NBA

4:30 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Milwaukee Bucks staved off elimination on Sunday, beating the Miami Heat 118-115 in overtime despite losing superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo to a right ankle sprain in the second quarter. After being fouled by Heat forward Andre Iguodala on a drive into the paint at the

5:50 PM ET Denver Nuggets star center Nikola Jokic is questionable for Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinals series against the LA Clippers with a sprained right wrist. Jokic had 26 points and 18 rebounds in the Nuggets’ Game 2 win that evened the series at 1-1. He’s averaging 25 points, 8.7 rebounds and

7:17 AM ET The Milwaukee Bucks of fall and winter were a thing of basketball beauty. Giannis Antetokounmpo was once again building his MVP résumé, while Khris Middleton was continuing to establish himself as one of the NBA’s most versatile scorers, reliable from anywhere on the floor. Watching a fast break conducted by Antetokounmpo was

1:07 AM ET Throughout the course of this long season, the LA Clippers were darlings of sharp bettors and league intelligentsia, even as so many fans and even a healthy percentage of the Clippers’ peers sometimes wondered why. They encouraged injured players to take plenty of time to recover, harped on the long view as

6:33 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is questionable for Sunday’s game against the Miami Heat with a right ankle sprain. The reigning MVP rolled the ankle during the first half of Game 3, but continued to push through it despite grimacing on some plays throughout the contest. Antetokounmpo refused to make

2:39 AM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Following a six-day layoff after the Los Angeles Lakers made quick work of their first-round opponent, LeBron James said the Houston Rockets’ speed caught his team flat-footed in Friday’s 112-97 Game 1 loss to open up the Western Conference semifinals. “I think it’s the speed,” James said.

2:19 AM ET To those who have done battle with the Houston Rockets the past few seasons as they morphed into the purest form of positionless, small-ball basketball the NBA has ever seen, Friday’s 112-97 dismantling of the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinals series does not come as a

5:02 PM ET LA Clippers power forward Montrezl Harrell has won the 2019-20 Sixth Man of the Year award, a source confirmed to ESPN. For the third consecutive year, the Clippers have the league’s top sixth man after Lou Williams won the award the previous two seasons. The Clippers now have had the Sixth Man

6:00 AM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Eric Bledsoe has heard the talk. How he was outplayed by fill-in starter Terry Rozier, who rankled Bledsoe on and off the court, causing him to average just 13.6 points per game on 44% shooting in the Milwaukee Bucks‘ seven-game loss to the Boston Celtics in 2018. How a year

1:37 AM ET It’s difficult to doubt the LA Clippers‘ personnel and its potential. Yet coming into this conference semifinals series against the Denver Nuggets, we still hadn’t seen the fully-intact, healthy Clippers play championship-quality basketball for a sustained stretch of time longer than 10 days after the All-Star break and before the March suspension.

6:48 PM ET The Grizzlies‘ Ja Morant has been named the NBA Rookie of the Year. The league announced Morant as the winner Thursday night, saying he received 99 first-place votes and 498 total points in polling of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. Heat guard Kendrick Nunn finished second with 204 points. The Pelicans’ Zion Williamson,

9:49 AM ET Hall of Fame guard Steve Nash has signed a four-year contract to become the next coach of the Brooklyn Nets, sources told ESPN. The Nets announced the hiring Thursday afternoon. In recent weeks, Nets owner Joe Tsai and general manager Sean Marks have been aggressive in recruiting Nash to make the leap

12:41 AM ET FOR A MOMENT, there was a question if Chris Paul would ever play a game in an Oklahoma City Thunder uniform. He arrived last summer after two franchise-altering trades, one sending out All-Star Paul George for young prospects and long-term assets and the other acquiring Paul (and more picks) for team icon

6:18 PM ET Michael Porter Jr. said the LA Clippers passed on him twice in the 2018 NBA draft because their team doctor “thought that I would never play basketball again.” The Clippers had back-to-back first-round picks at 12 and 13 and traded the 12th pick for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander before selecting shooting guard Jerome Robinson.

6:42 AM ET ERIK SPOELSTRA COULD have winged it. If anyone was qualified to give a talk on how to deal with a case of imposter syndrome, it was the former video coordinator who worked his way up to become head coach of the Miami Heat. But Spoelstra had come to know his young sharpshooter,

12:50 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Only minutes after Donovan Mitchell was lying face down on the court inside AdventHealth Arena, he plopped himself down in front of a video camera, his eyes still red from tears he shed after his Utah Jazz saw their season end with a heartbreaking 80-78

5:24 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Disappointment has begun to mount among Milwaukee Bucks players inside the NBA bubble and it doesn’t have anything to do with basketball or falling behind 1-0 to the Miami Heat. The Bucks suffered a 115-104 loss to the Heat on Monday, but on the same day in Wisconsin, there was

7:12 AM ET Through six volcanic NBA playoff games against the Utah Jazz, Jamal Murray has: Averaged 34 points. Put up 50, 42, then 50 again — the last two in season-saving wins, as the Denver Nuggets look to become the first team since the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers to rally from a 3-1 deficit. (Do