PHILADELPHIA — It seemed like an outrageous claim:

“I think I do a terrific job!”

Doc Rivers said this after his basketball team just got demolished by a tepid Heat team in the second round of the playoffs. He said this a year after getting upset in the second round by a mangy kettle of Hawks.

Ridiculous, right? Wrong.

No coach in ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Sacramento Kings had better not mess this up.

When the Kings leapfrogged the draft order in Tuesday’s NBA draft lottery, the dark cloud hovering about the city’s Golden 1 Center lifted, at least for a moment, as the team secured its best chance at ending a 16-year playoff drought.

The basketball gods agreed and saw to it ...Read more

MIAMI — There is nothing subtle or soothing about this Heat-Celtics Eastern Conference Finals.

There is only mass destruction, the type of devastating damage that leaves you dazed and wondering “What the heck just happened?”

A third-quarter Heat tsunami in Game 1 was followed by a stunning Celtics first-half avalanche in Game 2, a 60-21 ...Read more

NEW YORK — No matter which side of the Kyrie Irving fence you sit on, it’s important to remember one thing:

If he leaves as a free agent this offseason, so do the Nets’ championship hopes because they don’t have the cap space to outright replace him.

That’s the gamble the Nets made in the summer of 2019, and what Nets GM Sean Marks ...Read more

Stan Van Gundy is not only down on the Knicks’ current roster, he’s skeptical that the vaunted connections of Leon Rose and William Wesley can make the team any better.

“The Knicks right now — do you love their roster? Because I don’t. People always say we’ve got talent. Well, hell, it’s the NBA. Every team has talent,” said Van...Read more

CHICAGO — It didn’t take long for the Orlando Magic’s draft lottery celebration to turn into speculation.

Moments after the Magic won the draft lottery Tuesday in Chicago, questions quickly started to surround Orlando, the winner of the No. 1 pick in the June 23 NBA draft.

What will be the Magic’s approach to having the top pick?

Will...Read more

I’ll admit it. I thought the Warriors dynasty was finished. I was there the night in Toronto when it turned, when I declared the dynasty kaput, ironically during a Warriors victory in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

The moment is easy to remember. Kevin Durant, the reigning two-time NBA Finals MVP, hobbled off the court with a torn Achilles, ...Read more

MIAMI — This is the revenge, the opportunity for Max Strus to settle the score, to prove the Boston Celtics wrong, to make Brad Stevens wish he never issued that pink slip.

Right?

“No,” Strus said to the Sun Sentinel during a private moment outside the Miami Heat locker room at FTX Arena. “This isn’t about me. This is bigger than me....Read more

There’s an underlying theme of this spring’s ongoing NBA playoffs that might provides an important case study in roster building — something the Sacramento Kings should pay close attention to after they landed the No. 4 pick in the upcoming draft.

A number of the most important stars in the league are leading playoff runs, or have done so...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Daryl Morey is back where he started. Not really. But, kind of.

When the Sixers president arrived in town in October 2020, he inherited a team that many swore had nowhere to turn. Two years of haphazard decision-making had left the franchise with little apparent room to wiggle free from an ill-fitting roster that was coming off...Read more

MIAMI — The specter COVID and illness continues to be a factor in the Eastern Conference finals series between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics.

A day after the Celtics big man Al Horford entered the NBA’s heath-and-safety protocols, Boston coach Ime Udoka was unavailable for his team’s Wednesday media session due to what the Celtics...Read more

For four days before the start of these Eastern Conference finals, left with little else to discuss during yet another extended postseason break, coach Erik Spoelstra and his Miami Heat players spoke of the impending need to make the hustle plays, be first to the ball, impose will, take care of the small stuff in the margins.

Basically, all the...Read more

MIAMI — In the wake of Tuesday night’s Game 1 loss, they sounded like a football team.

Whether it was Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown or the coach, Ime Udoka, they all had to look at the “film.”

A day later after getting together at the team hotel, the damage was fairly self-explanatory — the wrong end of a 39-14 third quarter, including ...Read more

CHICAGO — Joey Baker’s Duke basketball career, which began earlier than planned, included his redshirt being burned late in his freshman season and saw him as a team captain last season, is coming to an end.

The 6-6 reserve forward from Fayetteville, N.C., is entering his name in the transfer portal so that, after he completes work toward ...Read more

Every so often, just for a moment, Jimmy Butler will let you in. He’ll pull back the curtain and let you see who he is, how his mind and motivations assemble.

He mostly keeps that area closed off, opaquely answering he doesn’t care about random ideas like statistics, as he says night after playoff night.

Even if the question is framed that...Read more