Knicks tail for a playoff spot as the regular season draws to a close.
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