Receiving the ball at the nail, Alperen Sengun faced up against Chet Holmgren. He only needed two dribbles before his signature spin move created an open lane to the basket and threw down a loud two-handed jam. That was enough for OKC to call a timeout and send out the reserves.
The Oklahoma City Thunder tasted defeat for the first time in a while. They suffered a 125-111 loss to the Houston Rockets. That snapped an 11-game win streak and any hopes of an elusive 70 wins.
Early on, it was evident this was not the same Rockets squad the Thunder faced in their previous four meetings. They've graduated into a high-scoring machine. They scored points quickly as Jalen Green and Sengun had hot starts. Houston held a 35-28 lead after the first quarter.
That continued in the second quarter. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander off the floor, the Rockets scored 14 straight points to balloon their lead to nearly 20 points. They scored 34 points in the frame. The Thunder entered halftime with a rare double-digit deficit of 69-53.
After the break, the Thunder needed a jolt of energy or face the second half turn meaningless because of a large deficit. To their credit, they went on a 10-2 run to make it competitive. Gilgeous-Alexander found Holmgren for another 3-pointer to make it a 79-67 contest with eight minutes left in the frame.
Unfortunately, the deficit hovered around 12 points. It didn't take long for the Rockets to answer and push their lead back up to 20 points. The Thunder scored 32 points in the third quarter and exited under a 96-85 deficit. It was a manageable margin, but they couldn't afford to waste time.
Holmgren made another 3-pointer in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to make it a 100-91 game. But a nine-point deficit was the closest they'd get it the rest of the way. Gilgeous-Alexander struggled to get going. After starting hot, Sengun and Green were Houston's co-closers.
The Thunder couldn't make a final push to make things interesting. Instead, the Rockets put the final touches on one of their best wins of the season. For OKC, this was a rare bad loss where the energy was absent and the complacency bug finally bit it after having the first seed locked up for two weeks.
The Thunder shot 48% from the field and went 13-of-35 (37.1%) from 3. They shot 12-of-15 on free throws. They had 24 assists on 43 baskets. Four Thunder players scored double-digit points.
Gilgeous-Alexander had a quiet 22 points. Williams led the way with an efficient 33 points. Holmgren scored 20 points with all of his buckets from the outside. Isaiah Hartenstein had 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Meanwhile, the Rocket shot 49% from the field and went 13-of-29 (44.8%) from 3. They shot 22-of-26 on free throws. They had 24 assists on 45 baskets. Four Rockets players scored double-digit points.
Green led the way with 34 points on 11-of-24 shooting, five assists and four rebounds. He shot 3-of-10 from 3 and went 9-of-10 on free throws. Sengun also had a monster 31 points on 11-of-21 shooting, four assists and two rebounds. He shot 9-of-12 on free throws. Amen Thompson had 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists. ...
