Amen Thompson blocks a potential tying dunk by Victor Wembanyama in the closing seconds to save a win by the Rockets.
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Houston Rockets guard Amen Thompson (1) blocks a shot by San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) to secure a 114-110 victory during an NBA game at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
Houston Rockets guard Amen Thompson (1) blocks a shot by San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) to secure a 114-110 victory during an NBA game at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Spurs guard De’aaron Fox (4) guards Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) during the first quarter at Moody Center in Austin, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7), guard Amen Thompson (1) and forward Jabari Smith Jr. (10) react to a play made by center Alperen Sengun (28) against the San Antonio Spurs at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. The Rockets won 114-110.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
AUSTIN — Amen Thompson did the impossible, twice. First, the young Houston Rockets star rolled to the hoop, getting a step on 7-foot-5 Victor Wembanyama before dunking it despite a block attempt from the San Antonio Spurs’ phenom.
Then, with Houston up just two points with mere seconds left in Friday’s game, Thopmson found himself guarding the Spurs big man in the post.
In theory, a mismatch. In reality, a mistake. Thompson, 10 inches shorter than Wembanyama, sprang into the air to meet Wembanyama’s turnaround layup, swatting it out of bounds in a play that ultimately secured Houston’s 114-110 win at Moody Center.
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“I can jump pretty high,” Thompson said when asked how he made the play. “I wouldn’t try to keep ducking me in [posting up] but you know, if they want to they can.”
“He kind of took it personal,” teammate Alperen Şengün said.
Thompson finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. After the block, Kevin Durant enveloped him with a hug.
Durant’s first words to Thompson after the game-saving play: “The f— wrong with [Wembanyama], thinking he going to just lay it up so easy?”
“I don’t know,” Thompson appeared to reply on the broadcast.
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Coach Ime Udoka said Thompson is quick enough to stay in front of anybody, strong enough to fight with most guys and athletic enough to challenge anybody.
Friday’s play against Wembanyama, an outlier even among the high-altitude world of the NBA, proved that really means anybody.
Houston also got an impressive performance from fellow young star Şengün, who poured in 29 points — 14 in the fourth quarter — along with seven rebounds and seven assists.
The Rockets turned to Şengün time and time again in the post down the stretch. The big man bullied Spurs backup center Luke Kornet and Wembanyama, putting him under the rim before pump fakes and quick moves to finish on either side of the rim.
“Bro, that’s what I do in [postups], man” he said when asked about his effectiveness. “Whoever guards me, they’re big but I’m a little faster than them. I can put them under the rim and figure out after that where I can shoot.”
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The two young talents did so much that Durant only had to take 10 shots.
“That’s my game,” Durant said. “Always been my game. Being able to sacrifice for your teammates and knowing when it’s your time, I think that’s key.”
Durant said he told Şengün he was ready to “bang one from the wing” if needed. For most of the night, the Rockets didn’t. But with 92 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Durant ran off a screen from Thompson and curled around a dribble handoff with Şengün before raising up and knocking down a 3-pointer that gave Houston needed cushion. He finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
The key question for the Rockets entering this season is how they would match up with the presumptive top two teams in the Western Conference, the Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Some around the league doubt Houston can enter that tier in large part because of questions around the top-end of the Rockets roster: Durant is older and Thompson and Şengün have yet to prove themselves as truly elite players like Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic and a small group of others.
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The second game of the regular season determines nothing, and Houston’s most important tests will come in the spring.
But Friday’s win over the defending Western Conference champions in a hostile environment doesn’t mean nothing, especially because of how it happened.
Şengün and Thompson, the Rockets two best young players, took control of a game with one of those elite talents on the opposing sideline — continuing a strong start to the season that maybe, just maybe, could end with them vaulting into a new tier among their NBA peers and the Rockets exceeding external expectations.
“I feel like this is the best team I’ve ever been on and the chemistry is really good,” Şengün said. “ … Everybody loves each other out here. That’s one of the most important [things] to me. When we go out and we battle, we fight … I think we can beat anybody in this league.”
Other notes from the win
• The Rockets had plenty of answers when the Spurs guarded Thompson with Wembanyama and had the big man sag back. Thompson recognized those moments and often turned into a screener or hub on dribble handoffs, helping free up teammates and even himself for the aforementioned dunk on Wembanyama.
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Amen Thompson fake DHO + ridiculous driving dunk. https://t.co/ky4wH3OojU
— Rockets Clips (@Rockets_Clips) October 24, 2026
Thompson: “That’s lowkey getting dunked on, right? So, I dunked on him.”
After Şengün had scored a few times, the Spurs fronted the big man to deny an entry pass. Houston had a nice counter, with Fred VanVleet hitting Thompson near the free throw line. Thompson goaded his defender, Wembanyama, forward before lobbing a pass over Şengün’s smaller defender, Stephon Castle. Şengün caught the pass, absorbed contact and finished for an and-one.
Alperen Sengun layup + the foul, assisted by Amen Thompson. https://t.co/qXmnRsku0g
— Rockets Clips (@Rockets_Clips) October 24, 2026
The play was a prime example of VanVleet’s calming presence helping the Rockets late in games, something they struggled with last season. Houston committed just one turnover across the game’s last eight minutes.
Şengün said he was tired after scoring a few times and asked for a possession off, but the ball found him anyway. After he scored, he said VanVleet came up to him and said: “You ain’t tired.”
Early in the game, Durant got in a mini squabble with Spurs point guard De’Aaron Fox. What happened? “I felt like [Fox] swiped and then he got me right in the nose. I was just mad he hit me in the nose. It was stinging a little bit,” Durant said, adding that he respected Fox.
More from Durant, who played at the University of Texas, on playing in Austin: “Win or lose, to play in front of my family and friends here, people that support me the most, I hear NBA fans say that I don’t have a home. I feel like this is my home, man.”
Reed Sheppard did not play with a left knee contusion/bone bruise. Udoka said the guard sustained the injury when he tripped and fell in transition during the season opener against Dallas. Sheppard stayed in the game but the injury became stiff afterwards.