The Rockets are signing the forward to a partially guaranteed deal for 2019-20, according to a report from The Athletic, which cites unidentified league sources. Although Anderson wasn’t productive in 2018-19, he might be a great fit for Houston. Anderson can help stretch the floor, as he is a career 38% shooter from beyond the arc and is familiar with Houston’s system. Anderson spent two seasons with the Rockets from 2016-18, starting in 122 games during that span....

On Monday, it was reported that 2022 Opening Night will display both teams from last year’s NBA Finals when the Celtics host the 76ers and the Warriors host the Lakers. There will be no shortage of star power under the spotlight of Opening Night, as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown go toe-to-toe with Joel Embiid and James Harden to get the season underway. The Celtics-76ers rivalry rarely disappoints, as there is no love lost between these two franchises still to this day....

Take advantage of BetQL’s free trial and see all of today’s best NBA bets, including player props, plus what the model is projecting for every football game this week! Start your free trial today! NBA Betting Lines, Odds & Picks for Saturday Kings at Magic Prediction The only game on Saturday’s slate that doesn’t feature at least one team on a back-to-back is between the Sacramento Kings and Orlando Magic....

The Celtics showed up in Chicago to shrink the Bulls’ advantage in the series to 2-1. The Thunder outlasted the Rockets after James Harden’s potential game-winner hit the rim and bounced safely to the ground. Chris Paul turned into the “Point God,” saving the Clippers and giving LA home-court advantage once again. MORE: 14 worst choke-jobs in NBA playoff history Let’s take a look at what happened in each playoff game, along with the turning points and X-factors that helped shape the final scores....

The Warriors cruised to a first-round sweep of the Trail Blazers with a blowout win Monday night. They join the Cavs as the only teams to advance to the second round so far. The Raptors are now within one victory of moving forward to face Cleveland after defeating the Bucks at home. On the upper half of the East bracket, the Hawks are locked in a 2-2 tie with the Wizards following a hard-fought Game 4 win....

Mauer said in a recent episode of Fearless, a show from The Blaze hosted by Jason Whitlock, that some of the NBA’s over 70 referees in the union had questions about the union agreeing to a vaccine mandate. NBA players were not required to get the COVID vaccine before returning to play for the 2021-22 season, as the NBA Players Association pushed back on a full mandate. The league’s collective bargaining agreement with the National Basketball Referees Association, however, did include a vaccine mandate, and by the start of the season only four referees, including Mauer, were not vaccinated, Mediaite reported....

There is no love lost between the two Atlantic Division rivals and a new element of intrigue has been added to the rivalry, after Al Horford swapped Boston for Philadelphia in the offseason. The 33-year-old was a thorn in the Sixers’ side during three seasons in Boston, but brought his stay in Massachusetts to an end in July to sign a four-year, $97 million deal with Philadelphia. Few would have been as pleased by the news as Sixers’ big man Joel Embiid, who found Horford particularly frustrating to handle during matchups against the Celtics....

The four-time All-Star wants a trade out of Minnesota as soon as possible. Timberwolves president of basketball operations and head coach Tom Thibodeau isn’t interested in making a bad deal just to move Butler off the roster. And despite interest from several teams, the asking price for Butler is still too high, leaving both sides stuck in trade request purgatory. MORE: Butler has about 50 million reasons to want trade right now...

According to ESPN, it’s unclear how far the trade talks went, but multiple teams had interest. MORE: Porzingis latest to pile on Knicks’ confusing offense Porzingis left for his home country of Latvia in late March and hasn’t spoken with the Knicks since skipping the exit meeting. He decided to go against the Knicks’ wishes and play for the Latvian national team at EuroBask this summer. It appears Porzingis is fed up with the dysfunctional mess in the Knicks’ organization....

