SAN ANTONIO -- It took every bit of three quarters to do it, but Victor Wembanyama scrapped to earn his first bucket in Tuesday's 116-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Unfortunately for the San Antonio Spurs, it didn't come until the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter. Wembanyama fought through Chet Holmgren crossing half court, then set a screen on Cason Wallace before rolling to the basket for a spinning dunk off a lob from De'Aaron Fox. He missed his previous 12 shots up to that point, tying the mark for the second-most missed field goals to start a season opener in the play-by-play era (since 1997-98), according to Elias.
Wembanyama would finish the night shooting a career-worst 8% (1-for-13) from the field with 12 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks.
"I need to go back to playing the basketball I like," Wembanyama said. "This is not the sport I like right here. I've got no reason to be hesitant, no reason to not be myself. I'm good when I have fun. I missed a lot of shots I usually don't miss. But after that, I didn't go back to these shots, and I wasn't decisive. I might be overthinking it. I don't need to do more. I need to think less probably."
Wembanyama shot 52.4% from the field last season in five regular-season games against Oklahoma City, averaging 18.4 points, as the Spurs rolled to a 4-1 record against the Thunder. In the Western Conference finals, Wembanyama boosted his scoring average against OKC to 27.3 points on 48.1% shooting from the floor.
Yet finding offensive success against the Thunder in Tuesday's opener proved much more difficult. Oklahoma City constantly showed the 22-year-old crowds while providing an optimal blend of help defense without letting San Antonio's other scorers loose.
Holmgren made up for a rough showing against Wembanyama in the Western Conference finals with an assertive, physical performance against him Tuesday and contributed 14 points and seven rebounds.
Holmgren swatted away a Wembanyama runner in the second quarter for one of his team-high four blocks. Rookie big man Aday Mara also logged a block against Wembanyama on a potential dunk off a Fox alley-oop. Isaiah Hartenstein chipped in, too.
"I thought he missed shots that he can normally make from the floor," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of Wembanyama. "I thought Chet did a great job on him. I thought Mara did a great job on him in the possessions he had him. There's been times where we could get a little jumpy with him and we overhelp and give up something clean. There's other times where we've left him on an island. I thought tonight we had the perfect balance of providing help, putting him in a crowd, discipline on the ball, but not hemorrhaging in other parts of the floor."
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson declined to single out Wembanyama's shaky performance.
Oklahoma City jumped out to a 26-point lead in the second quarter, shooting a scorching 10-of-14 from 3-point range in the first half as San Antonio struggled to find its way offensively with a new guard-heavy starting lineup that featured Wembanyama and Fox with Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell.
"I think everybody struggled pretty equally," Johnson said when asked about Wembanyama. "I know his field goal [percentage] will stand out, but we all participated in that one."
Fox agreed, pointing out that San Antonio's guards need to find ways to make Wembanyama's job easier.
"There are times we want to play faster, try to make his catches a little easier to where he doesn't have to always create from himself," Fox said. "Whenever he's able to get those easy baskets, then you see the highlight plays. If we can make it just a little bit easier for him, I think that's when you start seeing the 40, 45 points, the step-back 3s. That's when those things will happen."
Castle said San Antonio's guards need to find ways to deliver the ball to Wembanyama in better spots on the floor.
"When we screen for him, [we have to] make sure we get his guy off of him," Castle said. "He had a bad shooting night, but he did a good job of getting to the rim. He turned a couple shots that he usually shoots down to make a play for other people. It was the first game of the season. We all know Vic will find his rhythm. That's not something we're really worried about."
ESPN's Tim MacMahon and ESPN Research contributed to this report.