Alexander was stumped, halted by a Houston defense that reaps on creativity and would hate to see a shot fall on its account.  The second half ended in triumph, with muscles being flexed and imaginary guns placed in holsters.

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.

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.