Cleveland Cavaliers vs Milwaukee Bucks

The first and second place teams in the Central play on Friday night from Cleveland, but the gap between them may be as immense as the Great Lakes which highlight the region in which the two teams play.

The Cavaliers (19-7) are trying to stay hot and win their fifth straight overall and sixth straight over the Milwaukee Bucks (11-12). A win over the Bucks would give the Cavs a 6 ½ lead over the second-place Bucks.

LeBron James continues to show why he is the marquee star of the NBA, scoring 10 of his team’s final 18 points as they put away the Philadelphia 76ers, 108-101 in their last game, on the road on Wednesday.

James, second in the NBA with 28.9 points per game, notched 36 in the victory and his team improved to 10-3 when their star knocks down over 30. He has enjoyed playing against Milwaukee recently, averaging 37.8 points in the four-game regular season sweep of the Bucks last year, but scored just 14 in their first game this season 12 days ago at the Bradley Center.

Cleveland did not need his high octane scoring in this game though, as they rode a 29-0 run in the first half and coasted to a 101-86 win on December 6.

One may feel for the Milwaukee  Bucks defense as they will face Kobe Bryant and James in back-to-back games after allowing Bryant to score 39 points in a double-overtime thriller that went against them 107-106 on Wednesday. Bryant scored the final seven points in the game.

Michael Redd recorded his season-high in points in the losing effort, securing 25 and was balanced out by Ersan Illyasova’s 24 points.

The Bucks seemed to be a worthy competitor of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the early part of the season, going 8-3, but they have gone 3-9 since.

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