MIAMI — Perhaps we’ve been looking at this all wrong since Heat President Pat Riley mentioned at his season-ending media session earlier this month, “I’ve done this 13 times in 29 years … those 13 rebuilds.”

Perhaps we tuned out when Riley concluded with, “You don’t just win it with one guy.”

In that regard, what is going on ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Welcome to the Western Conference finals, Timberwolves.

After they appeared overmatched in the first two games of the Western Conference finals in Oklahoma City, the Wolves came back home and thrashed the Thunder 143-101 on Saturday at Target Center. They made a loud statement that this series isn’t over, despite how the first...Read more

Twenty-four and zero.

That's the New York Liberty‘s regular-season record when Jonquel Jones records a double-double. And the record emphasizes a theme that needed to be reinforced since her arrival to New York: The Liberty are at its best when playing through Jones as the centerpiece of the offense.

The message — again — needed to be ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The question drew a rapturous applause Friday night inside Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church. Some attendees rose from their seats into a standing ovation.

And it initially looked like Dawn Staley would maneuver around whether she had interest in coaching a hypothetical WNBA expansion team in Philadelphia. She appealed to those ...Read more

NEW YORK — T.J. McConnell is bringing the ball up the floor.

It’s a tie game, 81-81, on the first possession of the fourth quarter in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, and the Pacers have begun the flurry of pick-and-roll actions that will decide the game. And the Knicks cannot keep pace.

“I know one time I [messed] up the ...Read more

DENVER — Josh Kroenke said all the right things. And his message was completely wrong.

He hears the clock ticking on Nikola Jokic’s prime. But his plan to maximize his brilliance came across as tone deaf.

Kroenke is prepared to run it back. He did not say those words exactly. But make no mistake, next year’s Nuggets could look a lot like...Read more

NEW YORK — Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals spotlighted Aaron Nesmith’s insane three-point outburst and Tyrese Haliburton’s clutch buzzer-beater en route to a shocking win.

In Friday’s Game 2, it was all Pascal Siakam for the Indiana Pacers.

Siakam had his way with the Knicks’ defense all night, recording 39 points, four ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Knicks failed to finish once again.

And now their season is in serious jeopardy.

Two days after they suffered one of the most dramatic collapses in NBA postseason history, the Knicks struggled down the stretch in their 114-109 loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The Pacers outscored the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Twenty-two seasons ago, LeBron James entered the NBA with almost unbelievable expectations, the fate of a franchise in Cleveland and a league hungry for a new star on his back.

Twenty-two years later, the Lakers' star exceeded even the most outlandish predictions, winning championships in three different cities, scoring more ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Timberwolves have their first back-to-back losses of this postseason. The sobering part is that they have not been particularly close in either game of the Western Conference finals.

The Oklahoma City Thunder followed up an opening game rout with a second blowout Thursday, a 118-103 win, to take a 2-0 lead as the series ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — On Wednesday, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the first former Kentucky basketball player to win NBA Most Valuable Player honors.

Let’s go back to November of 2016 when the 6-foot-5 guard from Toronto decommitted from Florida and committed to play basketball for John Calipari.

Where do you think Gilgeous-Alexander ranked on...Read more

DENVER — The 2025 offseason has a chance to be the most uncomfortable in years for the Denver Nuggets. Or it could be one of the most uneventful.

They are faced with an existential dilemma. The Western Conference caught up with them the first season after they won the NBA Finals. It seemingly passed them by in the second year removed from ...Read more

OKLAHOMA CITY — In the fourth quarter of the Timberwolves’ 118-103 loss to the Thunder, Jaden McDaniels of the Wolves got tangled up with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

As the whistle blew for a foul on McDaniels, he shoved Gilgeous-Alexander to the ground, drawing a flagrant foul.

It typified the frustration the Wolves had all night Thursday, ...Read more

NEW YORK — The sudden silence among Knicks fans spoke volumes.

As the Indiana Pacers celebrated Tyrese Haliburton’s stepback buzzer beater in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, a sellout Madison Square Garden hushed in disbelief.

They had just witnessed an epic postseason collapse.

After his improbable jumper bounced off the back of...Read more

SEATTLE — This is what we’re missing.

That’s all I thought Wednesday, as Andrew Nesmith — who much of America had never heard of — hit six consecutive 3-pointers in the final five minutes. As the New York Knicks, who led by 14 points with 2:39 left in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, deteriorated on national television. As a ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green’s Hall of Fame legacy as one of the NBA’s all-time great stoppers was further solidified on Thursday morning.

The 35-year-old frontcourt standout was named to the league’s All-Defensive first team for the fifth time in his career. Green has also been named to the NBA’s All-Defensive second team four ...Read more

NEW YORK — Well, that escalated quickly.

The Knicks built a 17-point fourth-quarter cushion in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals — then watched it dissolve in real time, undone by a series of defensive breakdowns and a momentum swing that felt like whiplash. What should have been a statement win at Madison Square Garden turned into a ...Read more

DENVER — David Adelman has shaken himself free of the “interim” label.

The Nuggets are hiring Adelman to replace Michael Malone full-time as their head coach, the team announced Thursday afternoon. Adelman, 44, has been on the coaching staff since 2017 and took over the interim position with three games left in the 2024-25 regular season ...Read more

NEW YORK — All Reggie Miller could do was laugh.

As Madison Square Garden descended into disbelief after Tyrese Haliburton’s game-tying buzzer beater in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, Miller broke the silence on the TNT broadcast with a prolonged chuckle.

Thinking he had won Wednesday night’s game, Haliburton unleashed the “...Read more

DENVER — The NBA’s Mount Olympus comes with a two-trophy cover charge.

Bill Russell notched 11 titles. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar got six. Tim Duncan landed five. Shaquille O’Neal won four. Hakeem Olajuwon and Wilt Chamberlain? Two apiece.

“The Nuggets kind of drive me a little crazy,” George Karl, the Hall of Fame basketball coach whose ...Read more