Leonard sits out Toronto’s preseason home debut
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.
THUNDER113, TIMBERWOLVES 101
Paul George made his preseason debut and scored 13 of his 23 points in the first quarter, and Oklahoma City never trailed.