After a slow start to the season, the Cleveland Cavaliers are beginning to play the way everyone expected them to from the beginning.
The Cavaliers were able to pull out a 111-108 victory over the Bucks on Tuesday for their fourth-straight win, but Milwaukee hung tough with the Eastern Conference favorites and held a double-digit lead in the second half.
LeBron James took over when needed most, scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter to send the Bucks to their second consecutive loss.
1 big moment: After Jabari Parker cut Cleveland's lead to 100-95 with 1:58 to play, Tristan Thompson scored with 1:44 on the clock. Larry Sanders was called for a technical foul -- his second of the season -- quickly after Thompson's layup.
Kyrie Irving hit the technical free throw, giving the Cavaliers three points on the possession and a 103-95 lead. Milwaukee would eventually get within three points with 26.6 seconds to play, but James hit seven of his eight free-throw attempts in the final 25 seconds to put the game away.
2 top performers: James hasn't played at all in the fourth quarter of Cleveland's last two victories, but the four-time MVP was needed against the Bucks on Tuesday. He scored 15 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, hitting nine of his 12 free-throw attempts in the final period. James turned the ball over seven times Tuesday, but he came up big when Cleveland needed him late.
In what might have been his finest game as a professional, Parker scored 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting. It was the rookie's second 20-point game of the season, while his 11 made field goals were a career-high. Parker also finished with eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.
3 key stats: Cleveland's big three of James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving finished with 81 of the Cavaliers' 111 points. Love scored 17 of his 27 in the first quarter, while Irving had 17 of his game-high 28 points after halftime.
Milwaukee was just the second team to score over 100 points on the Cavaliers in Cleveland's last seven games.
The lead changed hands 12 times Tuesday, while each team held double-digit leads. Milwaukee led by 11 with 6:16 to play in the third quarter, but Cleveland used a quick 9-0 run to get back into the game. The Cavaliers outscored the Bucks, 16-5, in the final six minutes of the third quarter to even the score at 79-all entering the fourth quarter.
Said: "Give them credit, they kept playing. They made plays. We couldn't come up with a rebound. They played zone there a couple of times. We had some good looks we didn't knock down. For us, this is a great learning experience. When we get open shots, we have to be able to knock them down. But we still gave ourselves a chance to win on the road. We have to learn from this game." -- Bucks coach Jason Kidd
"They played hard. They were really resilient. We just stayed after it and didn't give up. As much as they kept throwing at us, we kept our composure and were able to keep pushing forward." -- Cavaliers forward Shawn Marion
Seen: Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova suffered a facial contusion in the final minute of the first half when he caught an inadvertent elbow from Thompson in a battle for a rebound. Following the game, Kidd told reporters that Ilyasova was taken to a local hospital for a CT scan.
Ilyasova, who entered averaging 15.8 points over Milwaukee's last eight games, scored nine points in 12 minutes Tuesday before leaving injured.
"That hurt us, especially when they went zone," Kidd said of not having Ilyasova. "We didn't have anyone that could knock down an open shot. Ers has been playing at a really high level for us. We definitely missed him."
Next: The Bucks return home to face the Dallas Mavericks at 7 p.m. CST on Wednesday.
Led by 38 points from former Bucks guard Monta Ellis, the Mavericks improved to 14-5 with a 132-129 double-overtime victory in Chicago on Tuesday. Milwaukee will play the Mavericks twice in five days, as it travels to Dallas on Sunday.
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