The Milwaukee Bucks were hoping to stack another home win onto Monday’s 110-102 victory over the Indiana Pacers, but instead they got run off their floor by the Houston Rockets, 132-100.
Houston came into Milwaukee as one of the NBA’s four unbeaten teams and left still perfect. The Rockets spread the production all over the box score, with six players finishing in double figures. Fred VanVleet led the way with 24 points, and Amen Thompson matched him with 24 of his own.
Milwaukee never found a real rhythm on offense, and the first half told the story. The Bucks shot 15-for-48 from the field, good for 31%, and just 4-for-24 from 3-point range, a brutal 17%. By the time the deficit ballooned to 22 points, the game was already slipping out of reach.
Tyler Herro was the one steady source of offense for Milwaukee. He finished with 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the field and 4-for-6 from deep. In that first half, he was the only Buck to reach double figures, piling up 14 points while the rest of the team combined for 21 points on 9-for-39 shooting.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. gave Milwaukee a lift after halftime, scoring 12 points in the second half. But by then the Bucks were chasing a much larger problem, and the margin never got close enough to threaten Houston.
Beyond Herro and Jaquez, it was a rough night across the board. No other Buck finished above 11 points, and Ryan Rollins had one of the toughest outings of the night. After scoring 15 points against the Philadelphia 76ers and 19 against the Pacers in his previous two games, Rollins finished with four points, four rebounds and five assists while shooting 2-for-14 from the field.
The late-game minutes did give Milwaukee’s young players a chance to get something out of the loss. Rookie Nate Ament contributed eight points, four rebounds, one steal and one block, while Brayden Burries led the bench with 10 points and one steal on 3-for-6 shooting.
With the game out of hand, the starters sat for most of the second half, and the rookies got extended run. For Ament, who missed the first two games, those minutes at least offered something to build on as Milwaukee turns to the next one.
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