On October 6, Beijing time, the NBA preseason will continue, and the Warriors and Clippers will usher in a big battle in Hawaii, with the 36-year-old Curry facing the 35-year-old Harden. Celtic and Nuggets face off in a second matchup in Abu Dhabi after the Greens beat the Nuggets by four points in their first meeting.
7:00 Warriors vs. Clippers
Both the Warriors and Clippers lost a star this summer. Klay joins the Mavericks, and the Warriors' Splash Brothers are dissolved. George's trip to the 76ers also made the Clippers Big Three a duo. In this preseason game, both sides also have key players absent, the Warriors' Wiggins will not play in this game due to illness and will not play in this game, while the Clippers' Leonard's knee has not completely swelled and is expected to be suspended. The 36-year-old Curry vs. the 35-year-old Harden, even if the preseason can't be played for too long, is the biggest attraction of this game.
Especially Harden, Director Lu brought up the topic of returning to Rockets mode in a recent interview. With George leaving the team and Xiaoka still recovering from an injury, it is really possible for Harden to return to the style of play of the Rockets period, organize the offense and improve his firepower at the same time. He also feels that his current form is the best in the last seven years.
In addition to Curry, Kuminga's performance is also interesting. He has yet to reach a contract extension with the Warriors. Kuminga averaged 16.1 points per game last season and is on track to surpass 20 this season.
Of course, the performance of some new signings from both teams is also worth paying attention to. What role can the Warriors' Melton, Lee Kyle and Hield play in the new system? Can the Clippers' Jones, Kevin Porter Jr., and others bring some surprises?
In the regular season last season, the two teams met four times, with the Clippers winning three times. Who gets off to a good start in this season's pre-season encounters?
22:00 Nuggets vs Celtics
The first preseason game between Celtics and Nuggets in Abu Dhabi ended with a 107-103 win over the Nuggets. The main team basically only played half a game, and Tatum, Brown and White, who participated in the Olympics, were not at their best, and none of the three had a shooting percentage of more than 40%. The team's best performance was bench guard Pritchard, who finished with 21 points, four rebounds and six assists on 6-of-12 three-point shooting.
The Nuggets' Jokic and Porter were efficient, combining for 10-of-15, but Murray was still in poor form, playing 15 minutes, shooting 1-of-4 and scoring just three points. Wei Shao came off the bench to make 3-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-6 from three-point range. He was well-rounded, with four rebounds and eight assists in addition to 12 points.
Now, the two teams meet for the second time in Abu Dhabi. After the Nuggets lost their first game, coach Malone mentioned two major problems for the Nuggets: too many turnovers and poor rebounding protection. In the first preseason game, the Nuggets had 24 turnovers, six more than the Celtics. Although their total number of rebounds (49) was more than that of the Green Army (44), they allowed the Green Army to grab 17 frontcourt rebounds, which was not satisfactory to Malone. In Game 2, can the Nuggets improve these issues and put more pressure on the Greens?
In the regular season last season, the Nuggets won the two battles between the two sides. The Nuggets were also the only team of 29 last season that didn't lose to the Green in the regular season.