NEW YORK — Kevin Durant strapped on his cape and saved the Nets.

He saved them with an outrageous stat line, with an epic fourth quarter, and without much help from a hobbled James Harden. He scored 49 points in 48 minutes with 17 rebounds and 10 assists, an otherwordly triple-double and an otherworldy performance. Nineteen of his points ...Read more

Alarming numbers told a story of a weird and wild Game 4 in Atlanta. The most significant number: Zero.

No, not the 0-for-12 field goal performance from Joel Embiid in the second half, or the 0-for-5 Embiid posted in the fourth quarter, or the 0-for-1 egg Embiid laid at the rim with 8 seconds to play, which helped the Hawks even the second-...Read more

Ron Culp, the first athletic trainer in Miami Heat history and the longest-tenured in league history when he retired, died on June 9 in Medina, Ohio, his daughter said in a Facebook post.

He was 75. Cause of death was not disclosed.

“Ron Culp was the first basketball person I met when I came to Miami 26 years ago,” Heat president Pat Riley...Read more

NEW YORK — James Harden has played less than a minute in this second-round series vs. the Bucks because of a hamstring injury.

But on Tuesday morning the Nets upgraded him to doubtful for Game 5 Tuesday night against the Bucks at the Barclays Center. Hours later, they upgraded him from doubtful to questionable, and the expectation is now that...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The team that is infamous for folding when confronting the slightest brush with postseason pressure has learned how to thrive when the going gets toughest.

The team that never got its act together in Kawhi Leonard's first season, the team that faced the possibility its championship window would slam shut after it fell behind ...Read more

Addressing the point guard position was already likely near the top of the Chicago Bulls’ offseason to-do list — and that was before the surprising news late last week that Coby White required surgery on his left shoulder.

After injuring his shoulder during basketball activities away from the team, which resulted in a torn labrum according ...Read more

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Early on, with a lot of the Sun’s attention on Jewell Loyd, or Breanna Stewart, or Katie Lou Samuelson, Sue Bird saw some openings and took her points, a couple of 3-pointers, a pull-up, a couple of assists. Bird had eight within the first six minutes, and the Seattle Storm had control of the game for good.

None of this ...Read more

The dunk heard across the NBA began Monday with two dribbles and violent intentions.

Standing at the free-throw line, Utah’s Royce O’Neale crouched in front of Kawhi Leonard as Leonard ripped the ball from the right side of his body to his left. By his first dribble, he had a step on O’Neale. By his second, he spotted 6-foot-9 Derrick ...Read more

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Hawks turned this back into a series.

The Hawks defeated the 76ers, 103-100, Monday night at State Farm Arena in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series. Atlanta tied the series at two games apiece. Game 5 of the best-of-seven series is 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Sixers blew a golden ...Read more

LeBron James will continue to chase Michael Jordan’s legacy next season, but he’ll do it without the iconic No. 23 on his chest and back.

The Lakers announced James would change his jersey to No. 6 next season, a return to the number he wore in his seasons with the Miami Heat.

James originally intended to change jersey numbers after the ...Read more

To put into perspective both the whirlwind that was as well as the impending pathway back to normalcy, consider that over the course a single one-year period the Miami Heat will have completed their 2019-20 season, contested their entire 2020-21 season and then started the 2021-22 preseason.

Such is the reality presented to teams this past week...Read more

MILWAUKEE — As “Bucks in six!” chants erupted at the Fiserv Forum, the Nets emptied their bench, and the Bucks connected on a late-game alley-oop from Jrue Holiday to Giannis Antetokounmpo that blew the roof off the arena.

The Nets face an uphill battle to realize their championship dreams in a season mired by the injuries that have been ...Read more

A lot has been made of the No. 5 seed Hawks missing two of their best defenders — De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish — for the Eastern Conference semifinal matchup against the top-seeded 76ers, and rightly so.

Reddish has been out since February with right Achilles soreness and on Wednesday Hunter was ruled out for the rest of the playoffs, ...Read more

Suddenly, the Nets are in trouble.

Already down a superstar, Brooklyn lost another when Kyrie Irving’s ankle rolled over to a painful sprain. Then the Nets were bullied and pummeled by the Bucks on Sunday afternoon, 107-96, with Kevin Durant unable to carry the weight by his lonesome.

Only a few days ago, the Nets held a 2-0 series advantage...Read more

ATLANTA — The 76ers have been here before.

Back in 2019, the Sixers lost to the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. They bounced back to win Games 2 and 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. They didn’t just win Game 3, they pummeled the Raptors, 116-95, on a night Joel Embiid had 33 points, 10 ...Read more

They screamed it.

Late in the first half of the Clippers’ survival second-round playoff game against the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, Paul George hit a trey over Royce O’Neale, spun on his heels and howled all the way back down the court.

They posed it.

Later in the half, George hit another three-pointer, this time over Donovan Mitchell, ...Read more

Back in 2015, when Miami Heat President Pat Riley was a young, impetuous 69-year-old, still living on the edge, he tossed an unprotected first-round pick the Phoenix Suns’ way as part of a package to acquire Goran Dragic.

The gamble with that 2021 selection ultimately came at only a nominal cost, with the Heat securing a playoff berth this ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The heir apparent as Kentucky point guard described his approach to basketball as aggressive, assertive, unflinching and unyielding.

"I've always had that attack-you mentality," Sahvir Wheeler said Friday.

To explain the source of this unquenchable desire to triumph, Wheeler went biblical. To be exact, Numbers Chapter 13 is ...Read more