Following a victory over the Houston Rockets, the OKC Thunder punched a ticket to the NBA Cup Championship against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.

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.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — It was midway through the third quarter of the Oklahoma City-Houston NBA Cup semifinal matchup on Saturday night. Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had just made a short jumper in the lane and, to his delight, a time-out was immediately called. He needed it.