If the Charlotte Hornets end up with LaMelo Ball, you can count on this:

He will show no lack of confidence and conviction.

In a 24-minute media session Monday, Ball said ...

- He doesn't need to fix his shooting form, which was widely criticized from his play last season in Australia.

- He is a fit for any NBA team - from the title ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. - Doc Rivers is out as coach of the Clippers, according to people with knowledge of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.

The Clippers built a contender around Southland natives Kawhi Leonard and Paul George last summer, and then finished second in the Western Conference this season. They were eliminated in the ...Read more

Who doesn't love 2020?

(Wait, don't answer that.)

Who didn't have a weekend for the ages?

(Assuming your tax returns weren't released.)

Who you got now in a South Florida sports scene crammed with winning stories: the Miami Heat or Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals? The Miami Marlins or Chicago Cubs in the baseball playoffs? Miami or (...Read more

The primary recurring theme for the Miami Heat during these NBA playoffs has been winning, from the 4-0 sweep of the Indiana Pacers in the first round, the 4-1 thrashing of the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the second, to closing out the Boston Celtics 4-2 in the Eastern Conference finals.

But in the background, there has been the recurring ...Read more

Frank Vogel wasn't Lakers executives' first choice for the coaching job during the turbulent spring of 2019. Tyronn Lue was the frontrunner to succeed Luke Walton, but Lue rejected a three-year offer to coach a team that was coming off a non-playoff finish and was thrust into turmoil when Magic Johnson unexpectedly resigned as president of ...Read more

The Miami Heat, winners of just 44 games in the abbreviated regular season and the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, have done the improbable. A year after missing the NBA playoffs entirely, the Heat is heading to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014.

Miami finished off a series victory with the Boston Celtics on Sunday, hanging on ...Read more

So here we are, having come full circle through the calendar within the confines of a single season, Pat Riley addressing the media on the eve of training camp on Sept. 27, 2019 about what might follow, with the Miami Heat still with unfinished business a year later.

Looking back, Riley, as is typical, largely (but not completely) proved ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. - When Anthony Davis jumped into a mob of his teammates to celebrate his "Mamba Moment" earlier in the Western Conference finals, he cemented himself a place in Lakers' history.

But "Mamba Moments" don't have to always be so dramatic, the commitment to winning showing up at all times throughout the course of the game. And while ...Read more

LeBron James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers to help the once-proud organization regain its shine. In the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, he made clear again and again and again that he was going to make good on his word.

James stepping back. James with a fadeaway. James pulling up.

Soon after, NBA personnel began...Read more

Home sweet home.

After a decade spent wandering through a wasteland of turmoil and tragedy, basketball's marquee team has regained its familiar spot on the NBA's biggest stage.

Back to the house of the Big Dipper and Mr. Clutch, back to the address of Magic and Kareem, back to the digs of Kobe and Shaq.

At long last, the Lakers are back in ...Read more

This time it was Bam Adebayo's teammates who stepped in to block the shot. It was the one the Miami Heat center took at himself.

They were having none of it, insisting Adebayo is more the reason why the Heat hold a 3-2 lead on the Boston Celtics in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals than, as he insisted, why they lost Friday night's ...Read more

The goal this season and in these playoffs has never been a 3-for-all. It's simply a factor of the composition of the Miami Heat roster.

But for an offense so reliant on the long ball, the misses tend to be magnified, as they are now in the Eastern Conference finals.

"Our game is deeper than us just making threes or not," Heat coach Erik ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Throughout the recruiting process for five-star power forward Daimion Collins, whenever a college coach has expressed interest, his Texas high school coach has asked why.

What is it that has attracted so many top-flight Division I programs to Collins? According to Atlanta (Texas) High head coach Jarrod Boston, the answer is ...Read more

Nothing's lost.

Nothing's changed.

Nothing's really threatened by Friday night, not really, not beyond the Miami Heat missing out on their first chance to close out Boston in the Eastern Conference finals and advance to the NBA Finals.

Sometimes the magic is on the other side this deep in a season. That's all. No one from the Heat wants to ...Read more

It turns out both teams still have business to take care of before there can be discussion of a possible LeBron James against the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.

The Heat failed in their first opportunity to advance, falling 121-108 Friday night to the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.

So there now will be a Game 6 of ...Read more

Becoming the first NBA team to overcome a 3-1 series deficit twice in one postseason gave the Denver Nuggets a sense of fearlessness. Their resilience also gave their coach, Michael Malone, a sense of humor.

Asked before the Western Conference finals against the Lakers how he'd get his team into another 3-1 hole in order to inspire players to ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. - When the time came for the Los Angeles Lakers to finish off an opponent in the Western Conference playoffs, they wasted little time in disposing of the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets.

That time has arrived again for the Lakers.

They have a 3-1 lead over Denver and the Lakers can end the Nuggets' season with a win in...Read more

NEW YORK - It's the question of the year for the Nets. They have Kevin Durant. They have Kyrie Irving. Do the Nets need a third superstar, or can they win a championship as-is?

Kevin Garnett already told The Daily News he'd pull off a trade for Bradley Beal or Zach LaVine.

Vince Carter said otherwise.

Instead of trading for a third star, ...Read more

The secret is out, as thrilling as a buzzer swish, as aggravating as a lost ball.

The truth is finally upon us, as delightful as a giant who can play defense, as sobering as a giant who can just as easily disappear.

You know who's the most important Laker? You know who's the one Laker who must prove he can play at a consistently high level for...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Southeastern Conference season in men's basketball will begin on Dec. 29-30, the league announced Friday.

The SEC schedule will be made up of 18 games. Ten league schools will also play in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in late January.

The league schedule, which was originally set to start Jan. 2, was not released.

SEC ...Read more