Thunder ride second half surge past Rockets, into Cup final - ESPN

LAS VEGAS — Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault described the first half of Saturday's NBA Cup semifinal between the league's two stingiest defensive teams as «muddled.»

That's about as pleasant of a word that can be used to describe the worst shooting half of the season for both the Thunder and the Houston Rockets.

The second half was a different story, as Oklahoma City exploded for 70 points to cruise to a 111-96 victory and earn the right to play the Milwaukee Bucks in Tuesday's title game.

But Daigneault pointed to a defensive play as the tone-changing moment. A little more than a minute into the second half, Oklahoma City stopper Luguentz Dort dove for a loose ball to come up with a steal and shoveled the ball to Cason Wallace for a one-man fast break that the guard finished with a lefty slam dunk.

Suddenly, the energy shifted and the Thunder soon found their groove.

«The energy was kind of down,» said Dort, who scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half. «I think the crowd was kind of down, the whole arena was kind of down, but that play kind of did something for us, for the team. We got it going.»

After being held to 41 points in the first half and trailing by a point at halftime, Oklahoma City scored 34 in the third quarter to seize control of the game. The Thunder went 5-of-5 from 3-point range in the quarter — led by Dort's three 3s — after going 2-of-18 from long range in the first half.

«We were getting the same looks,» said Thunder forward Jalen Williams, who finished with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists. «I think we slowed down a little bit. There's so much going on in these games, kind of had to settle in the first half, but our defense was great, so that carried over the whole game.