THORNTON, Colo. — Until Peyton Watson walked into his life, little Noah had never ridden a bike with training wheels. A week later, he can’t stop.

“Where did he go? Louisa Wagner asks.

“NO-AH!” Louisa’s husband Harry shouts.

“NOOOO-AAAAAH!!” Louisa cries.

It’s the second day of winter, three days to Christmas, and 73 ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — Paige Bueckers got her first break from basketball in nearly a year when her WNBA season with the Dallas Wings ended on Sept. 11, but just a few months later, the former UConn women’s basketball star is already back on the court in Miami preparing to make her debut in Unrivaled.

Bueckers could have opted not to play during...Read more

CHICAGO — Winning is a contradictory thing for the Chicago Bulls.

The Bulls allowed opponents to score at least 120 points in four of their last six games. They also won all four of those games. This dichotomy is powering a four-game winning streak for the Bulls, who at 14-15 after winning five of six — including two straight over the Hawks...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Julius Randle was 3 for 11 from the field after three quarters, and in the fourth quarter of the Timberwolves’ 115-104 victory over the New York Knicks on Tuesday night, Randle hit his first shot attempt.

The Knicks called a timeout down eight, and Randle did something that might seem odd for anyone else who was shooting just ...Read more

NEW YORK — Eighty-two. Seventy-three. Seventy-two. Eighty-two. Eighty-three. Eighty-two. Eighty-two — and now 29.

Mikal Bridges’ track record of perfect attendance reads like an NBA head coach’s fantasy.

Mike Brown is living that fantasy in real time during his first season at Madison Square Garden, guiding a Knicks team with ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Warriors coach Steve Kerr had his player’s back on Wednesday afternoon.

Kerr declined to put the blame on Draymond Green for the mid-game argument between the two that led to Green leaving the bench and not returning to the game in the Warriors’ victory over the Magic on Monday.

In fact, Kerr went a step further than just...Read more

PHOENIX — Austin Reaves returned from a left calf strain that sidelined him for three games, but the Lakers’ second-leading scorer did nothing to fix the team’s most glaring weakness.

The Lakers’ defense collapsed in a 132-108 loss to the Suns on Tuesday at Mortgage Matchup Center, giving up a season-high field goal percentage (59%), ...Read more

Michael Porter Jr. lit the fuse early, and the Nets’ defense did the rest.

Porter poured in a game-high 28 points and Brooklyn sustained its December defensive surge Tuesday night, holding the Philadelphia 76ers to 40.7% shooting while forcing 17 turnovers in a 114-106 win at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The victory improved the Nets to 9-19 and ...Read more

MIAMI – On the night before the night before Christmas, another lump of coal for the Miami Heat.

So make it eight losses in the last nine games and a .500 record at the holiday break with Tuesday night’s 112-91 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Kaseya Center, this time their lowest-scoring game of the season.

Looking nothing like the team ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Even though Karl-Anthony Towns played an excellent game against his former team, another player involved in last September’s blockbuster trade between the Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks got some revenge in the fourth quarter.

Julius Randle, who had a tough first three quarters, turned it on when it mattered most. ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Jasper Johnson says the best Christmas gift he’s ever gotten was an all-terrain vehicle when he was a child.

“My dad got me a four-wheeler, but I didn’t have it too long,” the Kentucky freshman guard said. “I ended up crashing it when he let me drive it, and he got scared.”

In the second half of the 2025-26 UK ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Facing an overmatched opponent that allowed him to freely tinker with his lineups, UCLA coach Mick Cronin tried plenty of mixing and matching Tuesday afternoon.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway was that a three-guard lineup might be the way to go after the continued struggles of centers Xavier Booker and Steven Jamerson II.

"We've ...Read more

NEW YORK — The NBA is once again taking a hard look at tanking, and the timing is no coincidence.

As the league continues to deal with the fallout from a gambling scandal that exposed how injury information and late-season lineup decisions can be exploited, officials have begun exploring new ways to remove the incentive to lose on purpose.

...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky was without its complement of players yet again Tuesday afternoon.

For this one, it didn’t matter.

The Wildcats defeated Bellarmine, 99-85, in a rare weekday matinee game in Rupp Arena. It was the team’s final game of the calendar year, as well as the last nonconference matchup on the 2025-26 schedule. UK will ...Read more

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas freshman Kohl Rosario did something Monday night that he hasn’t done since late November.

He hit multiple 3-pointers.

In the second half of a 90-61 blowout win over Davidson, Rosario hit back-to-back 3s, drawing a roar from the packed Allen Fieldhouse crowd that wasn’t matched the rest of the game.

Rosario, ...Read more

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — After a nail-biter on Saturday in Atlanta, No. 12 North Carolina men’s basketball treated its home crowd to a comfortable 99-51 win over ECU to close out nonconference play.

The game had tilted so far in UNC’s favor that, by the later minutes of the second half, the loudest sound from the crowd was the jeering of a ...Read more

DENVER — The Denver Nuggets might’ve been guilty of coasting Monday, but they could afford to coast.

Scoring the first 19 points of the game and leading by 25 after the first quarter, Denver bounced back from its largest loss of the season with a 135-112 win over the Utah Jazz at Ball Arena.

The Nuggets (21-7) haven’t lost consecutive ...Read more