PITTSBURGH — Following the fourth game of the season for Duquesne men's basketball, Jake DiMichele was critical of his team.

The Dukes were fresh off another loss, and DiMichele, a returning starter, didn't think he and his teammates were playing selflessly enough.

Nothing was going right for the Dukes. The offense was inconsistent. So was ...Read more

NEW YORK — Losing to the West’s No. 1-seed and NBA’s top-ranked Oklahoma City Thunder defense? Understandable.

Losing to the fast-paced, run-and-gun Chicago Bulls 24 hours later? Chalk it to dead legs.

Dropping a third game in a row, however, to a team without four of its five best scoring options, this time with adequate rest in between...Read more

NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets played without Cam Thomas, Cam Johnson, D’Angelo Russell and others in Monday’s 113-99 loss to the Indiana Pacers at Barclays Center.

Few shot-creators. Fewer household names.

Brooklyn started Keon Johnson, Tyrese Martin, Ziaire Williams, Noah Clowney and Nic Claxton. And as you’d probably expect, Brooklyn ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Two days after Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch defended sticking with his same starting five, he changed his lineup for Monday’s 108-106 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, even though his team had lost six of its last nine games.

With the Wolves struggling recently to start games, he took out 18-year NBA veteran ...Read more

DETROIT — Chauncey Billups has not played for the Detroit Pistons in nearly two decades, but his love for the city has kept him intrigued. Billups has enjoyed watching the Pistons' resurgence this season and roots for his former franchise in 80 out of 82 games.

"I love what’s going on here," Billups said. "They’re playing well. They’re ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The 76ers were without their perennial All-Star center Joel Embiid, his backup Andre Drummond and their wise elder statesman, Kyle Lowry.

The trio’s absence combined with poor shooting to lead to a 109-99 loss to the Phoenix Suns Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Sixers (14-20) shot 39.1% from the field — ...Read more

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — This season has tested the Atlanta Hawks’ depth at the wing and Garrison Mathews has given them reasons to trust that they have it.

Mathews has played 27 games this season and has injected energy off the bench in the absence of Bogdan Bogdanovic. He has averaged 8.8 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game, but he ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Brandin Cummings' offer sheet wasn't as extensive as some other recruits of his caliber.

Rated as a three-star prospect, South Carolina, Creighton, Maryland and a handful of mid-majors extended scholarship offers, but there's a reason why few schools came calling. Once Pitt offered, it wasn't much of a decision.

"I knew the ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — One team added its star guard back to its starting lineup; the other’s spent Sunday night in street clothes.

The results may surprise you.

Despite playing with a well-rested Steph Curry, the Warriors (18-17) otherwise looked listless in a 129-99 loss to the Sacramento Kings (17-19), who were missing All-Star De’Aaron Fox ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — To put it lightly, Sunday’s contest between the Magic and the Utah Jazz wasn’t exactly representative of what the two franchises had in mind when their respective seasons began.

Each team was without four of its top five scorers when they took the court inside Kia Center.

Orlando (21-16) didn’t have Paolo Banchero (...Read more

HOUSTON — The curse of the NBA regular season is that it’s a monthslong slog from city to city, from hotel rooms and hostile arenas, with opposing scouting reports bleeding into one another in what can create an unrecognizable blur.

The gift of that 82-game schedule are the tests, the moments of competition when a team can take an honest ...Read more

The No. 7-ranked Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team entered Sunday’s road game at UCF with many question marks.

One of the biggest: whether KU can win on the road. The Jayhawks’ struggles away from Allen Fieldhouse this season, and last, have been well documented.

KU answered that concern with one of its most dominant showings in a ...Read more

Maryland men’s basketball’s first West Coast trip of the season is fortunately its last.

The Terps wrapped up a disappointing visit to the Pacific Northwest by squandering a double-digit advantage in the first half and then a smaller lead at halftime to No. 9 Oregon, which proved why it belongs in the national conversation of top-tier teams...Read more

STORRS, Conn. – The No. 11 UConn men’s basketball team narrowly avoided a loss in its first game without star freshman Liam McNeeley, coming back from a 14-point deficit in the second half to beat Providence, 87-84, at Gampel Pavilion on Sunday.

“We cheated death in this one here today,” coach Dan Hurley said afterward.

UConn faced a ...Read more

The Boston Celtics are still the defending NBA champions. But it’s hard to call them the favorites to win it all again this year after what transpired Sunday in Oklahoma City.

Boston, at full strength for the first time all season, crumbled in the second half of a potential NBA Finals preview, losing 105-92 to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Forget good. The Lakers want to be great.

That was coach JJ Redick’s halftime message Friday night to the Lakers, his frustration with the team’s lack of attention to defensive details boiling over first into a couple of rage-induced timeouts and later into a challenge to his group to be better.

The timing, which came with ...Read more

MIAMI — In these days of social correctness, the phrase “spare the rod and spoil the child” probably has moved on from the vernacular.

But the concept assuredly remains in play. And for more than kid stuff.

That, in many ways is how the Miami Heat got here, to this point of no return with now-suspended Jimmy Butler.

Without ground rules...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard took the final shot of his pregame routine Saturday and ran off the Intuit Dome court. With fans chanting, “Kawhi! Kawhi! Kawhi!” he glanced up at the crowd and pointed his finger in acknowledgment before running into the tunnel toward the locker room.

It was a rare show of excitement by a player usually devoid...Read more

If only Pacome Dadiet and Ariel Hukporti were on New York’s bench, and not on G-League assignment with the Westchester Knicks.

Maybe then Tom Thibodeau would have had two extra sets of fresh legs to use in his team’s second leg of a back-to-back against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.

But he didn’t, and for the second game in a row, the ...Read more