LOS ANGELES — The Lakers felt good about their starting lineup Thursday when Luka Doncic and Rui Hachimura returned from injury to restore their normal starting unit for only the seventh time this season.

But the good times didn't last long. Coming out of halftime down 10 points to the Houston Rockets, the Lakers announced Austin Reaves ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Lakers guard Austin Reaves will not play in the second half against the Houston Rockets because of left calf soreness, the team announced in the third quarter Thursday.

Reaves missed three games with a left calf strain before coming back to play at Phoenix on Tuesday night. He scored 17 points off the bench in the Lakers’ loss...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — A remixed version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” played over the Chase Center soundsystem when Klay Thompson emerged from the visitors’ tunnel. Stephen Curry was already in the middle of his warm-up routine. Neither exchanged a glance.

The moment the Christmas Day crowd was waiting for came about 10 minutes ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Austin Reaves did not play in the second half of the Lakers' 119-96 Christmas Day loss to Houston Rockets because of left calf soreness.

Reaves missed three games with a left calf strain before returning against Phoenix on Tuesday. He scored 17 points off the bench in the Lakers' loss to the Suns.

Against the Rockets at Crypto...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — On one end of the court was Steph Curry, going through his famed shooting routine with longtime coach Bruce Fraser at Chase Center on Thursday.

On the other was his onetime Splash Brother, Klay Thompson, wearing green Mavericks attire. One after another, both baskets were peppered with swishes by an all-time great shooter.

...Read more

CHICAGO — Before he became the coach of four Warriors championship teams, and long before he helped revolutionize basketball by pushing the boundaries of offense, Steve Kerr had three jobs for the 1990s Chicago Bulls:

Knock down enough shots to space the floor for Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, make the correct reads in Chicago’s famed ...Read more

MIAMI — Heat coach Erik Spoelstra long has stressed a focus on where the focus should not be on evaluating a player’s performance, namely not the last line in the box score, namely not the points column.

Exhibit A often has been team captain Bam Adebayo, with the ball movement, rebounding, defense of the Heat center transcending solely ...Read more

DENVER — As two Nuggets starters inch closer to a return, another will replace them in street clothes on the sideline.

Cam Johnson is expected to miss at least four to six weeks after hyperextending his right knee Tuesday in Dallas, the team announced before hosting Minnesota on Christmas. Johnson underwent an MRI that revealed a bone bruise ...Read more

THORNTON, Colo. — Until Peyton Watson walked into his life, little Noah had never ridden a bike with training wheels. A week later, he can’t stop.

“Where did he go? Louisa Wagner asks.

“NO-AH!” Louisa’s husband Harry shouts.

“NOOOO-AAAAAH!!” Louisa cries.

It’s the second day of winter, three days to Christmas, and 73 ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — Paige Bueckers got her first break from basketball in nearly a year when her WNBA season with the Dallas Wings ended on Sept. 11, but just a few months later, the former UConn women’s basketball star is already back on the court in Miami preparing to make her debut in Unrivaled.

Bueckers could have opted not to play during...Read more

CHICAGO — Winning is a contradictory thing for the Chicago Bulls.

The Bulls allowed opponents to score at least 120 points in four of their last six games. They also won all four of those games. This dichotomy is powering a four-game winning streak for the Bulls, who at 14-15 after winning five of six — including two straight over the Hawks...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Julius Randle was 3 for 11 from the field after three quarters, and in the fourth quarter of the Timberwolves’ 115-104 victory over the New York Knicks on Tuesday night, Randle hit his first shot attempt.

The Knicks called a timeout down eight, and Randle did something that might seem odd for anyone else who was shooting just ...Read more

NEW YORK — Eighty-two. Seventy-three. Seventy-two. Eighty-two. Eighty-three. Eighty-two. Eighty-two — and now 29.

Mikal Bridges’ track record of perfect attendance reads like an NBA head coach’s fantasy.

Mike Brown is living that fantasy in real time during his first season at Madison Square Garden, guiding a Knicks team with ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Warriors coach Steve Kerr had his player’s back on Wednesday afternoon.

Kerr declined to put the blame on Draymond Green for the mid-game argument between the two that led to Green leaving the bench and not returning to the game in the Warriors’ victory over the Magic on Monday.

In fact, Kerr went a step further than just...Read more

PHOENIX — Austin Reaves returned from a left calf strain that sidelined him for three games, but the Lakers’ second-leading scorer did nothing to fix the team’s most glaring weakness.

The Lakers’ defense collapsed in a 132-108 loss to the Suns on Tuesday at Mortgage Matchup Center, giving up a season-high field goal percentage (59%), ...Read more

Michael Porter Jr. lit the fuse early, and the Nets’ defense did the rest.

Porter poured in a game-high 28 points and Brooklyn sustained its December defensive surge Tuesday night, holding the Philadelphia 76ers to 40.7% shooting while forcing 17 turnovers in a 114-106 win at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The victory improved the Nets to 9-19 and ...Read more

MIAMI – On the night before the night before Christmas, another lump of coal for the Miami Heat.

So make it eight losses in the last nine games and a .500 record at the holiday break with Tuesday night’s 112-91 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Kaseya Center, this time their lowest-scoring game of the season.

Looking nothing like the team ...Read more