The Bucks will be looking to bounce back from a surprising loss to Miami on Saturday as they face the Cleveland Cavaliers in Milwaukee on Monday night.

It was an ugly one at the Fiserv Forum on Saturday as the Bucks blew a 21 point lead and went ice cold from 3 in the second half to allow the Heat to steal the game in overtime. Giannis Antetokounmpo fouled out for the second straight game but still put up huge numbers (29 points, 17 rebounds, 9 assists). The Cavaliers are coming off a home win over the Indiana Pacers, led by Tristan Thompson (25 points, 13 rebounds) and Kevin Love (21 points, 13 rebounds). This is the first of 4 meetings between the two Central division teams.

The Cavaliers don’t have the shooting that Miami has, which should bare well for Milwaukee who was surrendering tons of open looks to the Heat. Collin Sexton is a talented young point guard and Kevin Love has always given Milwaukee some trouble. Look for the Cleveland offense to run through these two as they look to pull off a massive upset on the road. The Bucks will need to clean up their offense, which looked sluggish near the end of the game, struggling to find open looks and missing them when they did. If they can keep the energy up this game should be no problem for them.

Expected starters:

CLE: Sexton, Garland, Osman, Love, Thompson

MIL: Bledsoe, Matthews, Middleton, G. Antetokounmpo, B. Lopez

Injuries: Former Buck John Henson (hamstring strain) will not play for Cleveland.

The spread: MIL -15.5

Time and TV: 7:00 PM CT on FS Wisconsin


Prediction: The Bucks may have suffered one shocking loss already, but there is absolutely no way they lose this one. The mismatch in talent is massive and the Bucks should be motivated after dropping a game they should have won. Expect Milwaukee to win big. Bucks 125, Cavaliers 103

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