Kawhi Leonard’s debut in his new home arena will have to wait.
Leonard was one of the regulars who rested Friday night, when the Toronto Raptors defeated Melbourne United 120-82. The Raptors scheduled five preseason games this season, but Friday’s was the only one that’ll be played in Toronto.
Kyle Lowry also got the night off for the Raptors, who don’t play again in Toronto until the season-opener Oct. 17 against Cleveland.
”You bring 20 guys to camp, it’s a little difficult to get all of them a decent look,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. ”There’s also a chance now to give some long extended minutes to some other guys.”
Melbourne stayed with Toronto for much of the first half. After 18 minutes, Toronto’s lead was 34-31. Over the next 18 minutes, the Raptors outscored their Australian guests 67-27 and took a 101-58 lead into the fourth quarter.
UNITED: Casper Ware and Chris Goulding led Melbourne with 17 points apiece. … Peter Hooley, whose 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left in the 2015 America East final gave Albany a 51-50 win over Stony Brook – and made headlines because Hooley was still grieving the loss of his mother, who died that season – had five points in 17 minutes.
RAPTORS: Norman Powell led the winners with 21 points, and Pascal Siakam added 19. … Siakam was plus-50 in 27 minutes and Delon Wright, who finished with 15 points, was plus-49 in 26 minutes. … Besides Leonard and Lowry, the Raptors were also missing C.J. Miles (rest), Fred VanVleet (stiff hamstring), Chris Boucher (back spasms), and OG Anunoby (personal reasons).
UP NEXT: Toronto (2-1) faces Brooklyn in Montreal on Wednesday.
76ERS 120, MAVERICKS 114
JJ Redick was 10 for 10 from the field, 7 for 7 from 3-point range, and led all scorers with 28 points off the bench for Philadelphia in the opener of the China Games.
Joel Embiid finished with 22 points for Philadelphia (3-0). Dennis Smith Jr. scored 20 for Dallas (1-1).
MAVERICKS: Dallas was without Dirk Nowitzki (recovering from ankle surgery), DeAndre Jordan (death in family) and Harrison Barnes (right hamstring strain). … This is Dallas’ first preseason trip abroad since playing games in Germany and Spain in 2012. … Maxi Kleber scored 17 points and rookie Luka Doncic was one of three Mavs to score 11.
76ERS: Ben Simmons nearly had a triple-double, finishing with nine points, nine rebounds and 10 assists. … Landry Shamet scored 18 for the 76ers, who committed 35 fouls. 76ers coach Brett Brown used 13 players and all 13 had at least one foul, and three players – Embiid, Robert Covington and Markelle Fultz – all finished with five fouls, despite none playing more than 24 minutes.
UP NEXT: The teams play again Monday in Shenzhen, China.
MAGIC 119, FLAMENGO 82
Aaron Gordon scored 29 points and grabbed eight assists in 24 minutes, shooting 10 for 12 from the field and leading Orlando to an easy win over the Brazilian club Flamengo.
Flamengo had a pair of notable former NBA players; Anderson Varejao finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Leandro Barbosa scored eight points.
The teams made a combined 91 percent of their free throws – 21 of 22 by the Magic, 21 of 24 by Flamengo.
FLAMENGO: Marcus Vinicius Souza led the Brazilians with 19 points. … Flamengo had 11 shots blocked, and didn’t block any of Orlando’s 81 attempts.
MAGIC: Nikola Vucevic finished with 21 points and seven rebounds. … Rookie Mo Bamba played 19 minutes, piling up 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots. Bamba shot 5 for 7, and the Magic shot 54 percent as a team, compared with 31 percent by Flamengo.
UP NEXT: Orlando (1-1) is at Miami on Monday.
THUNDER 113, TIMBERWOLVES 101
Paul George made his preseason debut and scored 13 of his 23 points in the first quarter, and Oklahoma City never trailed.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 23 points for Minnesota. But Andrew Wiggins struggled, scoring four points on 2 for 9 shooting in 28 minutes.
THUNDER: Steven Adams had 14 points and 13 rebounds in 25 minutes. … Oklahoma City outrebounded the hosts 57-39, and led by as many as 22 points. … Dennis Schroder, Nerlens Noel and Jerami Grant each had 12 points for the Thunder.
