LOS ANGELES — He insisted that his group could play better and had to play better even though the Los Angeles Clippers snatched home-court advantage away from the Denver Nuggets by winning Game 2 in Denver.

That didn’t matter to Clippers coach Tyronn Lue.

What mattered to Lue was his team pushing itself to a higher level against the ...Read more

DETROIT — The atmosphere inside Little Caesars Arena was electric as soon as the Detroit Pistons stepped onto the court for warmups Thursday night. Even when they started the game by missing their first seven shots, the fans continued to electrify the arena, particularly with their chants directed at Jalen Brunson, which included expletives.

...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — All the Orlando Magic can do is keep fighting, keep swinging, keep elbowing, keep pushing, keep prodding, keep trying to do anything possible to turn this series against the Boston Celtics into a basketball bar fight instead of a basketball ballet.

The Magic simply don’t have the firepower, the experience, the depth or the ...Read more

HOUSTON — Draymond Green came up short in his bid to win a second Defensive Player of the Year award when results were announced on Thursday afternoon after the Warriors’ Game 2 loss to Houston.

Cleveland’s Evan Mobley, a 6-foot-10 center from Riverside County in Southern California, took home the prestigious honor. Atlanta’s Dyson ...Read more

Welcome to the playoff series of mutually assured destruction.

The Warriors and the Rockets might be tied at 1-1 in their first-round matchup, but no one has really won anything.

Because the damage to both teams will be so catastrophic by the time this series is over, in as few as three more games or as many as five, there will be little ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Alijah Arenas, the Chatsworth High star and crown jewel of USC’s incoming recruiting class, was involved in a serious Cybertruck accident on Thursday morning, a person familiar with the situation not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Los Angeles Times.

The crash occurred at 4:56 a.m. when the Cybertruck struck a fire ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The NBA draft lottery is about three weeks away, and the Sixers have a reasonable chance at landing a top-six pick, which means it’s time to remind ourselves of a little conventional wisdom. I like to call it the Durant-Curry Hypothesis.

If a player is good enough to be selected at or near the top of the NBA draft, he should ...Read more

HOUSTON – The Warriors entered Wednesday night’s first round playoff game at Toyota Center with a 2-0 series lead a realistic possibility.

After a disastrous first quarter, the Warriors were left hoping their championship hopes weren’t dashed when star Jimmy Butler was ruled out with a pelvic contusion in a 109-94 loss that evened up the ...Read more

The Miami Heat will not be an easy out. Wednesday night proved that, and not a lot more.

The Cleveland Cavaliers won at home again to take a 2-0 lead in this first round best-of-seven playoff series, which NBA history says gives them an 88% likelihood of advancing.

Few outside of hardcore fans or the delusional believe that the Heat, play-in ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — Paige Bueckers is most familiar with winter weather after growing up in Minnesota and spending her college career in Connecticut, but the former UConn women’s basketball star is quickly making herself at home in Texas as the newest member of the Dallas Wings.

From city officials to veteran players to fans, hundreds crowded...Read more

CLEVELAND — For weeks, as their play-in fate became as much of a reality as that of the Cavaliers being the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, all the Miami Heat wanted was an opportunity to get to Cleveland.

Now the question is whether they can get back.

Far more competitive than in Sunday night’s opener of this best-of-seven Eastern ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — By now, you’ve had time to sleep this one off.

I hope you woke up with one pacifying thought.

Hey, the Twins actually won a game. No, not that.

What a win by the Wild. Not that either.

You should believe the Wolves can win this series more than you did four days ago.

The Lakers did not outclass the Wolves in Game 2. When ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — When Saint Thomas applied last month for a waiver with the NCAA for a fifth season of eligibility, the USC forward figured he had a compelling case. As a sophomore at Loyola Chicago, he'd fallen into a depression so deep that he considered suicide. Unable to find the help he needed, he left the school midway through the season to...Read more

LOS ANGELES — At no point, Clippers guard Norman Powell maintained, did he waver in his belief in himself. At no point was he going to shy away from taking shots with the game hanging in the balance, despite missing many of his shots.

Powell said he has worked too hard all season to lose his confidence now, even if the stage has gotten bigger...Read more

LOS ANGELES — There, there. All better.

The Lakers recovered from a knee scrape of a playoff opener Tuesday to leap up and kick the stunned Minnesota Timberwolves in the teeth.

Now, now. That wasn't so hard, was it?

In turning a dread-filled Crypto.com Arena into a place of joyous healing, the wounded Lakers survived a first cut, tied an ...Read more

NEW YORK — Karl-Anthony Towns went to the Western Conference finals last season. In fact, he elevated his level of play on the brink of elimination for the Minnesota Timberwolves, scoring 25 points on 13 shots in a win-or-go-home Game 4, then 28 points in the Dallas Mavericks’ close-out Game 5.

Towns knows what it takes to make a deep ...Read more

ATLANTA — And so we come to another juncture in the meandering journey of the Hawks franchise, unencumbered by a championship banner in the entirety of its 57-season Atlanta existence, with the same question at hand:

What are they doing?

The latest prompt for this undying query was Monday’s dismissal of general manager Landry Fields. He ...Read more

The only thing that moved slower than the Lakers was the clock.

They had poured their energy into fighting for everything while building a lead that stretched to 22 in the first half and lived at 20 deep into the second half. They had grabbed and clawed and got clawed and got grabbed and it was still there, a big lead, the Timberwolves and the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard's teammates marvel at how much the Clippers' star forward has dedicated himself to get his body back to peak level.

They have watched how Leonard has stayed the course despite the frequent times his body betrayed him. They have supported Leonard during the trying times with his health issues because they have seen ...Read more