For 68 prolonged seconds, Houston Rockets center Alperen Şengün could only watch from the sidelines as his team gradually let go of the rope at the most inopportune time. The large video screen hanging from the ceiling of T-Mobile Arena indicated the semifinal was anything but over — the Oklahoma City Thunder were clinging to an 84-79 lead with more than seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Quite frankly, the game was never pretty...at least for Houston. But, as we’ve seen all year long, pretty isn’t necessarily Ime Udoka’s way of coaching winning basketball. The only issue is tonight, grit,

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) sticks his tongue out while celebrating a 3-pointer during the first half of an Emirates NBA Cup basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks, Tuesday,