12:24 AM ET DALLAS — With the media swarmed around Dennis Smith Jr., Dorian Finney-Smith walked to his locker in the next stall Sunday night and jokingly greeted his Dallas Mavericks teammate: “Ruthless toothless!” Smith had most of his right front tooth fly out of his mouth when it was broken near the top by

12:48 AM ET SAN ANTONIO — DeMar DeRozan kept hearing coach Gregg Popovich in his ear Sunday night, when he turned a putrid start into near perfection in leading the San Antonio Spurs past the Portland Trail Blazers 131-118. DeRozan said Popovich has been “preaching” to him the mantra of “no guilt” when it comes

3:35 PM ET DETROIT — Already down a big man, Steve Kerr doesn’t expect Draymond Green to be able to play on the remainder of Golden State Warriors‘ current five-game road trip. Green has missed the last eight games with a right toe sprain and was hopeful that he could return on this trip. Now

12:28 AM ET Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS — That gruesome ankle injury that put Gordon Hayward through a grueling year of rehab forced him to adjust his game. However he’s able to make it happen, the Boston Celtics are more than happy to have him making the significant impact they envisioned all along. Hayward had a

11:59 PM ET DETROIT — Despite having Stephen Curry back on the court for the first time in more than three weeks, Steve Kerr said he had perhaps “one of my worst performances as a coach” after the Golden State Warriors lost in Detroit on Saturday night. After seeing the Pistons outshoot the Warriors from

2:31 PM ET Malika AndrewsESPN Chicago Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen has been upgraded to probable and could make his season debut in Saturday’s game against the Houston Rockets. Markkanen has been sidelined with an elbow sprain since September. Initially, he was scheduled to be out six to eight weeks. He has missed 23 games. He

1:56 AM ET J.J. Barea got ejected from the Dallas Mavericks‘ bench late in Friday’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers by referee Scott Foster for saying only, “That was a disaster,” the 13-year veteran guard told ESPN. “[On the first techical, Foster] said I was talking too much, but I never said a bad

11:56 PM ET SAN ANTONIO — The Houston Rockets, who are a game under .500, firmly believe that they’re still an elite team when healthy. The Rockets snapped a four-game losing streak with a 136-105 rout of the reeling San Antonio Spurs on Friday, when point guard Chris Paul returned after missing the previous three

3:46 PM ET Adrian WojnarowskiESPN Philadelphia 76ers guard Markelle Fultz will continue to see medical specialists about his right shoulder into next week, continuing a search for solutions that has included several rounds of examinations in recent days, league sources told ESPN. The Sixers will wait until Fultz completes those appointments before approximating his next

2:49 AM ET LOS ANGELES — If it seems like LeBron James has been shouldering a disproportionate part of the load for the Los Angeles Lakers so far this season, that’s because he has. The four-time MVP admitted after Thursday’s 104-96 win over the Indiana Pacers on Thursday that he’s struggled with striking the right