The Buck Stops Here: Houston Rockets End Skid by Destroying Milwaukee

The skid that ran all the way through, and past, the All-Star break is finally over for the Houston Rockets.

Oh, and by the way, Houston’s Shane Battier led the rout with 20 points (draining all six three-pointers he took), 10 rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block.

The Rockets defeated Milwaukee 127-99 on the road Wednesday night, escaping their awful skid with a blowout victory over the Bucks.

“It was a great shooting night for all of us—it was about time,” Battier told Rockets.com staff writer Jason Friedman. “We’ve been waiting for a game like this, and hopefully this is the start of some hot shooting and good basketball.”

Trevor Ariza led Houston’s offensive onslaught, garnering 22 points in the Rockets’ blowout victory.

“Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason; some nights you just have it,” Battier said. “The ball movement was great tonight; people were involved, and when you’re involved and you get shots in rhythm they go down a lot easier.”

Houston’s latest win, paired with a late-night blockbuster trade, has opened a new chapter in Rockets basketball.

The new-look Rockets, showcasing an offensive-boost in Kevin Martin, return to the hardwood on Saturday evening against the Indiana Pacers at Toyota Center.

“You can get on a roll either way; we just have seemed to be on a roll the other way lately,” Rockets guard Aaron Brooks told Friedman.

“It felt good; we haven’t had a feel-good win in a while. We shot the ball really, really well. We capitalized when they left us open, and we haven’t been doing that lately. Defensively, I think we did a great job in the second half of really sticking it to them.”

Hopefully the Rockets can maintain that defensive intensity—as well as kick it up a notch in the offensive department—in hopes of clinching that final spot in the Western Conference.

Houston general manager Daryl Morey’s moves will soon come to fruition, and it’s just a matter of days before we get to see how the new-look Rockets meld and mold as a team entering a key stretch of the season…

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at [e-mail]