ROCKETS DEFEAT BUCKS
Key revelations from Rockets’ impressive win over Bucks
Feb 26, 2025, 8:16 am
Jalen Green had a big night! Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.
Jalen Green had 25 points and Alperen Sengun added 23 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 100-97 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night in a game where Amen Thompson was ejected for a hard foul on Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The game was tied at 95-all when Sengun made 1 of 2 free throws to put Houston on top. He made two more free throws with 30 seconds left to make it 98-95.
Brook Lopez missed a 3-pointer, but a turnover by Sengun gave the Bucks the ball back and a dunk by Antetokounmpo cut the lead to one with 8.1 seconds to go.
Green added two free throws to make it 100-97 and Damian Lillard was fouled and missed the first free throw before a double lane violation on the second one triggered a jump ball.
Lillard came away with the ball and his 3-point attempt bounced off the rim.
The Bucks were down by 2 with about 4 1/2 minutes left when Thompson pulled Antetokounmpo down from behind by the head and neck as he went up for a shot in the lane. The play was reviewed and determined to be a flagrant foul 2 and Thompson was ejected.
Antetokounmpo had 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bucks, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Takeaways
Bucks: Milwaukee needs to work on offensive consistency after failing to score in the fourth quarter until Lillard made two free throws with about six minutes to go.
Rockets: Houston needs to do a better job of capitalizing on offense when its defense shuts teams down. They only scored seven points in the first six minutes of the fourth when they held Milwaukee scoreless.
Key moment
Sengun’s free throws that put the Rockets up for good.
Key stat
Milwaukee scored 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Up next
The Rockets host San Antonio on Wednesday night and the Bucks host Denver on Thursday night.
Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo has “no hard feelings” toward Amen Thompson after the Houston forward was ejected for pulling him down from behind by his head and neck Tuesday night.
The Bucks were down by two with about 4½ minutes left when Thompson committed the foul as Antetokounmpo went up for a shot in the lane. The play was reviewed and determined to by a flagrant foul 2 and Thompson was ejected.
Houston went on to a 100-97 victory that snapped Milwaukee’s four-game winning streak.
“At the end of the day like you don’t wanna have a league that’s soft,” Antetokounmpo said when asked about the play. “I love guys that play hard. I love guys that they’re great competitors.”
“I’m one of those guys,” he continued. “Sometimes your competitive nature gets in the way (of) making the best decision, the best judgment at the time. And I feel like he wanted to make it a hard foul, but he grabbed my neck. But there’s no hard feelings.”
Thompson didn’t speak to reporters after the game.
Antetokounmpo believes that plays like this one or simply part of the game.
“I understand like when you’re a competitor, you’re gonna make mistakes like that,” he said. “I love it. I love playing this way. I don’t have no hard feelings against him.”
Both Houston coach Ime Udoka and Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers agreed that Thompson should have been ejected for the foul.
Crew chief Tony Brothers explained the decision to eject Thompson to a pool reporter after the game.
“Because the contact to the head was both unnecessary and excessive and by rule that’s a flagrant foul penalty two,” he said.
It’s the second ejection this season for Thompson, who was also tossed in a December game against the Heat after throwing Miami guard Tyler Herro to the floor. The incident triggered an altercation between the teams which led to the ejections of six players and staff members.
Thompson, the fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft, was suspended two games for his actions in that skirmish.