Rockets Star Goes Off For Career Night In Rockets’ Win Over Wembanyama And Spurs

Bitter Rivalry Between Texas Rivals

The Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs have some competitive history stretching back over the last half-century. It is a bitter rivalry between both teams due to their close proximity.  In fact, it’s known as the I10 Rivalry since both Houston and San Antonio lie on Interstate 10.

This rivalry has had important moments or implications over the years.

In the 1995 Western Conference final matchup between Hakeem Olajuwon‘s Rockets and David Robinson‘s Spurs, the Rockets will come out on top en route to their first-ever NBA title. Neither team had an NBA title prior to this season.

The Rockets’ Tracy McGrady would have his iconic 13-points-33-seconds-game on December 9, 2004 against the Spurs. The Spurs led for most of the contest, leading by 10 with less than a minute in regulation to go. McGrady would score 13 points including a go-ahead three with 1.7 seconds left on the clock to edge to give the Rockets an 81-80 comeback win.

Tim Duncan‘s Spurs and Yao Ming‘s Rockets would meet several times over the years in close games. It won’t be until the 2017 Western Conference semifinals that both teams will meet again in the playoffs since the 1995 conference finals. This would be during the Kawhi Leonard‘s Spurs and James Harden‘s Rockets era.

The Spurs entered that NBA playoff series as the second-seeded Western Conference team after winning 61 games, their second straight 60+ win season and 20th consecutive postseason appearance.

The Rockets entered that tie as the third-seeded Western Conference team after winning 55 games. They were led by the 2016-2017 Coach of the Year, Mike D’Antoni. That year, the Rockets set the NBA record for most 3-pointers made in a single season with 1,181. Spurs would advance to the Conference finals, losing to eventual champions, the Golden State Warriors.

The rivalry received a fresh injection of bad blood in 2023. During the 2023 NBA Draft lottery, the Rockets were in the sweepstakes for the first overall pick, which would have landed them Victor Wembanyama. They eventually got the fourth overall pick which they used to draft Amen Thompson. Victor was seen visibly pleased by the Rockets getting a lower pick than they anticipated.

Also, Victor’s first win in the league came against the Rockets. It was his first career double-double as well.

Tempers Flare, Rockets’ and Spurs’ Players Get Into a Scuffle

During the third quarter, Jeremy Sochan tripped Amen Thompson after a Spurs possession, resulting in an immediate face-to-face between both players. Players from both sides will join the scuffle though no punches were swung. From that moment onwards, Rockets star Alperen Şengün and his teammates controlled the rest of the game.

This is the third time this season these teams have faced off and the Rockets currently lead the series 2-1.