LAS VEGAS — For a half, the NBA Cup semifinal showdown between the top two defenses in the NBA was exactly what you would expect. Oklahoma City shot 33.3% in the first half, and Houston was no better at 31.4%. Both teams were physical. The Rockets led 42-41 in a game reminiscent of a 1990s Knicks vs. Cavaliers slugfest.
Then Oklahoma City decrypted the Houston defense.
“I thought our force on offense in the second half was much better,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “We kind of relied on jump shots in the early part of that game… I didn’t think we tested the paint and tested transition enough. In the second half we got a little bit more of that and more shots fell, which I think is correlated.”
Oklahoma City scored 70 points on 58% shooting in the second half, a pace the Rockets could not match. The Thunder pulled away in the fourth quarter to win 111-96.
The Thunder advance to the NBA Cup championship game on Tuesday against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Oklahoma City’s MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lived up to the billing with a 32-point night despite a quality defender in Dillon Brooks shadowing him all night.
That’s what this league is about, competing against the best in the world, and defensively he is that for sure,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Brooks. “I like to think that of myself offensively. He gives me a chance to really see where I’m at, a good test. I’d say I handled it pretty well.”
OKC also got 20 points from Jalen Williams and 19 from Lu Dort, who was 4-of-4 on 3-pointers in the second half (and got a technical late in the game when he hit one of those 3s, held up his thumb and two other fingers to signal a 3, as he often does, and the referee thought he made a gun with his hand; the league needs to rescind that tech).
“I think we slowed down a little bit, Williams said of what worked better for the Thunder in the second half. “There’s so much going on in these games, kind of had to settle in the first half, but our defense was great, so that carried over the whole game… I think we did a good job of that, and offense came late.”
Houston’s never really came.
“We just never found the rhythm and never found a flow,” Fred VanVleet said. “If you’re not going to make shots against a team like that, it just gradually gets tougher to score. That lack of scoring puts pressure on your defense, and it just kind of compounds things.”
There were moments when the Rockets made runs, turning stops into transition opportunities going the other way. However, the Thunder did a good job of getting back and not letting the Rockets run away, and Houston struggled to a 63 offensive rating in the halfcourt.
Amen Thompson led the Rockets in scoring with 19 off the bench, while Brooks and Jabari Smith Jr. each had 14.
Oklahoma City can match Houston’s defense and has better, more experienced and more polished offensive players right now. It’s what Houston aspires to, but OKC is there right now.
And they are on to the NBA Cup championship because of it.
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