Kasler: Cavs' focus on point in rout of Bucks

The poor Bucks found themselves on the receiving end of a painful lesson Tuesday night, falling 109-80 to a Cavaliers team that played with four quarters of focus.

Even with a final frame of pure garbage time, the game was a devastating example of what the Cavs can be when everyone shows up to play. Shooting 54 percent from the field and 50 percent (18-of-36) from 3=point land didn’t hurt, either.

There isn’t a whole lot of unique insightful to offer, so I’ll keep it light and airy with a few quick thoughts:

1. What stood out most in Tuesday’s game was the ball movement. The Cavs have recently had spurts of beautiful ball movement but rarely sustained it for multiple quarters. Against the Bucks, the ball rarely, if ever, stuck. Hero ball was nowhere to be found. The ball had energy, and one sequence in the first quarter illuminated that.

2. Kevin Love grabbed a defensive board and quickly handed off to LeBron James, who pushed up the right side. James then unleashed a cross-court pass to Kyrie Irving, who was spotted up in the left corner. The ball had barely hit Irving’s shooting pocket before he one-touched a pass over to an open J.R. Smith, who buried a three.

3. This possession, to me, was everything Tyronn Lue has said he wants to see from the offense in a neat little package -- a quick outlet, the ball moving up the floor with passes, and shooters spotting up for open looks before the defense could set.

4. Smith was 7-of-9 from 3-point range in the first half. When he’s hot and burying threes, the Cavs lead seems to inflate in the blink of an eye.

5. Love showed up to play again. He poured in 15 points, grabbed five rebounds and even dished out two assists, all in the first quarter. He only scored two points after the first frame, but not because he missed a lot of shots or the Cavs ignored him. He just wasn’t needed, which speaks to the fact that everyone generally played great.

6. Love was aggressive from the jump. In the first quarter, he corralled a rebound, spun and fired a full-court outlet pass. It sailed just out of the reach of James, but I thought it was a positive that Love didn’t hesitate and was intent on pushing the action.

7. Irving played a solid all-around game. He’s been much-maligned for dribbling too much or shooting too much, usually in the bastion of intelligent basketball analysis (Twitter). Even I questioned his shot selection in a recent 5-of-23 outing. But against the Bucks, he was engaged, under control and economical, scoring 15 points and handing out six assists. He made a number of passes that led to assists, too.

8. Best thing about Irving’s night was his 3-of-4 mark from deep. His stroke has been off lately, so it was a good sign for the Cavs that he was knocking down jumpers.

9. It’s difficult to find flaws in a 29 point whooping. But I’ll take a stab.

10. Sixteen turnovers, a number of which were unforced (see: Shumpert, Iman).

11. Timofey Mozgov played 22 minutes but only grabbed four rebounds and scored four points. He also managed to not squeeze a number of balls that nestled softly in his grip. This isn’t new, but I’m somehow still surprised at how Timo can turn an easy catch into a game of hot potato.

12. Mozgov also appeared to abide by two defensive principles: get bullied on the block or guard open space. Neither of these things seem good. The odds of Timo playing a major or even marginal role in the postseason ebbs and flows from game to game; on Tuesday night, those odds clearly ebbed.

13. The Cavs travel to Indiana for another bookend to a back-to-back. It would not be a surprise if one or two of the Big Three (yes, Love is back in the circle of trust) took the night off Wednesday.