NBA

12:59 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — After the Boston Celtics walked into the locker room at halftime of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat, having produced a second straight lackluster first half in a series they trailed 3-1, they knew something had to change. So, before

11:13 PM ET For the Boston Celtics, the first half of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals was a tractor pull. They shot 25 percent from the field in the first quarter. Coming off a simple pick-and-pop with Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker sent the pass into the hands of assistant coach Scott Morrison on

6:51 AM ET DWYANE WADE SPENT just one season playing alongside Jimmy Butler in Chicago, but that was all that was needed to form a deep — and familiar — impression. “He’s a Heat guy,” Wade later told Erik Spoelstra, the coach of Wade’s longtime franchise, the Miami Heat. Spoelstra probably didn’t need the future

2:44 AM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — If Jamal Murray was going add yet another comeback victory to the Denver Nuggets’ dream postseason run, he was going to have to go through LeBron James to do so. With the Los Angeles Lakers clinging to a four-point lead with just more than five minutes remaining

8:50 PM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Dwight Howard will start at center for Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, the Los Angeles Lakers announced shortly before tipoff Thursday. Howard replaced JaVale McGee in the first unit to begin the second half of Game 3. L.A. leads the Denver Nuggets 2-1 in the

7:20 AM ET The Denver Nuggets can rally from the depths in an NBA playoff series because Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic methodically problem-solve opposing defenses. Your preferred coverage of the Murray-Jokic pick-and-roll might set them on their heels for the first half of Game 1, but they soon adjust. They poke and prod, downloading

12:37 AM ET The 2020 playoffs have been a showcase of shocking comebacks, ungodly individual exploits and buzzer-beaters, and beautiful team performances. But not every postseason game can be a work of art. Those instant classics linger in our memory, but every team that advances to the NBA Finals trudges its way through a bog

1:46 PM ET ESPN News Services A Kentucky grand jury on Wednesday indicted one police officer for shooting into neighboring apartments but did not move forward with charges against any officers for their role in Breonna Taylor’s death. A grand jury in Louisville announced that Officer Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton

7:20 AM ET The first three games of the Eastern Conference finals between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics have given us enough comebacks, drama, coaching adjustments and big plays to live up to expectations and then some. So what comes next? We asked our NBA forecast panel to assess the series and look

12:00 AM ET Just four minutes and thirty-eight seconds into the second quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic retreated to his team’s bench having committed his third foul of the game. That’s when the team knew their 7-foot passing savant was in trouble. Five-thousand miles away, Dejan

6:01 PM ET Billy Donovan has agreed to a deal to become the next coach of the Chicago Bulls, sources tell ESPN. Chicago Bulls executive VP of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas aggressively pursued Donovan in the aftermath of Donovan’s leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder after five seasons, sources said, selling Donovan on a partnership and

2:16 PM ET NBA commissioner Adam Silver says his “best guess” is that the league will not begin its next season until 2021, emphasizing that “the goal is to play a standard season.” Silver discussed the NBA’s plans for the 2020-21 season amid the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday as part of a wide-ranging interview with CNN.

3:37 AM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — After his shot dropped to beat the buzzer, win the game and lift the Los Angeles Lakers to just two wins away from their first NBA Finals appearance since 2010, Anthony Davis shouted out one word that said it all: “Kobe!” Davis’ 3-pointer from the left wing

9:06 PM ET NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan announced Monday night that they will field a car for the 2021 Cup Series season. Their driver: Bubba Wallace. “Bubba has shown improvement since joining the Cup series, and we believe he’s ready to take his career to a higher level,” Hamlin wrote. Added Jordan:

7:00 AM ET ON THE FIRST floor of a gray, block-like, four-story structure on the campus’ northwest corner, a dozen students shuttle into a three-hour class taught once a week on Monday mornings. It’s the early fall of 2015, and inside Tolman Hall, the longtime home of the University of California at Berkeley’s Graduate School

10:59 PM ET When the Los Angeles Lakers took a 16-point lead with 8:12 left in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals against the Denver Nuggets, it seemed like they would cruise to a victory, similar to Game 1. But the Nuggets kept playing, cutting the Los Angeles lead to 82-78 entering the fourth

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

12:57 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — For the past two days, the world waited to see how the Boston Celtics would respond to both collapsing down the stretch for a second straight game to open the Eastern Conference finals and the emotional outbursts in the locker room that followed. But after