With the NBA season starting a few weeks from now, the NBA preseason is a great look into what to expect this coming NBA season. On October 1, 2017, the Atlanta Hawks played against the Miami Heat, while the Los Angeles Clippers against the Toronto Raptors.
The Miami Heat's depth had a big impact in their win against the rebuilding Atlanta Hawks. The Los Angeles Clippers moved the ball around more often in their game, while Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors also looked sharp as they look to contend in the Eastern Conference in the upcoming NBA season.
Atlanta Hawks vs. Miami Heat
With the departure of All-Star forward Paul Millsap, the Atlanta Hawks came out with a very different look as they started Dennis Schroder, Kent Bazemore, Ersan Ilyasova, Taurean Prince, and Dewayne Dedmon. While the Miami Heat started James Johnson, Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic, Dion Waiters, and Rodney McGruder.
The Heat entered the game with momentum after finishing the second half of the past NBA season with a 30-11 record. It is also notable that Justice Winslow, Kelly Olynyk, and Josh Richardson came off the bench.
The score was 42-39 by halftime with the Hawks leading, but, due to a scoring surge and an excellent defensive performance from Josh Richardson in the third quarter, the Miami Heat outscored the Atlanta Hawks 35-24.
The game was lopsided after the Hawks got worn down by the Heat's depth, with a 96-90 box score in favor of the Miami Heat.
Heat's Tyler Johnson led all scorers with 14 points, Hawks' John Collins led the game in rebounds with 15, and both Schroder and Olynyk had five assists.
Los Angeles Clippers vs. Toronto Raptors
The Los Angeles Clippers had a different starting five after Chris Paul left for the Rockets, Clippers' head coach Doc Rivers went with Patrick Beverly, Austin Rivers, Deandre Jordan, Danilo Gallinari, and Blake Griffin. While the Raptors' starting five was composed of DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, Jonas Valanciunas, CJ Miles, and Serge Ibaka.
The Clippers led the Raptors 32-26 after the first quarter, but Toronto was able to come back in the second and ended the first half with a 61-60 score in favor of the Clippers.
The second half was also high contested with both teams exchanging blows, but the Toronto Raptors managed to edge out the Los Angeles Clippers with a score of 121-113.
Clippers' Blake Griffin led all scorers with 18 points and Yugoslavian point guard Milos Teodosic led in assists with eight, while Raptors' Jonas Valanciunas led the game in rebounds with ten.