There are several stories this season that could be considered The Story, with capital letters. Chicago Bulls, Memphis Grizzlies… But what is happening with the Cleveland Cavaliers is beyond logic. A team that won 22 games last year and that this summer did not make a revolution in the squad, no signing of bells. Well, they already have more victories than all of last season (30), they are fighting for the leadership of the East and they are dealing with any rival that comes their way. Even the NBA champion. The Milwaukee Bucks suffered in their flesh from the small revolution that is taking place in Ohio and that increasingly threatens to become something very serious. Not a few years from now, it seems that who else who less already has it clear, but this very course.
Tonight’s game started in the way that many could imagine. The Bucks pounding from the perimeter (6/7 start) to go 26-35 ahead after the first 12 minutes. Everything seemed to follow the logical script in which the locals could replace a willing team, with a different and effective game, but still with many battles to lose. Those Cavs, this year’s so-called Cavs, only exist in the imagination of those who want to keep seeing them like that. Because this team plays, even today, as if they had been together all their lives and knew the meaning of the word defeat. It is true that many of them lost a lot in recent years, but as a group they have not fallen into battles in which they fight for big things. The ones that say they make you grow and come back stronger. They seem to have that strength as standard and they showed it that way from the second quarter.
After a bad start, they got down to business. To turn their perimeter into hell, with that strange defense for these times, with Jarret Allen and Evan Mobley as giants with seven arms that reach all corners. If the Bucks had started the game with 85.7% in triples, they were going to finish them with 28.1%. They were only going to put in 3 more in 36 minutes. Giannis Antetokounmpo, double MVP, best player in the last finals, a total superstar, was going to live a real via crucis. He had 26 points and 12 rebounds, yes, but also 7 of his team’s 19 turnovers (the Cavs had 31 points on turnovers). And he was the involuntary protagonist of the play of the game. A mate from Mobley to a pass from Darius Garland that is a very clear warning to sailors: “the future is us and we are already here”. Garland dancing to Jrue Holiday, one of the best outside defenders in the league, passing the ball to Mobley in the area and Mobley crushing and posterizing Giannis along the way. A play that brought the entire Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to its feet.
By then (final minutes of the second quarter) the Cavs had already turned the score around thanks to a 39-22 run before the break. But it was going to be the storming out of the third that was going to kill the game. 11-2, with three triples in 48 seconds. “These aren’t the Cavaliers we’ve known from the last couple of years. They have a good team and we have to respect them more. They’re a playoff team and they’re fighting for the title.” Anteto’s word. Little more can be added.