The incident was filmed on NBC Sports after Brandon Brown secured the win at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama on Saturday. Brown, clearly still processing his win, said: “Oh my God, this is just everything we’ve hoped and dreamed for. Everything I’ve ever wanted to do is take the trophy home to mom and dad.” Stavast noted the chants coming from the crowd when the camera shifted to the bleachers after Brown thanked his sponsors....

Singh shared a statement on her Twitter on Friday, which read in part: “Hey friends, my timing is very poor…in a recent episode of my show, I stupidly made a comparison about turbans that I’d like to apologize for.” Singh continued, “My guest was explaining how her kids were embarrassed I saw them with towels twisted on their heads and I said ‘don’t worry, it’s like my Punjabi friends.’ In the moment, my thought process was ‘don’t be embarrassed!...

Others receiving votes: Tennessee 176, Creighton 145, Indiana 111, Colorado 83, Iowa 83, Harvard 46, Boise State 22, Villanova 14, Arizona State 11, Georgetown 11, UNLV 8, Washington 8, LSU 6, Pittsburgh 6, Stanford 6, Boston College 5, La Salle 4, Missouri 3, Saint Louis 3, St. John's 3, Cincinnati 1.

The Big Ten and Big 12 conferences led the way with seven bids apiece in the 68-team field, while the ACC and Big East each have six and the SEC five. Kornegay said he was a bit surprised by a couple of those conferences getting an excess of teams into the Big Dance while one particular team is seeded too low in his opinion, which is why the matchups are really all that matters....

MORE: NCAA scoreboard | Vegas lines, pick | Day 2’s biggest moments | Weekend matchups Oregon Ducks (25-9) No. 8 seed, West Region Coach: Dana Altman (fifth season) Bid: At-large/Pac-12 Starting lineup G Jalil Abdul-Bassit, 6-4 Sr., 8.5 ppg, 1.8 rpg G Joseph Young, 6-2 Sr., 20.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg F Elgin Cook, 6-6 Jr., 13.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg F Dwayne Benjamin, 6-7 Jr., 8.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg F Dillon Brooks, 6-6, Fr....

Ali Siverhus, who works at the Big Red East in Lincoln, posted photos of the receipt left by a customer onto social media. According to Siverhus, after serving the man and his child, the customer left a five cent tip on a $38.20 bill along with the words “get rid of masks, tips will be bigger.” Siverhus described the actions of the customer as “wrong on so many levels” while posting the images....

Now the deputy defense secretary and his fellow neoconservatives are on the defensive. They are battling a growing crowd of critics on Capitol Hill and around the world as the Bush administration’s credibility–and its assumptions–are tested as never before. In Iraq, after another week in which U.S. troops died and got into fierce fire fights, elements of more than half of America’s Army divisions are tied down. Some U.S. officials have begun muttering the dreaded Q word–quagmire, a term Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had mocked on a visit to Baghdad in the days just after the three-week war....

Traditional painkillers used alone, especially non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), are often ineffective at treating neuropathic pain. The right combination of pain management strategies will help you function better and have a better quality of life. Treatments vary from person to person—it all depends on your pain and your needs. What Causes Neuropathy? This type of pain results from nerve damage. Damaged nerves become hyperexcitable and instead of merely processing pain signals, they will often start creating them....

Quality? An intercontinental call on land-line phones (four cents a minute) sounded great; chatter with a friend in Brazil from a cell phone in New York was a bit muddy. Mitigating factor: 10 cents a minute to So Paulo. You can check it out at Net2Phone.com. title: “Net Savings” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-27” author: “Marylin Jenkins” Quality? An intercontinental call on land-line phones (four cents a minute) sounded great; chatter with a friend in Brazil from a cell phone was a bit muddy....

The perception is that new coach Jason Kidd was threatened by Frank's vocal style and wanted more control over the team. Months later, with Kidd and the Nets in the playoffs, that belief has been dispelled by general manager Billy King. MORE: Pacers GM says Frank Vogel safe | Lance Stephenson will take hit in free agency The Nets were 5-12 to start the season, and King said the move was necessary in order for Kidd to gain ownership of the team....