The NBA preseason marches on with six games on a Saturday: Orlando Magic winning in Brazil, Sacramento Kings shooting very well against the New Orleans Pelicans, Charlotte Hornets remaining perfect against the New York Knicks, Miami Heat beating the Houston Rockets thanks to their bench, the Washington Wizards overcoming the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers thrashing the Golden State Warriors, maybe because Kobe Bryant wasn’t playing.
Orlando Magic 90 Flamengo 73: An easy win for Orlando in Brazil, despite playing without Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton. Nikola Vucevic scored 18 points with 7 rebounds, Shabazz Napier keeps looking good in preseason with 14 points and Victor Oladipo scored 13 points.
Sacramento Kings 107 New Orleans Pelicans 98: The Pelicans were playing without a lot of key players, including Omer Asik, Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon. Without them, defense was a very difficult thing to play. Anthony Davis did finish with 19 points and 8 rebounds while Ryan Anderson led them scoring 20. However, they had a hard time stopping a full-forced Kings team, with Ben McLemore at shooting guard. Rudy Gay led them scoring 20, followed by DeMarcus Cousins and Darren Collison, each adding 19.
New York Knicks 93 Charlotte Hornets 97: No Carmelo Anthony, Kyle O’Quinn and Robin Lopez for the Knicks put the spotlight on Kristaps Porzingis, scoring 6 points in 17 minutes while Cleanthony Early led the Knicks with 17 points off the bench. The Hornets still haven’t lost in the preseason, led by Al Jefferson with 12 points and a nice performance from Frank Kaminsky, scoring 11 off the bench, although without 3-pointers.
Miami Heat 105 Houston Rockets 100: Things looked good for the Rockets while the starters were on the floor, led by Trevor Ariza with 24 points and followed by James Harden scoring 21. The Heat are enjoying the presence of Gerald Green, giving them some much needed outside scoring and athleticism off the bench, leading them in this game with 21. Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade combined to score just 15 points.
Washington Wizards 105 Milwaukee Bucks 101: Nene and John Wall didn’t play for the Wizards, which gave more time for Bradley Beal with the ball. He scored 18 points while Marcin Gortat finished with 16. Khris Middleton led the Bucks with 21 points, Chris Copeland added 16 off the bench.
Golden State Warriors 70 Los Angeles Lakers 85: No Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes or Andrew Bogut for the Warriors meant a bad looking game. The Lakers played without Kobe Bryant and Lou Williams and were better for it, getting 17 points from Jordan Clarkson and 14 from Julius Randle.