The Houston Rockets closed the preliminary round of NBA Summer League with a 100-83 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, securing the No. 3 seed and a spot in the Las Vegas semifinals.
Bruce Thornton led the way again with 23 points on 7-for-13 shooting, adding four rebounds and two steals. The No. 31 overall pick has been the headliner of Houston’s summer, but the more encouraging wrinkle against Brooklyn was the help around him: Tristen Newton poured in 20 points and gave the Rockets a second creator in the backcourt on a night the offense hummed.
That balance is what carried Houston into the bracket. Thornton’s scoring has been the constant since his 27-point debut, but a summer team goes only as far as its depth, and Newton’s 20 gave the backcourt a genuine second option. The Rockets’ young group has now won its way into a four-team field alongside the Warriors, Lakers and Grizzlies.
The semifinal comes with a division subplot. Houston draws the Memphis Grizzlies — fresh off a 96-64 demolition of Atlanta — on Saturday, July 18 (5:30 p.m. CT, Prime Video), with the winner meeting the Lakers or Warriors for the summer title on Sunday. Two Southwest rebuilds, both stockpiling young talent, will settle it on the floor.
In fantasy terms, Thornton remains the name to track. A second-round pick producing 20-plus points nightly against NBA-caliber summer competition is a legitimate deep-dynasty flier, though his path to redraft relevance runs through a crowded Houston backcourt. Newton is more of a deep-league watch — his summer suggests he can handle spot minutes, but the counting-stat opportunity on a deep Rockets roster projects thin to start.
