MIAMI — Two thoughts were unavoidable in watching Miami Heat godfather Pat Riley honored with a statue this week by his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

1. Great facial likeness; everything on point from the raised fist to the Armani suit. And as we learned last year with the properly mocked Dwyane Wade statue, a flattering or at least ...Read more

CHICAGO — Unaware of the typical postgame locker room scene spearheaded by LaMelo Ball, Coby White’s initial reactions were hilarious.

Following White’s debut for the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night, and his new franchise establishing a record for consecutive road wins, he was immersed in the full Ball experience. While White was ...Read more

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A dozen years. Seven games. Four thousand, three hundred and eighty-nine days since Michigan State walked out of Mackey Arena with a win.

All over.

For the first time since 2014, Michigan State downed Purdue on the road Thursday at Mackey Arena, 76-74, in a game decided on the final shot. Big contributions from the ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Playing in their first home game following the NBA All-Star break, the Magic were aiming to carry over the momentum gained from their 3-1 West Coast road trip when they hosted the Houston Rockets on Thursday night at Kia Center.

Magic coach Jamahl Mosely‘s squad, however, gave up a double-digit to lead to Houston and fell, ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Nets fought, showed some life and even made a run that briefly woke up the crowd, but the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed looked the part in the end. Brooklyn fell to Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs 126-110 at Barclays Center, slipping to 15-43 and extending its losing streak to six games.

Fans arrived hoping for ...Read more

The victories over the New Orleans Pelicans, Atlanta Hawks and Memphis Grizzlies that gave the Heat the three-game winning streak going into the week were window dressing against going-nowhere teams.

The last two games, including Thursday night’s 124-117 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena, were the reality check for Erik ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Tyrese Maxey became the 76ers’ all-time leader in made 3-pointers in the first quarter of Thursday’s home game against the Miami Heat.

Maxey needed four makes entering the game to pass Allen Iverson, who made 885 3-pointers in his Sixers career. Maxey needed less than six seasons to eclipse that career mark.

Maxey buried ...Read more

The Celtics stalled out in the final game of their Western Conference road trip, losing to the Denver Nuggets 103-84 on Wednesday night.

The ugly loss featured Boston’s worst shooting performance of the season, as Joe Mazzulla’s club converted just 34.9% of its field-goal attempts and 27.9% of its 3-pointers.

It was the first time a ...Read more

Of No. 12 Nebraska men’s basketball’s four losses, only one was delivered by an unranked opponent.

The Cornhuskers made sure Maryland did not add to that ledger.

Nebraska overcame its longest drought of the season to overcome the upset-minded Terps, 74-61, on Wednesday night before an announced sold-out crowd of 15,028 at Pinnacle Bank ...Read more

CHICAGO — For the second time in less than a week, the Chicago Bulls must navigate the resurgence of a prior injury in one of their acquisitions from the flurry of trades at the deadline.

Guard Anfernee Simons aggravated a fracture in his left wrist during Saturday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons while attempting to work through a screen. It ...Read more

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Brandin Podziemski turned 23 years old Wednesday morning, but he waited until that evening in Memphis to really celebrate.

The birthday boy led a short-handed Warriors team to a bounce-back 133-112 victory on the second night of a back-to-back, both playing the role of floor general he wants to play, while also moving the ...Read more

DETROIT —The Oklahoma City Thunder were missing nearly their entire core due to injuries, with seven players sidelined, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who missed his ninth consecutive game due to an abdominal strain.

Given the number of players out, it seemed like the Detroit Pistons would have an easy victory. However, coach J.B. ...Read more

The St. John’s win streak ended in extreme fashion. And the Red Storm’s path to a Big East championship just got more complicated.

St. John’s was thoroughly outmatched on both ends in Wednesday night’s 72-40 loss to UConn in Hartford, Conn. – a sobering defeat that dropped the Johnnies back into second place in the conference ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Fifty-seven games in and the Lakers are still searching for answers.

The good: They’re solidly placed in the Western Conference standing, sitting in sixth but in a logjam below Oklahoma City and San Antonio, who are comfortably atop the field.

The bad: The Lakers (34-23) are the only team in the NBA that has a winning record ...Read more

A game after both Rudy Gobert (suspension) and Naz Reid (shoulder soreness) weren’t available for the Timberwolves, the pair returned as the Wolves began a three-game road trip in Portland against the Trail Blazers.

It was good they had Gobert back, as he came up big in the fourth quarter of a 124-121 victory Tuesday night.

It was a chippy ...Read more

In a topsy-turvy fourth quarter, the Lakers came up short when LeBron James missed a last-second shot that sent L.A. to a 110-109 loss to the Magic on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.

James had 21 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Luka Doncic had 22 points, but he was just eight-for-24 from the field and two-for-10 from three-point ...Read more

Jaylen Brown in street clothes? Payton Pritchard slogging through one of his worst shooting nights of the season?

Didn’t matter for the Celtics on Tuesday night in Phoenix.

Playing without Brown, who sat out with a knee contusion, Boston battered the shorthanded Suns 97-81 at the Mortgage Matchup Center to remain perfect on their West Coast ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Nets didn’t plan on spending their off day in Atlanta at an aquarium, but once Winter Storm Hernando turned into a full-blown nor’easter, normal stopped being an option.

Veteran forward Terance Mann helped rally the group for a trip to the Georgia Aquarium, a detour that turned a travel headache into something closer to a ...Read more

Welcome to the roller-coaster ride that is the 2025-26 Knicks season, a ride beginning with a free-fall from all-time highs: the post-Eastern Conference finals firing of head coach Tom Thibodeau, coinciding with the hiring of Mike Brown.

The Knicks haven’t quite been the same ever since, and even though eight players from last year’s roster...Read more