Star point guard Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors was the protagonist of a new preseason round in the NBA and with 40 points gave his team the first victory of the era without forward Kevin Durant.
Another star who made his debut was forward Kawhi Leonard, who appeared at the Staples Center in front of the 15,778 spectators who came to see him play for the first time with the Clippers, without his presence preventing a loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Curry, in just 25 minutes of action, scored 14 of 19 shots from the field, including 6 of 9 triples, and was perfect from the personnel line, in addition to capturing six rebounds and distributing six assists that helped the Warriors beat by beating from 143-123 to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Along with Curry, who was the sports figure, coach Steve Kerr was the center of attention by rejecting the criticism that President Donald Trump had made him for not denouncing the lack of freedom of expression in China, while he returned to qualify the president American as something “negative” for the country.
There was no comment on the China issue in the debut of Leonard, who barely played 11 minutes and contributed seven points (3-6, 1-3, 0-0), gave six assists, captured a rebound and recovered a ball that did not they avoided the loss of the Clippers 91-111.
The Denver team once again presented a balanced attack with Serbian center Nikola Jokic as the starter who contributed a double-double of 10 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Spanish power forward Juancho Hernangómez played 21 minutes as a reserve for the Nuggets and finished with eight points (3-6, 1-4, 1-1) and two and two assists.
Things were worse for his compatriot, point guard Ricky Rubio, who continued to start with his new team the Phoenix Suns, who faced the Sacramento Kings on the road and lost 105-88 on the road.
Point guard De’Aaron Fox won the game against Rubio after the Kings starter contributed 18 points and six assists, with three steals, which put him at the forefront of Sacramento’s balanced team attack.
Rubio played 21 minutes and finished with four points (2-5, 0-2, 0-0), captured three rebounds, gave three assists, recovered one ball and lost four.
The Portland Trail Blazers easily beat Israel’s Maccabi Haifa 104-68 after second-year guard Anfernee Simons scored 22 points as the leading scorer.
The Spanish pivot Pau Gasol continued with the Trail Blazers, while recovering from the operation of the left foot to which he was subjected last summer.
The Oklahoma City Thunder also had no problem beating the New Zealand Breakers 110-84.
The day was started in Japan by the Houston Rockets, who faced for the second time the league champions, the Toronto Raptors, whom they won 118-111.
The point guard Russell Westbrook and guard James Harden with 22 points each were the figures of the Rockets, while the forward Norman Powell achieved the same goals as leader of the Raptors.
The Spanish pivot Marc Gasol, as a reserve, made his debut this preseason with the Raptors, played 18 minutes and got six points (1-4, 0-2, 4-5), captured six rebounds, gave an assist, recovered three balls , lost another three, and put a plug.
While the Spanish Congolese power forward Serge Ibaka continued to start and also played 18 minutes in which he achieved 12 points (5-9, 0-1, 2-2), eight rebounds – six defensive – and gave an assist.
The duel between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets was held in Shanghai as planned, but before 15,992 spectators, who did not fill the field of the Mercedes Benz Arena.
The reserve point guard Spencer Dinwiddie with 20 points was the leader of the Nets that prevailed by 114-111, and they left the new Lakers of the forward LeBron James (20 points) and the center Anthony Davis (16) with the first defeat of the preseason.
The NBA crisis with China was once again the great center of negative attention.
A Rockets press officer prevented a CNN journalist from asking Harden a question about China, forcing the NBA to issue a statement apologizing to the professional for what happened and reaffirming its policy of the right to freedom of expression.
However, in China the authorities conditioned the dispute of the game between the Lakers and the Nets to not having any type of press conference, neither before nor after the game, including the one that the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, was going to give. .
The same conditions will apply so that the second and last game of the tour of both teams in China can be held tomorrow, Saturday.