Point spreads and totals listed here are the Las Vegas consensus as of Friday afternoon. Visit our odds page for updated betting lines. Bucks (41-41 SU, 45-35-2 ATS) at Bulls (50-32 SU, 39-43 ATS) Series odds: Bulls -700, Bucks +525Game 1 Line: Bulls -7.5, Total: 185.5 Chicago has significant players on the injury report, but all are expected to play. The Bulls will face one of the league’s best against-the-spread teams in the Bucks....
This year’s postseason will tip off with the NBA Play-In Tournament, which first debuted last year. The play-in was such a hit that the NBA plans to incorporate it in every season from now on. “As I’ve mentioned before, when we first were examining it, we were very focused on the actual Play-In games themselves,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver told reporters. “What we’re seeing is a far greater impact essentially on the last month of the season, where teams are either jockeying to get into the Play-In Tournament itself or jockeying to get out of the Play-In Tournament with a locked-in sixth seed....
Turns out he would instead deliver the Nets all the problems they could handle, posting 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting and grabbing four rebounds in the first quarter. MORE: Raptors coach takes subway to Game 7 | Eastern Conference first-round images Johnson didn't exactly have to be nimble because the Nets play veteran forward Paul Pierce at power forward. Because of that fact, Johnson just took advantage of his size, and he either scored over the top from the post or placed in an extra effort on offensive rebounds....
The sound of stealing back home-court advantage was the sweetest thing of all. Griffin scored 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Jordan had 14 points and 22 rebounds, and the Clippers outlasted the Warriors 98-96 Thursday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round series. MORE: Thunder fall to Grizz | Pacers in trouble "Winning ugly is beautiful," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "But as a coach I know we can be better, and I have to bring that out of us....
Doc Rivers wasn’t having it after a buzzer-beating loss to the Utah Jazz at the hands of Joe Johnson. MORE: Doc Rivers says NBA needs to ‘protect its product’ This question … was a bad one. It makes no sense for a team, down two in the waning seconds, to hold the ball and pass up a clean look. Unless he was trying to get Rivers to admit his team’s defense was bad enough that they should have taken the risk and focused on taking time off the clock....
Unless, of course, you’re dealing with the Cavaliers’ LeBron James. When King James has an off night, which happened in a 111-108 loss to Boston in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday, it becomes a social media firestorm. When the panic reaches its highest point, we’re left with no choice. The go-to move is to compare that off night to Michael Jordan. That’s the standard to which James, who shot 4 of 13 (30....
Back in the depths of the 2011 NBA lockout, it was a popular phrase for both then-commissioner David Stern and his deputy, Adam Silver. The idea was that the league’s collective bargaining agreement was being negotiated on two tracks: the split of league money between players and owners, and the fixes to the rules of free agency and salary caps that the league felt would be necessary to address competitive balance....
After a chaotic stretch run, we now know the eight Western Conference playoff teams: the Rockets, Warriors, Trail Blazers, Thunder, Jazz, Pelicans, Spurs and Timberwolves. The Nuggets were eliminated from postseason contention Wednesday night after an overtime loss in Minnesota. NBA PLAYOFFS: Odds to win championship On the other side, the East playoff bracket is set. The Heat jumped to No. 6 with an overtime win against the Raptors, clinching the Southeast Division title and keeping the Wizards at No....
The Bucks leveled their semifinal series with the Celtics thanks to Tuesday’s 123-102 victory in Milwaukee, having dropped the opener 112-90. Questions were asked of Antetokounmpo and the Bucks after the ‘Greek Freak’ was limited to seven-of-21 shooting for 22 points in Game 1. However, Antetokounmpo showcased his MVP credentials with 29 points and 10 rebounds in Game 2 — going seven for 16 and 13 of 18 from the foul line....
The 29-year-old forward came off the bench and tallied a team-high 20 points in Boston’s 110-106 win over the Pacers. He also added three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block as his team secured a sweep in Indiana. “Close-out game. I really wanted to win,” Hayward told reporters after the game. “Just trying to be a competitor out there. Juices were flowing, for sure.” Hayward was inconsistent for much of the regular season as he continued to recover from a devastating leg injury that cost him almost all of 2017-18....
The defense gets turned up to another level, as does the intensity and pressure, and teams have a chance to make multiple adjustments as the series progresses. Rookies often struggle come playoff time given the magnitude of the moment — and that’s only if they manage to reach the postseason with most first-year players stuck on struggling teams. This year’s rookie class is as good as we have seen in quite some time....
After getting blown out in Game 1, Philadelphia came away with a 94-89 win over Toronto on Monday at Scotiabank Arena. The 76ers looked like they were going to pull away as they carried a 13-point advantage into halftime and led by the same amount with 5:44 to play. But, the Raptors worked their way back into the game and cut their deficit to just one on a Pascal Siakam layup with less than 50 seconds remaining....
Since the remaining 22 teams will be playing at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla., why not add a little Disney-Pixar twist to the list? We will break down the entire field with divisions based on characters from the animated masterpiece “Toy Story.” (If you don’t agree it is a masterpiece, stop here. It’s just not going to work between us.) Important note before we dive in: These power rankings are meant to be a fun exercise, so don’t fret too much over the placement of your team....
As ESPN’s Chris Haynes reports, Leonard “has grown frustrated with how the organization handled his quad injury and feels the franchise turned on him once he sought a second opinion.” Considering Leonard is one of the biggest names in the league right now, there was no shortage of reaction from fans. KAWHI LEONARD NEWS: Spurs star wants out of San Antonio The wildfire only spread once reports claimed Leonard would ideally like to be traded to the Lakers....
Before 2008, the NBA did not stake much of a claim to the Christmas holiday. Only three times since 1985 had the league scheduled more than two Christmas games: 2002, 2003 and 2007, when there were three. In years when the NFL scheduled Christmas games, the NBA would defer by putting its own games on late at night (a 7:00 and 9:30 PM doubleheader in 1999) or early in the afternoon (12:30 and 3 PM in 2004 and 2005)....
On Wednesday, Kevin Garnett suited up in a Timberwolves uniform. LeBron James is leading the Cavaliers. The Lakers, Celtics and Knicks are terrible. The Spurs are the defending champions. It is as if the NBA hopped into a time machine to the mid-2000s. It was Garnett’s trade to the Celtics in 2007 that kicked off the NBA’s resurgence, just weeks after the Spurs-Cavaliers Finals hit a record-low rating and the Tim Donaghy officiating scandal rocked the league....
That has not always been the case with the NBA regular season in recent years, when it seemed that not only the champion was predetermined, but the matchup itself — Cavs-Warriors, four straight years — was easily predictable by the end of July. This year, with LeBron James leaving the Cavaliers and heading to the Lakers, the East is finally free from his grip. James has a run of eight straight Finals appearances going, but it’s safe to say that will end here....
Games would take place at the Wide World of Sports complex, a Disney-owned campus that spans 255 acres and features enough space to accommodate practices and lodging. MORE: NBA players want to ‘play bad,’ Chris Paul says NBA spokesperson Mike Bass announced the “exploratory” discussions Saturday in a statement, noting that the players association is also part of the conversations. “Our priority continues to be the health and safety of all involved,” Bass said....
Saramento’s preference is to find a rim protector or stretch four as they look to address issues on both ends of the floor. A big man with outside shooting ability would work well with Cousins, who functions out of the post and is an adept passer. MORE: Green starts over — again | Hairston fined $5,000 for flop | Cavs prediction The Kings drafted Stauskas despite having picked Ben McLemore only a year before....
