HOUSTON — Receiving a pass from Jalen Green, Fred VanVleet let off a 3-pointer prayer that was answered. In the next possession, Dillon Brooks recovered the basketball on a scramble drill and hit a contested mid-range jumper.

Those two shots in the final moments were the daggers in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 119-115 loss to the Houston Rockets. A December regular- season contest resembled closer to a playoff outing than a run-on-themill game.

“While we can learn from playing a game like that, we got to learn from it, grow through it,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “But I think the trip in totality, we’re a better team right now than we were eight days ago when we took off for this trip. We went through a lot of different experiences that we can grow from, from some of the wins to tonight.”

The Thunder fell behind early. A 33-28 first-quarter deficit saw OKC look like a squad on the final leg of an extensive four-game road trip. It got back into the contest with a 32-point second frame. The Rockets had a slight 62-60 halftime lead.

After the break, the Thunder looked rejuvenated. A 36-point third quarter flipped the lead toward OKC’s favor. In a battle of the league’s two best defenses, the Thunder held a 96-91 lead after the first three frames.

Jalen Williams dished out another Isaiah Hartenstein alley-oop in the early stages of the fourth quarter to keep OKC’s lead at five points. The Rockets then tied it back up with five straight points. Jabari Smith Jr.’s 3-pointer had it knotted up at 100 points apiece.

From that point on, both teams kept it within three points of each other. VanVleet went supernova in his best game of the season. A deep 3-pointer gave Houston a 113-110 advantage with 89 seconds left. Cason Wallace answered back from deep on the other end.

After Brooks’ mid-range basket following a chaotic jump-ball, the Thunder couldn’t answer on the other end. That left 25 seconds on the clock and OKC wasted away 21 valuable ticks before it finally committed an intentional foul.

Williams nailed a quick 3-pointer on the other end to make it a one-point deficit but with just 2.1 seconds left, the Thunder had little hope outside of a miracle. VanVleet nailed both freethrow attempts after being fouled and the 23-yearold’s heave fell short.

The final 33 seconds were something Daigneault wished he could go back and redo. He admitted after the loss that the Thunder probably should’ve fouled earlier once it was obvious they weren’t going to force a turnover.

“In an ideal world, we would’ve liked to foul earlier,” Daigneault said. “Thought we had a couple of opportunities to do it. Those are tough ones because the guys are kinda on their own in that situation because we’re coming out of a timeout, we’re down by two, we’re drawing up a play. If we score, we’re not fouling, if there’s a differential, we’re not fouling... That one we can learn a little bit from. I’ll take that one. Certainly, wasn’t trying to run that much time.”

This was every bit of a heavy weight bout, and the atmosphere lived up to it too. Shai Gilgeous Alexander and Brooks almost started a brawl fighting over a board in the final moments. Both laughed it off, but the feistiness was there.

The Thunder shot 45% from the field and went 13-of-39 (33.3%) from 3. They went 19-of-25 from the free-throw line. They had 30 assists on 42 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 32 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Williams had 22 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Hartenstein had a 19-point double-double. Wallace finished with 14 points.

Meanwhile, the Rockets shot 41% from the field and went 13-of-37 (35.1%) from 3. They went 30-of-39 from the free-throw line. They had 20 assists on 38 baskets. Four Rockets players scored double-digit points.

VanVleet scored a season-high 38 points on 10-of-19 shooting. He shot 5-of-9 from 3 and went 13-of-14 from the freethrow line. Alperen Sengun totaled 20 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. Smith Jr. had 15 points and 14 rebounds.

Before the game, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka mentioned this was a good barometer test for the Rockets. It wasn’t spoken, but the feeling was mutual for the Thunder. These are two of the best teams in the league this season. How each matched up with the other could provide a glimpse of a future playoff series.

Even though this loss might sting, the Thunder surely feel good about themselves. They went toeto- toe without Holmgren and Alex Caruso. A shorthanded OKC squad also had a rest disadvantage as Houston was fresh off a four-day break.

A 3-1 result on a critical road trip proved that the Thunder will continue to contend for the first seed despite Holmgren’s absence.

“It was a heightened game. I thought the crowd did a nice job,” Daigneault said. “The physicality and how hard both teams played and sustained a level of hard play throughout the game. That was 48 minutes of very, very hard playing basketball. That’s a great game for both teams to be a part of.”

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