The Oklahoma City Thunder collected a much-needed 111-96 win over the Houston Rockets in the 2024 NBA Cup semifinals. They will face the Milwaukee Bucks in the finals. The early moments of this contest resembled what a duel between the league's best two defenses should look like.

"I thought our force on offense in the second half was much better," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "We kind of relied on ju

Through the game’s first nine minutes, the Thunder scored only nine points. Through 12, the teams combined to shoot 13-for-47, including 4-for-22 on 3-pointers. They had nine turnovers, which weren’t debilitating to either squad because nobody was capable of turning even the mistakes into easy points.