Monster 39-point night from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sends Thunder past Mavericks to Vegas for NBA Cup semis

The NBA Cup is not the playoffs. There is no revenge in December for Dallas eliminating Oklahoma City from the postseason a year ago. There also are no statement games in December.

What was very evident Tuesday night was how much the Oklahoma City Thunder have grown and how much better they are now than a year ago.

The Thunder are headed to Las Vegas for the semi-finals of the NBA Cup after pulling away from the Mavericks in the second half for a comfortable 118-104 win. There was a lot that Oklahoma City did right in this game, but the highlights went to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who scored 39 on the night and was the best player on the floor.

Oklahoma City will head to Las Vagas and face the winner of Wednesday night’s game between Golden State and Houston. That game will be Saturday, and if the Thunder win on Saturday they will play in the championship game next Tuesday. (Dallas will play the loser of tomorrow’s game so both teams can get to 82 games for the season.

Where the Thunder have taken the biggest step this season forward is with their physicality on defense. That physicality can be traced back to Isaiah Hartenstein. It helps having Lu Dort matched up on Kyrie Irving much of the night, which kept the Dallas star in relative check with just 17 points, while Luka Doncic scored 16 with 11 rebounds. Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall ended up leading Dallas with 19 points a piece.

Chet Holmgren — in the building for the game — had thoughts on all that.

All five Thunder starters scored in double figures with Jalen Williams adding 18.

We’re a long way from the playoffs, but we also have yet to see the Thunder at their best — Holmgren and Hartenstein have yet to be healthy at the same time.

It may not be the fully formed Thunder, but this team is good enough to win the NBA Cup, and they will get the chance in Las Vegas to prove it.