Coming into the season, nobody could have anticipated the Milwaukee Bucks being the more talented team during any one of their four matchups with the Cleveland Cavaliers this season.
But such was the case Thursday with LeBron James sitting due to left knee soreness and Kevin Love out with back spasms.
It also would have been impossible to predict the Bucks would have just one fewer win than the Cavaliers when 2015 rolled around. After much was made of Milwaukee's difficult December schedule, the Bucks finished the month at 7-8 thanks to a 96-80 rout of Cleveland at Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday.
Milwaukee heads into January with a 17-16 record, just 1.5 games behind Cleveland for the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference.
1 big moment: After seeing their 17-point lead cut to five at halftime, the Bucks began the third quarter on a 13-2 run to again seize control at 65-49. Cleveland wouldn't get to within single digits the rest of the game.
2 top performers: Coming off an eight-turnover game Monday in Charlotte, Brandon Knight led the Bucks with 26 points on 11-of-19 shooting. The 23-year-old added six rebounds with two assists and just two turnovers in 34 minutes.
With James and Love out, Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers with 25 points, four rebounds and five assists. The former No. 1 overall pick was in just his second game back after missing two games with a knee injury.
3 key stats: Six Bucks finished with at least six rebounds, as Milwaukee finished one off its season high with 54 rebounds. Zaza Pachulia, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo each had eight rebounds, Jared Dudley and John Henson grabbed seven, while Knight had six.
After the Cavaliers closed the second quarter on a 20-9 spurt, the Bucks held Cleveland to just seven points in the third quarter. It was Cleveland's first single-digit quarter of the season, while it tied Milwaukee's fewest points allowed in a quarter.
Cleveland shot 34.1 percent from the field, the second-lowest field-goal percentage by a Bucks opponent this season. Milwaukee connected on double-digit 3-pointers (11) for just the fourth time on the year.
Said: "Just knowing we let them back in it at the end of the first half, the first five minutes (of the third quarter) were going to be crucial to how we finish the game." -- Knight
"We knew they were shorthanded tonight, and we wanted to come out and make a little statement before the new year started. We jumped on them early. We knew that Kyrie and Dion (Waiters) would shoot the ball a lot, and there was going to be a lot of rebounds. The first half we were so-so, the second half we did a lot better job and pulled off a win." -- Bucks forward Jared Dudley
"We got off to a good start on the road, but they came back in the second quarter. We came out after halftime like we played in the first -- taking care of the ball and getting stops. That was big." â Bucks coach Jason Kidd
Seen: Bucks reserve guard Jerryd Bayless was a late scratch Wednesday due to soreness in his left knee. Milwaukee was also without center Larry Sanders (illness) and Ersan Ilyasova (concussion) for the fourth consecutive game.
With Bayless out, the seldom-used Nate Wolters played significant minutes for the first time since a 42-point loss to Toronto on Nov. 21. The second-year guard out of South Dakota State finished with four points and three rebounds in 16 minutes.
Next: The Bucks will open up the 2015 portion of their schedule Friday against the Indiana Pacers at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
Milwaukee is 1-0 against Indiana this season, pulling out an 87-81 victory at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Nov. 4. The Pacers have won four of their last six games after Wednesday's 106-95 victory over Miami.
