Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 115-111 loss to Houston Rockets

The Milwaukee Bucks put in a solid effort on the road against the Houston Rockets on Saturday night, but ultimately fell short.

The Milwaukee Bucks almost managed to do the unthinkable in following up a loss to the Chicago Bulls with a win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night, but they ultimately just came up short.

The Bucks held the Rockets to a poor shooting night overall, importantly restricting Houston from sinking them with the three-point shot. In fact, if it wasn’t for frequent fouling, the Bucks could easily have finished the night celebrating on the Toyota Center floor.

Jason Kidd changed up his starting lineup for the game by bringing DeAndre Liggins in for Gary Payton II, as the likes of Tony Snell and Matthew Dellavedova remained unavailable due to injury.

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It was apparent from the opening seconds that Liggins’ mandate was to harass James Harden up and down the floor, but having been a gametime decision to play due to a bruised knee, the Rockets’ star still managed to exert his influence on the game.

To Milwaukee’s credit, the game had appeared to get away from them on a number of occasions between the third and fourth quarters, but the Bucks continued to fight hard and make the Rockets work for their 24th win of the season.

With all of that in mind, let’s take a closer look at how the game played out and the key takeaways after the fact.