{"id":530062,"date":"2026-03-18T03:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T03:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/530062\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T03:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T03:51:07","slug":"cavaliers-123-116-bucks-mar-17-2026-game-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/530062\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavaliers 123-116 Bucks (Mar 17, 2026) Game Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILWAUKEE — \u2014 Evan Mobley<\/a> had 27 points and a season-high 15 rebounds, and James Harden<\/a> also scored 27 as the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> opened a three-game trip by beating the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> 123-116 on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> sat out with a left knee hyperextension<\/a> and bone bruise. This was the career-high 32nd game the two-time MVP has missed this season, and the Bucks fell to 11-21 without him.<\/p>\n

The Bucks also didn’t have Myles Turner<\/a> because of a right calf strain. Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen<\/a> missed a sixth straight game because of tendinitis in his right knee.<\/p>\n

In a game featuring 11 ties and 16 lead changes, Cleveland pulled ahead for good 103-100 on Sam Merrill<\/a>‘s 3-pointer with 6:55 remaining, which started an 8-0 run.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee cut the lead to 110-106 on an Ousmane Dieng<\/a>‘s 3-pointer with 3:39 left, but Cleveland responded with seven straight points. The Cavs stayed in front by at least five the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee’s Kevin Porter Jr<\/a>. had 25 points and 10 assists. Dieng, Bobby Portis<\/a> and Ryan Rollins<\/a> added 19 points each.<\/p>\n

Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell<\/a> scored 19 points. Merrill added 17 points in his return from a two-game absence due to left hamstring tightness.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee\u2019s Taurean Prince<\/a> played 22 minutes and scored eight points in his first start of the season. Prince, who has played just 10 games this season, returned earlier this month after undergoing surgery<\/a> in November to repair a herniated disk in his neck.<\/p>\n

The Bucks shot 20 of 45 from 3-point range, and their bench outscored Cleveland’s 57-24. The Cavs compensated with a commanding edge from the foul line, going 27 of 34 while the Bucks were 12 of 17.<\/p>\n

Up next <\/p>\n

Cavaliers: At Chicago on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Bucks: At Utah on Thursday.<\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE — \u2014 Evan Mobley had 27 points and a season-high 15 rebounds, and James Harden also scored…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-530062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}