Preseason games give fans a glimpse of the supreme talent on display in the NBA every day during the long season.
Before an electric atmosphere at Saitama Super Arena, where the NBA staged its first game in Japan in more than 16 years on Tuesday evening, the defending champion Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets didn't disappoint in providing highlight after highlight, flashy dribbling and plenty of dunks, aerial acrobatics and 3-point laser beams and rainbows.
It was the first NBA preseason game for new Rockets backcout partners James Harden and Russell Westbrook, former Oklahoma City Thunder teammates. Westbrook didn't play last Thursday in Honolulu against the Los Angeles Clippers. Westbrook underwent knee surgery in May.