NBA

Houston Rockets at Oklahoma City Thunder

· NBA Cup - Semifinals
17-9, 7-6 Away
Final
96 - 111

20-5, 11-2 Home

Gilgeous-Alexander scores 32 points to lead Thunder past Rockets 111-96 and into NBA Cup Final

SGA drops 32 points to lead OKC to NBA Cup final

The Thunder take a five-game winning streak into Tuesday night's final against the Bucks. Milwaukee Atlanta Hawks 110-102 in the Eastern Conference semifinal. The title game does not count in the league standings.

Isaiah Hartenstein added 21 points for the Thunder, Jalen Williams scored 20 and Luguentz Dort finished with 19 points and nine rebounds.

Amen Thompson led Houston with 19 points, one of six Rockets in double figures, and Alperen Sengun had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The Rockets and Thunder have two of the three best records in the Western Conference, making Saturday's second semifinal a potential playoff preview.

Takeaways Rockets: Fred VanVleet's 3-point shooting woes continued. He made 6 of 29 in his previous three games and missed his first nine shots from 3 and finished 1 of 11 against OKC.

Thunder: Gilgeous-Alexander entered this game averaging 30.2 points and shooting 51.5% but struggled to find his offensive game early. He found a way to get to the free throw line, making 14 of 15 to help surpass his season average.

Key moment Oklahoma City went on a 13-3 run to go ahead 97-82 with 4:57 left and break open what was a close game.

Key stat The Thunder scored 70 points in the second half. That second-half surge enabled Oklahoma City to turn a 42-41 halftime deficit into a fairly easy victory.

Up next The Thunder will play Milwaukee in Tuesday’s championship game before returning to regular season play on Thursday at Orlando. The Rockets also return to regular season play on Thursday against New Orleans.

Regular Season Series

OKC leads series 2-1

Matchup Prediction

Thunder: 68.3%
Rockets: 31.7%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Recent Plays

4th 0.0 End of Game 96 - 111
4th 0.0 End of the 4th Quarter 96 - 111
4th 0.0 Rockets offensive team rebound 96 - 111
4th 0.0 Jalen Green misses 25-foot three point pullup jump shot 96 - 111
4th 5.0 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander makes free throw 2 of 2 96 - 111

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/hou.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originHOU https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/okc.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originOKC
35-96 FG 36-80
36.5 Field Goal % 45.0
11-46 3PT 11-30
23.9 Three Point % 36.7
15-25 FT 28-32
60.0 Free Throw % 87.5
49 Rebounds 43
19 Offensive Rebounds 4
30 Defensive Rebounds 39
17 Assists 19
7 Steals 12
3 Blocks 4
16 Turnovers 12
0 Team Turnovers 0
16 Total Turnovers 12
1 Technical Fouls 2
1 Total Technical Fouls 2
0 Flagrant Fouls 0
13 Points Conceded Off Turnovers 12
20 Fast Break Points 10
44 Points in Paint 40
25 Fouls 24
7 Largest Lead 16

Game Information

Venue: T-Mobile Arena

Location: Las Vegas, NV
Attendance: 17,937 · Capacity:

2024-25 Southwest Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Houston 20 9 .690 - W3
Memphis 20 10 .667 0.5 L1
Dallas 19 10 .655 1 W2
San Antonio 15 14 .517 5 L1
New Orleans 5 25 .167 15.5 L7

2024-25 Northwest Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Oklahoma City 23 5 .821 - W8
Denver 16 11 .593 6.5 W2
Minnesota 14 14 .500 9 L3
Portland 9 20 .310 14.5 L2
Utah 7 21 .250 16 L1
Full Standings

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