The Oklahoma City Thunder are heading to the NBA Cup Championship game! Sure, it’d be easy—and for some, obvious—to pin OKC’s redemptive win over the Rockets entirely on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But let’s take a quick peek behind the curtain to highlight the real reason the Thunder secured the dub: Lu Dort.
Dort dropped 19 points, snagged 9 boards, and swiped 3 steals. No, he didn’t lead the team in scoring, and his 5-of-11 shooting doesn’t exactly scream “headline,” but if you tuned in for the full game, you know what’s up. Dort’s 11-point explosion in the third quarter didn’t just change the momentum—it completely flipped the script, giving OKC the spark it needed to pull away.
When the third quarter tipped off, OKC trailed 42-41. Fast forward to the 10:30 mark, and Lu ignited the comeback with a clutch steal on Jabari Smith Jr., leading to a Cason Wallace slam. Six minutes later, the Thunder were up by six and never looked back, ultimately dismantling a scrappy Rockets squad, 111-96.
