Rockets rout Bucks 132-100 behind VanVleet and Thompson

Fred VanVleet scored 24 points and Amen Thompson added 23, and the Houston Rockets beat the Milwaukee Bucks 132-100 at Fiserv Forum on Wednesday night. Houston shot 46 of 84 from the field, which is 54.8 percent, and made 17 of 38 three-pointers.

The second quarter

Milwaukee led 3-0 early and 19-17 after a first-quarter run. Houston led 23-21 at the end of the first quarter.

The Rockets then scored 11 unanswered points, from 55.1 seconds left in the first quarter to 9:43 left in the second, and went ahead 31-24. Eight more unanswered points, between 3:36 and 2:04 of the second, made it 47-30.

Houston led 57-35 at halftime. Milwaukee had scored 14 in the second quarter, and Houston scored 34 in the same period.

A 35-point margin

Between 4:18 and 3:08 of the third quarter, Houston scored nine unanswered points to lead 87-64. The quarter ended 95-69.

The biggest lead came in the fourth. With 13.5 seconds left, Bogdan Bogdanovic hit a pull-up jumper to make it 132-97, a margin of 35. Gary Trent Jr. hit a late three for Milwaukee, and the final score was 132-100.

Bogdanovic finished with 16 points off the bench, four of them from three-point range in five attempts. Oscar Tshiebwe scored seven points, and Reed Sheppard scored seven in 23 minutes.

Herro's 23 is not enough

Tyler Herro led Milwaukee with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting and 4-of-6 from three. Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Brayden Burries scored 10, and AJ Green had nine off the bench.

Milwaukee made 37 of 93 field goals, which is 39.8 percent. It made 12 of 41 threes, which is 29.3 percent. Kel'el Ware had eight rebounds and six points in 17 minutes, and the Bucks were outscored by 31 points in his minutes.

Milwaukee turned the ball over 16 times to Houston's 14. Houston had 27 assists to the Bucks' 19, and it had 12 steals to Milwaukee's eight. The Rockets blocked 10 shots, and the Bucks blocked three.

Kevin Durant scored 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting and made six of seven free throws. He had three blocks and three turnovers. Jabari Smith Jr. scored 14 and was plus 23 in 30 minutes.

Houston won the rebounding 44-41. Clint Capela had 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

The crowd at Fiserv Forum was 12,232.

Scoring

Houston 132: Fred VanVleet 24, Amen Thompson 23, Kevin Durant 18, Bogdan Bogdanovic 16, Jabari Smith Jr. 14, Clint Capela 10, Oscar Tshiebwe 7, Reed Sheppard 7, Tari Eason 5, Bruce Thornton 5, Isaiah Crawford 3, Jae'Sean Tate 0.

Milwaukee 100: Tyler Herro 23, Jaime Jaquez Jr. 19, Brayden Burries 10, AJ Green 9, Nate Ament 8, Kel'el Ware 6, Kyle Kuzma 4, Myles Turner 4, Ryan Rollins 4, Ousmane Dieng 4, Kasparas Jakucionis 4, Gary Trent Jr. 3, Bogoljub Markovic 2, Jericho Sims 0.

Quarters: Houston 23, 34, 38, 37 (132). Milwaukee 21, 14, 34, 31 (100).

What is next

The Rockets host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, Oct. 31, with the game listed for 8:30 p.m. ET. The Bucks host the Cleveland Cavaliers the same night, at 8 p.m. ET.