Another night of NBA preseason basketball, this time featuring the Golden State Warriors looking incredibly frightening as they demolished the Los Angeles Clippers, the Houston Rockets looking terrific in a win over the new-look New York Knicks, while the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Boston Celtics, finally getting to see what it is that Joel Embiid can bring to the floor.
Boston Celtics 89 Philadelphia 76ers 92: A game of interesting debuts, especially Joel Embiid, scoring 6 points in 13 minutes, showing a nice low post move. Al Horford had 8 points and 8 rebounds in 15 minutes for the Celtics. The Sixers won, running away with the game in the final minutes, led by 15 points from Brandon Paul.
Miami Heat 106 Washington Wizards 95: Hassan Whiteside wasted no time, scoring 20 points and 13 rebounds in 23 minutes of play. Justise Winslow scored 12 and Goran Dragic had 9 points in an interesting start for the new-look Heat, or should I say stripped down Heat. John Wall didn’t play, so Trey Burke scored 14 points instead, while Kelly Oubre led the Wizards with 16 off the bench.
New York Knicks 103 Houston Rockets 130: Things didn’t look too hot for the Knicks, shooting just 40.1% from the field, which is terrible for a preseason game. Derrick Rose scored 16 points in a decent debut, while Kristaps Porzingis led the Knicks scoring 22 points. Carmelo Anthony had only 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting. The new look Rockets were fired up, led by James Harden with 28 points and 11 assists, helping Ryan Anderson knock down 7 three-pointers, finishing with 20 points.
Indiana Pacers 113 New Orleans Pelicans 96: The refurbished Pacers looked deep and dangerous, led by 14 points from Al Jefferson off the bench. Thaddeus Young scored 12, Paul George had 11, and Jeff Teague in his Pacers preseason debut scored 10 points. The Pelicans were led by 18 points from Buddy Hield, but they were down by 19 while he played. Anthony Davis finished with 12 points on 3-for-13 shooting.
Sacramento Kings 84 Los Angeles Lakers 103: There was nothing worthy of reporting for the Sacramento Kings, getting 14 points from Arron Afflalo to lead their scoring, while Ty Lawson had 4 points as he tries to rebuild his career. The Lakers got only 2 points in 27 minutes from Brandon Ingram, while Lou Williams and Tarik Black led the team, scoring 15 points each.
Los Angeles Clippers 75 Golden State Warriors 120: The Warriors looked scary. Klay Thompson scored 30 points, Stephen Curry had 14, Kevin Durant finished with 21 points to go with 7 rebounds and 7 assists. They led by 51 points (89-38) at a certain point, as the Clippers seemed completely unprepared for the level of intensity they were going to face. Marreese Speights, former Warrior, finished with 14 points to lead the Clippers.