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Bam Adebayo dominates and other takeaways from Heat's blowout win over Wizards in Mexico City

Sports / Basketball /

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 118-98 the Washington Wizards (2-3) on Saturday night at Arena CDMX in the league’s annual Mexico City game. The Heat (3-2) now returns to Miami to take on the Sacramento Kings on Monday before hitting the road again:

—After a quiet start to the season, three-time All-Star center Bam Adebayo turned in ...Read more

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Warriors blow 31-point lead, but avoid late collapse to beat Rockets in overtime

Sports / Basketball /

HOUSTON — The Golden State Warriors blew a 31-point lead and looked completely out of sorts in the fourth quarter, only to ultimately hold on.

Facing an upstart Rockets team led by Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green, Golden State hit 12 of its first 20 3-pointers and played smothering defense.

But as dominant as they were in the first half, they...Read more

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Sixers were no match for bigger and more talented Grizzlies in 124-107 loss

Sports / Basketball /

PHILADELPHIA — This game can be best described in seven words that one could have never dreamed of being written about a likely NBA championship contender.

The 76ers never really had a chance.

No, really. They literally never had a chance in Saturday night’s 124-107 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at the Wells Fargo Center.

Sure they had a ...Read more

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Back-to-back assignment goes poorly for the Timberwolves in 113-103 loss to Spurs

Sports / Basketball /

One night after Friday’s dramatic and emotional comeback home victory over rival Denver, the Minnesota Timberwolves summoned no late magic in a 113-103 loss at San Antonio.

This time, they trailed by as many as 19 points — and never fewer than 10 after the Spurs went on a game-changing 17-5 run early in the third quarter.

They also never ...Read more

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Sky hire former assistant under Becky Hammon with the Aces as their new coach

Sports / Basketball /

CHICAGO — The Chicago Sky have found their new coach: Tyler Marsh.

Marsh, 36, was an assistant coach under Becky Hammon with the Las Vegas Aces, who won back-to-back WNBA titles in 2022 and 2023.

The decision came barely five weeks after the Sky fired Teresa Weatherspoon after her debut season as a WNBA coach — and one day after the ...Read more

Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

Mark Pope adds top-40 backcourt prospect to Kentucky's 2025 basketball recruiting class

Sports / Basketball /

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mark Pope has landed another talented backcourt recruit for his first proper recruiting class at Kentucky.

On Saturday afternoon, class of 2025 point guard Acaden Lewis committed to Pope and the UK basketball program. Lewis — a 6-foot-2, 170-pound prospect — picked the Wildcats over two other finalists in his recruitment,...Read more

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What to know about Big Ten basketball in 2024-25 as the men's and women's seasons get underway

Sports / Basketball /

CHICAGO — Hoops season is upon us!

The men’s and women’s college basketball seasons open Monday, with 14 of the 18 Big Ten men’s teams in action — including Illinois and Northwestern — and 11 of the women’s teams, starting with a doubleheader in Paris featuring No. 3 USC and No. 5 UCLA.

Conference play begins Dec. 3 for the men ...Read more

Wolves surge past Denver late as teams revive rivalry forged in last season's playoffs

Sports / Basketball /

MINNEAPOLIS — The 21st meeting between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets over the past three seasons lived up to the billing on Friday night for a national TV audience, with the Wolves pulling out a thriller, 119-116, at Target Center.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker breathed life back into the Wolves by scoring eight fourth-quarter ...Read more

Hawks fight back but Kings hand them fourth straight loss

Sports / Basketball /

ATLANTA — The Hawks erased an 18-point deficit, tying the game a couple of times to give themselves a chance on Friday night at State Farm Arena. But the Kings got the better of them down the stretch to hand the Hawks a 123-115 loss.

Here are five observations:

— 1. Things appeared to finally swing the Hawks’ way as they got enough stops...Read more

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Nets win second in a row after holding off Bulls, 120-112

Sports / Basketball /

NEW YORK — How good was the Nets offense in the first half of Friday’s matchup against the Chicago Bulls at Barclays Center?

Look at it this way: The Bulls shot 56% from 3-point range (14 for 25) in the first half but trailed by 17 points with 4:42 left in the second quarter and were down eight at halftime.

