LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky fans have always put great stock in how the Wildcats perform on the biggest stages and against men’s college basketball’s other blue bloods.

So what happened to UK on Tuesday night against Kansas under the bright lights of the State Farm Champions Classic was pretty close to the last thing Mark Pope needed as he ...Read more

HOUSTON – The Warriors started their five-game trip through the Southwest Division in the worst way possible. Steph Curry injured himself in the first quarter of Wednesday’s game in Houston against the Rockets and did not return.

The Warriors ruled him out during the second quarter with right abdominal soreness. Golden State lost 115-108, ...Read more

CHICAGO — Matas Buzelis grabbed at his hair, pulling his head to the left and then wrenching it back to the right.

Whatever curse words his mouth formed were drowned out by the dull drone of the disappointed Chicago Bulls crowd at the United Center. Buzelis had just fumbled his sixth turnover against the San Antonio Spurs, batting helplessly ...Read more

HOUSTON — The Warriors started their five-game trip through the Southwest Division in the worst way possible. Steph Curry injured himself in the first quarter of Wednesday’s game in Houston against the Rockets and did not return.

The Warriors ruled him out during the second quarter with right abdominal soreness.

Curry was knocked to the ...Read more

Utilizing their seventh different starting lineup through the team’s first 11 games, the Magic had 10 players available against the Utah Jazz in the second game of a back-to-back on Wednesday night.

That didn’t slow down Franz Wagner (38 points), Desmond Bane (25) and Anthony Black (22) during Orlando‘s 123-108 victory in its lone trip of...Read more

MILWAUKEE — The Los Angeles Lakers won their seventh straight game. They could lose something bigger.

Star guard Austin Reaves left Wednesday’s 123-112 win over the Milwaukee Bucks with a left heel injury and did not return.

Reaves, who scored 18 points with five assists and three steals, landed awkwardly on a blocked dunk attempt during ...Read more

The Nets lost two consecutive road games heading to New Orleans and responded by scoring a season-high in points (83) in any half during the opening periods against the Pelicans.

They managed to do such damage shooting 50% (8 of 16) from beyond the arc.

The high-scoring, deep-shooting affair continued seconds into the second half with Egor ...Read more

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Nuggets didn’t have a win yet against a strong team at full strength. It took all 48 minutes to finally secure one Wednesday.

Jamal Murray overcame foul trouble to compile 30 points, eight assists and two blocks in 32 minutes, leading Denver to a 123-118 win over the Grizzlies on Beale Street.

Leading by two with two ...Read more

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — One game after the Michigan Wolverines were handed their first loss by a Big East team, they bounced back by beating a different Big East opponent.

No. 21 Michigan used an overwhelming run that spanned the first and second halves to top Marquette for an 84-70 win at Crisler Center on Wednesday.

J.P. Estrella had 18 points ...Read more

Emotionally charged win 24 hours earlier?

Early-morning arrival north of the border?

Key player unavailable?

Twenty-plus-point first-half deficit?

None of that fazed the Celtics on Wednesday.

One day after routing Jaylen Brown’s Philadelphia 76ers in a matchup that had been circled since August, Boston avoided a letdown against the hard-...Read more

NEW YORK — Less than six months ago, the New York Knicks furiously overcame a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

It was a defining moment in their championship run.

So when the Knicks started making basket after basket, stop after stop, during Wednesday night’s fourth...Read more

MIAMI — As he finally finished dressing nearly 90 minutes after the Heat defeated the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night at the Delta Center, Giannis Antetokounmpo made clear he wanted to move beyond the drama.

Such as the drama surrounding his team’s uneven start.

Such as the drama surrounding comments from former NBA coach Doc Rivers about his ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The son of former NBA dunk contest runner-up Chris Carr, Lakers rookie Cameron Carr envisioned his first NBA points coming on a lob. When asked before the draft in April, the first-round pick knew that if not on a sky-high alley-oop his first bucket would at least be something athletic.

He now gives himself half-credit for ...Read more

Mark Pope and his Kentucky basketball program spent considerable time and offered ample money in recruiting Tyran Stokes.

There was never any doubt how much the Wildcats wanted the 6-foot-8 wing originally from Louisville.

Tuesday night at the United Center was a fresh and unkind reminder of what they’d missed.

Stokes boosted No. 15 Kansas ...Read more

In a meeting between two teams looking to snap their respective losing streaks Tuesday night at Golden 1 Center, it was the Orlando Magic who ended their four-game skid against the Sacramento Kings.

Behind a season-high 33 points from Franz Wagner and 26 from Anthony Black, Orlando earned its first win of its four-game West Coast road trip, 107...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — In the wildly anticipated first battle between Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Paul George upstaged them both.

The 76er-turned-Celtic shredded his former team Tuesday night, tallying 36 points on 14-of-22 shooting as Boston turned a close game played amid a playoff-like atmosphere at Xfinity Mobile Arena into a 123-101 rout.

...Read more

CHICAGO — Jeremy Fears Jr. walked around the court at United Center egging on a crowd that had just reached a crescendo as 42 seconds ticked down to 12 in Michigan State’s Champions Classic bout with Duke. It was one of many stops in the half, and in the game, as the Spartans made a statement in their first big test of the season.

No. 6 ...Read more

NEW YORK — This one was decided long before tipoff.

The New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 117-85, on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, a blowout of a team that arrived 1-9, last in the Eastern Conference and without its leading scorer. Tyler Herro, the centerpiece of the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, sat out with a bruised right knee. ...Read more