Bucks at Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers look to get back into the win column when they host the reeling Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night. Cleveland had shaken off a poor start to the season with wins in five out of six games before it faced a daunting challenge this week with a game at Miami and another at home against Portland. The Cavaliers took the defending champion Heat to the wire before falling, and lost to the mighty Trail Blazers on a last-second 3-pointer.
A more prolific offense has keyed Cleveland's 5-3 surge, during which it has averaged 101.7 points - no small development for a team that routinely struggled to score points early in the season and still ranks 26th in the NBA in shooting at 42.8 percent. Milwaukee is one of the few teams in the league that lags behind the Cavaliers in such departments. The basement-dwelling Bucks have dropped four straight and 18 of 21 after a 107-101 double-overtime loss to New York on Wednesday.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FSN Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE BUCKS (5-20): Milwaukee hopes to have a more complete backcourt if guard O.J. Mayo returns after being away from the team to attend his grandmother's funeral. Without Mayo's scoring punch Wednesday, fellow guard Brandon Knight broke out for a career-high 36 points, but his three assists and eight turnovers are what stood out to head coach Larry Drew. "We're going to have to be better, and he's going to have to be better, at distributing the basketball," Drew said.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (9-15): Dion Waiters was listed as a game-time decision due to a sore knee prior to the loss to Portland, but managed to pull through and produce 25 points on 11-of-19 shooting. While impressive, that sort of production from Waiters often signals a negative outcome, as the second-year sharpshooter averages 16.4 points on 44.2 percent shooting in losses compared to 12.3 points on 40.9 percent shooting in wins. Waiters has averaged 23.2 points in Cleveland's last five losses and just 8.8 points in its last four wins.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Mayo led the Bucks with 28 points in a 109-104 win over the Cavaliers at home Nov. 6.
2. Cleveland C Andrew Bynum is averaging 11.8 points and 7.4 rebounds in his last eight games.
3. With a win, Milwaukee would improve to 48-48 all-time in Cleveland.