Another change in the starting lineup couldn't stop the Cavaliers on their current slide. With Mateen Cleaves inserted at point guard the Cavs hoped it would spark a win in Milwaukee. With their playoff hopes lingering, the Cavs faltered and lost their seventh in eight games in a 107-89 romping by the Bucks.

Cleveland entered the game only one game back in the loss column behind
Boston and two games back of the Knicks. The game was nationally televised
by ESPN and looked to be an intriguing contest.

Cleveland started well and came out with some bang. Cleaves did a good job
of pacing the Cavaliers, something they lacked with Kevin Ollie. But
turnovers and lack of defensive effort is what, again, downed the Cavs.

Cleveland was paced by LeBron James who had 20 points, seven rebounds, seven
assists, and five steals. Carlos Boozer led the Cavs with 26 points on 11-15
shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds.

But James once again had trouble maintaining his counterpart, Michael Redd.
Redd led the Bucks with 23 points, including the 13 in third period when
Milwaukee opened the game up.

Cleveland has just fallen apart defensively since McInnis' departure. The
big men have had their problems covering the opponents' interior players,
with Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Carlos Boozer being victimized last night.
Former Cav Brian Skinner had a huge night with 18 points and eight rebounds,
while Joe Smith had his way with 15 points.

With the Cavs playing effortless defense, they were whistled for 25 fouls
compared to 11 on Milwaukee. The Bucks shot 32 free-throws while the Cavs
only attempted 13.

Cleveland led 26-22 with just over a minute remaining in the first quarter.
But Milwaukee made a late 9-3 run to end the quarter and led 31-29 after one
quarter. The second was more of the same, not much defense and pretty good
shooting by both teams. Kedrick Brown came off the bench to score nine
points in the quarter, including a three at the buzzer to pull the Cavs
within one at 55-54 going into the half.

But it was the third quarter breakdown that propelled Milwaukee to their
win. Cleveland pulled to within 71-70 after a James layup and the Bucks then
called a timeout. After the break, Milwaukee went an 18-8 run to end the
period and Cleveland never recovered. The Bucks led 89-78 going into the
fourth.

The Cavs had multiple turnovers and couldn't make an open shot, while playing horrendous defense. This all led to just 11 points in the fourth quarter. Cleveland had 20 turnovers for the game, 10 of them coming from Boozer (5) and James (5).

Cleaves played well with eight points, eight assists, and just one turnover. Ilgauskas scored just four points against the Bucks interior defense. Brown had 13 off the bench for the Cavs in 19 minutes of action. Aside from Brown's 13 points, the rest of the bench bunch mustered eight points. The Cavs' bench was once again outscored 27-21.

Desmond Mason scored 18 points to go along with some good defense. Damon Jones had six points and eight assists in just 23 minutes of play.

The Cavs outrebounded the Bucks 39-37 and outshot the Bucks percentage wise 51 to 47 percent. But the Bucks were 6-13 from 3-point land, while the Cavs hit 2-6 from long range. The free-throw disparity also played a large factor.

The Cavs need to bounce back in their game Saturday night at home against the Golden State Warriors.