CLEVELAND _ On Sunday, Cavaliers center Kevin Love left the game against the Atlanta Hawks with stomach issues and shortness of breath, requiring an hour stay in the hospital for an exam and intravenous fluids.
Back at Quicken Loans Arena against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night, Love played like he'd also received an energy infusion.
Love turned in season-highs with 32 points and 16 rebounds, LeBron James added 30 points, eight rebounds and nine assists and J.R. Smith broke out of a season-long slump with 20 points. It was a formula for the Cavs' most cohesive game this season as they earned a 124-119 victory.
The Cavs hustled from the start, which in itself is saying something during their mystifying start. In their second meeting in less than three weeks, the Bucks certainly got the Cavs' full attention.
But the Bucks proved they will be formidable competition for the Eastern Conference title, especially when point guard Eric Bledsoe arrives after Tuesday's trade with the Phoenix Suns.
The Cavs blew a 13-point second quarter lead, but took the lead in the third quarter and never relinquished it.
They could find no one to adequately guard All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who led the Bucks with 40 points, four shy of his career-high set Oct. 21 vs. the Portland Trail Blazers.
With their defense continuing to struggle, allowing the Bucks to shoot 57 percent, the Cavs they found themselves in a scoring contest with the Bucks. And they were up to that challenge.
Love had matched his season-high of 26 points with 7:08 left in the third quarter. He made 9-of-14 field goals and 14-of-16 free throws.
Smith, shooting .234 from 3-point range entering the night, made 7-of-12 field goals and 5-of-7 from behind the arc. Smith (1,790) passed Rashard Lewis (1,787) for 14th in league history in career 3-pointers.
The Cavs have won nine of the past 10 against the Bucks at home. They extended their string of victories over the Bucks to five in a row and improved to 10-2 in their past 12 meetings. In the previous 11 games, the Cavs had outscored the Bucks by nine points per game and shot 48.4 percent from the field, including 40.3 (144-357) from 3-point range.
This night brought more of the same. The Cavs made 50 percent of their field goals and 3-pointers.
The Bucks poured in 39 points in the second quarter, the most by a Cavs' opponent in any quarter this season. (The Bulls scored 38 in the first quarter on Oct. 24). In erasing the deficit, the Bucks made 16-of-23 field goals in the second quarter as Antetokounmpo was 5-of-5. The Cavs also lost five of their nine first-half turnovers in the second quarter.
The Cavs kept themselves in the game at the free-throw line. Coming in ranked fifth in the league at 81.1 percent, the Cavs made 19-of-22 in the first half and 33-of-38 for the game.
Guard Iman Shumpert returned for the Cavs after missing four games with a sore right knee and contributed six points and five rebounds.
James played his 1,072nd regular-season game, matching Michael Jordan's total in his 15-year career. The two are tied for 82nd on the all-time list, which is led by Robert Parish with 1,611.
After a hot start to the season, Derrick Rose followed up a 4-for-12 effort from the field against the Hawks by going 4-for-10. He also committed four turnovers. Jae Crowder shot 1-of-5 and had five points and one rebound in 25 minutes. But most of the game found positives for the Cavs.
The Cavs entered the night 4-6, with six losses in their past eight games. Lue is trying to integrate eight new players and the Cavs have battled injuries. Nor do they have the centerpiece of the Kyrie Irving trade, point guard Isaiah Thomas, still rehabbing a torn labrum in his right hip.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last team to reach NBA Finals after having losing record through the first 10 games were the 1980-81 Houston Rockets.
But Bucks coach Jason Kidd wasn't ready to bury the Cavs so soon.
"They're a team that, everybody thinks they're struggling, but I think it's just a matter of time before they get going," Kidd said. "It's early in the season, there's a lot of veterans over there, and they understand how to run a marathon."
