Two high-flying teams in the Western Conference will battle it out for a place in the grand finale of the 2024 NBA Cup as the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets face off at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.
Awaiting the winners of this weekend's tie in Wednesday's showpiece game is one of the Milwaukee Bucks or the Atlanta Hawks, who face off in the other semi-final tie.
Match preview
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Having been paired with the Phoenix Suns, the Los Angeles Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Utah Jazz, the Oklahoma City Thunder made light work of their group-stage set of fixtures, winning three of their four games, with the only defeat coming against the Spurs on November 20.
In a rematch of last season's playoff second round, Mark Daigneault's men entertained the challenge of the Dallas Mavericks in Wednesday's quarter-final at the PayCom Center with a place in the last four on the line.
After a back-and-forth first half that saw the Thunder lead by three going into the interval, they came out flying in the third quarter to storm to a 17-point advantage, which proved to be unassailable over the final 12 minutes of action.
All-star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had his second-highest scoring this season as he put up 39 points on 15-23 shooting, including an impressive 5-9 from behind the three-point line to go along with eight rebounds and five assists.
The Thunder have continued to hit the heights from last season, where they finished first in the West and look like serious contenders to go all the way this term and end a 45-year wait for an NBA championship.
While their title credentials will be extensively put to the test over the couple of months, the Thunder now go in search of NBA Cup glory in the sophomore edition of the newly branded In-Season Tournament.
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Like the Thunder, the Rockets also finished with a 3-1 record across their four group-stage matches thanks to victories over the Los Angeles Clippers, the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Minnesota Timberwolves, either side of a defeat to the Sacramento Kings.
Off the back of 15 straight defeats against the Golden State Warriors, Ime Udoka's men welcomed their bogey team to the Toyota Center on Thursday as second and fifth in the West went head-to-head.
In a game where both teams struggled offensively, the Rockets were on the verge of yet another loss, having trailed by six with just over a minute left, after which they went on a 7-0 run capped off by a pair of Jalen Green free throws.
Only the Thunder have won more matches this term than the Rockets among all Western Conference sides, but the team from Houston came out on top in the last edition of this fixture courtesy of a 119-116 triumph earlier this month.
Continuing to impose themselves despite being one of the youngest teams in the league, the Rockets now set out to book a place in the NBA Cup final and secure a first taste of silverware since 1995 when they won a conference title.
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Team News
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Despite netting clutch free throws against the Warriors last time out, Jalen Green endured a rough shooting night and will be looking to bounce back here.
Tari Eason and Fred VanVleet returned to action from respective injury problems in the aforementioned game and are expected to feature once again.
Chet Holmgren (hip) and Ousmane Dieng (finger) are both ruled out for the Oklahoma City Thunder, while Adam Flagler remains sidelined with a metacarpal fracture.
Alex Ducas (back) is also expected to miss out and is joined on the sidelines by Jaylin Williams (hamstring) and Nikola Topic, who is ruled out of the season with a torn ACL.
Oklahoma City Thunder possible starting five:
Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort; Wallace, Williams; Hartenstein
Houston Rockets possible starting five:
VanVleet, Green; Brooks, Smith; Sengun
We say: Thunder to win by 4+ points
The Thunder and the Rockets have served up two entertaining affairs this season already, and we are expecting more fireworks here.
Having said that, we are backing the Thunder to come out on top at the sound of the final buzzer.
Adepoju Marvellous
