The NBA Cup is not the playoffs. There will be no revenge in December for Dallas eliminating Oklahoma City from the postseason a year ago. There will be no statement games in December either.

What was very clear Tuesday night was how much the Oklahoma City Thunder have grown and how much better they are now than they were a year ago.

The Thunder travel to Las Vegas for the NBA Cup semifinals after pulling away from the Mavericks in the second half for a comfortable 118-104 win. Oklahoma City did a lot of things right in this game, but the highlights went to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 39 points on the night and was the best player on the field.

Oklahoma City travels to Las Vagas to face the winner of Wednesday night’s game between Golden State and Houston. This game is on Saturday, and if the Thunder win on Saturday, they will play in the championship game next Tuesday. (Dallas will play the loser of tomorrow’s game, giving both teams a total of 82 games this season.

The Thunder’s biggest step forward this season has been their physicality on defense. This physicality can be traced back to Isaiah Hartenstein. It helps that Lu Dort went up against Kyrie Irving for most of the evening, keeping the Dallas star relatively in check with just 17 points, while Luka Doncic scored 16 points with 11 rebounds. Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall led Dallas with 19 points apiece.

Chet Holmgren — who was in the building during the game — had thoughts about that.

All five Thunder starters scored in double figures, with Jalen Williams contributing 18 points.

We’re still a long way from the playoffs, but we haven’t seen the Thunder at their best yet – Holmgren and Hartenstein still need to be healthy at the same time.

They may not be the full-fledged Thunder yet, but this team is good enough to win the NBA Cup and they’ll get a chance to prove it in Las Vegas.