The San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets will look to put opening-night disappointments in the rear-view mirror when the Lone Star State rivals meet on Friday in the Alamo City.
Both teams dropped their openers on Wednesday, with the Spurs falling at home to Dallas 126-119 and Houston blasted by Orlando on the road 116-86. San Antonio and Houston tied for the worst record (22-60) in the Western Conference last season.
In Wednesday’s loss, the Spurs led by 12 points in the second quarter and by four at halftime. A back-and-forth final period featured five ties before a pair of free throws by San Antonio’s Devin Vassell with 2:09 to play gave San Antonio a short-lived advantage. Those points were answered by a 3-pointer and then a layup by the Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving that flipped the lead to the Mavericks for good.
Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4, 19-year-old forward-center from France who was the league’s top draft pick, finished with 15 points and struggled with foul trouble. He played 23 minutes and scored nine of his points in the fourth quarter.
Wembanyama’s stat line for his debut was a mirror of the one produced by the Spurs’ most recent “can’t miss” draftee, Tim Duncan, in his first NBA game Oct. 31, 1997. Both had 15 points, two assists and were 6-of-9 from the floor. Duncan had 10 rebounds to Wembanyama’s five.
Vassell led the Spurs with 23 points, with Keldon Johnson hitting for 17, Tre Jones adding 16 in a reserve role, Zach Collins scoring 14 and Jeremy Sochan adding 13 points.
The Rockets fought back from a 17-point first-half deficit and pulled to within 63-62 early in the third quarter before allowing Orlando to score 24 of the final 31 points of the period. Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks hit for 14 points apiece in their Houston debuts while Alperen Sengun posted 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Rockets.
Houston committed 19 turnovers and was pushed around throughout.
