NBA: The latest game situation on October 12: The undrafted guy defeated the big eyebrow brother, the Thunder suffered a disastrous defeat, and the Warriors’ old players broke out

The NBA preseason competition continues. There were a number of matchups today. Among them, the Hornets narrowly defeated the Mavericks, the Hawks defeated the Grizzlies, and the Pacers defeated the remnant Thunder. These three games are particularly interesting. Let’s talk about the specific results of these games in detail:

Let’s first look at the contest between the Hornets and the Mavericks. In the end, the Hornets narrowly defeated the Mavericks on the road with a score of 120-116. The biggest surprise of this game was the No. 32 rookie center Ryan Kalkbrenner of the Hornets. He almost single-handedly defeated the inside combination of the Mavericks’ Big Eyebrow and Flagg. At the beginning of the game, the Mavericks played quite vigorously. No. 1 pick Flagg and veteran Clay were very active. They took turns attacking the Hornets' defense and took a slight lead at the beginning. But the Hornets quickly adjusted, and the backcourt combination of Bridges and Ball began to exert force. Bridges rushed to the basket again and again, scoring many points with breakthroughs, while Ball connected the whole team with precise passes, and slowly overtook the score. At the end of the first quarter, the Hornets had a slight advantage 34-31.

In the second quarter, the Mavericks coach saw that the inside was suffering, so he decisively replaced the twin-tower lineup of Anthony Davis and Lively, thinking of establishing an advantage in the inside and suppressing the Hornets' momentum. But no one expected that the Hornets' rookie Kalkbrenner had no stage fright at all and played particularly tough against these two powerful insiders. Whether he is playing in isolation against a defensive player or in a second attack after grabbing an offensive rebound, he can score steadily. In this quarter, he made 4 of 4 shots, scored 8 points and grabbed 6 rebounds, 3 of which were offensive rebounds, completely dominating the basket. Relying on his outstanding performance, the Hornets won another 6 points in the second quarter and led 65-55 by 10 points at halftime.

At the beginning of the second half, the Lone Ranger launched a fierce counterattack. Clay suddenly found his touch and made three three-pointers in a single quarter. Flagg also relied on his excellent physical fitness to complete several steals and counterattacks. The point difference was once narrowed to only 3 points. The Mavericks fans in the stands became excited. At this critical moment, the Hornets' Miller stood up. He hit consecutive mid-range shots and sent out several key assists to help the team stabilize the situation. At the end of the third quarter, the Hornets still maintained a 5-point lead at 92-87.

The final battle was even more tense. Davis stepped forward and scored consecutively in the paint. The Mavericks chased the score to 114-115 with 2 minutes left in the game, just 1 point away from overtaking. However, the Hornets were not soft at the critical moment. Kalkbrenner once again grabbed an offensive rebound and caused a foul on the opponent. He made two free throws to open the point difference to 3 points. Then Ball broke through to attract the defense and passed the ball to the open Bridges, who steadily hit a jumper, completely sealing the victory. In the end, the Hornets won the game 120-116.

In the full game statistics, Kalkbrenner's performance was perfect. He made 7 of 7 shots without missing a single shot, scored 14 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block, with a plus-minus value of +24. You must know that he is only the No. 34 pick in 2025. This game can be regarded as a complete display of his worth. The other two core players of the Hornets also performed very steadily. Bridges scored 20 points and 11 rebounds, Ball also had 20 points and 6 assists, and Miller contributed 15 points and 5 assists. For the Mavericks, Klay scored 14 points on 4 of 7 three-pointers, Davis had 12 points and 4 rebounds, and Flagg had 11 points, 4 assists and 3 steals. Unfortunately, he failed to lead the team to a comeback. This victory was not only a good start to the Hornets' preseason, but also fully demonstrated the potential of the young center Kalkbrenner. It was definitely the biggest surprise of the game.

Let’s talk about the game between the Hawks and the Grizzlies. The Hawks finally defeated the Grizzlies 122-116 on the road, giving their opponents a three-game losing streak in the preseason. In this game, the Grizzlies were missing Morant, Jalen and many other main players, so their own strength was compromised. Moreover, their substitute lineup has been in poor condition. They lost in the first two games because of the weak substitutes, and this time it failed to improve.

The Hawks quickly got into the game in the first quarter, with many flourishes on the inside and outside. Risa Xie scored three-pointers as soon as he came up. Jaylen Johnson also frequently attacked the basket, scoring 10 points in a single quarter. On the other hand, the Grizzlies were feeling sluggish. Only Pope scored 6 points to support the situation. At the end of the first quarter, the Eagles led 34-26 by 8 points. In the second quarter, the Eagles continued their offensive. Porzingis scored consecutive points in the paint, Okongwu also contributed 7 points, and Risashe continued to provide fire support from the outside, once widening the point difference to double digits. The Grizzlies relied on Pope's outside shooting and GG Jackson's 6 points to barely hold on to the score. At the end of the half, the Eagles led 63-54 by 9 points.

