The Houston Rockets’ offense has proven its complete firepower.Harden and Co. collected 144 points against the Chinese from Shanghai.Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks were lost to Orlando Magic without their starters.
nearby
The Mavs had travelled to Florida with a fuselage troop.With the exception of Dennis Smith Jr.the entire Starting Five was spared, even coach Rick Carlisle stayed in Dallas due to a flu.We were tired and didn’t have any veterans with us,”said Assistant Coach Melvin Hunt after the match,” The youngsters don’t always get that many chances.Now we just have more film of them.”
At least Rookie Smith was allowed to let off steam and with 13 points (4/11 FG) he was top scorer of the Texans.On top of that, he hit two of his four distance throws.Yogi Ferrell was also part of the team and contributed another 12 points.Maxi Kleber could not really use his 15 minutes and remained without points (0/2 FG).After all, he grabbed three rebounds.Johnathan Motley, on the other hand, drew attention again with 8 points and 5 rebounds.
On the other hand, the Magic had to do everything they could.Aaron Gordon in particular convinced with a double-double (17 points, 10 rebounds) on the position of the Power Forward “He has trained well and convinced in his two games so far.I think he can get even better,”said his coach Frank Vogel.
Center Nikola Vucevic also scored 14 points alongside Gordon.Mario Hezonja got another early minutes and used it for 11 points (4/10 FG).No. 6-Pick Jonathan Isaac, on the other hand, stayed pale most of the time.At the end there were 2 points (1/5 FG), 3 rebounds and 2 blocks in 17 minutes.
After his strong debut this time, D’ Angelo Russell didn’t do much for the Nets. 9 points (4/14 FG, 1/7 threesomes) and 3 turnovers were not a glory score, but Brooklyn played a casual victory.Backcourt colleague Jeremy Lin (16 points, 5/7 FG) had a much better day instead.Coach Kenny Atkinson was nevertheless quite satisfied with his guards.
“He wants us both to be aggressive and use our teammates,”explained Russell.”We have a lot of boys who can throw.The Nets didn’t even shoot as usual.Only ten of the 30 attempts in downtown found their target.Guard Sean Kilpatrick convinced from the bank with 14 points and 7 Reobunds, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson with 10 points and 9 rebounds made a solid game.
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, however, was far from satisfied:”It seemed as if we were playing in quicksand.We still have a lot of work to do,”said the double master trainer.There were bright spots like Hassan Whiteside (19 points, 9 rebounds) or Tyler Johnson (21 counters, 9 boards), but also total failures like Dion Waiters (2 points, 1/8 FG, 4 turnovers) or James Johnson (2 counters, 1/4 FG).
Players were less worried than the coach,”players have new roles, new positions.It’s preseason,”James Johnson said.Especially from outside, the outside was poor. 14.3 percent of downtown (4/28) was a disastrous yield.Kelly Olynyk (1/6 threesome) also played a part in this development, but he showed once again that he could help the Heat as a mobile fivesome.He scored 7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks.
Page 1: Mavs hull troop goes down – Nets convincing again
Page 2: Houston sinks CBA-Team – Pöltl strong