The Houston Rockets and the Orlando Magic ended their preseason campaign perfect in the penultimate day of hostilities before the NBA regular season.
Both the Houston Rockets and the Orlando Magic ended their preseason campaigns without a loss as they wrapped up hostilities on Thursday (Friday, Manila time) in preparation for the regular season.
Houston leaned on Reed Sheppard’s 29 points en route to a 133-115 win over Atlanta at the State Farm in Georgia.
The Rockets relied on their run-and-gun offense with a whopping 37 fast break points. The undefeated Houston forced its foe to 20 turnovers as well, which turned to 34 points.
Sheppard did the heavy lifting for an 8-man Rockets rotation as he also had six rebounds, six assists, four steals, and three blocks to finish with a 4-0 slate in the preseason.
Josh Okogie added 28 markers while Isaiah Crawford had 20 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Elsewhere, the Orlando Magic saw six players finish in double-digit scoring en route to a perfect 4-0 slate in the preseason, beating the New Orleans Pelicans, 132-125, at the Kia Center in Florida.
Franz Wagner uncorked a 24-point performance to go along with two rebounds, three assists, and two blocks to lead Orlando’s scorers. They survive a fellow team effort from the Pelicans, who saw Zion Williamson pacing the team with 18 points, five rebounds, six assists, and one steal.
Paolo Banchero also had a double-double, finishing with 19 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.
Cunningham leads Pistons
In the other games, Cade Cunningham scored 16 points and dished out 12 assists to pace the Detroit Pistons past the Washington Wizards, 119-98.
Josh Giddey, for his part, had an all-around game for the Chicago Bulls to nip the Minnesota Timberwolves, 126-120.
Meanwhile, the Utah Jazz finally barged into the win column this preseason with a 132-129 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.