Complete coverage of NBA preseason

Ray McCallum was the smallest guy on the floor for the Kings, but he needed a box-out after missing a jumper in the final seconds:

If you count the Reggie Evans miss as a lob, that was technically an alley-oop. Preseason!

Those behind-the-back high fives from the guards are kind of like a trust fall. You assume they’ll be there for you, but ...

... sometimes they’re not. At least Meyers Leonard had *some* support, unlike Andrew Bogut before him:

Patrick Patterson figured he’d use the post-whistle break to practice his three-point stroke. The Knicks figured otherwise.

Goaltending free shots happens all the time, but Patterson taking a second attempt only to find Carmeo Anthony AND Samuel Dalembert in his way made this special. Gotta try the Allen Iverson maneuver next time:

I mean, this is a nice little crossover move by Eric Bledsoe ...

(via Cork Gaines)

We know new Clippers owner is a “cool dad” who makes great magazine covers and goes wild over his team (and everything). Seeing it during live game action is still impressive:

This is a preseason game. Imagine if the Clippers make a deep postseason run? Ballmer will actually catch fire on the sideline.

Hedo Turkoglu did not do a crossover dribble here. He didn’t do anything. He just dropped the ball:

And yet, Anthony Tolliver took a spill and Hedo got himself an exceedingly dumb fall-away three. Let’s throw that into NBA Street, shall we?

In all likelihood, LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving will be responsible for 90 percent of the highlights coming out of Cleveland this year. We gotta give Tristan Thompson some shine whenever he can get it -- even if it’s still only preseason.

You know how preseason games aren’t supposed to matter? The Wizards and Knicks beg to differ. Both coaches brought their stars back in (John Wall, Carmelo Anthony) for the final stretch. Both teams hit big shots, then celebrated afterwards like it was a tense game for playoff positioning.

Most notably: this is how Quincy Acy, Iman Shumpert and Tim Hardaway Jr. celebrated Anthony’s three-point play with 13 seconds left to break a 100-all tie. If this is a prelude to the Knicks’ bench celebrations this year, then I’m rooting for more wins.

Kyrie Irving really favors that between-the-legs pass, eh?

The Cavs are gonna be very good and very fun this year, guys.

You had one job! The perfectly awful inbounds pass into the hands of the one dude on the perimeter you absolutely cannot leave unguarded. Well played, Clippers.

Heck, even Stephen Curry realizes how bad it is. Didn’t stop him from draining it, though.

That’s not a nice way to treat a former teammate. On the other hand, Dirk might have had some bad preseason karma coming.

(via @MaxaMillion711)

LeBron James got a standing ovation in Columbus because he’s really good at basketball or whatever. Mike Miller did his best to intercept:

You know what? There are thousands of people in that arena. *Someone* out there really was clapping for you instead of LeBron, Mike. Bask in it.

The return of Derrick Rose has been a slow process thus far, but the Chicago Bulls point guard looked like his old self in the first half of a preseason game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday. Rose scored 30 points on the night including 20 in the first half. That included 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range.

The blinding speed that once made Rose so special appears to be back:

This is like a middle schooler playing against fourth graders, except in reverse because Marcin Gortat is a decade older than Anthony Davis. This is ridiculous.

(Via @MikeSGallagher).

GOT HIM. GOT HIM GOT HIM GOT HIM.

Who cares if it’s a preseason game and all of Kobe’s teammates are injured: Kobe became one of the greatest players of all time, both offensively and defensively, by making sure every human being who has ever wronged him in any way gets their vengeance tenfold.

Dirk missed this shot badly, but it doesn’t matter. This is what preseason is all about.

Man, preseason!

Trevor Booker got a flagrant-1 for that hard foul on Blake Griffin, and both of them (plus Chris Paul) got technical fouls for grappling a bit afterward. It’s kinda tender, actually.

When Kyrie Irving and LeBron James are on the same team, magical things happen (even though this basket got waved off):

When they join forces for a Justin Timberlake dance party, well ... that’s okay, too:

I guess they’re friends?

I mean ... I certainly hope they’re friends! Can’t just go around kissing people you barely know, Tristan.

AAAAAAAAH WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!

Thank you @cjzero for scarring our minds and interrupting our sleep for the next six months. That’s the face of a man who will stare into, and subsequently devour your soul.

“This is not the game you paid your hard-earned money to watch,” Sarver said. “I apologize for it, and I want you to send me your tickets if you came tonight with a return envelope. I got a gift for you on behalf of the Suns for showing up tonight.”

Here’s what that gift will be:

I’d like to petition to switch lives with Jimmy Butler. C’mon, Jimmy. Being a blogger is way cooler than hitting game-winning shots and rubbing elbows with big movie stars.

(Here’s the game-winner, by the way):

The Bulls were down 21 points against the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night, but a huge fourth quarter rally powered by Jimmy Butler put Chicago within striking distance. After Butler made another tough bucket late in the fourth quarter, Bulls announcer Stacey King got blasphemous.

He compared Butler to Michael Jordan! In a preseason game!

Stop the party, everyone. We can’t accuse LeBron James of signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers to deliberately sabotage his old team and benefit the Miami Heat. The fun’s over.

The harsh reality: LeBron is technically accurate when he says he didn’t mean to set a screen on new teammate Matthew Dellavedova when the Cavs played the Heat last Saturday. We can only accuse him of terrible defense.

Hey, the Magic will take long distance shooting this season any way they can get it.