Mo Williams hit a 15-foot jump shot at the buzzer to lift the Cavaliers to victory over the Bucks. Williams finished with 25 points. In a scary moment, Daniel Gibson ran full speed into a pick by Ersan Ilyasova and fell to the court, clutching his left shoulder. He was helped to the locker room with 6:38 left but returned about three minutes later in spite of a bruised left shoulder.
View full sizeCleveland Cavaliers' Mo Williams is fouled by Milwaukee Bucks' Brandon Jennings during the fourth quarter of their basketball game at Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday, November 24, 2010. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Mo Williams drilled a 15-footer at the buzzer and then leapt on the scorer's table to celebrate the Cavaliers' 83-81 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night at The Q.
Not only did he rescue his teammates with 25 points on Wednesday, but he may have saved the season as well. With the victory, the Cavs snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 6-8. With games against Orlando, Memphis, Boston and Miami looming, a disappointing season was threating to turn into a disaster.
Yes, it's only 14 games, but the Cavs haven't given their fans much to cheer about since the opening night victory over Boston. Now, perhaps they have a little Mo-mentum.
"Mo I thought was fantastic," Cavs coach Byron Scott said. "Defensively, offensively. I thought he did a heck of a job on [Brandon] Jennings. He just really took the challenge."
There was other drama as well. In a scary moment, Daniel Gibson, the team's emotional leader to this point, ran full speed into a pick by Ersan Ilyasova and fell to the court, clutching his left shoulder. He was helped to the locker room with 6:38 left in the game but returned about four minutes later in spite of a bruised left shoulder.
View full sizeCleveland Cavaliers' Antawn Jamison is fouled by Milwaukee Bucks' Luc Mbah a Moute during the first half of their basketball game at Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday, November 24, 2010. Scott admitted he was nervous when Gibson went down.
"I thought it could have been a separated shoulder," the coach said. "You think the worst at that time. When he left the floor, I didn't expect him to come back. But when he came back, that was good to see."
Both teams are struggling and came into the game desperate for a victory.
The Cavs are adjusting to a new coach and a new system. The Bucks, who fell to 5-9 in spite of 18 points from Keyon Dooling, are confounding. They were picked by many as contenders for the Central Division title and Scott Skiles was thought to be a possible coach of the year candidate. They dressed just 10 players last night because of injuries, including back spasms that kept out starting center Andrew Bogut.Skiles said he hopes his his team is going through the motions just because it's the early part of the season.
"You hope you don't have that kind of mindset of thinking that it's only been 13 games," he said before the game. "Because 13 games turns into 26 games and 26 turns into 52, and it all happens pretty quick. A lot of people think a coach just snaps his fingers and says, 'Hey, you guys gotta get ready,' then everybody suddenly gets ready. But that's not the way it works."
Before the game, both coaches talked about starting with a sense of urgency.
Then neither team managed to shoot 40 percent in the first quarter, which ended with the Bucks in front, 22-19.
Maybe they should look up urgency in the dictionary.
It comes after ugly.
Technical issues prevented the game from being shown in HD on Fox Sports Ohio. Trust me it would not have helped the first 24 minutes.
For the second night in a row, the Cavs seemed content to let good shooters shoot, and the Bucks pulled out to a 30-24 lead midway through the second quarter.
An alley-oop from Daniel Gibson to Jamario Moon had the potential to get the Cavs going, but they gave up a three-point play to Keyon Dooling on the next possession. By halftime, Milwaukee led, 44-34, as the Cavs registered a season low for the first half.