Houston Rockets at San Antonio Spurs

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

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