Wembanyama, Fox fuel dominant performance as Spurs beat Rockets for 4th straight victory, 145-120

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama had 29 points, De’Aaron Fox had 20 points and 10 assists and the San Antonio Spurs won their fourth straight, rolling to a 145-120 victory over the Houston Rockets.

Stephon Castle added 23 points for San Antonio, which has won 15 of 16.

Kevin Durant and Amen Thompson had 23 points each for Houston, which allowed a season high in points.

The Spurs (47-17) won the season series against the Rockets 3-1 and strengthened their hold on the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

Houston (39-24) dropped into fourth in the West, a half-game behind Minnesota (40-24) and seven games behind San Antonio in the loss column.

The Rockets, who have alternated wins and losses over their past six games, allowed a season-most 56 points in the paint.

San Antonio had 38 assists while shooting a season-high 58% from the field, 53% (21 of 40) from 3-point range.

It all started with the Spurs’ 7-foot-4 All-Star.

Wembanyama was 9 for 13 from the field, including a reverse dunk through contact that resulted in a three-point play and an 83-61 lead three minutes into the third quarter.

Wembanyama opened the scoring with a 26-foot 3-pointer followed by an shot fake on a 3 before driving to the rim for a left-hand finger roll, both with Alperen Sengun closely defending.

San Antonio opened a double-digit lead midway through the first quarter but Houston rallied when Wembanyama took a seat.

Houston’s only leads came at 27-26 with two minutes left in the first quarter and 33-32 at the close of the period.

Keldon Johnson added 20 points for San Antonio, which is 2 1/2 games behind Oklahoma City in the West.

Up next

Rockets: Host Toronto on Tuesday night.

Spurs: Host Boston on Tuesday night.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba