Number one draft pick Victor Wembanyama sent the San Antonio Spurs to overtime against the Houston Rockets and then confirmed his first NBA double-double in a 126-122 victory.
Playing only his second NBA game, 19-year-old Wembanyama (21 points, 12 rebounds) opened the scoring with a fade-away shot in the first 20 seconds in San Antonio.
The Spurs were down by two points as the last 20 seconds of regulation approached on Saturday (AEDT) when the Frenchman found the ball in his hands.
Wembanyama flirted with the baseline as he drove past fellow young gun Jabari Smith. Off balance, he shot a lay-up that tied the game at 111 and sent it to overtime.
Once there, Wembanyama confirmed his double-double with four boards, two on the offensive end, before Keldon Johnson dunked in the final seconds to seal the result for the hosts.
"I really, really love winning," Wembanyama said.
"It’s what I love most in life. So, of course, it felt great. Coming back in the locker room, (coach Gregg Popovich) acknowledged that it was my first-ever NBA win.
"It just made me proud for a moment, proud of myself. Of course, it’s just one win and we’ve got a whole lot more to come and a whole lot more tough games to come."
Elsewhere, Luka Doncic's career-high nine three-pointers propelled the Dallas Mavericks to a 125-120 defeat of the Brooklyn Nets, sealed by a miracle long-range basket from the Slovenian.
Doncic (49 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists) hit three triples after the final change in Dallas to tie what was then a personal best of eight baskets from deep.
With scores locked at 120, Doncic had the ball in his hands with the shot clock rapidly expiring and Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O'Neale closing in on him between the arc and the sideline.
Backed into a corner, he turned and sent a hook shot up from deep with his right hand that somehow careered from the backboard and into the net.
The prodigious shot put the Mavericks up with 26 seconds remaining.
Under pressure to bounce back from an injury-prone, underwhelming first season in Brooklyn, Australian Ben Simmons was solid running the point and helped spark a 10-4 run in the third.
He remained reluctant to shoot the ball himself but, in positive signs, was willing to take the paint on in the third quarter as the Nets began controlling the match.
Simmons finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, just shy of his second triple-double as a Net.
Fellow Australian Dante Exum sprinted away to dunk on transition and give the Mavericks a one-point lead at the first change but those were the only points of his four-minute cameo.
Elsewhere, Stephen Curry's 41 points spurred the Golden State Warriors to a 122-114 defeat of intrastate foes the Sacramento Kings.
Curry was his prolific self from deep, hitting seven from 10 attempts, with the Kings unable to close the gap despite a 12-5 run late in the final quarter.
The Oklahoma City Thunder clawed back with a late 16-2 run that confirmed a 108-105 defeat of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But Australian Josh Giddey was off his game shooting the ball (one of eight from the field) and sidelined for part OKC's late surge. He finished with a game-high six assists.
Boomers captain Patty Mills is still searching for his first minutes with the Atlanta Hawks, sidelined for the second time this season in a 126-120 loss to the New York Knicks.
