Rockets Beat the Bucks 132-100 to Stay Perfect at 5-0: VanVleet's 24 and a 34-14 Second Quarter Blew It Open in Milwaukee
Houston turned a two-point game into a rout with one quarter, outscoring Milwaukee 34-14 in the second, and Fred VanVleet poured in 15 of his team-high 24 points in the third to keep it there - all without either of the Rockets' centers.
MILWAUKEE - The Houston Rockets are 5-0, and Wednesday night's 132-100 win at Fiserv Forum was decided in a single quarter. Houston led 23-21 after one, then held Milwaukee to 14 points on 6-of-24 shooting in the second - the Bucks did not reach double figures in the quarter until 90 seconds remained, attempted no free throws in it, and went 2-for-13 from three - while the Rockets shot 64.7 percent and took a 57-35 lead into the locker room, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Fred VanVleet led Houston with 24 points, 15 of them in a third quarter in which he scored 15 consecutive Rockets points at one stretch to push back Milwaukee's only real push. Amen Thompson added 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including 11 first-quarter points that fueled the 15-2 run bridging the opening quarters, and Kevin Durant scored 18. Houston shot 54.7 percent from the floor, made 17 of 38 three-pointers and 23 of 26 free throws, scored 15 points off 17 Bucks turnovers, and piled up 10 blocks and 12 steals.
Milwaukee (1-4) never found a shooting rhythm - 39.6 percent overall and 11-of-40 from behind the arc. Tyler Herro led the Bucks with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting and Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 19; the Bucks' three other starters, Myles Turner, Kyle Kuzma and Ryan Rollins, combined to shoot 6-for-27 for 12 points. Rookies Brayden Burries (10 points) and Nate Ament (eight) got fourth-quarter minutes once the game was decided and trimmed a 27-point deficit to 20.
Houston did all of it shorthanded in the middle, with Alperen Sengun (back soreness) and Steven Adams (soleus strain) both out - the same absences the halftime file carried. The Rockets, one of the league's last unbeatens, visit the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night, October 30.
