By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The Charlotte Hornets beat Minessota in the NBA pre-season with Nicolas Batum having a good all around game on his quest to play according to his abilities after mediocre summer with the French national team.
Charlotte’s forward had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists – while his Italian teammate Marco Bellineli couldn’t score in 29 minutes of action – in the 98-86 win. For the losing side Spaniard Ricky Rubio had 3 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, while Serb Nemanja Bjelica added 9 points.
In Detroit, the Spurs got the 86-81 win over the Pistons with Spanish star Pau Gasol scoring 11 points, French icon Tony Parker adding 2 points and Latvian Davis Bertans two more. The Atlanta Hawks beat the Cavs 99-93 with Dwight Howard dominating (26 p., 8 r.), German guard Dennis Schroder adding 6 points and 4 assists and Swiss forward Thabo Sefolosha scoring 12 points off the bench.
The Knicks beat the Wizards 90-88 with Latvian phenomenon Kristaps Porzingis putting up his usual good numbers (15 p., 6 r., 2 as., 2 st.), Spaniard Willy Hernangomez being a starter (2 p., 3 r.) and Slovenian vet Sasha Vujacic adding 4 points in 6 minutes.
The Jazz prevailed over the Clippers (96-94) with the French connection of Gobert (9 p., 5 r.) and Diaw (4 p., 2 r., 2 as.) doing its work and the Kings toyed with Israeli team Maccabi Haifa (135-96) as Greek-American Kostas Koufos had 9 points, Israeli Omri Casspi added 4 points and Greek rookie center Giorgos Papagiannis had 4 points and 2 rebounds.