Superstar duo James Harden and Russell Westbrook and other Houston Rockets players have arrived in Japan and held their first practice in Tokyo on Sunday ahead of their two-game preseason series against the Toronto Raptors.
The two teams will compete on Tuesday and Thursday night at Saitama Super Arena. Both contests will tip off at 7 p.m. Those will be the first NBA games held in Japan since the Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) and Los Angeles Clippers squared off in two regular-season games at the same venue in 2003.
¡°I¡¯m always in favor of trips like this,¡± Rockets head coach Mike D¡¯Antoni said when asked what he would expect out of the Japanese series for his team. ¡°Because I think it¡¯s good for the team to bond. Japan¡¯s a beautiful place to be. So it¡¯s going to be enriching to the players off the court, on the court, playing in front of a different crowd. So there¡¯s a lot of benefits. And then practices are practices. We practice here, practice in Houston. It¡¯s all the same. So we¡¯ll get good basketball work, we¡¯ll get good bonding. It¡¯s a win-win.¡±
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