In a very busy night of NBA preseason basketball, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers picked up another loss, this time to the Memphis Grizzlies; The New York Knicks led by Derrick Williams beat another Eastern weakling, the Philadelphia 76ers; the Miami Heat managed to survive the encounter with the full force of the new San Antonio Spurs lineup; Kyle Lowry provided sparks for the Toronto Raptors in a win against the Minnesota Timberwolves; Anthony Davis got a big night out of his Chicago visit with the New Orleans Pelicans and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Utah Jazz while C.J. McCollum got himself thrown out for being dirty player.
Memphis Grizzlies beat Cleveland Cavaliers 91-81
The preseason seems to be about making people around Ohio happy for the Cavs and LeBron James, not winning. They’re 0-3 and trying out different looks, while waiting for quite a few injured players to come back. LeBron James scored 14 points in 26 minutes. For the Grizzlies it was their usual lineup, led by Zach Randolph scoring 14 points. Jeff Green and Courtney Lee each had 11 points, Marc Gasol added 10. Memphis is 3-0 in the preseason.
New York Knicks beat Philadelphia 76ers 94-88
In a game between two former tanking teams who expect to get better this year, the Knicks led by Derrick Williams and Carmelo Anthony ended up winning. Williams scored 21 points off the bench as the Knicks are hoping he’ll finally find some consistency as he tries his luck with a new team. Anthony had 18 points on 6-of-11 from the field, but he seems to be more worried about defense at this point. The Sixers were missing a lot of key players including Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel. Isaiah Canaan scored 18 points.
Miami Heat beat San Antonio Spurs 97-94
The Spurs featured their full lineup with Tim Duncan, LaMarcus Aldridge, Danny Green, Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard and got a combined 54 points out of them, including 17 for Aldridge, who had one assist, just so happened to be a one-touch pass to Tim Duncan. The Heat won their first game of the preseason, getting 17 points from Gerald Green off the bench and 14 from Dwyane Wade in the lineup. They were missing Josh McRoberts, Amare Stoudemire, Hassan Whiteside and Mario Chalmers.
Toronto Raptors beat Minnesota Timberwolves 112-105
Preseason games don’t usually feature star players going all out and putting up ridiculous numbers, but Kyle Lowry wasn’t paying attention to that “tradition”. He scored 40 points on 13-of-18 from the field and 6-of-6 from beyond the arc, all in the span of 28 minutes. Andrew Wiggins gave the Toronto crowd another thing to cheer about with 21 points (all in the first half) and some impressive dunking, purchasing 16 courtside seats for his friends and family. Anthony Bennett and Cory Joseph also had home debuts, playing in Toronto as Raptors players for the first time.
New Orleans Pelicans beat Chicago Bulls 123-115
A fun to watch clash in Chicago with Anthony Davis playing in his hometown and leading the way with 26 points. Sean Kilpatrick scored 23 off the bench and Tyreke Evans added 18 points. The Bulls had six players in double figures, including rookie Bobby Portis with 20 points and 11 rebounds, 17 from Doug McDermott and 15 from Tony Snell, who keeps on starting while Mike Dunleavy is out. Nikola Mirotic was also in the lineup, scoring 9 points in 18 minutes.
Portland Trail Blazers beat Utah Jazz 88-81
The Blazers won, but C.J. McCollum got ejected for his flagrant 2 foul on Gordon Hayward, stopping him from behind with a dangerous foul in order to deny the easy fast break points. Still no Damian Lillard for Portland too. McCollum scored 16 points, while the Blazers were led by Meyers Leonard scoring 19 points, helped by Al-Farouq Aminu scoring 15. Alec Burks led the Jazz with 19 points, followed by Rodney Hood with 13 and Hayward scoring 10. Derrick Favors looked rusty with 9 points in 30 minutes, shooting 2-of-11 from the field.