A meaningless season finale took a sobering turn Friday for the Miami Heat when forward Derrick Jones Jr. was wheeled off the court in a neck brace after absorbing a blow to his shoulder and neck on a hard screen in the third quarter.

"It just takes the air out of the building," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after the 109-92 loss to the ...Read more

Charles Barkley vs. the Miami Heat has practically been a television miniseries. And now, the loquacious "Inside the NBA" analyst is at it again, this time with his perspective on the Heat's impending first-round playoff series against the Indiana Pacers.

"The Miami Heat don't scare anybody," he said during his Thursday appearance on TNT.

...Read more

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Bulls fired coach Jim Boylen on Friday, ending a rocky tenure marked by clashes with players, a franchise-record 56-point loss and -- perhaps most important -- a 39-84 record in parts of two seasons with a rebuilding team expected to battle for a 2020 playoff spot.

A search for Boylen's replacement will begin immediately....Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- LeBron James used it as a tune-up. Talen Horton-Tucker got his first start. Dion Waiters was the Los Angeles Lakers' leading scorer. And when the Lakers finished their game Thursday afternoon against the Sacramento Kings, a 136-122 loss, the waiting began.

They'll have five days until their first playoff game that will be at 6 ...Read more

Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic led the 3-point barrage and Nemanja Bjelica nearly posted a triple-double, helping the Kings end their season with a win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Hield scored 28 points to lead the Kings to a 136-122 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday at The Field House in the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World ...Read more

The Los Angeles Clippers clinched the second-best record in the Western Conference with Wednesday's 124-111 win against Denver, a victory that ensures a first-round postseason matchup next week against seventh-seeded Dallas.

The Clippers are 3-0 this season against the Mavericks, including a 15-point victory Aug. 6.

For its part, Denver will ...Read more

The Miami Heat came out with a purpose Wednesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Apparently it was to put together a solid first half and emerge unscathed.

On that count, even after pushing to an early 18-point lead, Erik Spoelstra's team came up short.

With forward Jae Crowder lost for the night after bumping knees with the Thunder's...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Bring on the Boston Celtics.

The 76ers learned their fate for the opening round of the playoffs minutes before Wednesday's game against the Toronto Raptors. The Indiana Pacers had just beaten the Houston Rockets to clinch at least the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference standings. That locked the Sixers into the sixth spot and...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Orange County supervisors picked an easy-to-remember date to designate as Kobe Bryant Day.

It's Aug. 24, chosen for the two jersey numbers, 8 and 24, the late Lakers legend wore during his 20-year career.

That date is also a day after Bryant's birthday. He would have been 42 this year.

The supervisors voted to observe Kobe ...Read more

The Kings and New Orleans Pelicans were locked in a three-way tie for ninth in the Western Conference when they suited up for a nationally televised game at Golden 1 Center on March 11.

The contest had major playoff implications for both teams, but in a surreal scene shortly before tip-off, the game was postponed, fans were instructed to leave ...Read more

Should Los Angeles Clippers center Montrezl Harrell clear his four-day quarantine later this week, as expected, the finalist for the NBA's top reserve will have only days to rebuild rhythm with teammates and regain his conditioning before the postseason begins.

And those are only the physical challenges he faces after three weeks away from the ...Read more

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- It could had been worse ... much worse.

The already banged-up 76ers were expected to lose Tuesday on a day they rested players against the hottest squad in the bubble.

The Phoenix Suns pulled away midway through the fourth quarter to take a 130-117 victory at ESPN's Wide World of Sports complex. The Sixers dropped to 42-29 ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Joel Embiid confirmed something that we already knew.

The 76ers center discussed not having fun earlier this season on the latest episode of The Old Man &The Three Podcast with JJ Redick and Tommy Alter. Redick played two seasons with the Sixers before signing with the New Orleans Pelicans last summer. He and Embiid have ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Kyle Kuzma had done this so many times before -- enough so that his teammates identified him as their go-to if they needed a game-winner.

They had 4.5 seconds to win this game. LeBron James inbounded the ball and with a play to get him open, Kuzma stepped behind the three-point line to take an open shot. It swished through with...Read more

No fireworks this time between Jimmy Butler and T.J. Warren.

Then again, perhaps the two were merely sparring for the main event -- next week's start of the NBA playoffs.

Meeting for the first of two games this week, and seeded for a potential best-of-seven postseason series that would start next week, the Miami Heat pushed past the Indiana ...Read more