NBA

7:25 AM ET NBA Insiders The 2020 NBA playoffs have provided many with their first extended look at the unusual game of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. In the past week, Jokic has led the Nuggets to a startling upset of the LA Clippers, been named to his second All-NBA team and made his Western

12:24 AM ET NBA playoff basketball is an exercise in advanced problem-solving, and the Boston Celtics came into Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals with some serious problems. They blew double-digit second-half leads to the Miami Heat in consecutive losses, encountered far more trouble with the Heat’s zone defense than any top-five offense should

2:24 PM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward has been listed as active to face the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday night. Boston coach Brad Stevens told reporters earlier Saturday that he anticipated Hayward playing but that Hayward would make the call after

7:51 AM ET Be careful writing off the Boston Celtics. Our memories get short. The Celtics just took a 2-0 lead over the Toronto Raptors and barely hung on in seven games. The Denver Nuggets have rallied from two 3-1 deficits. Boston had late leads in both Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference

1:58 AM ET The last time we saw the Los Angeles Lakers, nearly a week ago when they were finishing off the small-ball Houston Rockets in the second round of the playoffs, centers Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee had been relegated to socially distant cheerleaders on the bench. An important role in a mostly-empty, fanless

1:48 PM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens held a late-night hotel meeting with the team’s leaders on Thursday to talk through the frustration and emotions that spilled into the locker room after a Game 2 loss to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals, sources told ESPN. Stevens met with

7:05 AM ET THWACK!! Detroit Pistons defensive wizard Tayshaun Prince, all 215 pounds of him, smashed into an immovable, 7-foot-3, 260-pound object named Zydrunas Ilgauskas. The Cleveland Cavaliers big man planted himself adjacent to Prince with the explicit purpose of preventing him from tracking a precocious 21-year-old LeBron James. Splat!! This time the culprit was

12:42 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — After the Boston Celtics blew a second straight second-half lead and lost 106-101 to the Miami Heat on Thursday night, Celtics guard Marcus Smart was yelling at his teammates in the locker room before leaving the room swearing, according to ESPN’s Malika Andrews. Smart left

10:45 PM ET In the NBA postseason, there’s often a team that discovers its potential along the way. It learns who it is, banks on its strengths and builds confidence with each win. The Toronto Raptors accomplished that in the 2019 playoffs, and in the Year of the Bubble, the Miami Heat are that team.

7:20 AM ET I first started hearing versions of it from rival executives at the end of the 2014-15 season, when the Miami Heat traded two first-round picks for Goran Dragic on an expiring contract — and finished 37-45, one game short of the playoffs: If it wasn’t the Heat, we’d all be laughing at

3:49 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James made history Wednesday when he was named to a 16th All-NBA team in his 17-year career, which snapped a tie with Hall of Famers Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most in NBA history. James was

9:47 PM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Having played JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard sparingly in the second round against the small ball-centric Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel acknowledged he’ll need to bring his bigs back into the fold against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Western Conference

7:02 AM ET Michael Malone and LeBron James experienced their first conference finals together 13 years ago: the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ stunning 2007 upset of the Detroit Pistons in which James was just 22 and Malone was an assistant coach. Their faces aren’t quite as smooth now and they have less hair, but their presence together

11:26 PM ET A balanced Miami Heat team came into Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals with the No. 4 offense and No. 4 defense in the postseason. In the final 12 seconds of an overtime thriller on Tuesday, they executed two phenomenal, game-winning plays: one an offensive gem by their closer, Jimmy Butler;

10:54 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Boston Celtics star Kemba Walker declared he has to be better after a third straight dud of a performance helped cost his team Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday. “I’m just playing terrible, to be honest,” Walker said after finishing with 19

6:38 AM ET Three players in the history of the NBA have recorded 25 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in a Game 7 before the age of 25: Jerry West, Kobe Bryant and, as of last week, Jayson Tatum. The first guy is immortalized as the league logo, the second became one of the

7:22 AM ET The next chapter of the Boston Celtics–Miami Heat rivalry starts Tuesday — with new stars, new storylines and plenty of drama. Miami already knocked out reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the NBA-best Milwaukee Bucks, while Boston overcame a seven-game fight with the defending champion Toronto Raptors. What’s in store with a trip

12:01 PM ET In a three-hour lunch meeting Friday in Milwaukee, Bucks co-owner and governor Marc Lasry made it clear to reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo that the franchise is willing to spend into the luxury tax to deliver him a championship supporting cast, sources told ESPN. The Bucks’ payroll will be close to the proposed