The 2025-26 NBA season opener delivered in every possible way imaginable, with the Oklahoma City Thunder outlasting the Houston Rockets 125-124 in a double overtime thriller.
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In a clash of two Western Conference heavyweights, reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 35 points and made two clutch free throws late to sink the Rockets.
There was controversy late in the first overtime period as Kevin Durant, making his Rockets debut, motioned for a timeout after a miss from SGA despite not having any timeouts left.
What should have been a technical foul and Oklahoma City free throw to win the game was instead missed by the referees, much to the displeasure of Thunder coach Mark Daigneault.
You are never going to get a true read for how an entire season will play out from just one game, especially when you consider the big names missing from both teams on Wednesday.
The Thunder were without Gilgeous-Alexander’s co-star in Jalen Williams along with rotation players Isaiah Joe and Kenrich Williams, while Fred VanVleet and Dorian Finney-Smith were both unavailable for Houston.
But at the very least, the Rockets proved — as expected — they will be one of the biggest threats to Oklahoma City going back-to-back.
With their championship-winning roster virtually intact, Oklahoma City is the favourite to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy once again this season but both Houston and a much-improved Denver roster are expected to challenge the Thunder for supremacy in the Western Conference.
The Rockets, of course, vaulted into title contention after trading for Durant in the summer but it was the early signs of development from two of their young stars that will have Houston fans excited from Wednesday’s season-opener.
Sengun led the way for the Rockets with 39 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and two steals while Thompson was heavily involved with 18 points, four rebounds and five assists.
Kevin Durant had 23 points and nine rebounds in his Rockets debut.
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With veteran guard VanVleet expected to miss most of the season with a torn ACL, one of the biggest challenges for the Rockets will be finding a new primary playmaking option.
That probably doesn’t exist on this roster, at least if the Rockets want to keep Durant healthy for the postseason, so instead it will likely be a matter of playing point guard by committee with Sengun and Thompson initiating the offence along with the 15-time All-Star and second-year guard Reed Sheppard.
That was the case on Wednesday, with Sengun taking on more playmaking responsibilities early and the result was a pretty clunky start as the Rockets struggled to get into their sets quickly and were putting up low-quality shots as a result.
Chet Holmgren, meanwhile, was the main source of offence for Oklahoma City with the first seven points for the defending champions.
On the other end of the floor, the Thunder were also finding plenty of success with their ball pressure to force Houston into uncomfortable positions trying to initiate its offence out of the halfcourt.
Eventually, the Rockets started to find some answers as Thompson pulled up for a 3-pointer which was later changed to a long two after review.
Still, Thompson was looking confident and aggressive early, getting to the rim for a pair of and-1s on his way to 10 quick points in the first quarter all up.
And this was while Durant was making the kind of circus shots over defenders he has been making his whole career, with the Rockets taking a 30-27 lead into the second.
That was despite shooting just 2-for-8 from deep, with Houston running into the kind of spacing issues you would expect from a starting line-up with an average height of 6-foot-10.
That size did give the Rockets a big advantage on the offensive boards and they were making it count, pounding the glass for second-chance points.
All up, both teams struggled to find a rhythm on offence at times in the second quarter of Wednesday’s game, which said more about the quality of the defence than anything else, and when they were making shots it was 3-pointers galore.
While the Thunder and Rockets were making each other work for every bucket, it didn’t seem like there was much Houston could do to stop Holmgren as he opened the second with five more quick points.
He was getting a variety of different shots off but in particular, it was his physicality at the rim that stood out and for a Thunder team that was so dominant last season on the way to the championship, another leap from Holmgren is just one way they can get even better this season.
Against Houston, the Thunder needed every point they could get from Holmgren as the Rockets made life hard for Gilgeous-Alexander and forced Oklahoma City’s other players to make shots.
Holmgren was able to but otherwise it was a lottery and more often than not the Thunder came up empty in the first half as Houston took a 57-51 lead into halftime.
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Durant (14 points) was leading the way while Holmgren (18) had more points than Oklahoma City’s other starters with Cason Wallace and Isaiah Hartenstein both going scoreless.
With Joe and Williams injured, Ajay Mitchell was the surprise X-factor for the Thunder off the bench with 11 points — including a big four-point play at the end of the half.
Houston quickly wrestled back momentum when the third quarter opened though, scoring the first six points to force Oklahoma City into an early timeout.
The Thunder had started small to open the quarter with Caruso in for Hartenstein and while it didn’t produce results immediately, the pesky guard later forced back-to-back turnovers as Oklahoma City scored six-straight points of its own.
The defending champs then put an exclamation mark on the quarter as Aaron Wiggins soared for a poster over Clint Capela, but it was still Houston leading 79-75 entering the fourth.
Sengun was feeling it from deep in Wednesday’s game, adding a pair of triples early in the fourth to bring up a career-high five made 3-pointers after shooting just 23 per cent last season.
It continued a big night for Sengun as the Rockets looked on the verge of closing it out after Durant checked in and hit a mid-range jumper to put Houston up 97-91 with four minutes left.
But a pair of free throws from Gilgeous-Alexander and tip-in from Hartenstein quickly flipped momentum before SGA, having been quiet by his lofty standards for the majority of the game, hit a big shot and then played brilliant one-on-one defence on Thompson to get a key stop.
With it, the Thunder led 102-101 entering the final minute but Sengun capped off his big night with the go-ahead score before Durant drew a foul only to miss one of the free throws.
Gilgeous-Alexander then got enough separation from Thompson to hit the contested jumper and tie up the game with two seconds left, sending the game to overtime.
The Thunder were first on the board in OT as Holmgren made a corner 3-pointer, putting OKC ahead 107-104.
It was Oklahoma City’s biggest lead of the night, which spoke to just how tightly-contested Wednesday’s game was, and the Thunder later extended it as SGA hit a circus 3-pointer.
Just as the reigning MVP looked like he was taking over, a huge 3-pointer from Jabari Smith Jr. closed the gap for Houston and it could have been a Rockets lead had Sengun and Sheppard not split their trips to the free throw line.
Holmgren then splashed another 3-pointer to put OKC ahead 115-111 and he looked a certainty to dunk it home soon after only for Smith Jr. to fly in for the block before Josh Okogie hustled for the defensive rebound.
That kept the Rockets in it, trailing 115-113, and they then got a stop as Sengun blocked a driving dunk attempt from Caruso to give Houston one final possession to win the game.
Sengun missed his first layup attempt but fought for the offensive rebound and then put it home, tying the game at 115-115 with 8.8 seconds left in overtime.
The Rockets held on to send the game to double overtime, albeit controversial fashion after referees missed Durant trying to call for a timeout despite not having any left.
In what was a scrappy second overtime period, Durant got a crucial and-1 to put the Rockets up 122-120 with one minute left and fouled Hartenstein out in the process.
But as had been the case all game long, no lead was safe for long as SGA tied it up and was then fouled after a Rockets turnover, making one of two free throws to put OKC up 123-122.
There were still 32.6 seconds left in the second overtime period at that point and a huge offensive rebound from Smith on a Durant miss then led to a Sengun go-ahead score.
That put Houston ahead 124-123 but with 11 seconds left, the Thunder had one final possession to steal the win and Gilgeous-Alexander put Durant in a spin cycle to draw the foul — KD’s sixth of the game.
SGA made no mistake on both free throws this time around and while there were still 2.3 seconds left for the Rockets to call a timeout and draw up a game-winning play, without its clutch king in Durant they weren’t much hope.
Still, Smith Jr. was able to get off a corner 3-pointer but it missed as the Thunder held on.
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