Lendeborg's 23-10-6 Powers Warriors Past Kings as Tatum's Celtics Hang 144 on Shorthanded Sixers

SAN FRANCISCO

The best player on the floor at Chase Center on Saturday night was a rookie, and it wasn't particularly close. Yaxel Lendeborg put up 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting, 10 rebounds and 6 assists in 23 minutes as the Warriors held off the Kings 111-106, improving to 2-2 in preseason play. He opened with the starters — Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos, Draymond Green and the kid — and by the second quarter it was obvious why Steve Kerr trusts him. The activity around the rim, the passing reads, the way Sacramento's defense kept tilting toward him: that's not a summer-league mirage. That's a rotation player announcing himself, and the Rookie of the Year whispers are going to get louder from here.

Curry, for his part, did the preseason thing: 14 minutes, 8 points on 3-of-6 shooting, first half only, then a seat and a smile. Less is more at this stage of his career. The night's other headliner was three thousand miles east, where Jayson Tatum was putting the finishing touches on Boston's demolition of Philadelphia — more on that below. The Warriors built the win the way they've always built wins — a 37-point second quarter, Podziemski burying back-to-back threes in the third after Sacramento briefly took a 70-69 lead, and Brandon Williams beating the third-quarter buzzer with a three that pushed the margin to eight.

But the Kings made them earn it, and the Kings' kid was nearly as good. Darius Acuff Jr. dropped 25 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds on 8-of-15 shooting in 27 minutes, blowing past Golden State's point of attack at will. The efficiency question that followed him through the first two preseason games got a loud answer. Ben Simmons, in his first action as a King, chipped in 7 points in 8 minutes. Jonathan Mogbo did the dirty work on the offensive glass to keep Sacramento within two in the closing minutes. The result stings at 0-3, but the process — for a rebuilding team — keeps giving them things to like.

The part nobody liked: Maxime Raynaud's night ended in the second quarter. The second-year center was setting a screen on Curry with 2:32 before halftime when he crumpled to the floor, yelled in pain, and had to be helped into a wheelchair to the locker room. The Kings ruled him out for the rest of the game with a right knee injury, and he was scheduled for an MRI late Saturday, leaving the arena on crutches. He had 10 points and 5 rebounds in 9 minutes — 3-for-3 from the field — before the fall. An All-Rookie second-teamer last season, Raynaud is a real piece of Sacramento's rebuild. Everything else about this game is preseason noise. This is the one that matters, and the wait for that MRI is going to feel very long in Sacramento.

BOSTON — If there were any lingering questions about Jayson Tatum's health, he spent 26 minutes on Saturday night answering them. Tatum put up 23 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists as the Celtics demolished the shorthanded 76ers 144-106 at TD Garden, the only Celtic to play the entire first quarter and the engine of everything Boston did in the competitive portion of the night. This is a player who returned from an Achilles injury at the end of last season and then watched the final playoff game of 2026 from the bench. On Saturday he moved like none of that ever happened — good cardio, good decisions, active on both ends, in the words of head coach Joe Mazzulla. That's the whole story in Boston. Everything else is commentary.

The commentary is pretty fun, though. The new-look starting five — Tatum, Paul George, Mitchell Robinson, Jordan Walsh and Derrick White — shot roughly 47 percent from three and led by 21 at halftime and by 45 at one point. George, in his first Celtics preseason run, had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 5 steals and looked like a natural fit next to Tatum on both ends. Payton Pritchard came off the bench for a game-high 25. Boston is 2-0, and the machine looks fully assembled with weeks to spare.

The caveat is the one Philadelphia fans already know by heart: the Sixers didn't bring their team. Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown, LeBron James and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope all sat, joining the already-injured Anfernee Simons, Adem Bona and Dominick Barlow on the sideline. Tyrese Maxey played and never found a rhythm — 8 points, 4 assists. The bright spot was second-year guard V.J. Edgecombe, who went at the Celtics' defenders all night for 19 points, 4 assists and 4 steals. These two meet again Friday, October 16, in Philadelphia for both teams' preseason finale. The rematch should tell us more than this one did — but 144 is 144, and Boston's ceiling is the story of the East until someone proves otherwise.

PHOENIX — The Suns sat Devin Booker for rest and lost Miles Bridges to a right ankle, then went out and got their first preseason win anyway, 102-98 over the Spurs at the Mortgage Matchup Center. Jalen Green ran the show with 18 points and 5 assists, Dillon Brooks added 15, and Phoenix did enough in the middle quarters to survive a late San Antonio push.

But the reason to care about this game is the kid in the middle. Khaman Maluach finished with 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, posted the team's best plus-minus at plus-13, and — most importantly — held his own in direct matchups with Victor Wembanyama. There was a second-half sequence where Maluach helped on a Wemby drive for a stop, then outworked him for a putback on the other end. You can teach a lot of things. You can't teach that kind of want-to against a generational talent. The skill set is real — threes, blocks, boards — but the effort is what will get him on the floor this season.

