The Houston Rockets limited the Golden State Warriors to 90 points and scored 91 points themselves to win and reach the Final Four of the NBA Cup. Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault knows it will be all about defense against the surging Rockets when they meet on Saturday.
Rockets set-up a West NBA Cup finals dance with the Thunder who they defeated a few days ago,
Daigneault thinks it will be a tough match up for them because of the youth and defensive energy that Houston possess.
“Coach [Ime] Udoka has established a culture of toughness there that is very potent and very obvious. He’s done a great job. The athleticism of that team. They have electric athletes at multiple spots in size,” he said after Wednesday practice.
The Rockets player known for his defensive tenacity is Dillon Brooks. However, there’s more of them in the team who are hardly talked about.
The OKC coach specifically mentioned sophomore Amen Thompson and Tari Eason as two of their opponents’ defensive juggernaut.
“Obviously, Thompson is the one who pops there but Eason is a very scrappy player,” he said.
“Jabari Smith has great positional size as well as Brooks and VanVleet. Those guys are tough, veteran defensive-minded players.”
Rockets vs Thunder last December 1
The Rockets and Thunder match up well for the NBA Cup semis.
They are current no. 2 and no. 1 in the Western Conference standings and two of the youngest teams in the league this season.
Udoka’s squad got the better of the visiting Thunder in their last match-up and it veteran Fred VanVleet who stood out.
The one-time All-Star scored 38 points in the game including the go-head high-arcing three to give his team the lead in under one minute.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points for OKC.
Daigneault is digging deep from that game ahead of the rematch in Las Vegas.
“Last time we played them, they played really well. Really physical team. Great defensive team. I thought they threw the first punch in that last game… It’s a team where if you don’t bring it against them, they dictate the tone.”
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