All odds are provided by Caesars Sportsbook. What you need to know for Game 6 If it ain’t broke: While the Heat have been outplayed for the majority of this series, Bam Adebayo has found success. In the first half of Game 3 and Game 5, Adebayo made 13-of-20 shots while the rest of his … Read more
SAN FRANCISCO — Luka Doncic’s initial reaction to the end of the longest playoff run of his young NBA career was to express disappointment in himself. “I don’t like losing, especially like this,” Doncic said after the Dallas Mavericks were eliminated Thursday night with a 120-110 Game 5 loss to the Golden State Warriors. “I … Read more
One oddity of the two-month-long traipse through the NBA postseason is that our perspective on early playoffs series tends to shift a bit as a result of what happens in later rounds. For instance, Utah’s loss to Dallas in the first round may not look so bad now that the Mavs vanquished mighty Phoenix two … Read more
For the first time in forever, things seemed to be going well for the Minnesota Timberwolves. They doubled their win total from a year ago, pushed the favored Memphis Grizzlies in a six-game playoff series and, perhaps most importantly, seemed to have achieved some level of organizational harmony in the front office, coaching staff and … Read more
Heading into tonight’s Western Conference Finals Game 5 between the Warriors and Mavericks, there have been 35 second- and third-round games in the 2022 NBA playoffs. Those 35 games have featured a grand total of 29 minutes played in “clutch” situations (when the score is within five points with five minutes or fewer remaining in … Read more
1. ESPN’s NBA studio show has finally given us a moment reminiscent of the outstanding stuff we normally see on TNT’s Inside the NBA. On Wednesday’s NBA CountdownStephen A. Smith went full Stephen A. Smith when his cohost, Jalen Rose, made a shocking confession. Rose admitted to being the lone person who gave the Nets’ … Read more
1:04 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN MIAMI — The Boston Celtics found themselves trailing the Miami Heat by five, on the road, at halftime of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night. And yet, the Celtics felt just fine. They couldn’t have played much worse in the first half, committing 10 turnovers and … Read more
MIAMI — In late January, the San Antonio Spurs traded backup guard Bryn Forbes to the Denver Nuggets. Five months later, that unassuming move has made a major impact on the 2022 Eastern Conference finals. It was the opening of an opportunity for the Boston Celtics that has been fully realized, as they have pushed … Read more
In the first clue that the Knicks have at least explored moving up in the upcoming NBA draft from No. 11, team brass interviewed Purdue sophomore combo guard Jaden Ivey at the draft combine in Chicago. The uber-athletic, 6-foot-4 Ivey is considered a top-five pick and has been ranked no lower than sixth in the … Read more
The word innovation gets tossed around a lot. All businesses, in sports and elsewhere, lay claim to innovation, to innovating, to striving for it; but is that really true? A sports research firm is trying to quantify innovation among top sports leagues and teams, and some of the names on their second annual top-25 list … Read more