An interesting night of preseason basketball had some division rivals testing things out: The Golden State Warriors big three doing anything they wanted to against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics looking very good against the New York Knicks, and the Chicago Bulls, without their key players, looking extremely dominant vs the Milwaukee Bucks.
Washington Wizards 119 Sacramento Kings 124: A good game for Kings starters (in plus-minus as well), with 22 points from both Darren Collison and DeMarcus Cousins. Omri Casspi looked good coming off the bench, scoring 16. Andrew Nicholson led the Wizards with 19 points off the bench.
Detroit Pistons 97 Philadelphia 76ers 76: Joel Embiid keeps looking better for the Sixers, finishing with 15 points, but that was about it with positives for Philly. Tobias Harris led the Pistons with 18 points, Andre Drummond had himself a 10 points, 13 rebounds double double.
Boston Celtics 119 New York Knicks 107: One of the rare things in a preseason game is to have two teams disliking each other show it in a game. The Celtics went after Kristaps Porzingis, which included a couple of blocks by Al Horford. R.J. Hunter led Boston with 17 points, while the Knicks looked bad during their lineup minutes. Carmelo Anthony scored 15, Mindaugas Kuzminskas led them with 18 off the bench.
Minnesota Timberwolves 101 Miami Heat 96: The Heat didn’t play most of their key players including Dragic, Whiteside and Tyler Johnson. Andrew Wiggins took advantage to score 23 points, joined by Karl-Anthony Towns, finishing with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Rodney McGruder led the Heat with 15 points off the bench.
Memphis Grizzlies 134 Houston Rockets 125: The Grizzlies manage to keep up with the Rockets pace, as James Harden gets an impressive stat line of 14 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists and 7 turnovers. Mike Conley had 19 points for the Griz, led by undrafted Troy Williams with 23 points. Both Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph continued impressing with their 3-point shooting ability.
Chicago Bulls 107 Milwaukee Bucks 86: Missing almost everyone that matters, the Bulls leaned on Isaiah Canaan, scoring 25 points and finishing with a +31, while Doug McDermott finished with 22 points, including four 3-pointers. Jabari Parker led the Bucks with 21 points, in another disappointing offensive performance from them in the preseason.
Golden State Warriors 112 Los Angeles Lakers 107: The Warriors starting lineup wiped the floor with the Lakers, despite Kevon Looney starting for Draymond Green. Klay Thompson scored 24 points, Kevin Durant finished with 17, Stephen Curry had 14. Nick Young was the best performer for the Lakers, adding 17 off the bench.