PHILADELPHIA — Steph Curry did his best to will a comeback win, but the Golden State Warriors were too thinned out by Jimmy Butler’s absence to pick him up.

Butler missed his first game as Warrior with back spasms, and the Warriors felt the pain. Golden State won Curry’s minutes by 12 in a seven-point loss.

Curry finished with 29 points ...Read more

The Brooklyn Nets lost their fourth straight game on Saturday, falling to the Detroit Pistons 115-94 at Little Caesars Arena on the second night of a back-to-back set.

The Nets were once again plagued by a slow start at both ends of the court. They shot 1 for 8 from the field in the opening minutes and trailed 14-4 with 7:33 left in the first ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After a rough outing against Texas Tech on Saturday, Kansas guard Zeke Mayo received a barrage of social media hate.

Mayo tweeted four different screenshots appearing to come from his Instagram direct messages, all expressing hateful words at the transfer guard, following the Jayhawks’ 78-73 defeat to Texas Tech.

The ...Read more

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida shooting guard Will Richard’s career night was all for naught during the Gators’ no-show at Georgia.

On Saturday night against Texas A&M, Richard’s hot hand carried his team to a much-needed bounce-back 89-70 win against the Aggies.

Richard finished with 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting as the No. 3 Gators (25-...Read more

NEW YORK — St. John’s needed a basket.

Nearly four minutes into Saturday’s game against Seton Hall, the Red Storm had missed all nine of their shots and committed three turnovers.

It was an ugly start against a lesser opponent on an afternoon No. 7 St. John’s could clinch its first outright Big East regular-season championship in 40 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Austin Reaves will not miss significant time after testing on his sore calf revealed no significant problems, a person with knowledge of the injury who is not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to The Los Angeles Times.

The Lakers listed Reaves and fellow guard Jordan Goodwin, who sprained an ankle late in the win over the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Clippers announced Saturday that they have signed guard Jordan Miller to a contract.

According to people who are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, Miller and the Clippers agreed to a four-year deal worth about $8.3 million.

The 6-foot-5 Miller, a second-round pick by the Clippers in 2023, has appeared in 30 ...Read more

NEW YORK — For the first time in 40 years, St. John’s stands alone as the Big East champion.

Rick Pitino’s red-hot Red Storm clinched the conference’s outright regular-season title with Saturday afternoon’s 71-61 win over Seton Hall at Madison Square Garden, further immortalizing one of the greatest seasons in school history.

It took...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mark Pope’s Kentucky basketball team suffered two major losses Saturday afternoon.

The Wildcats were defeated 94-78 by No. 1 Auburn in Rupp Arena, a lopsided loss with just one week remaining in the regular season. But that was just a single game

What Pope said afterward will have a much more lasting effect on what’s ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — At the beginning, things were going OK for Kentucky in its battle with No. 1 Auburn on Saturday.

But that didn’t last long.

The top-ranked Tigers unleashed a 12-0 run in less than a minute out of the first TV timeout of the game, and the Wildcats were never able to get back within a possession of Bruce Pearl’s team ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — On rare off days during the season, San Diego State’s basketball coaches typically drive to Los Angeles or head to the airport for a quick trip to evaluate high school prospects.

A few weeks ago, two coaches embarked on a different sort of recruiting mission. They visited the parents of one of their own players, lobbying to keep...Read more

MIAMI — It has been four months since the Miami Heat unveiled their statue on the front steps of Kaseya Center in honor of franchise icon Dwyane Wade. It also has been four months since social media had a field day questioning the likeness.

This week, on the “Underground Lounge” podcast hosted by former NBA player Lou Williams, Wade ...Read more

SALT LAKE CITY – Inside the Timberwolves locker room, Anthony Edwards’ clothing and gear were inside and just outside of his stall Friday night. But Edwards wasn’t in the building, per the rules of his one-game suspension for reaching 16 technical fouls on the season after Thursday’s loss to the Lakers.

The Wolves left wondering what ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Lakers guard Austin Reaves, amid his best season as a pro, left Friday’s game with the Lakers because of a right calf injury. He’s expected to undergo an MRI scan Saturday to determine the severity of the injury, the team said.

The Lakers would go on to win the game 106-102.

Reaves played nine minutes in the first quarter ...Read more

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — An arena known for noise was oddly quiet when a referee, unhappy with all the contact between the post players, reached his arm out to separate UCLA’s Tyler Bilodeau from Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn.

Seizing upon the moment with his team needing a boost, Kaufman-Renn waved his arms to raise the decibel level inside ...Read more

Being clutch doesn’t always mean scoring a game-winning basket. Sometimes, the game-winning play is moving the ball.

And sometimes, it’s being in position defensively just enough to force an all-world scorer to miss a layup.

The Knicks came up clutch on Friday night and punched a 114-113 victory over the No. 2 seed in the Western ...Read more