TIMBERWOLVES: This was Minnesota’s only preseason appearance at its home arena, and fans booed coach Tom Thibodeau during introductions – clearly unhappy about the unresolved Jimmy Butler situation. … Jeff Teague scored 17 points and Derrick Rose added 11 for Minnesota.
UP NEXT: Oklahoma City (1-1) faces Atlanta in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Sunday. Minnesota (1-2) faces Milwaukee in Ames, Iowa, on Sunday.
WIZARDS 121, HEAT 114
Bradley Beal led six Washington players in double figures with 20 points, and the Wizards outscored Miami 70-55 in the second half.
Jeff Green scored 15 points and Markieff Morris added 13 points and 10 rebounds for Washington. Yante Maten and Justise Winslow each scored 17 points for Miami.
HEAT: Miami held eight players – Josh Richardson (thigh), Tyler Johnson (migraine), James Johnson (surgery rehab), Wayne Ellington (ankle), Derrick Jones Jr. (shoulder), Bam Adebayo (shoulder), Dion Waiters (surgery rehab) and Marcus Lee (knee) – out with injuries or illness, and then kept Dwyane Wade and Goran Dragic out after halftime. … Wade had all 10 of his points in a 9-minute stretch of the first quarter.
WIZARDS: John Wall had nine points and nine assists in 24 minutes, and missed all five of his 3-point tries. … Dwight Howard (back) did not play. … Washington fouled 3-point shooters twice in a 17-second span early in the fourth quarter, leading to six Heat points – a four-point play by Duncan Robinson and two free throws by Malik Newman.
UP NEXT: Miami (0-3) hosts Orlando on Monday. Washington (0-2) visits New York on Monday.
KNICKS 106, PELICANS 100
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 21 points and Enes Kanter added 20 points and 15 rebounds for New York, which has played three down-to-the-wire games in as many outings so far in this preseason.
Kevin Knox (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Noah Vonleh (10 points, 11 rebounds) also had double-doubles for the Knicks.
Ashley Moyer-Gleich, one of two women selected by the NBA as non-staff referees to start this season, was part of the crew on the game.
PELICANS: Nikola Mirotic had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Anthony Davis had 15 points and 13 rebounds for New Orleans. But combined, Mirotic and Davis shot 12 for 37, 2 for 15 from 3-point range. … Darius Miller added 15 points for the Pelicans.
KNICKS: New York has won its three preseason games by an average of 4.7 points. … The game was the Madison Square Garden debut for Knicks coach David Fizdale. … New York scored 93 points through three quarters, and won despite adding only 13 to that total in the fourth.
UP NEXT: New Orleans (0-3) visits Miami on Wednesday. New York (3-0) hosts Washington on Monday.
GRIZZLIES 120, HAWKS 110
Marc Gasol scored 21 points and MarShon Brooks scored 18 off the bench for Memphis, which scored 29 points off Atlanta turnovers.
Memphis led 113-84 with 7:54 left, before the Hawks outscored the Grizzlies 26-7 the rest of the way and got within nine points in the final minute. Tyler Dorsey led the Hawks with 18 points.
HAWKS: Trae Young scored 15 for Atlanta. … The Hawks outscored Memphis by 16 points when rookie guard Kevin Huerter was on the floor, and was outscored by 26 points when he was on the bench.
GRIZZLIES: Mike Conley scored 11 points. … Japan’s Yuta Watanabe, who played his college ball at George Washington, made his preseason debut with 7:20 left. … Memphis used 18 players.
UP NEXT: Atlanta (1-1) faces Oklahoma City in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Sunday. Memphis (1-1) hosts Indiana on Saturday.
SPURS 117, PISTONS 91
Dejounte Murray scored 16 points for San Antonio, and Rudy Gay scored seven points in a 14-0 first-quarter run that put the Spurs in control.
LaMarcus Aldridge added 14 points for the Spurs. Andre Drummond led Detroit with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
PISTONS: Henry Ellenson and Stanley Johnson each scored 11 points. … The Pistons tried 39 3-pointers, compared with only 14 attempts from deep by the Spurs.
SPURS: Pau Gasol had a perfect shooting night – 4 for 4 from the field, 4 for 4 from the line, 1 for 1 from 3-point range for 13 points. … DeMar DeRozan scored six points in 20 minutes.
UP NEXT: Detroit (1-1) hosts Brooklyn on Monday. San Antonio (2-0) hosts Houston on Sunday.
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