It was just that kind of ...Read more

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LeBron James and Anthony Davis put on a show in Lakers' 131-125 win over Raptors

Sports / Basketball /

TORONTO — The people here know.

For the 75th time in his NBA career, LeBron James stepped onto a court to face the Toronto Raptors. And before Friday, James’ team had won 56 of them, including a trio of playoff series.

Still, the fans in Toronto always enjoy James’ annual appearance in Canada, cheering each time as he enters the game —...Read more

Silas Walker/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

Kansas lands Darryn Peterson, top-ranked shooting guard in class of 2025

Sports / Basketball /

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Darryn Peterson, the No. 1-ranked shooting guard in the basketball recruiting class of 2025, will be a Kansas Jayhawk.

Peterson announced his commitment to Kansas on Friday night. He chose KU over Kansas State, Ohio State and USC. He’s the Jayhawks’ first commitment from the 2025 class.

The 6-foot-5 shooting guard will ...Read more

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Jalen Brunson scores 36 points as Knicks rout Pistons, 128-98

Sports / Basketball /

DETROIT — A trap game, it was not.

After starting their season with four consecutive matchups against likely Eastern Conference playoff contenders, the Knicks faced a different kind of challenge Friday night in Detroit: staying focused against a rebuilding team with eyes on the lottery.

The Pistons, coming off back-to-back seasons with the ...Read more

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Short-handed Magic fall at Cavs, 120-109

Sports / Basketball /

CLEVELAND — When it rains, it pours.

That adage became reality for the Magic on Friday night when Orlando fell to the Cavaliers, 120-109, at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in front of a national TV audience on ESPN.

Less than 24 hours after it was announced star forward Paolo Banchero was ruled out indefinitely due to a torn right oblique (...Read more

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Grant Williams ejection helps Celtics pull away, beat Hornets

Sports / Basketball /

Grant Williams smiled as he greeted his former Boston teammates before Friday night’s game between the Celtics and Hornets.

Any postgame interactions likely weren’t as friendly.

Williams, the ex-Celtics forward, was ejected late in the fourth quarter after flooring Jayson Tatum with a shoulder-to-shoulder check while the C’s star ...Read more

Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Joel Embiid, Paul George are full participants at Sixers practice but will remain out vs. Grizzlies

Sports / Basketball /

PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid and Paul George will remain sidelined Saturday night when the 76ers face the Memphis Grizzlies at the Wells Fargo Center.

This will come after the All-Star duo were full participants in Friday’s practice, including the five-on-five scrimmage.

Embiid has missed the first four games for what the team labeled left ...Read more

Charles Fox/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Marcus Hayes: Sixers absentee Joel Embiid fibs in his own defense and has a gold-medal deflection

Sports / Basketball /

PHILADELPHIA — Absentee superstar star Joel Embiid held a pop-up press conference at Sixers practice Friday to defend his lack of preparation for the 2024-25 season. It was the first time since he began the season missing games because he was unfit to play. He did not commit to playing anytime soon, and he did not address how much his ...Read more

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Stephanie White hired as Fever head coach days after parting ways with Sun

Sports / Basketball /

HARTFORD, Conn. — Four days after the Connecticut Sun mutually parted ways with coach Stephanie White, she was hired Friday as the head coach of the Indiana Fever.

Indiana fired second-year coach Christie Sides on Sunday after a 20-20 season in 2024 that ended in the Fever’s first WNBA playoff appearance since 2016, though they were swept 2...Read more

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College basketball, king of all sports in NC, should be special again in the Triangle

Sports / Basketball /

RALEIGH, N.C. — Of all the innumerable changes that have reshaped college athletics during the past several years there is at least one constant that continues to endure: In the Triangle and throughout North Carolina’s Great Beyond, basketball rules.

It has. It does. It will.

Sure, that other major college sport generates all the headlines...Read more

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Jim Souhan: When you rank the top young athletes in Minnesota sports, there's a new leader

Sports / Basketball /

MINNEAPOLIS — In June, when Royce Lewis looked like he was incapable of hitting anything less than a grand slam with the game on the line, I ranked the four best major-sport young athletes in Minnesota.

My picks: The Wolves’ Anthony Edwards a half-step ahead of the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson, followed by Lewis, then the Wild’s Kirill ...Read more