Matchup Breakdown: OKC Thunder versus Houston Rockets

The Thunder take on the Rockets for the first time this season, a matchup always filled with tension and a heightened sense of urgency.

Dec 6, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets guard Fred VanVleet (5) inbounds the pass to center Alperen Sengun (28) against Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) in the first quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images / Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

The Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets have seemed to have a distaste for one another for a significant amount of time now.

From Houston's acquisition of James Harden that soured Oklahoma City fans' feelings to Patrick Beverly clipping Russell Westbrook and putting a damper on Thunder title hopes, and even to the left-handed jam from Westbrook and former Rocket center Clint Capela -- this matchup has transformed into a rivalry through the years, and it's not stopping.

Houston and Oklahoma City fans stay at each others' necks, and that isn't changing at all with the budding rivalry of Alperen Sengun and Chet Holmgren, it's growing. This season will be a more refined one-on-one between those two, but it should also be a more well-rounded competition overall. With the Rockets adding a new guard in Reed Sheppard in the draft, and more importantly the progression of Houston's young guys in Jalen Green, Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr. and others, this matchup will be more refined.

Though, each team split two wins apiece last season, the maturation of each young team's players will be great in terms of the quality of the matchup throughout the season. From Jalen Williams to Smith Jr., Sengun to Holmgren, Green to Lu Dort, Cason Wallace and others, the early 20-year-old talent in this one is off the charts.

So far this season, it appears the Rockets could have a more lucrative outcome than its last sitting at a 5-3 record, but Oklahoma City has started this year guns blazing winning its first seven contests before earning its first loss to the Denver Nuggets, who they'd beaten in the first contest of the season.

Sengun and Holmgren will again be intriguing basketball to watch, and they'll have that same edge to outdo one another as they did last season -- especially in the first meeting of four throughout 2024-25.

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