7:25 AM ET NBA Insiders The 2020 NBA playoffs have provided many with their first extended look at the unusual game of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. In the past week, Jokic has led the Nuggets to a startling upset of the LA Clippers, been named to his second All-NBA team and made his Western

12:24 AM ET NBA playoff basketball is an exercise in advanced problem-solving, and the Boston Celtics came into Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals with some serious problems. They blew double-digit second-half leads to the Miami Heat in consecutive losses, encountered far more trouble with the Heat’s zone defense than any top-five offense should

7:05 AM ET THWACK!! Detroit Pistons defensive wizard Tayshaun Prince, all 215 pounds of him, smashed into an immovable, 7-foot-3, 260-pound object named Zydrunas Ilgauskas. The Cleveland Cavaliers big man planted himself adjacent to Prince with the explicit purpose of preventing him from tracking a precocious 21-year-old LeBron James. Splat!! This time the culprit was

1:58 AM ET The last time we saw the Los Angeles Lakers, nearly a week ago when they were finishing off the small-ball Houston Rockets in the second round of the playoffs, centers Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee had been relegated to socially distant cheerleaders on the bench. An important role in a mostly-empty, fanless

5:48 PM ET Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward is listed as questionable for Saturday’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat. The Celtics are hopeful that Hayward could play a role off the bench in Game 3, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Hayward has not played since Game 1 of the

7:10 AM ET It’s not the battle of Los Angeles that many around the league expected, but here we are. After making NBA history with consecutive comebacks from 3-1 series deficits, the Denver Nuggets take the postseason’s most unlikely run into a matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers. And no, despite Nuggets head coach Michael

4:06 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Toronto Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, who has one year remaining on his contract, on Thursday said he has yet to enter discussions with team ownership about an extension. “No, I haven’t had discussions, and honestly, coming out of this, things are a little raw,” Ujiri said on

10:45 PM ET In the NBA postseason, there’s often a team that discovers its potential along the way. It learns what it is, banks on its strengths and builds confidence with each win. The Toronto Raptors accomplished that in the 2019 playoffs, and in the Year of the Bubble, the Miami Heat are that team.

2:47 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Phase 1 of the NBA in-market bubble has started for the Detroit Pistons, but veterans Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose, and free agents Christian Wood and Langston Galloway aren’t participating right now, according to coach Dwane Casey. “All of our young guys are here. Derrick Rose and Blake are not

6:24 AM ET THE NINE MONTHS it took to schedule a dinner between Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and the franchise’s newest superstar, LeBron James, really wasn’t that long by Los Angeles standards. James lives in Beverly Hills; Buss lives in Playa Vista. Busy people, L.A. traffic, intense jobs — nine months is actually