{"id":664202,"date":"2026-03-18T04:17:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/664202\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T04:17:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:17:30","slug":"player-grades-cavs-at-bucks-james-harden-and-evan-mobley-save-cavaliers-from-another-bad-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/664202\/","title":{"rendered":"Player Grades: Cavs at Bucks \u2013 James Harden and Evan Mobley save Cavaliers from another bad loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> did just enough to outscore a bad Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> team 123-116<\/a> that was without two of their best players, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Myles Turner. It\u2019s difficult to be too positive about the overall effort after a game like this, even though it\u2019s an improvement from Sunday\u2019s disappointing loss<\/a> to the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player. A \u201cB\u201d grade represents that player performing to our expectations for them.<\/p>\n

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James Harden<\/p>\n

27 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals<\/p>\n

This was a vintage, prime Harden game. He put up 27 points on just 10 shot attempts, got to the free-throw line at will, and made sure the offense got a quality shot every time he had the ball in his hands.<\/p>\n

It was a great response from someone who struggled on both ends of the floor in the loss to the Mavs.<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/p>\n

Donovan Mitchell<\/p>\n

19 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists<\/p>\n

This was about as rough a game as you\u2019re going to see from Mitchell, even though the box score numbers above wouldn\u2019t suggest that.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t inefficient from the floor, going 4-14, and struggled defensively against a team that doesn\u2019t have many players who should be able to easily take opposing guards off the dribble. This led to Mitchell being a team-worst -15 in the minutes he was on the floor. That means the Cavs won the 14 minutes he was on the bench by 22 points.<\/p>\n

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This was just rough all the way around.<\/p>\n

Grade: F <\/p>\n

Evan Mobley<\/p>\n

27 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks<\/p>\n

The box score numbers are great, but it\u2019s how he achieved them that\u2019s most impressive.<\/p>\n

Mobley did an excellent job of attacking in the pick-and-roll as the roller. He was forceful when diving to the basket, which is something he\u2019s struggled with throughout his career. That aggression was rewarded as he took a team-high 21 shots.<\/p>\n

Additionally, he did a great job of taking advantage of the Bucks\u2019 thin frontcourt. He completely dominated his matchup with Jericho Sims to the point that he only played 16 minutes.<\/p>\n

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This was exactly what you want to see from Mobley.<\/p>\n

Grade: A <\/p>\n

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Anything bought from the links helps support Fear the Sword. You can buy the Let \u2018Em Know shirt HERE<\/a>. You can also shop all of Homage\u2019s Cavs gear HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Max Strus<\/p>\n

6 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists<\/p>\n

Strus struggled to find his shot, going 2-6 from beyond the arc. He did, however, do all of the dirty work that makes him so valuable and was a useful second-side playmaker.<\/p>\n

This was a solid second game back from injury.<\/p>\n

Grade: B- <\/p>\n

Keon Ellis<\/p>\n

8 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 0 blocks<\/p>\n

This was a rare game where Ellis didn\u2019t record a block or a steal. He did, however, nail both of his three-point looks.<\/p>\n

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Grade: B- <\/p>\n

Jaylon Tyson<\/p>\n

2 points, 0 rebounds, 2 assists<\/p>\n

Tyson has struggled to establish any momentum after putting up 22 points against the Detroit Pistons<\/a> at the beginning of the month. He\u2019s dealt with injuries to his neck and ankle recently. Maybe that plays a part in it. But his play on the court was once again rough.<\/p>\n

Atkinson limited Tyson to just 13 minutes in this game, and understandably so. He wasn\u2019t good defensively (he lost Pete Nance numerous times), had no impact on the glass, and was mostly out of place on offense.<\/p>\n

Grade: F <\/p>\n

Dennis Schroder<\/p>\n

3 points, 5 assists, 1 rebound<\/p>\n

Schroder didn\u2019t make an impact scoring, but he did a good job of setting up his teammates, as he finished with five helpers in just 16 minutes of play.<\/p>\n

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Grade: C+ <\/p>\n

Dean Wade<\/p>\n

9 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds<\/p>\n

Wade attacked the basket offensively, took four outside shots, and did his job defensively. This led to him having the third-best plus\/minus on the team at +13. What more can you ask for from Wade?<\/p>\n

Grade: B <\/p>\n

Thomas Bryant<\/p>\n

5 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t a good showing from Bryant. He was picked on defensively and didn\u2019t provide enough on the glass or offensively to make up for it.<\/p>\n

Grade: D- <\/p>\n

Sam Merrill<\/p>\n

17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists<\/p>\n

Merrill provided a spark to the offense. He did a great job of reading how the defense was playing him and attacking the weaknesses off ball. This led to him going 3-4 in his shots in the paint.<\/p>\n

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Additionally, he knocked down timely triples and competed defensively. It isn\u2019t surprising that the Cavs played their best basketball with him on the court, as he led the team in plus\/minus by being a +22 in the 28 minutes he played.<\/p>\n

Grade: A <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Cavaliers did just enough to outscore a bad Milwaukee Bucks team 123-116 that was without two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3775],"tags":[7,103,193,149,5759,1024,188,864,576,123,560,2286,2762,3211,872,102,121,3871,367,6,21490,1166,362],"class_list":["post-664202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-milwaukee-bucks","tag-basketball","tag-bucks","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dean-wade","tag-dennis-schroder","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-evan-mobley","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-james-harden","tag-jaylon-tyson","tag-jericho-sims","tag-keon-ellis","tag-max-strus","tag-milwaukee","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-milwaukeebucks","tag-myles-turner","tag-nba","tag-pete-nance","tag-sam-merrill","tag-thomas-bryant"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116248252138137547","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}