Wembanyama finished with 13 points, matching Stephon Castle's 13, while rookie Dylan Harper led the Spurs with a game-high 15. San Antonio is 0-2, but the Harper-Castle-Wemby core keeps showing flashes in the minutes that matter. Phoenix, at 1-2, will take the win and — more importantly — the tape of its young center going toe-to-toe with the best young big on the planet and not blinking.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Pacers played Saturday night without Tyrese Haliburton, and for about 46 minutes it looked like they'd survive it. Then Atlanta's reserves closed the door and the Hawks walked out of Gainbridge Fieldhouse with a 119-117 win in a game these two teams both circled — they're expected to be fighting each other for Eastern Conference playoff position come spring.

Haliburton missed the game with what coach Rick Carlisle called a mild tweak of the right ankle. The good news, per Carlisle: the MRI came back clean, including on the surgically repaired Achilles, and the hope is Haliburton is back for Tuesday's game at Oklahoma City or at the latest the October 16 preseason finale against Milwaukee. In his place, new two-year signee Kelly Oubre Jr. slid into the starting lineup next to Andrew Nembhard at the point and fit the Pacers' pace immediately — 13 points, three corner threes, five makes on assists from four different teammates. That's exactly the versatile sixth-man role Indiana signed him for.

Atlanta's night belonged to Jalen Johnson, who needed this one. After a rough first preseason game and a DNP on Thursday, Johnson bounced back with 20 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists on an efficient 8-of-12 from the field. The Hawks were without Nickeil Alexander-Walker but otherwise ran their primary rotation, and Quin Snyder clearly wanted this one — the deep bench barely saw the floor. For a team trying to get back to the postseason and make noise when it gets there, Johnson taking another step is the whole ballgame. Saturday was a good sign.

WASHINGTON — The best theater of the night happened at Capital One Arena, where the Pistons nearly stole one with their third string. Down two rotation pillars — Jalen Duren missed his second straight preseason game, Cade Cunningham sat out entirely — Detroit rode its two-way players, Exhibit-10 signees and rookie Ebuka Okorie through the entire fourth quarter, and Okorie nearly authored a preseason legend. His entry pass to two-way forward Isaac Jones became a dunk that tied the game at 98 with 11.7 seconds left; on the other end, camp invite John Okomadu forced a tough miss at the buzzer to send it to overtime.

The kids ran out of gas in the extra period — Okorie and Chaz Lanier combined for 10 OT points but each turned it over in the final 90 seconds — and Washington escaped 114-108. Okorie still led Detroit with 14 points and 6 assists, 10 of those points coming in the final two periods. Duncan Robinson (12 points, 4 assists), Daniss Jenkins (12), Paul Reed (11 and 9 boards) and Kevin Huerter (11) all reached double figures, and Tolu Smith grabbed 13 rebounds with 8 on the offensive glass. The Pistons fell to 1-1. J.B. Bickerstaff learned something about his depth, which is the entire point of October.

MIAMI — The nightcap-with-an-asterisk belonged to the Timberwolves, who edged the Heat 125-124 at the Kaseya Center in a game where both teams rested their regular rotation players. Miami's kids poured in 40 fourth-quarter points and nearly completed the comeback. Ryan Conwell led the Heat with 22 points, Vlad Goldin added 18, Nick Richards anchored the glass with 10 rebounds, Simone Fontecchio hit 4-of-7 from deep for 14, and Nikola Jovic had 15 and 6 boards. Pelle Larsson added 14 before leaving with an illness. Preseason box scores don't count, but auditions do — and a few Heat hopefuls just helped their case.

VANCOUVER — And in the afternoon's neutral-site special at Rogers Arena, the Raptors took care of the Clippers 114-106, building the lead quarter by quarter — 24-18, 33-27, 32-27 through three — and holding off a 34-point Clipper fourth. A clean, professional win in front of the Vancouver crowd, and a quiet end to a loud day.

So what did Saturday actually tell us? Three things. First, the rookies are ahead of schedule: Lendeborg's 23-10-6, Acuff's 25-8-4, Maluach going chest-to-chest with Wembanyama, Okorie nearly winning a game with the third string — this class is not waiting for permission. Second, Boston's new-look core is terrifying when whole: Tatum moving like the Achilles never happened, George fitting like he's been there for years, and 144 points against anybody is a statement. Third, the injury wire is the real scoreboard in October: Raynaud's knee and that pending MRI hang over everything Sacramento did right tonight; Haliburton's clean MRI is the best news Indiana could have gotten; and the Bridges and Larsson situations bear watching.

Sunday brings more: the Mavericks and Rockets tip off in Macau in the early morning, then it's the Magic at the Cavaliers, the Bucks at the Hornets, and the Bulls at the Nuggets. Eleven days until opening night — October 21, Warriors at Lakers — and the preseason is doing exactly what it's supposed to do: showing us who's ready. See more in our Tuesday finals takeaways, the weekend roundup, and Wednesday's preview.