It was midway through the third quarter of the Oklahoma City-Houston NBA Cup semifinal on Saturday night. Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had just made a short jumper in the lane, and right after that, a time-out was called.
He needed a break.
Gilgeous-Alexander walked to midcourt, bent down, propped himself up with his fingertips, and took deep breaths. It was that kind of game. Given how the Rockets and Thunder have been playing defense all season, this kind of game was expected.
In the end, Oklahoma City won 111-96, with both teams shooting 41% combined. The immediate reward for the Thunder was two days off to recover. The bigger reward was a game against Milwaukee on Tuesday night for the NBA Cup, where winning could bring over $300,000 per player.
“That’s what defense does for you,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault, whose team has kept opponents to 41% shooting or worse a league-best 11 times this season, winning all of those games. “It keeps you in games.”
The Rockets-Thunder semifinal was a basketball game with some elements of football, rugby, hockey, and maybe even wrestling mixed in. It wasn’t unusual. That’s how they play: defense-first, tough, gritty, and physical.
They are the two best teams in the NBA for field-goal percentage defense. Oklahoma City came in at 42.7%, and Houston at 43.4%. They were also two of the top three teams in scoring defense.
Orlando was in first place entering Saturday with 103.7 points allowed per game, Oklahoma City was second at 103.8, and Houston was third at 105.9. By holding Houston to 96 points, the Thunder moved into the top spot.
Houston finished with 36.5% shooting from the field, its second-worst performance of the season. When the Rockets shoot 41% or better, they have a 17-4 record. When they shoot below that, they’re 0-5.
“Sometimes it comes down to making shots,” said Rockets coach Ime Udoka. “Especially in the first half, we guarded well enough. But you put a lot of pressure on your defense when you’re not making shots.”
Even though scoring across the NBA is slightly down this season, about one point per game behind last season’s pace and two points behind the pace of the 2022-23 season, it’s still a great time for offense in the league. For example, Boston scored 51 points in one quarter earlier this season.
Saturday’s game was different from most. The halftime score was Rockets 42, Thunder 41. Neither team scored more than 50 points until Dillon Brooks’ 3-pointer for Houston gave the Rockets a 51-45 lead with 8:46 left in the third quarter.
Brooks is known as one of the toughest defenders in the game. Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the best scorers. They are teammates on Canada’s national team, and they had some one-on-one matchups during the game.
“It’s fun. It makes you better,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “That’s what this league is about, competing against the best in the world. Defensively, he is that for sure. And I like to think of myself that way offensively. He gives me a chance to really see where I’m at, a good test. I’d say I handled it pretty well.”
And he did. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 32 points, the fifth time this season someone scored that many against the Rockets. He has done it twice himself, and the Thunder scored 70 points in the second half to pull away.
“We knew that if we kept getting stops we would give ourselves a chance,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And we did so.”
