PHILADELPHIA - Sometimes, what an organization needs most is a shock to the system. It needs more than a shake of the snow globe. It needs a sledgehammer.

The same is true for certain young players. They need more than inertia to propel them to superstardom. They need someone who is willing to push them off the plateau.

If the Sixers are this ...Read more

Winning: The Miami Heat is on the brink of the NBA Finals and a 20-year-old rookie, who wasn't even a top-10 pick, is leading the way

Tyler Herro scored a career-high 37 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter, and the Heat beat the Boston Celtics, 112-109, in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday to move within one win of ...Read more

NEW YORK - The Knicks were a little delayed getting on the court for their first group workouts Wednesday afternoon. After six months off, what's another few minutes anyway?

When they finally started practice, Tom Thibodeau began what he described as building a base of fundamentals.

"Offensively, we'll build our system more towards what the ...Read more

Dwyane Wade said Wednesday that he envisions Pat Riley continuing on with the work he has done as Miami Heat president no matter the result of these NBA playoffs, and that even if the job became vacant, it is not one he would pursue.

Asked if championship success could bring the Riley era to a close after a quarter century of stewardship of the...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The NCAA has approved star basketball player Olivier Sarr's transfer waiver to play immediately at Kentucky this season.

That doesn't mean Sarr is eligible to suit up for the Wildcats just yet.

On Tuesday night, ESPN commentator Dick Vitale said on social media that the NCAA had approved Sarr's request to play the 2020-21 ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. - Forgive me, fellow Central Floridians, for what I am about to write:

I have - clearing my throat - actually found myself rooting for Dwight Howard during the NBA playoffs.

Not only that, but - taking a deep breath - I am genuinely OK with Dwight winning a championship with the spoiled, hated, "We don't build championship ...Read more

LOS ANGELES - Throughout the summer LeBron James has used his social media and interview sessions in the NBA bubble to discuss issues of racism and police brutality, calling for justice in cases where Black people have been killed or seriously injured by police, and sharing thoughts about what he sees as a broken relationship between police and ...Read more

Two days after one of the greatest moments in team history, you'll never guess what the Lakers did for an encore.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

They went from The Mamba Shot to The Miserable Flop. They went from wholly inspired to mostly insipid. They went from the Lakers to ... the Clippers?

We honestly didn't know they had it in them, but ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - There was a telling moment during the 2020 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference March 6-7 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center that might have revealed something about the Kings' past and more about their future.

Kings vice president of strategy and analytics Luke Bornn participated in a panel discussion entitled...Read more

As the 2020 WNBA draft unfolded, Crystal Dangerfield sat in her home in Murfreesboro, Tenn., waiting ... then waiting some more ... waiting longer than she had ever really anticipated.

Most projections had the 5-foot-5 Dangerfield, a three-year starting point guard out of UConn, getting taken in the middle or late in the first round. But here ...Read more

Denver's fearless 23-year-old, Jamal Murray, saw his team's lead slipping away so he hit a smooth three-pointer from just behind the arc. Then he found teammate Paul Millsap, the man who'd never beat LeBron James in a playoff game, inside on the next possession. Then he punctuated a 10-1 Denver run with a deep three-pointer.

Murray sauntered ...Read more

Jalen Lewis, a 6-foot-9, 210-pound sophomore power forward from Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, Calif., who received a scholarship offer from Kansas in April, tells Stockrisers.com he continues to hear from numerous college basketball programs.

"My recruitment has been really good so far. I feel like I've definitely gotten my name out ...Read more

The mutual admiration will morph into something more competitive Wednesday at 8:30 p.m., when the Eastern Conference finals resume.

Tuesday, though, Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens stressed that when it comes to Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, he is a big fan.

"I think the world of Erik," he said after the Celtics' practice at Disney World....Read more

The Bulls hired Billy Donovan as their new head coach Tuesday evening, landing one of the biggest names available on the coaching market to fill their vacancy.

Donovan, 55, spent the last five seasons as the Oklahoma City Thunder's coach, going 243-157 (.608) and guiding the team to the playoffs all five years, including an appearance in the ...Read more

Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone stared at the box score he clutched in his right hand, studying the tangible confirmation of how the Lakers had ripped out a piece of his team's heart.

The Nuggets, who had erased 3-1 series deficits against the Utah Jazz and the Clippers in the first two rounds of the NBA playoffs, were adding to their ...Read more

After the first three games of the Eastern Conference finals, the Miami Heat holds a 2-1 series lead over the Boston Celtics. In the end, that's the number that matters.

But there are other numbers that indicate the Celtics have actually been the better team in the series for more minutes than the Heat. It's just that two impressive second-half...Read more

Anthony Davis wanted the ball. He wanted the pressure, he wanted the moment and he wanted to show that he could handle it.

So he looked at Lakers teammate Rajon Rondo, who was inbounding the ball with 2.1 seconds left in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals on Sunday night.

With Nuggets center Nikola Jokic jumping toward him, Davis launched...Read more