Not a whole lot of basketball in another night of the NBA preseason. The Charlotte Hornets keep bashing the Los Angeles Clippers in China, looking great with Jeremy Lin in the lineup. Besides that, the Minnesota Timberwolves finally won, beating the Toronto Raptors; Boston Celtics overcame the Brooklyn Nets; Detroit Pistons ran all over the Chicago Bulls; and the Atlanta Hawks didn’t have too much trouble beating the San Antonio Spurs.
Charlotte Hornets beat Los Angeles Clippers 113-71
Another comfortable win for the Hornets over the Clippers in China, this time in Shanghai. Jeremy Lin didn’t get a lot of minutes but was in the lineup this time and looked very good, helping Al Jefferson and Nicolas Batum lead the scoring with a combined 41 points. The Clippers had Chris Paul (17 points) and Blake Griffin (14 points) in fine form, but that was about it, as Paul Pierce got 0 off the bench and overall the Clippers don’t seem too into giving their best on this Asian roadtrip.
Minnesota Timberwolves beat Toronto Raptors 89-87
The Timberwolves win their first game of the preseason on this Canadian tour, this time in Ottawa. Gorgui Dieng led the scoring for them with 14 points off the bench, while Andrew Wiggins had 11, Tyus Jones scored 12 and Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 12 points as well. There was no Kyle Lowry explosion this time for Toronto, led by Delon Wright and James Johnson, each scoring 11 points. Anthony Bennett finished with 10.
Boston Celtics beat Brooklyn Nets 109-105
A fun game in Brooklyn with Amir Johnson leading the way for the Celtics, scoring 19 points. Isaiah Thomas finished with 17 and four more players scored in double figures, while they were playing without the likes of David Lee, Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart. Thad Young led the Nets with 19 points of his own. Brook Lopez scored 12 points, Bogdan Bogdanovic finished with 11.
Detroit Pistons beat Chicago Bulls 114-91
A very impressive performance for the Pistons, led by 20 points from Reggie Jackson, 17 by Marcus Morris and another double double for Andre Drummond, this time with 14 points and 10 rebounds. E’Twaun Moore led the Bulls with 16 points, still playing without Derrick Rose and Mike Dunleavy. Chicago shot just 6-of-21 from beyond the arc.
Atlanta Hawks beat San Antonio Spurs 100-86
The Hawks are perfect in the preseason, beating a Spurs team that was without LaMarcus Aldridge, who is out with back spasms. Boris Diaw is also not playing, still resting from his participation in the Eurobasket. Jeff Teague scored 19 points for the Hawks, aided by Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver, each scoring 13 points. Tiago Splitter played against his former team, scoring 3 points off the bench.