On his home debut at Staples Center, LeBron James is greeted frenetically by his fans. The King is performing well, but the Los Angeles Lakers are losing again. The Houston Rockets, on the other hand, are quite different and already in top form. The Celtics are losing to Cleveland.
Second game, second defeat for the Heat. But Miami showed a solid performance with little turn-over (12:14), good work under the boards (51:43 rebounds) and good odds. Kelly Olynyk was the best scorer of his team with 18 points, Hassan Whiteside played a strong double (14 points, 15 rebounds).
But Dwyane Wade had problems, he never found his rhythm from the bench and at the end of the day he was out of the field with 5 points and 2 of 11. Goran Dragic came on 12 points and 4 assists, but also fought with his throw (4/12 FG).
That was the party’s point, because with the exception of Jeremy Lamb (6 points, 3/10 FG) none of the Hornets managed an Off-Night. Charlotte, led by Kemba Walker (18 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists), sunk a good 50 percent out of the field and snatched victory.
In addition to Walker, Willy Hernangomez also showed a strong performance with 16 points (8/7 FG) and 10 rebounds and rookie Miles Bridges also convinced with 14 points. Newcomer Tony Parker presented himself in comparison to the first appearance for the Hornets significantly improved and came to 8 points and 7 assists.
The Celtics are still not doing so well in the preseason so far. Boston suffered their second defeat in the third game, mainly due to a poor three-way quota. The hosts scored little or nothing from a distance and ended up with a miserable 16.1 per cent (5/31) of downtown.
The Cavs did a little better when they sunk 8 of their 20 attempts from a distance during their preseason debut. Especially Kevin Love (2/3 three) and Collin Sexton (2/3) presented themselves unerringly and led their team with 17 and 15 points respectively. The rookie could be very satisfied with his first appearance, he hit 5/11 out of the field and collected 4 rebounds.
At the Celtics, Marcus Smart advanced to the top scorer with 15 counters. Marcus Morris also contributed 14 points, while Daniel Theis scored 2 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist in 13 minutes. Especially not much came from the starters. Only Jaylen Brown broke the 10-point barrier, Gordon Hayward (7 points, 2/6 FG) weakened just like his colleagues. Meanwhile Kyrie Irving was spared and was not used.
A thoroughly successful preseason opening for the Houston Rockets. Especially the superstars of the team around James Harden and Chris Paul presented themselves in convincing early form. CP3 not only became the top scorer of the Rockets (22 points), but also had 5 steals and 9 assists, one more spectacular than the other.
Harden contributed an additional 20 points and 6 assists, Carmelo Anthony showed light and shadow on his debut in the Rockets jersey. On the one hand there would be good 13 points (4/8 FG, 3/6 threes), 4 rebounds and 2 steals. On the other side, there was an airball from downtown and a long deuce – as is well known, that doesn’t work at all with the rockets. After all, Melo immediately apologized to the Rockets Bank with a wink.
Another bright spot in the Rockets team was Michael Carter-Williams. The newcomer scored 19 points from the bench, while Gerald Green had to struggle with his throw (5 points, 2(11 FG, 1/9 threesome). Isaiah Hartenstein was not used due to pain at the ankle.
Due to the strong appearance of the Rockets, the also good performance of top rookie Jaren Jackson Jr. was somewhat pushed into the background. The No.4 pick of this year’s draft convinced in 19 minutes with 15 points, a perfect quota from the field (6/6 FG) and 3 rebounds and assists each. Mike Conley also scored 16 points, while Marc Gasol had a weak evening (2 points, 1/7 FG).
Page 1: Houston Rockets already in top shape
Page 2: Lakers fans celebrate LeBron James at home debut