3 takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks’ close win over Houston Rockets
By Dalton Sell
Following an embarrassing loss to the Miami Heat, the Milwaukee Bucks would face a tall task in getting back into the win column as they visited the Houston Rockets. Houston had won their last seven consecutive games heading into the matchup, standing as the NBA’s hottest team. Yet, the Bucks were certainly up for the challenge of cooling them down.
It was a roller coaster ride throughout as both teams constantly exchanged leads, but it looked like the Bucks were in trouble as the Rockets went up by 10 just before the half. Instead, the Bucks did their part to keep things close and eventually battle to take the lead in what was a thrilling second half of action. After gaining momentum in the fourth, Milwaukee secured the 123-114 win, ending Houston’s win streak. It was a solid win, and here are three takeaways from the contest.
Khris Middleton’s shooting slump continues, but his clutch gene prevails late for the Milwaukee Bucks
It is no secret that Khris Middleton has been struggling for the Bucks lately. The forward has not looked like his usual self recently, and his production backs that up. Unfortunately, that trend kept going throughout most of the night as the Bucks visited the Rockets, but as he is known to do, he did find a groove late.
Middleton scored 21 points in total, which was good, aside from the fact that it came on a grueling 6-of-19 shooting from the floor. Virtually all of Middleton’s scoring damage came from long range, where five of his made field goal attempts came from. In fact, this was Middleton’s first game this season with five made 3-pointers, which is a positive sign considering he is shooting a career-low from behind the arc on the year. Hopefully this performance can help get him going from deep as he and the Bucks look for some consistency.
As these two teams went back and forth down the stretch, Middleton finally snapped out of this slump for a moment and knocked down his only 2-pointer of the game with 4:10 left to go. That bucket put the Bucks up by five points, and after a miss by Christian Wood on the other end, the ever-clutch Middleton cruised down the floor and immediately knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Bucks in front 117-109 with 3:51 left. Though he did miss two shots after that, it was those back-to-back buckets from Middleton that helped the Bucks get some cushion over the Rockets and seal the win.
It was far from the prettiest performance, but Middleton got the job done in the end.