It was actually the type of loss you could excuse.
The Cavs were on the road, the Milwaukee Bucks hadn’t won at home, and O.J. Mayo couldn’t miss. Still, the Cavs really have no defense for their 109-104 loss Wednesday.
Actually, no defense -- or not enough for long enough -- was precisely the Cavs’ problem.
The Bucks shot 50 percent from the field. They buried a sizzling 56 percent (13-of-23) of their 3-pointers. And Mayo scored 28 points. He took seven threes, and missed just one.
“Maybe I spoke too soon about our team defensively,” said Cavs coach Mike Brown. “The performance they gave today is unacceptable.”
The Cavs entered the game second in the NBA in points allowed, surrendering just more than 91 to opponents.
But they allowed the Bucks to score 55 by the half. Much of that came on threes from Mayo or fellow guard Gary Neal (23 points).
“We kept telling our guys get up (on shooters), no air space,” Brown said.
It didn’t happen until too late -- as the Cavs trailed by 15 in the second half, cut it to seven with 2:06 left in the game, then took a 104-103 lead with one minute left.
During that run, the Cavs got stops. Unfortunately, when you only do it for a stretch, you leave yourself no margin for error.
Bucks forward Caron Butler tipped in a missed shot to put the Bucks up by a point with 14 seconds to go. Then Kyrie Irving dribbled off his shoe while making a move to the basket. Later, Irving missed a three to tie.
In spite of all that, it wasn’t the offense that was the problem. Irving had far and away his best offensive game of the season, scoring a game-high 29 points on 10-of-20 shooting. He also passed for eight assists.
Dion Waiters was nearly as good, scoring 21. And C.J. Miles continued his hot streak off the bench with 14.
“We scored 104 points,” Mike Brown said, following up on the idea that offense wasn’t the issue.
Brown spoke the truth, because the Cavs hit 45 percent of their shots and went for 43 percent on threes.
“The last five minutes of the game, we finally decided to defend,” Brown said. “Other than that, we were just going through the motions. We can’t coast or float through the game, and expect to try to win.”
So the Cavs (2-3) move on to Philadelphia, where they’ll try to do something on the road Friday they haven’t done yet this season. And not just win. Brown also wants his guys to come out with some energy. He wants them to defend for 48 minutes. He wants no excuses – at home, or on the road.
“If we need to play in front of a home crowd just to get a sense of urgency,” he said, with a slight pause, “we’re gonna be in trouble.”
Twitter: @SamAmicoFSO
