Bookmakers have adjusted to the Heat's Game 3 loss, with the expectation Miami will bounce back in Game 4. Miami was -1 on Saturday night but are being asked to lay just 2.5 points tonight. The Linemakers’ lean: When the barrage of three-pointers came raining down on the Heat in Game 3, it seemed like they gave up mentally and started just standing around. They got crushed on the boards (43-27) and were out-hustled in all facets, yet turned the ball over only 10 times....

Amir Johnson scored 16 points and Kyle Lowry had 14 as the Raptors rebounded from a 94-87 loss in Game 1. Patrick Patterson had 12 points and Greivis Vasquez finished with 11. FIRST ROUND PHOTOS: Eastern Conference | Western Conference Joe Johnson scored 18 points, Deron Williams had 15 and Mirza Teletovic 14 for the Nets, who will host Game 3 on Friday night. Hampered by foul trouble throughout the game, Brooklyn's Paul Pierce went 2 for 11 from the field, including 0 for 6 from 3-point range....

Washington rallied from 10 down in the fourth quarter after blowing a 17-point first-quarter lead. PHOTOS: Eastern Conference first round | Western Conference first round Nene scored the first six points in overtime after being held in check by Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah in regulation, and the Wizards hung on after Kirk Hinrich failed to convert at the foul line in the closing seconds. Noah had just hit two free throws when Beal missed a jumper with 18 seconds left....

The Pacers suffered a demoralizing loss at home in Game 3 against the Cavs and are on the verge of getting swept. The Bucks destroyed the Raptors to take a 2-1 lead in the East’s 3-6 matchup. As for the late game, the Grizzlies fought back in Game 3 for their first win of the series, but the Spurs still hold a 2-1 advantage. MORE: 14 worst choke-jobs in NBA playoff history...

A few tried, anyway, during a press conference with George that followed a 106-102 loss to the Cavaliers that swept the Pacers out of the NBA playoffs after the first round. First up was Bob Kravitz of Indianapolis’ WTHR-TV: “With free agency pending for you, do you want to stay in Indiana and how do you proceed at this point?” George: “I ain’t even at that point yet, Bob. Next question....

The four-time All-Star was sensational Thursday as the Spurs raced to a 120-103 victory at the AT&T Center to tie the series at 3-3. DeRozan finished with 25 points, seven assists and seven rebounds, scoring 12 points in the third quarter and adding another six in the last. The Nuggets had the best regular-season home record at 34-7 but lost Game 1 at the Pepsi Center, and DeRozan says the Spurs must drown out a partisan home crowd Saturday....

The Clippers received four technical fouls during the contest, and Rivers said the opposition got away with disrespecting officials. When Rivers tried to address his qualms, he was assessed a technical at halftime, which didn’t sit well with him. “I saw a couple guys on the other team cursing, yelling, pointing, yelling and nothing,” Rivers told reporters after the defeat. “It’s just not right. “We have to be consistent. My tech by the way, and you can read my lips, I said ‘all I want is consistency....

The Rockets were 2-0 down in the best-of-seven series heading into Saturday’s meeting at Toyota Center but halved that deficit with Harden predictably influential. The reigning NBA MVP contributed 41 points as the Rockets prevailed 126-121 in overtime, the guard’s haul including the game-sealing basket with less than 30 seconds of the additional period remaining. And Harden, speaking to ESPN after the game, revealed his mentality as the contest reached its crunch conclusion....

Houston prevailed 104-101 on Saturday to move up 3-0 in the best-of-seven series, the Western Conference’s fourth seeds looking a safe bet to advance to the semi-finals, where a potential meeting with two-time defending champions the Golden State Warriors awaits. Reigning league MVP Harden has enjoyed another remarkable scoring season but he went 0-for-15 in this game before belatedly finding his range, finishing with 22 points, 10 assists and four rebounds....

Jimmy Butler had 30 points and 11 rebounds as the 76ers leveled the best-of-seven series at 1-1 with a 94-89 win at Scotiabank Arena, ending their 14-game losing streak in Toronto. Nurse faced some criticism for not using Kawhi Leonard until three minutes of the fourth quarter had passed, while Marc Gasol and Danny Green also missed large parts of the final quarter. With the Toronto bench combining for 2-of-11 shooting for the game, Nurse concedes he may have to rethink his strategy moving forward....

