12:55 AM ET When Steve Nash was hired to coach the Brooklyn Nets super-team entry last year, it was both shocking and controversial. Judgement on the hire is still a ways off, but Nash’s first postseason on the sideline has been impressive. Nash has run circles early around two-time NBA Coach of the Year Mike
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8:02 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN For the second time in his career, and a decade apart, Tom Thibodeau has been named the NBA’s Coach of the Year. The New York Knicks coach, who led the team he grew up watching to a 20-win improvement this season, edged out Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams by a
6:27 PM ET LOS ANGELES — As a 19-point fourth-quarter lead shrunk to seven with two minutes to go and anxiety began to spread at Staples Center, Kawhi Leonard got the kind of help he did not get last year in Game 7. Leonard hit Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris Sr. for two straight 3-pointers
10:20 PM ET After a Game 7 win, the head coach or players all talk about a look the team has, a certain look that lets everyone know they’ll be ready for the moment. LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said his team looked like it was locked in as it went through a walkthrough before
9:08 PM ET THIS ISN’T WHAT Kristaps Porzingis expected when he arrived in Dallas. As the centerpiece of a blockbuster trade, he anticipated forming one of the NBA’s most potent duos with Luka Doncic, a fellow rising star. Porzingis anticipated it’d be a 1A-1B sort of situation. Doncic has certainly held up his end of
12:10 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Jason Kidd has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Portland Trail Blazers head-coaching vacancy, he told ESPN on Sunday morning. “Portland’s a first-class organization and will have great candidates for its head coaching job, but I’ve decided not to be one of them,” Kidd told ESPN.
12:10 AM ET Months ago, when Blake Griffin came to terms that he was going to forego $13.3 million to get out of his contract with the Detroit Pistons, he’d come to terms with the fact that he was no longer a franchise player in body or mind. But that did not mean he could
12:40 PM ET As the Orlando Magic move into a full rebuilding process, coach Steve Clifford and the franchise have together agreed to a parting, sources told ESPN on Saturday. Clifford, who led the Magic to the playoffs in successive seasons before this year, had several meetings with management over recent weeks that ultimately drove
7:00 AM ET After a thrilling play-in tournament and opening-round action that saw the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers get bounced by the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks sweep the reigning Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat, we’ve reached the conference semifinals. What will the Suns do for an encore against the Denver Nuggets? Can
1:34 AM ET NBA Insiders With their season on the line, the fourth-seeded LA Clippers overcame a seven-point deficit in the third quarter of Game 6 to stave off elimination, defeating the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks 104-97. It marked the sixth time in six games the road team has won in this series. Five-time All-Star Kawhi
7:00 AM ET NBA Insiders One season after dropping a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals, the LA Clippers once again find themselves facing elimination, this time in Round 1 against the Dallas Mavericks in a pivotal Game 6 on Saturday. Luka Doncic, who delivered one of the league’s most
1:08 AM ET The Denver Nuggets have grown quite accustomed to playing seven game series. But for once they didn’t need to go the distance, instead closing out the Portland Trail Blazers in six with a 126-115 win on Thursday. “I love our team. I love every player in that locker room, one through seventeen,”
1:27 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Anthony Davis could barely move and the Los Angeles Lakers could not move on, seeing their repeat title hopes cut short with a 113-100 loss in Game 6 of their first round series with the Phoenix Suns. Davis, cleared by L.A.’s medical staff and starting on Thursday after being
3:23 PM ET At least one fan joined the Utah Jazz bandwagon after their five-game series win in the first round: Tee Morant, the father of Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant. Moments after top-seeded Utah ended the series with a 126-110 win Wednesday night, Tee Morant told Donovan Mitchell that he’d be rooting for the
2:45 AM ET Luka Doncic posted another historic statistical line to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 105-100 win over the LA Clippers in Wednesday night’s pivotal Game 5, but he didn’t impress himself. “I could have played way better,” Doncic said after his 42-point, eight-rebound, 14-assist performance. “I missed a lot of shots, some
2:17 AM ET LOS ANGELES — From the moment Luka Doncic declared for the NBA draft in 2018, this game was coming. The game when it became clear he wasn’t just a great talent, but one who was ready to lead a team to a win against any opponent, in any playoff series, in any
7:24 PM ET LOS ANGELES — Anthony Davis, who has missed the past game and a half of the Los Angeles Lakers‘ first-round series against the Phoenix Suns because of a strained groin, will be a gametime decision in Thursday’s Game 6. And that decision will be made not by him but by the Lakers’
10:32 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN Danny Ainge is stepping down as the Boston Celtics president of basketball operations and the franchise is elevating coach Brad Stevens to run basketball operations, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Celtics will start a search to hire a head coach to replace Stevens, sources said. Celtics staff were informed