NBA

Houston Rockets at San Antonio Spurs

· National Basketball Association
1-2, 0-1 Away
Final
106 - 109

1-1, 1-0 Home

Wembanyama, Sochan help Spurs fend out hard-charging Rockets to win home opener, 109-106

Wemby and Brooks wrestling match sparks kerfuffle

Wembanyama added seven rebounds and three blocks while shooting 10 for 17 from the field.

Chris Paul added three points and nine assists, including a drive and feed to Sochan for an open layup that put San Antonio up 104-99 with 1:35 remaining.

After trailing by 22 points in the first half, Houston was within one possession for much of the final minutes. The Rockets went on a 21-8 run in the opening six minutes of the final quarter, turning an 18-point deficit into a 95-90 lead for San Antonio.

Jalen Green had 27 points for Houston. Fred VanVleet added 18 and Dillon Brooks had 16.

Takeaways Rockets: Houston wasted a good finish with a poor start. After shooting 34% through three quarters, including 17% in the second period, the Rockets shot 60% in the final quarter.

Spurs: San Antonio went 2 for 13 on 3-pointers after opening the game 6 for 7.

Key moment After struggling mightily at times last season to get the ball into Wembanyama’s hands around the rim, a pair of passes from Paul yielded much promise and thunderous celebrations. Paul’s first lob resulted in an alley-oop dunk for Wembanyama with 2:12 remaining in the first half that put the Spurs up 57-38. Paul and Wembanyama repeated the alley-oop dunk a minute later, giving the Spurs a 59-38 advantage.

Key stat San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich has stressed the need for his team to be more physical and the Spurs responded, outrebounding Houston 57-46.

Up next The Rockets face the Spurs again on Monday to close out a two-game set in San Antonio.

Regular Season Series

SA leads series 1-0

Matchup Prediction

Spurs: 38.2%
Rockets: 61.8%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Recent Plays

4th 0.0 End of Game 106 - 109
4th 0.0 End of the 4th Quarter 106 - 109
4th 1.0 Keldon Johnson defensive rebound 106 - 109
4th 3.1 Jalen Green misses 24-foot three point pullup jump shot 106 - 109
4th 7.0 Stephon Castle makes free throw 2 of 2 106 - 109

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/hou.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originHOU https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/sa.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originSA
38-92 FG 39-79
41.3 Field Goal % 49.4
13-41 3PT 8-20
31.7 Three Point % 40.0
17-21 FT 23-28
81.0 Free Throw % 82.1
34 Rebounds 49
8 Offensive Rebounds 10
26 Defensive Rebounds 39
21 Assists 23
10 Steals 6
3 Blocks 7
10 Turnovers 17
1 Team Turnovers 0
11 Total Turnovers 17
1 Technical Fouls 1
1 Total Technical Fouls 1
0 Flagrant Fouls 0
11 Points Conceded Off Turnovers 17
13 Fast Break Points 9
42 Points in Paint 54
24 Fouls 18
3 Largest Lead 22

Game Information

Frost Bank Center

Location: San Antonio, TX
Attendance: 18,715 · Capacity:

2024-25 Southwest Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Dallas 2 1 .667 - W1
New Orleans 2 1 .667 - L1
Houston 2 2 .500 0.5 W1
Memphis 2 2 .500 0.5 L1
San Antonio 1 2 .333 1 L1
Full Standings

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