The Houston Rockets won Wednesday's Emirates NBA Cup 2024 quarterfinal over the Golden State Warriors thanks in large part to elite defense.

But without offensive contributions from a potential 2025 All-Star, even Houston's suffocating defense down the stretch wouldn't have been enough.

After struggling in a loss to the Warriors last week, fourth-year center Alperen Sengun finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals on Wednesday, shooting 10-of-18 overall (55.6%) and 6-of-7 on free throws (85.7%). In total, the young Turkish big man led Houston in points, rebounds, steals, field-goal attempts and makes, and free-throw attempts and makes.

"Ime (Udoka, head coach) and everybody keeps telling me to start aggressive, start aggressive, so that was my main focus today," said Sengun, whose driving layup with 27.2 seconds left closed Houston's deficit to a single point before Jalen Green's clinching free throws with 3.5 seconds remaining.

Sengun, 22, went on to say that the atmosphere at a sold-out Toyota Center felt like a playoff game. With the victory, the Rockets (17-8) advanced to the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas, where they will face the Oklahoma City Thunder (19-5) on Saturday night. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. Central, and the game will be broadcast via ABC to a national television audience.

The Thunder and Rockets are currently the top two teams in the Western Conference standings, and they've split a pair of earlier meetings in the 2024-25 season (with each team winning on its home floor).

"I've never seen my team this thirsty," Sengun said after Wednesday's final buzzer.

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