On a fun night of preseason basketball, Jeremy Lin and Kemba Walker kept the Charlotte Hornets perfect in the preseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers won for the first time while leaving the Dallas Mavericks win-less, James Harden and Ty Lawson looked great in a Houston Rockets win while Ryan Kelly of all people pulled off a game-winning dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers in the final seconds of their encounter with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Chicago Bulls 86 Charlotte Hornets 94: The Hornets keep looking very good in preseason, with Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lin combining to score 40 points. The Bulls were missing three of their lineup players and were led by Jimmy Butler with 18 points.
Dallas Mavericks 97 Cleveland Cavaliers 103: Fifth loss in a row for the Mavs in the preseason, while the Cavs win for the first time. J.R. Smith scored 19 points, Matthew Dellavedova 13 and four more players, including Kevin Love, finished with 10 points. John Jenkins was the star once again for Dallas, scoring 26 points. Nowitzki had 13.
Brooklyn Nets 105 Boston Celtics 111: The Nets used only nine players with many of their key players not even traveling with them. The Celtics keep looking good and are generating hype heading into the regular season, led by Terry Rozier with 16 points and 4 steals, while Amir Johnson helped with 15. Bojan Bogdanovic led the Nets scoring 18 points.
New Orleans Pelicans 100 Houston Rockets 120: A very impressive and balanced effort from the Rockets, still without Dwight Howard, Terrence Jones and Patrick Beverley. James Harden led the way with 20 points while Ty Lawson, still waiting to find out how long he’s going to be suspended for his DUI arrests, added 18. The Pelicans were without Anthony Davis, Omer Asik and Tyreke Evans, and were led by 23 points from Ryan Anderson.
Portland Trail Blazers 102 Los Angeles Lakers 104: The game ended with a Ryan Kelly dunk leaving the Blazers only 2 seconds to make something happen, which they didn’t. The Lakers looked like they were having fun, which is no surprise considering Kobe Bryant is still out resting, nursing his injury. Jordan Clarkson scored 17 points, D’Angelo Russell finished with 12. Damian Lillard led the Blazers with 20 points.