The New Orleans Pelicans and Houston Rockets gave the NBA’s Chinese fanbase exactly what it was hoping for today: scoring, style, and sloppiness. Before we can expect the appreciation of a great defensive rotation or sound rebounding stance to translate across oceans, we have to give new basketball markets a taste of what makes this game the most fun. And on Sunday morning, the Pels and Rockets were able to do just that, with Houston winning a shootout, 123-117.
This was the Pelicans’ first televised preseason game, and its placement on NBATV was an understandable part of the league’s effort to make this as much of an event as possible.