The Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder have had one of the more fascinating matchups thanks to the lingering rivalry between former teammates Chris Paul and James Harden.

In addition, it’s been a battle between a young team that shouldn’t have even been there, as experts game the Thunder as little as 1.4% chance to make the playoffs before the 2019-20 season began.

Across the aisle were a team whose championship window is closing, one that had come as close as a Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals against the eventual champion Golden State Warriors two seasons ago.

Instead of playing like a young, upstart team, the Thunder have battled fearlessly, overcoming an early 2-0 series deficit to win a pair of their own before splitting wins with the Rockets to force the pivotal Game 7.

The final game of the series proved to be as chippy and tightly contested as expected.

The Thunder’s surprising breakout player, Luguentz Dort, came to play in the final game. He was the offensive lynchpin in the first half, and had 18 points at the break – matching the combined total of the Rockets MVP duo of Harden and Russell Westbrook.

It was a close game at the half, with the Rockets leading 61-59.

The Thunder would always be worried to start the half behind before Harden and Westbrook got going.

Houston’s other players stepped up in the second half., Robert Covington and Eric Gordon each put up over 20 points to complement their stars.

Dort continued playing the best game of his young career in the second half. He finished the game with 30 points. This was the most points by an undrafted rookie in a Game 7.

The final four minutes were a nail-biter. It was tied 99-99 with 3:51 to go, and Harden helped the Rockets take a 101-99 lead with 3:39 to go.

No one scored a bucket until there was 1:42 left in the game, a three pointer by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to make it 102-101 for the Thunder. PJ Tucker quickly answered to take the lead back at 103-102.

The Thunder had a number of chances to take the lead, but they missed all of their remaining shots. The final sequence of the game saw Harden run across the court to block Dort and then force a turnover to give the Rockets the ball with 2.7 seconds left in the game.

Harden may not have his normal gaudy numbers (17 points, three rebounds, nine assists, three blocks, and two steals) but he made the most important defensive play of the game.

You read that right. Harden won a pivotal Game 7 with his defense.

The Thunder got the final shot of the game after calling timeout with 1.2 seconds left in the game after Robert Covington split a pair of free throws to make the score 104-102.

Even more drama was added to the game as Harden was called for a foul before the ball was inbounded. Danilo Gallinari missed the free throw that would have shaved the lead to one.

The Rockets got another stop in the final possession, setting up their date with the Los Angeles Lakers in the next round.

Chris Paul left everything on the court, leading the Thunder with a triple double of 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists. He’ll feel aggrieved as he had a case for having called a timeout before Dort threw the ball out of bounds.

However, he’ll also remember that he missed a key shot that would have given them the lead in the final minutes of the game.

This was one hell of a series, and the Thunder are going to be looking forward to their future.