What to Watch For - Cavs v. Bucks
Posted November 29th, 2008 by Michael Curry
What to watch for tonight when the Cavaliers head up to Milwaukee for a matchup with the Bucks:
1. Can the Cavaliers keep rolling? The Cavs have won four in a row, they are winning by an average margin of 11 points a game, and they are coming off three straight games that have gone so well that LeBron hasn’t had to play a single fourth quarter minute. Road games on the second night of back-to-backs are the hardest challenge in the NBA regular season, but the Cavaliers seem to be playing so well lately that it might not matter. Especially when the opponent is the Bucks.
2. Have the Bucks gotten any better since we saw them two weeks ago? It’s hard to tell, as the Bucks have had a very uneven schedule to start the season, playing both the best teams and worst teams in the league. At 7-11, Milwaukee has beaten the teams they should beat (New York twice, Charlotte, Oklahoma City, Washington, Memphis), won one game they should have lost (at San Antonio when the Spurs were struggling), and have lost to teams they should lose against (Boston twice, Denver, Utah, Detroit last night, etc). Head Coach Scott Skiles was brought in to instill a defensive mentality to the team, and so far he’s been mildly successful, as the Bucks are currently 15th in opponents’ points allowed this season at 97.4 points per game, better than the 103.9 ppg they allowed last season, good for 23rd overall. The biggest problem plaguing the Bucks so far is turnovers, where the Bucks rank 28th in the league, coughing the ball up over 16 times a game. On the flip side, the Cavaliers average the third-fewest turnovers per game in the league, at just over 13 turnovers a game.
3. How will Michael Redd perform in his first game back in almost a month? Redd has missed 14 games due to a sprained ankle, and is probable for tonight’s game. Redd was averaging 21.4 points per game before the injury, but this long layoff certainly hasn’t helped him adapt to Skiles and new Bucks forward Richard Jefferson. Redd has been known to hurt the Cavs in the past, but with the way Delonte West has been playing defense, combined with some post-injury rust for Redd, I would be surprised if Redd is a determining factor in tonight’s contest. And without Redd lighting it up, I just don’t see how the Bucks can beat the Cavaliers with the way Cleveland has been playing.
Go Cavs.
