BOSTON (AP) — Huge leads. Lengthy scoring droughts. Blowouts.
The Eastern Conference finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics are as close as can be, heading back to Miami all tied up at two wins apiece.
BOSTON (AP) — The Miami Heat left Jayson Tatum lying on the court with a pain in his neck in the closing minutes of Game 3.
The Celtics All-Star did his part to make sure the Heat were hurting after Game 4.
BOSTON (AP) — Celtics point guard and Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart was ruled out for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against Miami, joining Heat guard Tyler Herro on the sidelines for Monday night's game.
DENVER (AP) — Tim Connelly is leaving his job as president of basketball operations of the Denver Nuggets for a similar role with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Connelly agreed to the deal on Monday, the Timberwolves announced.
DALLAS (AP) — Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors have won nine consecutive games in the Western Conference finals.
They can make it an even 10, eliminate Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks and return to the NBA Finals after three years away with a victory in Game 4 in Dallas on Tuesday night.
DALLAS (AP) — Stephen Curry shimmied for the TV crew, Andrew Wiggins shook Luka Doncic with a posterizing dunk and the Warriors are thinking sweep.
Curry scored 31 points, Wiggins' playoff career high 27 points included the dunk that was originally called an offensive foul and Golden State beat the Dallas Mavericks 109-100 Sunday night for a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
DALLAS (AP) — Stephen Curry scored 31 points, Andrew Wiggins added 27 while posterizing Luka Doncic on a dunk and the Golden State Warriors beat the Dallas Mavericks 109-100 Sunday night for a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
DALLAS (AP) — The NBA fined the Dallas Mavericks for a third time in the playoffs on Sunday because of violations of rules regarding their bench.
The fine has doubled each time, with the latest at $100,000 after Game 2 of the Western Conference finals at Golden State on Friday.
BOSTON (AP) — The Heat were embarrassed in Game 2, surrendering home-court advantage in their blowout loss to the Celtics in their Eastern Conference finals matchup.
Miami returned the favor in Game 3, building a 26-point first-half lead en route to hanging on for a 109-103 victory despite star Jimmy Butler sitting out the second half with swelling in his right knee.
BOSTON (AP) — Still angry over a blowout loss in Miami that cost them home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference finals, the Heat jumped to a 26-point first-half lead over the Boston Celtics in Game 3.
BOSTON (AP) — The Miami Heat played the entire second half without their top scorer. The Boston Celtics lost two of their top players, who both returned to do their best Willis Reed impersonations.
BOSTON (AP) — Bam Adebayo scored 31 points with 10 rebounds for the Miami Heat, who blew a 25-point, first-half lead and lost Jimmy Butler to a knee injury but held on to beat the Boston Celtics 109-103 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday night.
BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics will be without center Robert Williams III for Game 3 of their Eastern Conference finals matchup with the Miami Heat on Saturday night due to soreness and swelling in his left knee.
PRAGUE (AP) — Jiří Zídek Sr., voted the best Czech basketball player of the 20th century and the first Czech inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame, has died. He was 78.
The Czech Basketball Federation announced the news on Saturday, saying he had a long-term illness without elaborating.
Luka Doncic didn't have another “believe” in him with the Mavericks facing a 2-0 deficit for a second consecutive series.
Not that the Dallas superstar doesn't believe. There's just a difference after losing a 19-point lead against title-tested Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Luka Doncic had been dominating for most of the night, yelling in celebration and flexing his arms in Stephen Curry’s house.
Then Curry and the Golden State Warriors delivered one of those signature third-quarter flurries that have defined so many of their postseason runs — with this one sparked by Kevon Looney.
NEW YORK (AP) — Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics was the leading vote-getter for the All-Defensive first team, with Mikal Bridges of the Phoenix Suns joining him as the other guard.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — The Indiana Hoosiers' top player, Trayce Jackson-Davis, will be on the court next season after he withdrew from the NBA draft Friday.
Jackson-Davis still has two years of eligibility remaining and will begin his senior season ranked No.
BOSTON (AP) — Marcus Smart brought the energy boost the Celtics needed to ignite a blowout win in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference finals matchup with the Heat.
Now armed with home-court advantage in the series, Boston will look to maintain its edge at TD Garden during Saturday's Game 3, where it will be opposite a Miami team that is dealing with new health concerns.
MIAMI (AP) — His team was down by 10 in the opening minutes, and Boston coach Ime Udoka was making no effort to hide his level of disappointment.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — In four games over a pressure-filled week, the Tampa Bay Lightning have gone from the brink of playoff elimination to a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Ross Colton scored with 3.8 seconds remaining, giving the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series on Thursday night.
MIAMI (AP) — The Boston Celtics are closer to whole for the Eastern Conference finals.
Al Horford's stay in the NBA's health and safety protocols ended Thursday, a few hours before tipoff of Game 2 of the series against the Miami Heat.
CHICAGO (AP) — TyTy Washington Jr. remembers being in awe gazing at the banners in Madison Square Garden as he watched the New York Knicks meet the Cleveland Cavaliers and the feeling he had two days later when Kentucky faced Duke at the famed arena.
DENVER (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves are talking to Denver Nuggets president Tim Connelly about their vacant president of basketball operations role, The Associated Press has confirmed.
The talks were confirmed by a person familiar with the discussions, who spoke with AP on condition of anonymity because neither franchise is commenting publicly.
Jason Kidd has been here before in his first season as coach of the Mavericks, down 1-0 in a third consecutive NBA playoff series.
The Bay Area native is looking for another bounce-back from Luka Doncic and company in his first trip to the conference finals as a coach, which just happened to start in San Francisco.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Mitch Kupchak has signed a multiyear contract extension to remain the Charlotte Hornets' general manager.
Kupchak’s contract was set to expire this summer.
“For better or for worse, I will be here for the next couple of years,” Kupchak said Thursday on a videoconference call.
They took a chance on each other: The teenage power forward from New Jersey on the start-up league. The start-up league on the young player with immense talent.
Dominick Barlow received on-the-job training — and a six-figure salary — to skip college and join Overtime Elite, a new basketball league created to give high school players another path to the pros.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Once Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson slowed down, caught their breath and stopped rushing shots, the Splash Brothers got on a roll that proved too much for Dallas to stop.
Especially because Andrew Wiggins worked end to end to make sure Luka Doncic couldn't get going.
NEW YORK (AP) — Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes, Cleveland forward Evan Mobley and Detroit guard Cade Cunningham were unanimously voted Wednesday to the NBA All-Rookie first team.
Orlando's Franz Wagner and Houston's Jalen Green were the other players chosen for the first team by a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — If anyone had doubts about the Chargers' future in Los Angeles, owner Dean Spanos is hoping Wednesday's ceremonial groundbreaking for a new team headquarters answers them.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Dallas Mavericks were fined $50,000 by the NBA on Wednesday for a second violation of bench decorum during their Western Conference semifinal series against Phoenix.
The second fine, twice as much as the first, was issued after Dallas' blowout Game 7 victory in Phoenix that sent the Mavericks to the West finals against Golden State.
MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler doesn’t like being a called a scorer.
Never mind that the moniker seems appropriate. He’s averaging nearly 30 points per game in this postseason, has reached the 40-point mark three times in his last 10 games after having zero such regular season games since 2017, and carried the Miami Heat over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.