3:02 AM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — LeBron James might have the Los Angeles Lakers just three wins away from the NBA finals, but he has reason to be unhappy. Before the Lakers’ 126-114 Game 1 win over the Denver Nuggets to tip off the Western Conference finals, the league announced the MVP voting
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1:59 AM ET The Denver Nuggets have made history by beating the odds this postseason, but they couldn’t overcome the Los Angeles Lakers and a second quarter full of whistles in Friday night’s Game 1. The Nuggets were called for 16 fouls in the second quarter, and Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Paul Millsap all
1:58 AM ET The last time we saw the Los Angeles Lakers, nearly a week ago when they were finishing off the small-ball Houston Rockets in the second round of the playoffs, centers Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee had been relegated to socially distant cheerleaders on the bench. An important role in a mostly-empty, fanless
1:48 PM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens held a late-night hotel meeting with the team’s leaders on Thursday to talk through the frustration and emotions that spilled into the locker room after a Game 2 loss to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals, sources told ESPN. Stevens met with
5:48 PM ET Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward is listed as questionable for Saturday’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat. The Celtics are hopeful that Hayward could play a role off the bench in Game 3, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Hayward has not played since Game 1 of the
7:05 AM ET THWACK!! Detroit Pistons defensive wizard Tayshaun Prince, all 215 pounds of him, smashed into an immovable, 7-foot-3, 260-pound object named Zydrunas Ilgauskas. The Cleveland Cavaliers big man planted himself adjacent to Prince with the explicit purpose of preventing him from tracking a precocious 21-year-old LeBron James. Splat!! This time the culprit was
7:10 AM ET It’s not the battle of Los Angeles that many around the league expected, but here we are. After making NBA history with consecutive comebacks from 3-1 series deficits, the Denver Nuggets take the postseason’s most unlikely run into a matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers. And no, despite Nuggets head coach Michael
10:57 AM ET Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo has won his second consecutive MVP award, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Antetokounmpo joins Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell as back-to-back MVPs. Antetokounmpo joins Michael Jordan (1987-88 season) and
10:45 PM ET In the NBA postseason, there’s often a team that discovers its potential along the way. It learns who it is, banks on its strengths and builds confidence with each win. The Toronto Raptors accomplished that in the 2019 playoffs, and in the Year of the Bubble, the Miami Heat are that team.
12:42 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — After the Boston Celtics blew a second straight second-half lead and lost 106-101 to the Miami Heat on Thursday night, Celtics guard Marcus Smart was yelling at his teammates in the locker room before leaving the room swearing, according to ESPN’s Malika Andrews. Smart left