The first taste of the 2022-2023 NBA season was hosted this past weekend. The reigning NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors played against the Washington Wizards at Saitama Super arena in Tokyo, Japan.  While the preseason games are the highlights of the NBA-fueled weekend, much more happened on the sidelines. 

Friday night, the Warriors defeated the Wizards 96-87 outscoring them by three to four points each quarter to get the win. James Wisemen led the Warriors with 20 points and nine rebounds while Japan native, Rui Hachimuri led the Wizards with 13 points and nine rebounds. The most explosive play of the game was Warriors center James Wisemen dunking on Wizards center Kristaps Porzingis.  

  On Saturday, the NBA decided to have a three-point contest showdown with “The Splash brothers”, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson versus Jordan Poole and Moses Moody, and a dunk contest featuring Warriors Point Guard Mac Mcclung versus  Youtuber Tyler Currie. The Splash brothers were the ones who emerged victorious with Curry pulling his signature no-look three on the first rack. Thompson then came in, sealing the win with two racks left to spare in the three-point contest. Incredible performances from two of the best shooters in NBA history.  The dunk contest was a spectacle with Mcclung showing off with a combination of a 360-degree dunk, windmill dunk, and jumping over not one but two people for the dunk ending with a final score of 31. Currie had a lot of pressure and it was not going to be easy but he got the job done. He got another 360-degree shot, a dunk while jumping over two people, and an incredible dunk over a car which sealed his win over Mcclung with a perfect score of 40. 

On Sunday the Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards played a close game trailing by 19 points. With only nine minutes left in the game, the Warriors came for a comeback by scoring 30 points in the fourth quarter. The Warriors won against the  Wizards 104-95 with Steph Curry who led his team to victory with 17 points. Kristaps Porzingis led the Wizards with 18 points. After the game, Draymond Green and Rui Hashimuri gave Japanese fans a good farewell with Rui speaking fluent Japanese which left  Draymond speechless.

This visit to Japan was more than two games outside of the U.S. It was an outstanding celebration of the NBA for fans all around the globe.