The identity of his Rockets team often hinges on who is playing power forward.  Tonight, 7’0″ rookie Donatas Motiejunas gets his first-ever start.  Paired with former Bulls center Omer Asik, Houston will begin the game with a conventional two-big-men lineup.

But the Rockets also love speed and three-pointers, so it won’t be unusual for them to go small and spread the floor, either. For most of the season Houston started Patrick Patterson or Marcus Morris, but when both were traded to Houston the job fell to old friend Carlos Delfino.

At times it worked, but at other points it left the Rockets vulnerable on defense.  In a loss to the Wizards, Washington exploited the mismatch defensively in the paint in the fourth quarter.

Jan 4, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Houston Rockets forward Carlos Delfino (10) works the ball around Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Dunleavy (17) at the Bradley Center. Houston defeated Milwaukee 115-101. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports

Projected Lineups:

Rockets: Jeremy Lin, James Harden, Chandler Parsons, Donatas Motiejunas, Omer Asik
Bucks: Brandon Jennings, Monta Ellis, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Ersan Ilyasova, Larry Sanders

Brandon Jennings:

Yesterday morning Jennings certainly wasn’t shy when it came to talking about the prospect of playing in Dallas:

“Yeah, of course,” Jennings said when asked if he could see himself fitting in Dallas. “Who wouldn’t want to play in an environment like this every night?

“You’ve got an owner [Mark Cuban] who’s so into his team. Every time you see the Mavs, you see him cheering or going crazy. They won a championship. They’re about winning.”

Normally a fourth quarter staple in the Bucks lineup, Jennings has played four minutes or less in both of the fourth quarters since J.J. Redick‘s arrival.  This pattern bears watching, both for its basketball implications and for its impact on the often emotional Jennings.

Some stats:

By the points scored, points allowed, and strength of schedule numbers, the Rockets should be sporting a much better record than their current 31-27 one. Conversely, the Bucks should be a hair worse.

Houston ranks fourth in three-pointers made this season — they’re high volume takers and makers of the shot. If the Bucks can hold Houston to anything like the 1-17 mark to which they held Dallas last night, they should have a shot at success. But if the Rockets start firing with success, the Bucks could also get buried in an avalanche of points.

Both teams play at a high pace: the Bucks are fifth out of 30 teams, but the Rockets are the fastest.  They get an average of 96.2 points per possession.  If it’s the sloppy, chase-down-tipped-balls kind of fast, then the Bucks gain the upper hand.  If it’s a drive-quickly-and-kickout-for-the-corner-3 type of fast, then the Rockets get the advantage.

Jan 4, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Houston Rockets forward Carlos Delfino (10) looks to pass as Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Dunleavy (center) and forward John Henson (31) defend at the Bradley Center. Houston defeated Milwaukee 115-101. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports

It was the tale of two halves for the Bucks (16-15) and the Rockets (19-14).

Milwaukee led by as many as 18 points in the first half; they trailed by an equivalent number in the second half.

They were winning by 11 at halftime, 58-47; they lost by 14, 115-101.

They scored 37 points in the second quarter; they scored 43 the entire second half.

They turned the ball over six times in the first half; they coughed it up 19 times in the next 24 minutes.

And so on, and so on.

The Rockets were paced by a steady performance from their new star, James Harden. After a relatively quiet first half (13 points on 12 shots), Harden went on to hit five of his last six shots, including two three-pointers. He finished with 29 points and seven assists. Houston also benefited from a strong scoring punch from the bench, who scored over half their points. Carlos Delfino, Patrick Patterson and Toney Douglas combined for 58 points on 32 shots and 11 threes.

The Bucks had a balanced scoring attack, with seven players in double figures. Brandon Jennings led the way with 16 points on 6-15 shooting. Milwaukee shot 44.8 percent from the field, while Houston hit 54.2 percent of their shots — including 13 of 33 (!) three-point attempts.  The Bucks also showcased a balanced effort of throwing the ball away; every starter had at least three turnovers.

Milwaukee has now lost three straight games after the 19-point win over Miami.

