12:07 AM ET The Atlanta Hawks‘ double-teams came early and often, with help defenders behind them lying in wait. Such is the attention that Philadelphia 76ers center and MVP finalist Joel Embiid demands when he’s working down low. With less room to operate in Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals, Embiid was limited
NBA
8:40 PM ET Philadelphia 76ers starting guard Danny Green exited Friday’s Game 3 of the team’s Eastern Conference semifinals series with the Atlanta Hawks with a right calf strain and will not return, the Sixers said. Green left with 8 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the first quarter with Philadelphia up 6-4. Matisse Thybulle subbed
7:00 AM ET NBA Insiders The NBA’s conference semifinals are in full swing. The Milwaukee Bucks just saved their postseason with a nail-biting Game 3 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz just put the LA Clippers in another 2-0 hole. In Friday night’s matchups, the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks
2:50 AM ET It is easy to forget — and perhaps healthier — that two teams blew 3-games-to-1 series leads against the Denver Nuggets in last season’s Western Conference playoffs. But fate has matched those teams — Utah Jazz and LA Clippers — against each other in the second round of this year’s playoffs, a
5:24 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN The Chicago Bulls announced Thursday that guard Coby White will be out until at least the latter stages of training camp after undergoing surgery to repair a left shoulder injury he suffered over the weekend. The team said the injury occurred while White was “engaged in basketball activities away from
1:36 PM ET Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley has been ruled out of Thursday’s Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals against the LA Clippers due to a mild strain of his right hamstring. Conley, who also missed Game 1, suffered the injury during the first half of Utah’s series-ending win over the Memphis
2:03 AM ET Chris Paul plans. He planned when he forced a trade out of New Orleans a decade ago. He planned when he creatively leveraged a contract option to get himself to Houston. He planned when he helped change an arcane age rule in the collective bargaining agreement that enabled him the chance to
2:42 PM ET LeBron James plans to change his Los Angeles Lakers jersey number to No. 6 next season, a source confirmed to ESPN. James had worn No. 23 during his first three seasons with the Lakers. The number change was first reported Wednesday by The Athletic. Fellow Lakers star Anthony Davis will keep his
3:12 AM ET Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone felt a bad kind of déjà vu as he watched his team fade during the second half of Monday night’s 122-105 loss to the Phoenix Suns in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series. After seeing his team get blown out by the Portland Trail Blazers
3:25 AM ET Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell didn’t feel well at halftime of Tuesday’s Game 1 against the visiting LA Clippers. He was a bit under the weather, feeling nauseated and a little light-headed. And he really felt sick about his performance in the first half. “Yeah, I was definitely feeling it a little
1:52 PM ET Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley will not play in the Tuesday’s Western Conference semifinals opener against the LA Clippers due to a mild strain of his right hamstring. Conley suffered the injury during the first half of the Jazz’s series-ending Game 5 win over the Memphis Grizzlies last Wednesday. He was
2:11 AM ET There are many things Chris Paul is good at, but one of his most crucial skills is sensing a moment. It’s never about how he starts; it’s how he finishes. And in Game 1 of Phoenix’s Western Conference semifinal series against the Denver Nuggets, Paul began slowly, hitting just two of his
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
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.