Cavs: This team has heart and 3 other things we saw in Bucks loss

The Cavs fell to the Bucks 100-90 in a game where the Cleveland crew were down three starters and a whole heap of talent from the bench.

The Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Milwaukee Bucks by ten points, in their 100-90 loss on Saturday night. The Cavs are finishing a long six-game road trip that saw the Cavs go 2-4. They also played most of those games without the combined offensive might of Kevin Love, Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Dante Exum, and others. Making the road trip highly successful when you factor in how much they had to overcome.

The Cavs fell to the Bucks early and had to fight back from a huge deficit but did just that and did it behind the shooting of Damyean Dotson who went 8-of-17 from the field and 2-of-7 from three for 21 points. Andre Drummond had a big game too, putting up 26 points and 24 rebounds. Drummond has 10 straight double-doubles

Let’s take a look at the four things this game showed us.

Wouldn’t stay down

It was like the scene out of the film Kick-Ass. The Cavs, the titular hero, getting beat down by a group of random thugs, with the leader telling Kick-Ass to stay down. Just like the young hero, this team wouldn’t listen and kept getting back up for more. The Cavs were down 35-16 in the second quarter but battled back to tie the game midway through. The Bucks still pulled ahead but were unable to put the Cavs away for good, letting them linger in the fourth quarter, never seemingly down more than a handful of points throughout the contest. Considering the Cavs are down seven players, three of which are starters, for them to hang with the de-facto top team in the East is beyond impressive.

Cedi, the streaky shooter

Cedi Osman is going to be streaky with his shot. That’s just how it is. If he were Darius Garland-type or a Kyle Korver-type this would be far more problematic but considering how dynamic his skillset is, you kinda accept this because Osman isn’t supposed to be your top scorer or even a top-three scorer. He’s a jack-of-all-trades like Larry Nance. Osman can’t be your primary scorer if you want to win but a bad shooting night doesn’t mean he’s not good or had a bad night. Though against the Bucks he had a bad night. That’s not the norm for him, however.

The Cavs have starting-caliber bench players

Damyean Dotson, Larry Nance Jr., and Osman are guys who can get it done and start for an NBA team. The issue isn’t that these men are starting, the issue is that the bench has no one left to score. With Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Dante Exum, and Kevin Love all back eventually, this Cavs team will be shockingly deep. Also, stop playing Thon Maker, please. He doesn’t have it.

More Dean Wade

Dean Wade is 5-for-5 in his last two games for 13 points. He’s only played 27 minutes. If J.B. Bickerstaff gave him Maker’s minutes on top of his own and wrote up more plays for him, Wade may just prove to be a valuable asset. We all know what Maker isn’t, let’s find out what Wade is.