CLEVELAND – Darius Garland scored 39 points, Evan Mobley added 17 and the Cleveland Cavaliers improved to 8-0 on Monday night with a 116-114 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, who played without injured superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Cavs also went 8-0 in 1976.

Garland hit a three-pointer with 45 seconds left and the Cavs rallied down the stretch to outscore the Bucks 18-8 (6:06).

Jarrett Allen added 14 points and 15 rebounds and made a huge save on Milwaukee's Damian Lillard in the final seconds.

Lillard scored 36 points for the Bucks, but committed a costly turnover when he was called up for an over-and-back violation with 56 seconds left.

Bobby Portis added 21 points and 18 rebounds for Milwaukee, which has lost six straight.

It was Cleveland's second win in three days against Milwaukee. On Saturday, Donovan Mitchell made a jumper in the final seconds to give the Cavs a 114-113 win.

Antetokounmpo was sidelined with an adductor strain, an injury the two-time MVP suffered in the loss to Cleveland.

Takeaways

Bucks: Showed courage and gave everything they had despite the absence of Antetokounmpo, who is averaging 31 points. Milwaukee's schedule hasn't helped, with five of seven games being played on the road.

Cavaliers: Another good lesson in not taking any team for granted. The Cavs also survived without Mitchell carrying them. He scored just one point after the first quarter and finished the game with 14.

Key moment

Mobley showed off his all-around game over a seven-second period in the second quarter. The 7-footer sheltered under the rim, blocked a layup, grabbed the rebound, dribbled the length of the floor and dunked to spark a 10-2 run.

Key statistics

The Cavs became just the second team in history to start 7-0 with each player averaging less than 30 minutes. Seattle did it in 1978.

Next

The Bucks host the Utah Jazz on Thursday. The Cavaliers are in New Orleans on Wednesday.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba