AUSTIN - The 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama was a few feet from the basket when he took the pass from De'Aaron Fox, nothing between him and the game-tying basket but a defender nine inches shorter.
The Houston Rockets were going to need a miracle to avoid overtime Friday.
Amen Thompson proved the answer to their prayers.
The 6-foot-7 forward, who seemed dead to rights against Wembanyama in the post, instead blocked the All-Star center's shot attempt with 0.6 seconds remaining, preserving the Rockets' 114-110 victory at the Moody Center.
"That's a freakish athletic play," Spurs guard Dylan Harper said. "I mean, that's one out of a million times that I think anyone's going to do that."
Alperen Sengun scored 29 points, Thompson added a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double to his game-saving defensive heroics and Kevin Durant pumped in another 20 points in his old stomping grounds on the University of Texas campus as the Rockets improved to 2-0.
The Spurs, last year's Western Conference champions, dropped to 0-2.
In that, they can commiserate with the NBA champion New York Knicks, who have also started the season 0-2.
Did Wemby overthink tonight? And had he ever had a shot that close to the rim blocked before? No and no. https://t.co/qVkXVqwBaL
- Spurs Nation (@Spurs_Nation) October 24, 2026
Wembanyama scored 25 points to go with 13 rebounds and a pair of blocks, but could not convert in the final seconds with his team trailing 112-110.
"Right when he caught it, it was going to be automatic two points," Harper said. "But that's the game of basketball."
Asked after the game if he wished he had done anything differently on the last play, Wembanyama answered quickly.
"Yes," he said. "I would have dunked the ball."
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All five members of the Spurs' starting five ended in double figures, with De'Aaron Fox chipping in 19 points and a game-high nine assists. But the Spurs could not find an answer down the stretch down Sengun, and Thompson's game-sealing block sent them home empty-handed.
It was an improvement from the Spurs' 116-102 loss to Oklahoma City that opened the season Tuesday, but did not put a tally in the win column.
"We're getting used to playing with each other again and used to playing good teams again," Wembanyama said.
The Spurs get their next chance at their first win of the season Saturday, when they travel to Dallas to face a Mavericks team that could be without star forward Cooper Flagg, who injured his shoulder Friday against Indiana.
Here are three takeaways from Friday's loss, which dropped the Spurs to 5-4 all-time in games played in Austin:
- Wemby bounced back at least
For Wembanyama, Friday marked a bounce-back from a miserable opening night in which he went a career-worst 1-of-13 from the field.
The All-Star center turned in his second consecutive double-double, and added two blocks to boot.
Before the game, Durant talked about what the next step might look like for Wembanyama on the offensive end.
"I just think everybody's next step as a player is to become more efficient, make more shots, less movements, just make the game easier for you," Durant said. "I think that's everybody's next step, not just his. I think that's the goal that we're all trying to reach as players is just to make the game easier for ourselves."
Wembanyama's 9-of-21 finish Friday was not quite the paragon of offensive efficiency. It was, however, a marked improvement from his opening-night clang-a-thon against Oklahoma City.
Mitch Johnson said he saw Wemby looking around for a pass and that's why he called the final timeout (that negated the 3 pointer) https://t.co/HBE32MDALn
- Spurs Nation (@Spurs_Nation) October 24, 2026
2. Sengun was a beast, though
Even with the NBA's reigning Defensive Player of the Year on the roster, the Spurs had little answer for Sengun. The 6-foot-11, 255-pound Turkish bruiser used every ounce of strength to bully the Spurs for baskets in the second half.
Sengun scored 14 of his points in the fourth quarter, including one stretch in which he had 11 of the Rockets' 13.
"He walked the game down and made some really big plays," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.
Sengun went to work in a manner that would have made Shaquille O'Neal proud, using his big body to carve out space in the paint against even the Spurs' most formidable defenders.
His biggest basket came with 5:01 remaining, after a pair of Harper free throws had given the Spurs a 97-96 lead. Sengun responded by taking the 7-foot-1 Luke Kornet down under the rim, finishing a tough bucket and drawing a foul.
The ensuing free throw put Houston ahead 99-97. The Spurs never led again.
3. Free throws were the difference
Unlike in the opener, when the Spurs were undone from the 3-point line, this time the damage came closer to the basket.
The Rockets got to the foul line 31 times, making 28. The Spurs had similar volume, with 25 free-throw attempts, but made only 18.
On a night when a whole lot else was equal between the two clubs, the Rockets' 10-point edge from the foul line proved decisive.
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There’s more to San Antonio with the Express-News. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at 3 Takeaways as Amen Thompson scales Mount Wembanyama.