NEW YORK — Reporters who attended Thursday’s Nets practice in Brooklyn were greeted by a strange sight.

Spread across three shelves on the far end of the court sat 18 black football helmets with white facemasks. “Brooklyn” was written across the side of each helmet in the team’s fancy, old-school font.

No, the helmets were not ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The NBA Cup encounter between the Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings heightened both teams’ awareness even with this being an early-season game.

Both teams had lost their first Cup game and were in need of a victory to stay relevant during the in-season tournament.

For the Clippers, the Cup game gave them another ...Read more

A whole lot of Cooper Flagg scoring and tight defense secured a big road win for No. 12 Duke on Friday night.

With Flagg scoring 24 points, the Blue Devils grabbed a lead early and never relinquished it as they beat No. 17 Arizona, 69-55, at McKale Center.

Duke (4-1), after squandering a double-digit, second-half lead while losing 77-72 to ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — No Joel Embiid. No Paul George. No problem.

The undermanned 76ers had one of their most impressive performances, defeating the Brooklyn Nets, 113-98, in Friday’s NBA Cup contest at the Wells Fargo Center.

The victory improved them to 3-12 overall and 1-2 in East Group A play in the NBA Cup. It also snapped the Sixers’ five...Read more

The Warriors are in pole position in the NBA Cup group stage.

By improving to 3-0 in group play, the Warriors can clinch a spot in the knockout round with a Nuggets loss; Denver plays Dallas on Friday night.

The Warriors (12-3) never pulled away from the short-handed Pelicans, but they nonetheless escaped with a 112-108 after New Orleans wing ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — On paper, Kentucky’s basketball game Friday night in Rupp Arena was supposed to be the easiest on the 2024-25 schedule.

It lived up to that expectation.

The No. 9-ranked Wildcats jumped on Jackson State early, led by as many as 26 points in the first half and rolled to a 108-59 victory in the fifth game of the perfect-so-...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid was ruled out of Friday night’s NBA Cup game against the Brooklyn Nets at the Wells Fargo Center because of swelling in his left knee. The 76ers center will also be sidelined in Sunday’s home game against the Los Angeles Clippers. The team said further updates will be provided next week.

Embiid, who has been ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The 76ers can breathe a little sigh of relief when it comes to Paul George’s second bone bruise to his left knee.

“They say it’s the same thing that happened [on Oct. 14], but to a little lesser extent,” coach Nick Nurse said before Friday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets at the Wells Fargo Center. “Not as bad as ...Read more

Last Saturday, the Celtics barely scraped past one of the worst teams in the NBA, needing overtime to put away the two-win Toronto Raptors.

They had similar trouble Friday against another Eastern Conference cellar dweller.

Boston endured one of its worst shooting performances of the season — including a garish 0-for-10 showing from 3-point ...Read more

MIAMI — Jimmy Butler took some time away from basketball for a different game Thursday evening.

The Heat superstar and his coffee brand, Bigface, partnered with Bacardi to debut the Miami Rum Room Domino Club one-night popup at Byblos in Miami Beach.

The upscale Mediterranean clubstaurant was given a proper Little Havana-style makeover, with...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers had their chances with the shot that’s the only one easy enough to have the word “free” in front of it.

But in the final minutes of their first home loss of the season, a 119-118 collapse against the Orlando Magic, the unguarded 15-footer was the biggest hurdle.

Anthony Davis missed three clutch ...Read more

The Timberwolves' losing streak at Toronto reached 20 years and 20 games with Thursday night’s 110-105 loss at Scotiabank Arena.

The Wolves haven’t won in Toronto since January 2004, back when Kevin Garnett was on his way to his MVP season and started that game in a lineup with Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell, Trenton Hassell and Ervin ...Read more

President Joe Biden dropped two bits of trivia during his Thursday afternoon address in the White House’s Rose Garden.

First, that his Secret Service code name is “Celtic,” because of his Irish heritage. Second, that the 1962-63 Boston Celtics were the first NBA team ever to visit the White House, after an invitation from Massachusetts ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — What comes after DEFCON 2?

These are dire days in 76ers Land, with the team’s inability to stay healthy looking worse than ever.

The 76ers arrived home from their 0-3 road trip to find everyone on alert. Luckily for them, Joel Embiid broke out of his funk Wednesday with season highs of 35 points and 11 rebounds in a 117-111 ...Read more

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Joel Embiid sounded off after details from the 76ers’ lengthy team meeting Monday night — including that teammate Tyrese Maxey called out the 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player for tardiness — surfaced through multiple reports citing anonymous sources, saying “whoever leaked that is a real piece of [expletive].”

“We ...Read more

CHICAGO — Teresa Weatherspoon doesn’t want to dwell on the past.

That’s easy to say. Harder to execute. But as she embraces a new role with Unrivaled — a 3-on-3 league that will debut in January — the former Chicago Sky coach wants to focus on the future.

Weatherspoon will coach the Vinyl Basketball Club, an Unrivaled team that ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Feeling Onyeka Okongwu wrapped around his ankles, Steph Curry picked up his head and flung a HORSE shot off the glass.

Once he picked himself up from off the floor, right next to Okongwu, Curry high-fived a toddler sitting courtside in the corner. M-V-P chants followed as Curry finished off the and-1.

That bucket initiated 17...Read more

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It was finally the debut of the 76ers’ All-Star trio.

And then it wasn’t.

Tyrese Maxey returned from a six-game absence with a hamstring injury Wednesday night, but Paul George left early in the second half with left knee hyperextension in a 117-111 loss to the Grizzlies Wednesday night at FedEx Forum to drop the Sixers ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — De’Anthony Melton will miss the rest of the 2024-25 season with a sprained left ACL.

Melton, 26, is scheduled to get surgery on his knee in the near future, the Warriors announced. While he has missed the past two games, he and the team were diligent about seeking multiple opinions for his injury. The best course of action, ...Read more