The Rookie Shines…But Needs to Improve Defense: 

John Henson was a — if not the sole – bright spot for Milwaukee throughout the game. Head coach Scott Skiles gave Henson 27 minutes of burn off the bench, and the rookie delivered with another impressive outing.  Henson provided a spark offensively, gracefully finishing around the hoop with his left hand, while also showing a lot of activity on the offensive glass. He finished with 11 points on 5-10 shooting, 15 rebounds (seven offensive), two steals and two blocked shots.

However, as Skiles is quick to point out, Henson has a ways to go defensively. He looks a little uncomfortable defending pick and rolls — often unsure how far to show. Here’s one example from the first quarter.

Mike Dunleavy cut off Delfino on a fast break, and Henson ran down to double team.

 Delfino passed out to the trailing Omer Asik, who handed the ball back to Delfino on the wing. Henson, smartly, stayed a couple feet off Asik.

Asik then set a pick and rolled to the basket, while Delfino drove. Dunleavy took himself out of the play by slipping. Henson committed himself to stopping Delfino’s penetration, despite Ilyasova stepping over, which allowed Asik to cut freely.

Asik caught the ball with a wide-open lane to the basket. Fortunately, Henson showed the awareness to foul Asik, a poor free throw shooter, who missed both.

Also, Henson was caught several times sagging too far off his man.  On one such occasion, though under unusual circumstances, he left Patrick Patterson wide open on a three-point attempt toward the end of the third quarter.

 After a backdoor cut to the basket, Carlos Delfino bobbled a pass from James Harden. Henson had started sagging over and tried to grab the ball, which squirted out to Chandler Parsons on the perimeter.

Patterson, pictured at the bottom, barely moved from his original position during the whole sequence.

Parsons made an easy cross court to Patterson, who’s shooting 34.7 percent from beyond the arc this year. Patterson promptly knocked it down, extending Houston’s lead to five with 30 seconds to go in the third quarter.

Clearly, neither of these plays were all of Henson’s fault, but they present themselves as learning opportunities for the rookie. If he doesn’t become more fundamentally sound on the defensive end, Skiles will have no qualms about leaving him out of the rotation in favor of Larry Sanders, Ekpe Udoh and Ersan Ilyasova.

New Starting Lineup: 

Skiles switched up the Bucks’ starting lineup prior to the game– swapping out Marquis Daniels for Udoh — but it didn’t quite have the effect the head coach was looking for. Although they played decently in the first half, with the bench providing a huge spark in the second frame, the new starting unit was dreadful to start the second half. The Bucks didn’t connect on a field goal until Udoh tipped a ball in with 5:22 remaining in the third quarter. After outscoring the Rockets 37-24 in the second frame, the Bucks were outscored 30-14 in the third.

As evidence of this utter collapse, Jennings’ plus/minus was a remarkable +20 at intermission. It petered out to -11 by the end of the game. The starter with the highest plus/minus was Larry Sanders, who finished with -9.

At least it’s a small sample size — I wouldn’t write off this starting unit just yet.

Daniels, meanwhile, received the dreaded and recently unpredictable DNP-CD.

Familiar Face:

For the past three seasons, Bucks fans could count on an unconscious Carlos Delfino hot streak every five or six games. They weren’t sustainable and never seemed to last quite long enough, but they were always something to behold. Tonight featured one of those performances by the 30-year-old Argentinian. Delfino, who was shooting 38.3 percent from the field and 35.3 percent beyond the arc coming into the game, hit six of his seven three-point attempts. He finished the night with 22 points in 28 minutes.

You can bet Delfino enjoyed his Milwaukee homecoming. After a rare one-handed dunk (“sneaky athleticism!”), he gave a little stare to the Bucks’ bench. However, he probably would have been better off setting his sights elsewhere.

A Tweet for Each Quarter: 

Monta Ellis his a layup with an incredible degree of difficulty, very slick. James Harden gets two free throws. Very consistent.

— Jeremy Schmidt (@Bucksketball) January 5, 2013

Former Buck Carlos Delfino has hit three straight three’s to keep Houston in this. #Bucks up 54-39.

— Andrew Gruman (@AndrewGruman) January 5, 2013

What are points?

— Eric Buenning (@ericbuenning) January 5, 2013

The thing about that game is thaTWEET INTERCEPTED BY HOUSTON ROCKETS DELFINO FOR THREE IT’S GOOD

— Dan Sinclair (@dan_sinclair) January 5, 2013