NBA

8:50 PM ET The Los Angeles Lakers will get no sympathy from the Phoenix Suns or any of the remaining playoff teams after they lost star forward Anthony Davis to a groin injury during a 100-92 loss Sunday afternoon at Staples Center. The Suns, after all, have been playing this first-round Western Conference playoff series

5:21 PM ET LOS ANGELES — Anthony Davis missed the second half of the Lakers‘ 100-92 loss to the Suns on Sunday with a strained left groin. Davis missed a layup inside the final minute of the second quarter and collapsed to the floor after landing. He was slow to get up, clutching at his

2:19 AM ET Mike Conley still can’t quite believe the way the basketball stars have aligned. After spending 12 seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies, the veteran Utah Jazz guard is still adjusting to the fact that his new team is facing his old team in an emotional first-round playoff series. But after scoring 27 points,

8:21 PM ET It’s not unusual for Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone to tell it like it is and he put it quite bluntly again after a 115-95 loss in Game 4 to the Portland Trail Blazers. “Our starters were awful,” he said. “I thought we had some guys that were tentative, that looked a

6:19 PM ET Seven months after suffering a devastating defeat in the 2020 conference semifinals to the Miami Heat as a No. 1 seed, the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday avenged that loss with a 120-103 win, clinching their first-round series over the Heat in a sweep. “It’s a great moment for us, winning 4-0, and

7:00 AM ET NBA Insiders The 2021 NBA playoffs are less than one week old, but we’ve already seen some epic superstar performances, upsets brewing and plenty of fans back in the stands. Can Luka Doncic and the Mavericks send the LA Clippers home early? Are the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks headed for

1:16 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN BOSTON — Every one of the 4,789 fans who entered TD Garden on Friday night came ready to boo Kyrie Irving until their voices were hoarse. But after Boston came away with a stunning 122-115 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series, those same

5:27 PM ET Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook did not practice Friday and is being listed as questionable for Game 3 of their series against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday. Westbrook rolled his ankle with 10 minutes in the fourth quarter of the Wizards’ 120-95 Game 2 loss in Philadelphia on Wednesday night and did

3:47 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Playing in their first home playoff game in eight years, the Los Angeles Lakers looked like a true championship contender for the first time in a while. L.A., the No. 7 seed, won 109-95 on Thursday night to take a 2-1 lead in its first-round matchup against the No.

2:45 AM ET LOS ANGELES — By now, Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams knows what’s going on with his star point guard Chris Paul by the look on his face. There’s a look Paul gets when he’s locked in — something between completely-in-control and about-to-jump-into-any-fray — and then there’s the look he had on

1:19 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN The New York Knicks say they have banned a fan who spit on Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young on Wednesday night during Game 2 of their first-round playoff series. The Knicks released a statement on the matter on Thursday afternoon. “We investigated the matter and determined that this patron, who

2:41 AM ET Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant cut toward the basket, caught the pass, cocked the ball back in his right hand and soared to the rim early in the second quarter. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert met Morant at the summit and stuffed the dunk attempt, a spectacular block by a big

9:33 PM ET Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook suffered a right ankle injury and left the floor limping in the fourth quarter of Wednesday night’s playoff game at Philadelphia. Westbrook stepped on 76ers guard Furkan Korkmaz‘s foot and rolled the ankle with 10:28 remaining and the Wizards down 17 points in Game 2 of the

6:46 AM ET TAJ GIBSON HAS heard all the questions before. When Tom Thibodeau takes a job, Gibson knows what’s coming. And when Thibodeau was named coach of the New York Knicks last year, Gibson fielded all those regular questions — including those from Knicks forward Julius Randle. There’s an internal script that plays out

11:51 PM ET NEW YORK — After the Nets took a 2-0 series lead over the Celtics on Tuesday, Brooklyn All-Star guard Kyrie Irving contemplated the reception that he would receive from the TD Garden crowd when his team travels to Boston — where he used to play — for Game 3 on Friday. “I

2:12 AM ET For as long as they have shared basketball rights — and hearts — in Los Angeles, there have been remarkably few playoff matchups between the Lakers and Clippers over the years. Like zero, to be precise. Fifteen years ago, the Lakers were one win away from creating the first “Hallway Series” at

2:54 AM ET The Denver Nuggets walked into the locker room at halftime of Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers with a lead, but also had the inescapable presence of Damian Lillard‘s supernova first half simmering in the air. Lillard had the flamethrower set to maximum heat, firing in

8:00 AM ET BOBAN MARJANOVIC is singing. Just a minute ago, Boban was talking about growing up in Serbia and being 7-foot-4 and playing for the Dallas Mavericks, but now, he is warbling, in thickly accented English, a Vanessa Carlton song with the joy and energy of a devoted tween. “I’d walk a thousand MILES