Rockets Spoil Victor Wembanyama's Dunk Show at Buzzer, Spurs Fall to 0-2

AUSTIN, Texas — Victor Wembanyama came to Austin on a mission to dunk some basketballs, and he did, but the Houston Rockets stopped his crucial final attempt to stop the San Antonio Spurs' comeback attempt and send San Antonio to 0-2 on the season.

Wembanyama bounced back after the worst shooting game of his career in the opener, finishing with 25 points and 13 rebounds as his teammates did a great job of getting him the ball near the rim. ]

The Spurs had erased an 11-point Houston lead, and trailing by two in the final moments they found Wembanyama on the block. He went up for the tie, but Amen Thompson made one of the best defensive plays you'll see to block the alien's shot at the death. Houston went on to win 114-110 to improve to 2-0 on its season.

Asked afterward if he would've done anything differently, Wembanyama affirmed.

"I would have dunked," he said.

Longhorn legend Kevin Durant scored 20 in the game on the University of Texas' campus, and Rockets center Alperen Sengun got hot in the second half to finish with 29.

"(We) probably could have done some work earlier," Mitch Johnson said. "He got to the baseline quite a few times, and has a really good feel when he gets underneath the backboard. He walked the game down and made some really big plays."

On San Antonio's side De'Aaron Fox added 19 points and nine assists, Dylan Harper put up 20, and Stephon Castle contributed 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

The three guards all played pretty well overall, but the team shot poorly when they all shared the floor. San Antonio shot 7-for-21 as a team and 2-for-12 from deep, outscored by 12 when the three-guard lineup was out there. Harper and Castle combined to shoot 1-for-9 with that group. Most of that came in the first two stints to open each half.

The bench unit made a run in the fourth quarter with Wembanyama catching a breather, and when the starting unit came back in to close they had their best stint of the game.

“Late, when we played properly and appropriately — how we’re supposed to — our offense looked really good," Johnson said.

The little things were a little off in this one for the home team in their home away from home. The Spurs shot 32 percent from 3 and turned it over 15 times, They hung around the whole time, but never strung enough plays together to lead by more than a point.

“I feel like details are the biggest thing when it comes to games like this," Harper said afterward. "We've got to get stops and run, that's the biggest thing."

An 0-2 start is far from where the Spurs want to be, but nobody is hitting the panic button. Asked about the level of concern, Harper asked how many games were left. The answer being 80 before the playoffs, he's not freaking out about it.

"It's not gonna be perfect from day one," he said. "Obviously we're still figuring it out with the group we have... obviously you need to have a type of poise and a type of energy to get it right, but at the same time having it in the back of our mind that we've got a long way to go with this group.

Johnson kept his message to the fans who are concerned after the first two losses a bit shorter.

"I hope they stay around for the next 80," he said.