NBA Cup SF: OKC’s fiery second half downs Rockets, sets up finals clash with Bucks

Las Vegas (The Uttam Hindu): Oklahoma City Thunder gave a fiery response to the Houston Rockets, after struggling in the first half, to register a 111-96 victory on Sunday (IST). Just like their quarter-final matchup against the Dallas Mavericks, a strong third quarter by OKC propelled the side to make the 2024 NBA Cup finals where they will be facing tough opposition in Milwaukee bucks. OKC rode on their star player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 32 points on the night, supported by Isaiah Hartenstein, who registered a career-high 21 points on the night and Jalen Williams, who scored 20. "It's fun. It makes you better. That's what this league is about, competing against the best in the world, and defensively he is that for sure. 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," said Shai Gilgeous Alexander.

Despite Shai’s showing in the second half, the MVP candidate started the game missing eight of his opening nine shots from the floor but his teammates certainly backed his slump."We all knew that it's Shai. He's going to get it back on point. He did it in the second half," said Thunder center Hartenstein. After being held to 41 points in the first half, OKC exploded in the third quarter scoring 34 points with Luis Dort hitting three three’s in the quarter. This brought some much-needed energy for the number-one seed in the west as they went on to register a comfortable victory at the end. "We were getting the same looks. I think we slowed down a little bit. 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. Offense comes and goes, but you can play defense and kind of shut certain things down. I think we did a good job of that, and offense came late,” said Thunder forward Jalen Williams.