The Spurs looked better in their second game of the regular season than they did in the first, but it was still not good enough against a Houston Rockets club that is whole and healthy again. It was a physical game throughout with the Spurs mostly playing from behind, where the Rockets led by as much as 11 while the Spurs stayed close but never could go on any kind of game-changing run or make their free throws. Despite only leading by one a few times and usually ceding the lead on the next possession
on their way to a 110-114 loss, they still had a chance to tie or send it to overtime, but Amen Thompson blocked Victor Wembanyama 0.6 sec left to end any hope.
Wemby had a decent bounce-back game with 25 points and 13 rebounds on 9-21 from the field, but he can still be much better. All four other staters scored in double figures, led by 20 points from Dylan Harper and 19 from De’Aaron Fox. Alperen Sengun was force down low on his way to 29 points, and Kevin Durant and Amen Thompson added 20 apiece.
Observations
- If you visited theGame Thread you saw this already, but I’m not a fan of one of the Austin games being against an in-state rival. It feels like lost revenue for a surefire sellout at home, a homecoming of sorts for Kevin Durant, and an invitation for something closer to a neutral crowd. Sure enough, when Alperen Sengun hit the first bucket of the game, the roar was relatively loud for the “away” team. Not as loud as the home crowd, obviously, but louder than it probably would have been in San Antonio.
- Another game, another scuffle involving De’Aaron Fox, although this time he did nothing to warrant it. In the first quarter, he went flying by and fouled Durant to prevent a lay-up. Durant held his face before getting up and angrily walking towards Fox, but replay showed nothing malicious. If anything touched Durant’s face, it was the ball as Fox blocked it. Ultimately nothing happened — no techs, no video review, just normal free throws — but Durant may look back and realize he overreacted.
- It didn’t take long for Wemby to double his total number of field goals from Game 1, hitting 2-3 in his first stint on the floor: an alley-oop from Stephon Castle and a tip-in dunk. He also hit two of his first four threes. He admitted after the season opener that he was thinking and trying too hard, and he looked looser in game.
- The Spurs almost never led in the first half and appeared headed towards another second quarter meltdown when they quickly got down by 11 points with the Rockets owning all the momentum, but the defense kept them in it while the offense recomposed itself and gradually chipped away at the lead. A flurry from Wemby got them their first lead of the quarter on an and-one alley-oop with 23 seconds left, but a VanVleet buzzer-beating three gave it back to the Rockets at halftime, 61-59.
- The entire game was physical, but the Spurs started growing visibly frustrated with the officiating in the second and third quarters, as the refs seemed to be allowing a lot more contract from the Rockets defense than the Spurs’. But that wasn’t why the Spurs briefly found themselves down by double digits again in the third. Turnovers were a problem, especially for Fox, who had two of his five getting stripped at the top of the key for open Rockets lay-ups.
- The non-Wemby minutes were mostly rough, especially with Luke Kornet struggling to contain Sengun, but the Spurs still managed to go on a run with him resting midway through the fourth quarter to briefly retake the lead riding the momentum of Castle. Wemby re-entered with 4:30 left and the Rockets up 2, and by then Sengun had found a rhythm and was pounding inside for buckets and fouls no matter who was guarding him. He even managed to draw a foul on Wemby by heading him in the mouth (it’s always amusing when the bleeding player is the one who committed the foul, but the Spurs were out of challenges).
- The Spurs still had a chance to win or send it to overtime with the ball out of a timeout with 5 seconds left. Whether by design or otherwise, Fox faked the fadeaway three before heaving it Wemby near the basket, but his attempt was blocked by Amen Thompson, the VanVleet hit two free throws to seal it for good with 0.6 sec left. Free throws ultimately the Spurs’ downfall in this game, with the Rockets hitting 28-31 to the Spurs’ 18-25.
- The Spurs drop to 0-2 to start the season, but at least they’re joined by the defending champions. When was the last time the two finalists started the next season 0-2? (I tried asking Google, and it called it “rare”, which to me implies it has happened before, but it only gave 2026 as an example.
Up next: Saturday at Dallas Mavericks, 7:00 PM CT
(It doesn’t feel right having a back-to-back with travel with tip-off times less than 23 hours apart no matter how close the games technically are to each other.)
