Rockets defense disappears in loss to Milwaukee; Win Streak Stopped at Seven

Posted: January 25, 2012 -- 11:12pm CST.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) – "We're not built like that. We can't take any team for granted. We've got to go out and bust our hump every single day that we're out there."

Houston Rockets head coach Kevin McHale said those words after the Rockets (10-8) were defeated 105-99 by the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night in front of 10,573 fans.

The Bucks (7-10) scored the first 12 points of the game; but, the Rockets recovered and righted the ship to trail by only six points (29-23) at the end of the first quarter.

Kevin Martin and Chandler Parsons combined for 15 points in the second quarter to help the Rockets rout the Bucks 28-13 in the second period. Milwaukee's interior defense disappeared without center Andrew Bogut who left the game with an injured left ankle.

Martin drained a three-point shot to open the third quarter; and, the Rockets seemed well on their way to their eighth consecutive victory. In fact, the Rockets owned a 64-54 lead with 5:26 left in the third quarter.

Then, the Rockets' defense went to sleep; and, the Bucks took advantage.

Big Time.

Bucks' forward Mike Dunleavy scored a layup to begin an 18 to 6 run to erase the Rockets' lead. Bucks' guard Beno Udrih nailed a three-point basket to end the third quarter and the Rockets trailed 72-70 heading to the fourth period.

The Bucks shot 57.1% (12 for 21 from the field, including 5 for 7 on threes) in the third.

The Bucks continued their hot shooting into the fourth quarter while the Rockets' woes did, too.

Dunleavy sank two three throws to start the fourth; and, the Bucks scored the first 14 points in the quarter to lead 86-70 with 8:55 remaining in the quarter.

After Samuel Dalembert ended the scoreless span with two free throws, Dalembert scored the first bucket for the Rockets after nearly eight minutes of action.

The Rockets trailed by as many as 17 points (91-74) before Martin led a comeback which pulled the team as close as four points; however, trailing by four with 50 seconds remaining, Goran Dragic turned the ball over and the Bucks sank 7 of 8 free throws to seal the victory.

The Bucks scored 63 points in the second half; and, 51 of the points were scored in the final 17 minutes of the half. The Bucks made 21 of 43 field goal attempts (48.8%) in the second half including 9 for 14 from three-point range.

"We gave up 63 points in the second half," said McHale. "There's no excuse for that. We had a great second quarter followed by a poor third quarter and then we couldn't.... we just never got any momentum in that game until late but when we started defending again it was too late."

Kevin Martin scored a game-high 29 points; but, Martin cited the team's porous defense after the game.

"A lot of us, we went back to our old defensive ways tonight," Martin said. "And, I think we were pretty complacent in how we were playing. We've got to realize those old defensive ways are just not going to work."

Kyle Lowry added, "They (Bucks) just made shots and we didn't come back. We just kind of put our heads down and just said forget it. It's just tough. Sometimes you've got games like that but we've got another one Friday so we need to get back to the drawing board tomorrow and start a new streak."

Lowry struggled from the field (2 for 16); but, he dished out 10 assists and grabbed eight rebounds.

Samuel Dalembert pulled down a team-high 18 rebounds.

Milwaukee's Ersan Ilyasova grabbed a game-high 19 rebounds in nearly 28 minutes off the bench.

Bucks head coach Scott Skiles said his team's defeating the Rockets is a good win.

"Houston made a run, but we still hung in there and battled back," Skiles said. "Give our guys a lot of credit because it is hard to see Bogut go down like that. Houston has been playing very well, that's another reason that makes this a good win. We started the season 0-8 on the road and now we have won three in a row. I was proud of the way we hung in there and kept battling, and the way we really took off."

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