Bucks’ Ellis hits late for 16 points as Cavaliers fall

Associated Press

MILWAUKEE

Monta Ellis scored 16 of his 30 points in the final five minutes, helping the Milwaukee Bucks fend off a Cleveland team missing Kyrie Irving for a 107-98 victory Wednesday night.

Brandon Jennings scored 19 points, and Ersan Ilyasova added 18 for Milwaukee. The Bucks have won four of their past five to close within a game of New York for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks were off Wednesday.

Anthony Parker had a season-high 27 points for the Cavaliers, who have lost nine straight and 12 of 13.

Cleveland looked lost at times without Irving, who reinjured his sprained right shoulder Tuesday night in a blowout loss to San Antonio. Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said before the game that he has considered shutting Irving down for the final few weeks of the season.

Antawn Jamison scored 17 points for Cleveland on 6-of-17 shooting.

It was the first of five straight home games for the Bucks — and that isn’t necessarily a good thing, given the fact that the Bucks are 13-12 at home, even after starting the season 7-2.

Wednesday night’s win might not have happened without the late scoring surge by Ellis, who had Milwaukee’s last eight baskets beginning at the 4:30 mark.

Ellis and Jennings provided an early highlight midway through the third quarter, when Ellis came up with a steal, charged out on a fast break and flipped the ball up for an alley-oop slam by Jennings. Milwaukee led 79-68 going into the fourth.

Alonzo Gee scored on a putback to cut the lead to nine early in the fourth, but Milwaukee answered with an 8-0 run that included a pair of layups by Jennings. Cleveland answered with a 7-0 run and trailed by 10 with 6:20 left, and cut the lead to six at 93-87 on Jamison’s 3-pointer.

Ellis answered with a driving layup — the second basket in his late scoring spurt — and took over from there, knocking down six more jumpers to end the game.