PALO ALTO, Calif. — The massive early run and all those turnovers UCLA forced were not going to lead to the easy evening the Bruins once envisioned.

A sustained sloppy stretch in the second half helped swing a Maples Pavilion crowd that once generated more noise for the visitors back squarely in favor of the home team.

When Stanford’s ...Read more

LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Kansas men’s basketball team has opened a difficult four-game stretch of nonconference games in the best possible way.

That is, with a blowout victory.

Senior guard Kevin McCullar scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his return from a groin strain that forced him to miss one game, while junior forward Jalen ...Read more

DETROIT — The Pistons and Dallas Mavericks were deadlocked at 125-125 in the final minute of a thrilling overtime game when Killian Hayes decided to put on his superman cape to save the day.

The third-year guard connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to help propel the Pistons to a 131-125 win at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday night.

Hayes, ...Read more

STORRS, Conn. — Fresh off a mesmerizing performance to win the Phil Knight Invitational Sunday night, Andre Jackson electrified the Gampel Pavilion crowd on UConn’s first offensive possession against Oklahoma State on Thursday.

Jackson, who made his first start of the season Thursday, sprinted around the right side of the Cowboys’ defense...Read more

LeBron James expressed disappointment he wasn’t asked about a race-related Jerry Jones controversy after reporters questioned him about Kyrie Irving’s antisemitism scandal.

Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, appears in a resurfaced 1957 image showing a group of white students blocking Black students from entering an Arkansas high ...Read more

Anthony Edwards had that look. The one he displayed so often last season, a look of determination from a competitor about to unleash like a tsunami.

The Timberwolves desperately need this version of Edwards — the fire-breathing, swashbuckling, take-your-lunch-money alpha — now more than ever, with Karl-Anthony Towns unavailable for a month ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Earlier this month, Kentucky basketball took a 2,000-mile field trip to Spokane, Washington. It did not turn out well. This week, UK travels 4,000 miles for another educational opportunity, this time in the original UK, i.e. London, England. The Cats need this trip to be a success.

After all, a team only gets so many shots at...Read more

Sometimes it's a quick look back over his shoulder before spinning the other way. Other times it's a fake with the ball or maybe with his head.

Whatever it is, the result, increasingly, has been the same — Austin Reaves figuring out a way to create enough space to make a play.

Borrowing from the playbooks of NBA greats like Hakeem Olajuwon ...Read more

DENVER — The Rockets showed up for Wednesday’s game like they were ready to leave Denver on Tuesday.

And with an emphasis on protecting their home court, the Nuggets dominated from the outset. The 120-100 pummeling yielded Denver’s fourth consecutive win and second straight over the reeling Rockets.

Now 14-7 on the season, the Nuggets ...Read more

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — When No. 18 North Carolina talked in the preseason of repeating last season’s run to the Final Four, it wasn’t supposed to include a repeat of last year’s losses in all of its marquee non-conference matchups.

The Tar Heels (5-3) are well on their way to duplicating that aspect after a 77-65 loss at Indiana Wednesday ...Read more

BOSTON — Jayson Tatum rolled off a screening action with Grant Williams and suddenly — somehow — found himself all alone with the ball beyond the 3-point arc. On a night he punished the Heat for 48 minutes, there was little question what was coming next.

Splash. Again.

Minutes later, as he stepped to the free-throw line to put the ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — With Karl-Anthony Towns out indefinitely because of a right calf strain, the Timberwolves will take any win, any way they can get it, no matter how it looks.

Both the Wolves and Grizzlies played some ugly basketball for most of Wednesday night, and that played into the short-handed hands of the Wolves, who came away with a 109-...Read more

It felt like a game the Nets should have won handily — probably because the last time they played the Wizards, they set a new scoring record at Capital One Arena.

Kevin Durant got hot early and Joe Harris broke free from his recent cold streak. The game felt like Brooklyn’s for the taking.

Rarely, if ever, though, is anything exactly as it...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Magic are still far from whole, but they got a lot closer to resembling their full selves vs. the Atlanta Hawks.

With the returns of Markelle Fultz and Cole Anthony Wednesday at Amway Center, the Magic not only had 12 players available after having nine in Monday’s road loss to the Brooklyn Nets, but they got ...Read more

CLEVELAND — Things have rarely been easy for the 76ers this season.

They’ve had one of the league’s toughest early-season schedules. They’ve only had six games with their full starting lineup and are still without James Harden (right foot tendon strain) and Tyrese Maxey (left foot fracture).

Yet the squad appeared to overcome the ...Read more

Nets star Ben Simmons will miss at least the next three games with what the team is calling a left lateral upper calf strain.

He will be reassessed after Sunday’s matchup against the Boston Celtics, after which the Nets have two off days before hosting the Charlotte Hornets the following Wednesday.

Simmons left Monday’s matchup against the...Read more