7:05 AM ET THWACK!! Detroit Pistons defensive wizard Tayshaun Prince, all 215 pounds of him, smashed into an immovable, 7-foot-3, 260-pound object named Zydrunas Ilgauskas. The Cleveland Cavaliers big man planted himself adjacent to Prince with the explicit purpose of preventing him from tracking a precocious 21-year-old LeBron James. Splat!! This time the culprit was

1:58 AM ET The last time we saw the Los Angeles Lakers, nearly a week ago when they were finishing off the small-ball Houston Rockets in the second round of the playoffs, centers Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee had been relegated to socially distant cheerleaders on the bench. An important role in a mostly-empty, fanless

1:59 AM ET The Denver Nuggets have made history by beating the odds this postseason, but they couldn’t overcome the Los Angeles Lakers and a second quarter full of whistles in Friday night’s Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. The Nuggets were called for 16 fouls in the second quarter, and Nikola Jokic, Jamal

7:10 AM ET It’s not the battle of Los Angeles that many around the league expected, but here we are. After making NBA history with consecutive comebacks from 3-1 series deficits, the Denver Nuggets take the postseason’s most unlikely run into a matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers. And no, despite Nuggets head coach Michael

12:42 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — After the Boston Celtics blew a second straight second-half lead and lost 106-101 to the Miami Heat on Thursday night, Celtics guard Marcus Smart was yelling at his teammates in the locker room before leaving the room swearing, according to ESPN’s Malika Andrews. Smart left

10:45 PM ET In the NBA postseason, there’s often a team that discovers its potential along the way. It learns what it is, banks on its strengths and builds confidence with each win. The Toronto Raptors accomplished that in the 2019 playoffs, and in the Year of the Bubble, the Miami Heat are that team.

4:06 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Toronto Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, who has one year remaining on his contract, on Thursday said he has yet to enter discussions with team ownership about an extension. “No, I haven’t had discussions, and honestly, coming out of this, things are a little raw,” Ujiri said on

6:24 AM ET THE NINE MONTHS it took to schedule a dinner between Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and the franchise’s newest superstar, LeBron James, really wasn’t that long by Los Angeles standards. James lives in Beverly Hills; Buss lives in Playa Vista. Busy people, L.A. traffic, intense jobs — nine months is actually

7:02 AM ET Michael Malone and LeBron James experienced their first conference finals together 13 years ago: the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ stunning 2007 upset of the Detroit Pistons when James was just 22 and Malone was an assistant coach. Their faces aren’t quite as smooth now and they have less hair, but their presence together in

2:47 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Phase 1 of the NBA in-market bubble has started for the Detroit Pistons, but veterans Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose, and free agents Christian Wood and Langston Galloway aren’t participating right now, according to coach Dwane Casey. “All of our young guys are here. Derrick Rose and Blake are not