Bucks Barrel Through Cavs

Nothing helps a slump like a visit from a team that's struggling even more than you are.

That's what the Milwaukee Bucks got Sunday as the Cleveland Cavaliers played perhaps their worst game of the season.

Tim Thomas scored 22 points and Ray Allen and Sam Cassell added 18 apiece as Milwaukee held Cleveland to a nine-point second quarter and cruised to a 103-72 victory. The Bucks, blown out at home by New Jersey on Friday, won at the Bradley Center for just the third time in 12 games.

"We finally had some good body language and some pride," Milwaukee coach George Karl said. "We've tried not to overreact to the midseason blues."

The Bucks returned to the fluid passing and accurate shooting that were their trademarks before a 3-12 skid knocked them from fourth place to ninth in the Eastern Conference.

While the Bucks hope the worst is over, the Cavs sunk to their lowest point of the year. Cleveland hit season-lows in points (72), points in a half (28 in the first half), points in a quarter (9), assists (10) and 3-pointers (0).

The Cavs made 20 turnovers, had just five offensive rebounds and went 0-for-12 on 3-pointers while losing in Milwaukee for the fifth straight time.

"We had too many guys who were worried about themselves," said Cavs coach Randy Wittman, who was behind closed doors with his team for nearly 30 minutes after the game.

"It takes effort, it takes work, and we didn't want to do that today. We had a gam plan that we wanted to play, and they took us out of it."

The Cavaliers had just three field goals in the final 15 minutes of the first half, while the Bucks passed the ball skillfully and hit as many open shots as the Cavs missed. Milwaukee made an 18-2 run to begin the second quarter, capped by consecutive three-point plays from Darvin Ham and Allen.

"When we're passing the ball, we're a good team," Thomas said. "We were really looking for the open man today, and we weren't doing that in the last few weeks."

Lamond Murray had 16 points and Andre Miller added 15 to lead the Cavs, who have lost three straight and six of their last nine. Leading scorer Shawn Kemp looked bored, scoring six of his 11 points in garbage time after spending much of the middle quarters on the bench in foul trouble.

"They came out and were real aggressive, and they got a lot of offensive rebounds," said Miller, who suffered a mildly bruised hip in a collision with Ham. "We didn't shoot very well, either."

The loss was the second-worst of the Cavaliers' dismal season. Cleveland's 72 points were the fewest the Bucks have allowed this year.

Milwaukee outrebounded Cleveland 49-33 while holding Murray, Wesley Person and Bob Sura to a combined 7-of-32 shooting. Outside of Miller's aggressive play, the Cavaliers only showed life early in the fourth quarter when Danny Ferry and Thomas exchanged hard shoves and had to be separated.

The two continued trash-talking as Thomas scored the Bucks' next six points and assisted on another basket by Cassell, which put Milwaukee up 80-55. Thomas, who has picked up his offensive play recently, led the Bucks in scoring for the second time in three games from his sixth-man role.

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