Point spreads and totals are current as of Sunday morning. Check our odds page for updated Las Vegas lines. No. 5 Washington Wizards at No. 1 Atlanta Hawks (1 p.m. ET, ABC)Game 1 spread, total: Atlanta -5, 198Series prices: Atlanta -250, Washington +210 (Westgate) Atlanta (64-24 SU, 51-36-1 ATS) was challenged by the Nets in the opening round, finally dispatching them in Game 6 on Friday, 111-87 as 5-point road favorites....

To this point, teams have played more than a handful of games and while it’s too soon to make any sort of definitive judgments, good teams are beginning to separate themselves from the bad and it’s becoming easier to notice the fool’s gold of hot starts from opening week. Let this serve as a clear reminder: these rankings are not projections of how the final standings will look. There will be plenty of movement throughout the season, as it is a snapshot of how teams are trending right now....

Would he have gone through those same gates had he spent the 2016-17 basketball season with the Erie Bayhawks? MORE: LeBron James-produced ‘Student Athlete’ worthy of an F This is something every high-level basketball prospect will have to consider now that the NBA’s G League has announced it will offer $125,000 contracts to players leaving high school if they wish to turn professional immediately. The notion that elite players under the current age limit rules for the NBA’s draft are “forced to go to college” always has been a lie....

In a statement released Wednesday morning, NBA spokesman Mike Bass offered a response to questions about what would happen to players who miss games because of the COVID-19 vaccination requirements in New York and San Francisco. Local guidelines in those cities will prevent unvaccinated Knicks, Nets and Warriors players from entering their home arenas for games. (Visiting players will follow different protocols.) MORE: Curry doesn’t sound too happy about Wiggins’ vaccination status...

The soon-to-be-40-year-old Ginobili, a free agent who was expected to retire following the 2016-17 NBA season, is finalizing a contract to return to the Spurs, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. MORE: NBA free agency winners and losers Ginobili played for the Spurs last season on a one-year, $14 million contract. He has spent all 15 years of his NBA career in San Antonio, where he has averaged 13.6 points per game in his career and been a member of four championship teams....

These are the marquee matchups this week in the NBA, along with the full schedule (all times Eastern). MORE: Watch the NBA live and on-demand on fuboTV (7-day free trial) Cleveland Cavaliers at Golden State Warriors Monday, Dec. 25, at 3 p.m. on ABC Another chapter in one of the league’s great rivalries highlights the Christmas Day slate. The Cavs earned a 109-108 win last Christmas. The Warriors will likely miss Stephen Curry in this game, but Kevin Durant leads the still-stacked Warriors against LeBron James and one of the hottest teams in the league....

Rarely have NBA fights resulted to actual thrown punches rather than shoving, and that there’s been no publicly known history between Lopez and Ibaka makes this fight all the more bizarre. “That thing happened where you just start pushing each other," Ibaka told reporters after the game, “like always what happens when there’s contact, and then he throws a punch. You know, like a man, I had to defend myself....

On July 12, the NBA announced that the league’s Board of Governors has approved a couple of things. The first is harsher penalties for take fouls, which has been the topic of much discussion over the last couple of seasons. The second is the adoption of the Play-In Tournament on a full-time basis. Both will go into effect in the 2022-23 season, the NBA announced. How big of a deal is this?...

Of course, not every team was as lucky as Phoenix. The Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks were among the teams who did not land in their projected spot. NBA teams and players made their feelings known on Twitter as deputy commissioner Mark Tatum ticked off which teams were going where. Here are some of those highlights. DRAFT LOTTERY HISTORY: Revisiting results, No. 1 picks that changed the league With the draft order finally set, the speculation can truly begin until the big day on June 21....

OK, the trade between the Cavs and Celtics finalized Wednesday night didn’t reach Watergate levels, but Kyriemageddon had plenty of twists and turns. The Cavs ultimately sent four-time All-Star guard Kyrie Irving to the Celtics in exchange for a package of Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, the Nets’ 2018 unprotected first-round pick and the Heat’s 2020 second-round pick. MORE: Ranking 25 best NBA stars to change teams in their primes...