Hail to the King: James’ triple-double lifts Cavs past Bucks

Milwaukee, WI (Basketball News) - LeBron James recorded his sixth-career triple-double to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 91-84 win over the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center.

King James scored 32 points with 11 rebounds and 11 assists for the Cavs, who won their second straight and for the eighth time in their last nine games. Drew Gooden added 18 points and eight rebounds for Cleveland while Donyell Marshall had 17 off the bench.

Michael Redd paced Milwaukee, who lost for the first time in three games, with 28 points. Bobby Simmons chipped in with 18 for the Bucks while rookie Andrew Bogut had 14 points and 13 rebounds.

The Cavaliers won despite toiling without the services of their second leading scorer, Larry Hughes. The versatile Hughes was diagnosed with a broken right middle finger and is expected to miss the next six to eight weeks.

Even without Hughes, Cleveland managed to shot 41.5 percent from the floor compared to Milwaukee’s 37.3 percent.

Cleveland broke open a tight game with a 16-0 spurt to start the fourth quarter. The Cavs were down 67-62 going into the final stanza when James went off. The superstar scored 11 points in the run, including two three-pointers, to give Cleveland a 78-67 edge with 7:26 left.

The Cavs continued to extend the lead and found themselves up 13, 89-76, after a James jumper with just over a minute left.

Milwaukee controlled the game early, leading 25-19 after the opening frame and 46-42 at halftime.

Game Notes

Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Cavs...Jamaal Magloire had 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Bucks while Maurice Williams had 11 points...The Cavaliers are 6-7 on the road this season...The Bucks are 9-6 at the Bradley Center this season. They had won three in a row at home...The Bucks did not get one point from their bench during the game.