Milwaukee, WI (My Sportsbook) - LeBron James scored 32 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists, leading the
Cleveland Cavaliers to a 97-85 victory over the
Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas contributed a season-high 23 points and 17 rebounds for the Cavs, who have won five straight to move to 14-3. Mo Williams added 13 points, and Anderson Varejao recorded nine points and eight rebounds in the win.
"I had to be aggressive," James said. "Our outside shots just weren't falling tonight. We couldn't continue to not make open shots in the fourth quarter and not get into the paint, so I took it upon myself to try to get into the middle, create for myself and create for others."
Michael Redd, in his first game back after missing the last 14 with a sprained ankle, scored a team-high 20 points on 5-of-16 shooting in 35 minutes for the Bucks, who have lost four in a row. Richard Jefferson scored 19 points, while Ramon Sessions had 16 points and eight assists. Luke Ridnour contributed 15 points in the loss.
"I was just glad to be back out there tonight trying to help my team in any capacity to win a game," Redd said.
Down by five headed into the fourth, Ridnour hit a jumper after a steal to bring the Bucks within two with 8 1/2 minutes to play. Ridnour hit a three to make it 79-77, but Sasha Pavlovic answered with a three of his own with 5:43 to play to restore a five-point cushion for Cleveland.
James' layup with four minutes left gave the Cavs an 88-81 advantage, and Jefferson committed a charge on the other end to give the ball back to Cleveland. James promptly hit a three, and the Cavs never looked back from there.
"The thing I like most about (James) is as the game went on, he got more and more aggressive," Cavs head coach Mike Brown said. "He started attacking, and that set the tone for everybody else."
The Cavaliers led by as many as eight points in the first quarter, but Milwaukee closed the gap toward the end. Cleveland led, 20-16, after the opening frame.
Ilgauskas led all scorers in the first half with 14, and the Cavs took a 10- point lead, 48-38, to the locker room at halftime.
Cleveland jumped out to a 16-point lead behind a 6-0 run to start the third, but the Bucks used an 11-4 run and a 8-2 run to close the gap to five by the end of the frame.
"We fell behind so quickly in the third quarter," Bucks head coach Scott Skiles said. "We went to a smaller lineup that looked good out there. Even in the first half when we had our big guys out there, they dominated us on the glass. We got close again, and at a few key moments we took a couple of bad shots."
Game Notes
Cleveland has won 10 of the last 13 meetings with the Bucks...Milwaukee has lost seven of nine...The Cavs lead the season series, 2-0.