1:15 PM ET Philadelphia big man Joel Embiid won’t play Friday night when the Phildelphia Sixers take on the Pistons in Detroit. Sixers coach Brett Brown said Embiid needed a rest day. What’s really going on in the MVP race? This week the spotlight falls on John Wall stagnation, Kawhi stretching and a new headband
NBA
Dec 6, 2018 Last Monday in Chicago, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich arrived at his pregame interview in the gloomy concourse of the United Center, the house that Michael Jordan built. So many of the league’s iconic highlights played out here in the 1990s, and those images seemed to be on Pop’s mind. In
12:14 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN BOSTON — Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving isn’t concerned after tweaking his right shoulder late in Boston’s 128-100 victory over the New York Knicks. Kyrie Irving scored 22 points before leaving the game in the final minutes nursing his right shoulder, Al Horford had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and
12:03 AM ET SALT LAKE CITY — In his first game after being fined for publicly criticizing officiating, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert got ejected early in the first quarter. Gobert smacked a bottle off the scorer’s table in frustration after being called for his second foul with 9 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the
8:59 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN BOSTON — For more than a year now, the future of Anthony Davis has been a nonstop topic of discussion in NBA circles. It doesn’t matter that Davis, even now, can’t elect to become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career until July 2020. It also
9:29 AM ET Here we go: 1. The pivoty goodness of Nikola Vucevic Almost no one strings together pivot moves with the whirring, balletic brilliance of Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic: Oh, baby: three pivot moves in less than two seconds. Vucevic pivots middle searching out his righty jump hook. Deandre Ayton sticks with him.
12:35 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson has been fined $15,000 for making an “inappropriate gesture” to a spectator. The NBA announced the punishment Thursday. Thompson’s action came at the end of the Cavaliers’ 99-97 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday at the Barclays Center. Thompson finished with
3:38 AM ET LOS ANGELES — After a whirlwind week in Laker Land in which Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and even Kevin Durant weighed in publicly about how LeBron James should play, or in Durant’s case what it’s like to play with him, James capped the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 4-0 homestand with 42 points in
1:59 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN TORONTO — The NBA’s Most Valuable Player award is officially given out based on how players perform over the course of the league’s 82-game regular season. In truth, though, the narratives that frame the race are set by the time Christmas rolls around. With less than three weeks until the
12:19 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Lakers forward Brandon Ingram injured his left ankle in the first quarter of Wednesday night’s game against San Antonio when he landed on the foot of Spurs big man LaMarcus Aldridge. After an official’s review, Aldridge was called for a flagrant foul 1 for sticking his foot