After dropping their first eight road games of the NBA’s 2023-24 season, the Rockets (13-9) have finally found some momentum away from Houston with back-to-back wins as visitors. Coming off Friday’s win at Memphis, they’ve won five consecutive games, overall.
But Sunday’s matchup versus Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and a loaded Milwaukee (18-7) squad is a much tougher test.
If there’s any silver lining for the Rockets, it’s that Milwaukee is on night two of a back-to-back, having played Saturday versus lowly Detroit (2-24). But that may not be as important as usual.
For starters, both games of Milwaukee’s back-to-back are at home, so there’s no in-between travel. In addition, because the Pistons are so bad, the Bucks weren’t pushed particularly hard on the front end.
Finally, the Rockets will be on night one of their own back-to-back, and head coach Ime Udoka might need to be conservative with minutes for some of his veterans — particularly since Monday’s game at Cleveland would seem to be more winnable, on paper.