The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets meet in the NBA Cup Semifinal in Las Vegas on Saturday night in what should be yet another exciting matchup between two of the top teams in Western Conference and two of the best defenses in the entire league. Both teams feature young rosters with a lot of talent, but OKC has quite a bit more experience across the board when it comes to the big stage.
The Rockets are led by Fred VanVleet, who does have championship experience from winning a ring with the Toronto Raptors in 2019. Dillon Brooks also brings some playoff experience to the table from his time spent in Memphis with the Grizzlies. Their young guys—Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun—have never played in a playoff game, so this might be as close to that type of situation that they have ever experienced.
OKC is no stranger to the big stage at this point, and while they have yet to come anywhere near their true potential, they are looking more and more like serious contenders this season. Despite missing Chet Holmgren for a month now, the Thunder has won 11 of 14 games and holds the NBA’s top net rating in that time. It’s hard to tell just how good this team can be once fully healthy.
It’s a long season, so OKC holding the league’s top record right now doesn’t mean too much, and they will continue to play with the mindset of the task at hand. For now, it’s all about the next game, and this one should be an exciting one as a Thunder win will put OKC in NBA Cup Final on Tuesday against the winner of the Milwaukee Bucks-Atlanta Hawks matchup Saturday afternoon.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 7:30 PM CT
Location: T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Television: NBA on TNT
Radio: WWLS 98.1FM OKC The Sports Animal
Twitter: Follow @ZacharyLowNBA for live tweets and discussion during the game
Game Notes: Oklahoma City Thunder Official Game Notes, Houston Rockets Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Cason Wallace
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Isaiah Hartenstein
Rockets
- PG: Fred VanVleet
- SG: Jalen Green
- SF: Dillon Brooks
- PF: Jabari Smith
- C: Alperen Sengun
Injury Report
Thunder
- Ousmane Dieng (small fracture in right ring finger) is OUT.
- Alex Ducas (sprained lower back) is OUT.
- Adam Flagler (fractured right fourth metacarpal) is OUT.
- Chet Holmgren (fractured right iliac wing) is OUT.
- Dillon Jones (G League — on assignment) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (sprained left knee) is OUT.
- Jaylin Williams (strained right hamstring) is OUT.
Rockets
- Dillon Brooks (illness) is QUESTIONABLE.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 29-31 against the Rockets in the regular season (20-11 at home, 9-20 on the road) and 7-9 against the Rockets in the playoffs (5-2 at home, 2-7 on the road).
- The Thunder has won the season series with the Rockets 7 times, lost it 5 times, and tied 4 times.
- The Thunder went 2-2 against the Rockets last season (1-1 at home, 1-1 on the road).
- The Thunder is 1-1 against the Rockets so far this season (1-0 at home, 0-1 on the road).