MILWAUKEE (AP) — Brook Lopez had 24 points and Khris Middleton scored 21 of his 23 in the second half to help the Milwaukee Bucks beat the short-handed Houston Rockets 141-133 for their fifth consecutive victory.
The Bucks tied Brooklyn for second place in the Eastern Conference standings. The Bucks have the tiebreaker advantage over Brooklyn because they won two of their their three regular-season meetings. Jrue Holiday had 20 points as the Bucks had seven players reach double figures. KJ Martin had 26 points and Kelly Olynyk had 23 for Houston. The Rockets had just eight available players.
