The Houston Rockets' excellent start to the 2024-25 campaign continued as they came from behind to take a 91-90 win over the Golden State Warriors to book their place in the semifinals of the NBA Cup in Las Vegas. It looked bleak for the Rockets with a little over a minute to go in the contest, but in the end, Houston managed to snap their 15-game losing streak to the Dubs — although it may have come with a huge helping hand from the officials.
But Alperen Sengun and the Rockets won't care about the controversy surrounding their win over the Warriors. All they are setting their sights towards now is their semifinal matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and they will have to continue playing with the motivation that was apparent in their body language throughout Wednesday night.
“I've never seen my team this thirsty. We knew it was gonna be hard. They play aggressive. We play aggressive. I'm proud of my teammates, everyone. We worked hard. We came ready for this game so hard. So I'm happy [we won]. This is big time,” Sengun told TNT's Stephanie Ready in his postgame interview.
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The Warriors have been the Rockets' bogey team for so long that it will feel good for them to finally get one over their rival. Even head coach Ime Udoka has a history of being on the losing end against the Dubs, most notably losing the 2022 NBA Finals back when he was still with the Boston Celtics.
But the job is far from finished; the Rockets will be running into the buzzsaw that is the Thunder, an excellent defensive team that will not relent an inch. However, for as long as the Rockets play with the effort they did on Wednesday night, they will be in a good position moving forward.
Rockets snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against the Warriors
Rockets guard Jalen Green (4) celebrates win over Warriors
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The Rockets deserve plenty of credit for standing tall on defense to end the game; they held the Warriors scoreless for the final 3:03 of the ballgame, paving the way for them to score seven straight points to win the ballgame, which was punctuated by Jalen Green's free throws that had Steve Kerr losing his mind.
Now, Alperen Sengun and the Rockets believe that they can go all the way in the NBA Cup.
“This is big growth for us against a championship team. I'm proud of my teammates, this is great,” Sengun added. “We're gonna go for the title. Next game, we're gonna fight again. We know OKC is a good team. We just gonna go over there and play. It's gonna be a big battle there Saturday.”