Amen Thompson blocks Wembanyama, Rockets beat Spurs 114-110

Amen Thompson went up to meet Victor Wembanyama's layup with less than a second left on Friday night and swatted it away. The Houston Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs 114-110 at Moody Center in Austin.

Houston led 112-110 when the Spurs called timeout with five seconds left. Wembanyama got the ball and went for the layup that would have tied it. Thompson blocked it. Dylan Harper fouled Fred VanVleet with 0.6 seconds left, and VanVleet made both free throws. Harper's heave at the buzzer missed.

It was a game of 14 lead changes. The Spurs led seven times, but never by more than a point, and their last lead was 104-103 with 4:19 to play. Houston is now 4-0. San Antonio, which lost its opener to Oklahoma City on Tuesday, left Austin 0-2 and has since won once.

Sengun takes over the fourth

Alperen Sengun scored 29 points on 10-of-20 shooting, with seven rebounds and seven assists. Fourteen of the points came in the fourth quarter. The biggest stretch came after Harper's step-back three put the Spurs up 104-103. Sengun scored the next six Houston points, a short shot, a free throw, a layup and another free throw, and it was 109-104 with 2:42 left. San Antonio did not score for the next 1:52.

De'Aaron Fox made both free throws at 2:27, then threw an alley-oop to Wembanyama at 1:49 to make it 109-108. Kevin Durant answered 15 seconds later with a 25-foot three off a Sengun pass. Harper cut it to 112-110 with a running dunk at 46.1 seconds, again off a Fox pass, and that was as close as the Spurs got before the block.

Durant, who played his one college season at Texas, scored 20 points on 5-of-10 shooting, made all eight of his free throws, and had seven rebounds and six assists. "This is a dream come true, a blessing to be doing this every day," he said after the win, as NBA.com reported.

Thompson had 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. VanVleet scored 14 with five assists and three steals and did not turn the ball over. "There's not many people on the planet making that play on Wemby, which is why he is the special player that he is," VanVleet said of Thompson's block, as NBA.com reported.

How the first three quarters went

Houston scored 30 in the first quarter and led 30-26. The lead reached 11 at 41-30 early in the second, when Bogdan Bogdanovic hit a three off a Sengun pass.

The Spurs took the second quarter 33-31. Stephon Castle and Wembanyama hit threes, Harper and Devin Vassell kept scoring, and Wembanyama's free throw with 23.3 seconds left put San Antonio up 59-58. VanVleet answered at the buzzer with a 26-foot three, and Houston led 61-59 at halftime.

The teams were tied at 62 in the third quarter, and then Houston pulled away. Durant, VanVleet and Marcus Smart scored in an 8-0 run that made it 78-68 with 4:56 left. The Spurs cut it to 85-81 by the end of the quarter, helped by a three from Julian Champagnie and two free throws from Vassell in the last 1:07.

The fourth quarter was 29-29. Tari Eason scored five early in it for a 90-83 Houston lead, and the Spurs kept coming back. Harper scored 11 of his 20 in the quarter.

The numbers

Wembanyama scored 25 points on 9-of-21 shooting with 13 rebounds and two blocks. In the season opener on Tuesday he made 1 of 13 shots. Castle scored 15 on 6-of-15 shooting, and Fox had 19 points and nine assists but also five turnovers, the same as Vassell.

Houston made 28 of 31 free throws, San Antonio 18 of 25. Houston shot 49 percent from the floor to the Spurs' 46 percent, and made 10 of 25 threes to San Antonio's 12 of 37. Each team had 15 turnovers, and the Rockets had 11 steals to the Spurs' 10. Houston won the rebounding 44-40.

The crowd was 16,723.

What is next

Both teams played the next night. Houston won at Atlanta 121-114, and San Antonio won at Dallas 122-106. On Monday, Houston beat Atlanta again, 120-110, at home.

The Spurs host the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, October 27, and the Rockets visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, October 28. Both games tip off at 8 p.m. ET.

Houston's win was one of 12 games on Friday: the Friday roundup has the other 11. Last Tuesday, the Thunder beat the Spurs 116-104 in a Western final rematch.

Scoring

Houston: Alperen Sengun 29, Kevin Durant 20, Amen Thompson 20, Fred VanVleet 14, Tari Eason 12, Jabari Smith Jr. 7, Marcus Smart 5, Steven Adams 4, Bogdan Bogdanovic 3.

San Antonio: Victor Wembanyama 25, Dylan Harper 20, De'Aaron Fox 19, Stephon Castle 15, Devin Vassell 10, Keldon Johnson 8, Luke Kornet 7, Julian Champagnie 6, Harrison Barnes 0, Carter Bryant 0.

By quarter: Houston 30, 31, 24, 29. San Antonio 26, 33, 22, 29.