LeBron James did a fantastic outing against the Milwaukee Bucks last night, but it was not enough to save his team from a loss.
According to CBS Sports, James scored 37 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and gave five assists, but unfortunately also notched seven turnovers.
Similar to what has happened in the Cavaliers' past two games against the Utah Jazz and the New York Knicks, the team was down in the fourth quarter and had to rely on late game rally. But tonight, the Cavs failed and lost.
As noted by 24/7 Sports, LeBron James criticized his team and said, "We give a half-ass effort sometimes and expect that we can just make a run at the end," adding that "We're not good enough to do that right now."
The 2-time champ then said that he thinks that the Cavaliers are a good team, but they think they're a great time, to which James said that is not the case.
Moreover, the Cavs were down by 11 points about halfway through the fourth quarter, then James led the attack in an effort to take the game back. Although the team had a legitimate chance to beat the Bucks, had they avoided being down late at the fourth quarter, it might have gotten away with the win.
In a related report by Fox Sports, one good reason for the Bucks' win may be due to Jerry Bayless defensive effort against King James. Who, despite having a 5-inch and 50-pound disadvantage, Bayless did not back down from his assignment of defending the best basketball player in the planet.
Bayless said, "As great as he is, I'm going to try to make it as tough as possible for him, that was my mentality going into it."
Apart from his commendable defensive effort, the Buck scored 17 points in the game, which was made controversial due to whistle by referee Marc Davis at the end of the first overtime.
Even with LeBron's 37-point effort, the Bucks handed the Cavaliers its first loss, since the season opener against the Chicago Bulls.
In addition to Bayless, Michael Carter-Williams also scored 17 points for the Bucks, while Giannis Antetokounmpo had double-double figures of 16 points and 11 rebounds in 45 minutes of play before fouling out.
The controversy that arose in the game occurred with 7.4 seconds on the clock was left in the first overtime with the score tied. LeBron blocked a shot by Bayless with 10 seconds left but referee Marc Davis throught he heard the Cavs bench call time out and blew the whistle.
It resulted with the team to call time out and set up a final play. King James then attempted a 3-point at the buzzer, but it did not go in that resulted into a second overtime.
The Cavs next game will be against Detroit Pistons on Tuesday.
