RALEIGH, N.C. — Kevin Keatts knows he will be under a huge microscope next season.

His N.C. State basketball team won just four ACC games last season, finishing last in the league. As he enters his fifth year leading the Wolfpack, he expects people to be critical of the job he does.

"I'll be honest with you, that comes with the territory, ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — After a two-year playoff absence, the Warriors are back in the NBA Finals.

This marks Golden State’s sixth trip to the title series in eight years, making the Warriors one of four NBA teams to accomplish such a feat and the first franchise to do it since the Michael Jordan-led Bulls in the 90s.

A 4-1 series victory over the...Read more

BOSTON — The Miami Heat apparently will play it close to the vest until their season is over.

The team on Thursday listed five players as questionable for Friday’s 8:30 p.m. Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden, a best-of-seven series they trail 3-2.

That left no delineation between a player who ...Read more

Jayson Tatum’s initial whiff of what’s about to commence in Game 6 Friday night is almost too intoxicating.

The Celtics star has played in three Eastern Conference Finals at the age of 24, and following his 31-point Game 4 performance against Miami, he ended up tied with Larry Bird for the most career playoff points by a Celtic after his ...Read more

In the aftermath of the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, the Miami Heat used a pre-game moment to urge fans to contact U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, both Florida Republicans, “demanding their support for common sense gun laws” — and telling them they can “make change at the ballot box.”

Rubio, who is up for re-...Read more

It is a script with which Kentucky Wildcats basketball fans have become all too familiar.

On Tuesday, Kenny Payne, the new Louisville men’s basketball coach and ex-Kentucky assistant, announced that he was hiring former Cardinals star Milt Wagner as U of L’s new director of player development and alumni relations.

Subsequently, momentum ...Read more

BOSTON — There was a time when the Miami Heat were relaxed, confident, with enough leeway to exhale and savor.

That time was Sunday, when coach Erik Spoelstra and players Max Strus and Victor Oladipo met with the media in a ballroom at a swank hotel across from Boston Common.

It all was coming together, the franchise’s sixth visit to the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — It’s been more than six weeks since the Lakers fired coach Frank Vogel, and the picture for hiring his replacement is probably murkier than anyone involved would’ve hoped.

Three candidates — Golden State Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson, Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham and former Portland Trail Blazers coach Terry ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — With the NBA draft combine and lottery in the rearview mirror, teams around the league have a better idea of where they stand ahead of the June 23 draft.

The draft will kick off with the Orlando Magic, who secured the top pick by winning the lottery on May 17 for the fourth time in franchise history. The Magic also have two ...Read more

MIAMI — With attrition taking its toll on both sides – any team that makes it this far is festooned with injuries – the night started at a drudging, groggy pace.

All it was going to take was even a merely above-average night from someone to steal this one, and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, both after slow starts, raised their respective ...Read more

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra opened his pregame press conference on Wednesday with a statement on Tuesday’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

“Before I start, I would like to just say something,” Spoelstra said after sitting down at the podium at FTX Arena on Wednesday night prior to Game 5 of the Eastern ...Read more

The Timberwolves were 15 months from their first training camp as an NBA expansion team when Billy McKinney was their first basketball hire in July 1988 as director of player personnel.

Then, on Aug. 28, Bill Musselman was hired as head coach. He would share personnel decisions with McKinney, and CEO Bob Stein would represent ownership in such ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Former Portland head coach Terry Stotts became the first candidate to meet with the Lakers in person Tuesday as the organization ramps up its search to replace Frank Vogel, sources confirmed to the Los Angeles Times.

Milwaukee assistant coach Darvin Ham and Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson also are scheduled to speak with ...Read more

The Warriors didn’t win Game 4.

And they didn’t deserve to win the contest, either.

Nor did they deserve a sweep of the Dallas Mavericks in this Western Conference Finals series. The Mavs were too good to be pushed aside in four.

But the Warriors did do something at the end of a blowout game that could well prove prescient for the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Steve Kerr knows about terrorist attacks.

He lost his father 38 years ago in a terrorist attack.

Steve Kerr knows that what happened in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday afternoon was another terrorist attack.

Except that this time, the terrorists are us, and there's seemingly nothing we will do to stop them.

"I'm not going to talk ...Read more

ATLANTA — It’s been fun watching Al Horford play a major role for the Celtics in the NBA playoffs. The ex-Hawks star will be 36 years old soon, but he still has it. Horford is winning with a Boston team that reminds me of some of his best Hawks squads. The Celtics are punching above their weight because of their relentless and unyielding ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — LeBron James, after his 19th season as a professional, earned a spot on the All-NBA third team.

All-NBA teams were announced Tuesday, with James earning a place on one of the three teams for the 18th time, extending his NBA record.

Luka Doncic, Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic made the first ...Read more

DALLAS — Coach Steve Kerr, one of the NBA’s leading voices on social issues, gave another emotional plea for gun control after 14 children and one teacher shot and killed Tuesday at a Texas elementary school just hours before Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.

Kerr said he was “fed up” after the latest mass shooting that took ...Read more

MIAMI — Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro is listed as questionable for Wednesday’s 8:30 p.m. Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics at FTX Arena after missing Monday night’s Game 4 loss at TD Garden due to a groin strain.

Despite ESPN reporting Tuesday that Herro has the type of injury that typically requires an ...Read more