One of the NBA’s hottest teams faced one of the NBA’s coldest teams Monday night. But a cold-blooded finish from Damian Lillard helped the Milwaukee Bucks steal a game from the Houston Rockets.
Lillard took over for the Bucks late, scoring four points and assisting on a three-pointer as his team closed on a 7-0 run. His layup with 3.2 seconds left gave the Bucks a 101-100 victory that his reeling team solely needed.
Lillard had only 12 points and six assists going into the game’s final quarter, but he had four points, an assist and two rebounds in the final 1:41 of the game. In a game where Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 20 points but committed eight turnovers, Lillard’s return from a concussion couldn’t have happened at a more opportune time for Milwaukee.
While Dame Time happened late, the Bucks were only in the game thanks to a monster effort from Brook Lopez. The 36-year-old scored 27 points on 11-for-15 shooting, going 5-for-8 from three-point range. Lopez has contested more shots than any player in the NBA this season, and on Monday he blocked four shots and grabbed three steals.
That’s how the Bucks held the Rockets to 14.6 points below their season average. Antetokounmpo had three blocks of his own, including a fingertip block on Alperen Sengun that opened the door for Lillard’s heroics.
The victory snapped the Rockets’ five-game win streak, a stretch where they’d been outscoring their opponents by more than 16 points per game. Houston dropped to 10-5, with four of those losses coming by six points or fewer. That might be a random chance, or it could be the youth and inexperience of the team.
That’s the upside of the Bucks’ veteran roster. Lillard might not be as young and spry as he once was, but he has plenty of experience taking and making game-winning shots. Monday, that was just enough for the Bucks.
