The Houston Rockets have found one of the best winning formulas in the NBA this season, and their relentless offense was too much for Jason Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks on the road Wednesday night.
Facing the No. 3 team in the Western Conference, the Bucks just weren’t at their best and were overwhelmed by an aggressive Rocket attack.
“You have to have some pride and there has to be a team effort and tonight we just didn’t give it,” Jason said. “They played harder than us and anytime in this league someone plays harder than you, it’s going to be hard to win. You’ve got to give Houston credit, they played last night in Miami and came out here and they hit us first. Their intent was to be aggressive early and they won that battle.”
The lone bright spot for the Bucks was Giannis Antetokounmpo, who recorded a double-double with 32 points and 11 rebounds. Unfortunately, he was the only Buck who could find the scoring touch on the night.
“We’re not built around one guy,” Kidd said. “Unfortunately a lot of guys had a tough night tonight.”
The star on the other end, James Harden, showed again why he is considered one of the early front-runners for the league’s MVP, scoring 38 points, dishing out eight assists and grabbing six rebounds.
“The two stars showed tonight and that’s why they’re stars. Giannis and Harden I don’t think disappointed. I thought both guys played at a very high level,” J-Kidd said. “Unfortunately, Harden helped his team win and understanding that Giannis had a great game, but no one else showed.”
Milwaukee came out with a strong first quarter, scoring 27 points and limiting Houston to 22. The second quarter is when things went in a downward spiral for the Bucks, as they managed to only score 12 points while giving up 30.
“We knew coming into the game that’s something we’re going to do no matter make or miss they were going to shoot threes and they got up 44 of them. At the beginning of the game we made a conscious effort, we did a really good job,” Jason said. “But coming out after halftime we made a push and they answered it with threes. That’s who they are. They’re going to continue to keep shooting them and they made them tonight.”
Houston fired time and again from 3-point range. The Rockets were 14-of-44 from 3-point range, but the Bucks couldn’t keep pace, shooting 7-of-28 from beyond the arc.
“(Eric) Gordon shot 17 (threes), and he made some tonight. They got into their roll and they stuck with it,” Coach Kidd said. “For us, we started off really good as a team defensively and offensively, but we just lost our discipline.”
Up next the Bucks travel to Orlando to face the Magic on Friday night and hopefully end their drought.
“We’ve just got to focus on Orlando,” Kidd said. “That’s it, the next game, get ready for Orlando.”