After changing sides and fighting again, Jaylen Johnson broke out completely and became the absolute focus of the field. Not only did he continue to hit the basket and score, he also relied on his keen sense to grab 4 offensive rebounds. He added another 6 points in the third quarter, helping the Eagles expand their lead to 17 points. Although the Grizzlies' bench began to work hard to chase points at the end of the third quarter, the Hawks still held a 14-point advantage 89-75 after the third quarter.

I thought the Hawks could easily win the game, but unexpectedly the Grizzlies suddenly showed strength in the final quarter. Wells and Coward teamed up to break out. Coward scored 13 points in a single quarter. The two led the team to an offensive climax and narrowed the point difference little by little. In the final stage, they even caught up to only 1 point, making the game suspenseful again. Jaylen Johnson stood up at the critical moment. He stabilized the situation and scored consecutively. Although Trae Young felt cold with 0 of 8 three-pointers, he sent 8 assists and connected the team with his passing, helping the Hawks regain the point difference. In the end, the Eagles withstood the pressure and won the game 122-116, gaining their first win of the preseason.

At the end of the game, the Eagles' team shooting rate reached 51.8%, and 5 players scored in double figures. Jaylen Johnson efficiently scored 20 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals in 24 minutes of play. Such a hot state has also made fans full of expectations for his performance in the new season. Many people feel that as long as he stays healthy, his upper limit is very high and he is expected to become a future All-Star player.. Risashe contributed 16 points, Porzingis had 13 points and 7 rebounds, Okongwu had 12 points and 6 rebounds, and Krejic also scored 10 points. Although seven players on the Grizzlies side scored in double figures, they failed to form a synergy. Wells and Coward each scored 15 points, Pope scored 13 points and 5 rebounds with 3 three-pointers, Aldama contributed a double-double of 10 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. GG Jackson and Spencer each scored 11 points. Unfortunately, they still could not avoid the embarrassment of a three-game losing streak.

The last game was between the Thunder and the Pacers. Due to the absence of many main players such as Alexander and Holmgren, the Thunder could only play with a residual lineup. In the end, they lost to the Pacers by a score of 101-116 and suffered a preseason defeat.

This game was a battle between the substitute lineups of both sides from the beginning. In the first quarter, Thunder's Ajay Mitchell was in hot form and could shoot as many times as he wanted. He scored 13 points in a single quarter, helping the Thunder to hold on to the score. The Pacers responded with 9 points from Quinton Jackson and led slightly by 1 point 30-29 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Pacers' Marcelin began to exert his strength, contributing 14 points in a single quarter, leading the team to expand its advantage. However, Youngblood, the Thunder's undrafted pick, was not to be outdone and scored 11 points to compete with his opponents. At the end of the half, the Pacers expanded their advantage to 62-58, leading by 4 points.

The third quarter became the turning point of the game. Pacers substitute Tyronn Pitt suddenly broke out, scoring 13 points in a single quarter, leading the team to an offensive climax, and the point difference was suddenly widened to double digits. Although Youngblood added another 6 points in an effort to chase points, other Thunder players could not keep up with the rhythm and only scored 17 points in the third quarter. At the end of the third quarter, they were already 16 points behind 75-91, basically losing hope of a comeback.

In the final quarter of the game, Warriors veteran Wiseman broke out and scored 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting, completely sealing the victory. Youngblood was still tenacious on the Thunder side, scoring 8 more points and scoring 25 points overall. However, the score difference was too big and his teammates failed to provide much help. In the end, they could only lose the game 101-116, with a score difference of 15 points.

In terms of statistics, the Thunder's Youngblood is the only bright spot. He played 31 minutes off the bench, scored a game-high 25 points on 6-of-11 shooting, and had 5 rebounds and 3 assists. It is not easy for an undrafted player to perform like this. Mitchell and Barnhizer each scored 16 points, and Barnhizer also grabbed 11 rebounds, which can be regarded as one of the few internal supports for the Thunder. The Pacers showed strong team strength, with 7 players scoring in double figures. Pitt contributed 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists off the bench, Marcelin had 16 points and 6 rebounds, Toppin had 14 points and 4 rebounds, and Wiseman made 4 of 4 shots and efficiently scored 10 points and 5 rebounds. The team won easily with many points.