Basketball Page 11 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Knicks on brink of first Finals trip since '99 while Cavs grasp for answers
CLEVELAND -- Jalen Brunson is a three-time All-Star and one of the premier point guards in the sport. He now stands one win away from becoming a Big Apple basketball legend.,The New York Knicks lead the Eastern Conference finals over the Cleveland Cavaliers 3-0, giving them an opportunity to advance...

Natisha Hiedeman's 24 points lead Storm over Mystics
Natisha Hiedeman matched a career-high with 24 points while rookie Awa Fam scored 10 in her WNBA debut as the host Seattle Storm rolled to a 97-85 victory over the Washington Mystics on Sunday.,Hiedeman shot 7 of 11 from the floor, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range for the Storm (3-4), who won the...

Clap back: Wings star Paige Bueckers has technical rescinded
The WNBA on Sunday rescinded a technical foul given to Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers two nights earlier.,Bueckers was driving toward the basket in the third quarter and drew a foul from Indya Nivar. Bueckers clapped three times after the whistle and was given the tech.,"I was hyped and showing pa...

Azzi Fudd catches fire, leads Wings over Liberty
Rookie Azzi Fudd scored 17 of her season-high 24 points in the crucial third quarter as the Dallas Wings defeated the host New York Liberty 91-76 on Sunday afternoon.,Wings guard Paige Bueckers also had 24 points, and teammate Arike Ogunbowale added 19 points. Jessica Shepard collected 10 points, 11...

Valkyries look to get defensive against sinking Sun
Having held their own on the road against two of the league's top teams, the Golden State Valkyries hope to take advantage of a four-game homestand that tips off Monday night in San Francisco against the Connecticut Sun.,The Valkyries stunned the New York Liberty and then played the Indiana Fever to...

Dream rally to stun Mercury
Rhyne Howard had 21 points and eight rebounds on Sunday afternoon to help the Atlanta Dream rally for an 82-80 victory over the Phoenix Mercury in College Park, Ga.,Allisha Gray added 18 points and Angel Reese posted a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double for Atlanta (4-1), which trailed by 12 with fi...

Fire take down Tempo in first battle of expansion franchises
The Portland Fire used an 11-point run in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 99-80 victory over the host Toronto Tempo on Saturday in the first meeting between the WNBA's new expansion teams.,Emily Engstler posted 16 points, seven rebounds and four blocks to pace a balanced effort for the Fire (3...

Knicks hammer Cavs again, take 3-0 series lead
CLEVELAND -- Jalen Brunson scored 30 points and Mikal Bridges added 22 as the New York Knicks never trailed in a 121-108 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday night, taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.,The third-seeded Knicks have won a fran...

Kelsey Plum burns former team for 38 points as Sparks outlast Aces
Los Angeles Sparks star Kelsey Plum had to watch her former team, the Las Vegas Aces, unveil the first championship banner the franchise has earned without her before Sunday's matchup at her old Michelob Ultra Arena home.,In true Plum fashion, she responded by torching the Aces for 38 points while l...

Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell (calf) ruled out for Game 4
The Oklahoma City Thunder have ruled guard Ajay Mitchell out for Sunday's Western Conference finals' Game 4 due to a right calf strain.,Mitchell, a second-year player who has started in place of All-Star Jalen Williams seven times through the first three rounds of the postseason, suffered the injury...

Fire takes down Tempo in first battle of expansion franchises
The Portland Fire used an 11-point run in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 99-80 victory over the host Toronto Tempo on Saturday in the first meeting between the WNBA's new expansion teams.,Emily Engstler posted 16 points, seven rebounds and four blocks to pace a balanced effort for the Fire (3...

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder eye commanding 3-1 lead over Spurs
Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wasn't fazed by the repeated chants of "flopper" from the opposing crowd in the second half of Friday's 123-108 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals.,"They're not going to like me," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "They...

Liberty G Sabrina Ionescu to make season debut vs. Wings
Sabrina Ionescu told reporters she plans to make her season debut Sunday when the New York Liberty host the Dallas Wings.,The four-time All-Star guard has been sidelined by a left foot injury suffered in a May 3 preseason win at Connecticut.,However, she has been practicing since Monday and told rep...

Liberty close to full strength as they host Wings
The New York Liberty got Satou Sabally back, and it looks like Sabrina Ionescu will be next.,New York, which will play host to Dallas on Sunday, is coming off an 87-70 loss to visiting Golden State on Thursday. One of the few bright spots for New York in that game was the Liberty debut of Sabally, a...

Natasha Howard's double-double leads Lynx over Sky
Natasha Howard scored 22 of her 26 points in the first half and pulled down 14 rebounds as the visiting Minnesota Lynx posted a big second quarter then held off a fourth-quarter Chicago Sky surge to win 85-75 on Saturday. ,Less than a week after Chicago won 86-79 at Minnesota, Howard helped make sur...

Young Mystics squad aims to get in sync as they take on Storm
The Washington Mystics have proven to be a tough team to deal with in the paint this season, averaging around 47 points per contest.,But in Monday's game against Dallas, the Mystics (2-2) struggled with it in a 92-69 loss and look to shake that performance off in Sunday's road matchup with the Seatt...

Mercury looking for reset as they hit the road to face Dream
The Mercury's week at home didn't go as planned. As the struggling team begins a three-game road trip with a Sunday afternoon tilt against the Atlanta Dream in College Park, Ga., Phoenix can't afford to fall any further behind.,Since opening the season with a surprising 99-66 blowout of the Las Vega...

Zia Cooke scores 25 to propel Storm past Sun
Zia Cooke scored a career-high 25 points as the Seattle Storm defeated the visiting Connecticut Sun 77-59 Friday night.,Rookie Flau'jae Johnson, a first-round pick out of LSU who was benched for the fourth quarter of Wednesday's 80-78 loss to the Sun, added 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists an...

Behind big bench contributions, Thunder overtake Spurs in Game 3
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 26 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder once again dominated with their bench, overcoming a sluggish start to beat the host San Antonio Spurs 123-108 in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals on Friday.,The Thunder lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 going into Game 4 i...

Aces hope return matchup with Sparks proves just as beneficial
The Las Vegas Aces return home in search of a fifth straight win following an unbeaten four-game road trip, taking on a Los Angeles Sparks team that has had a more turbulent start to the season than expected.,The Aces' trip began with a 27-point win over the Sparks on May 10 and was punctuated by Ch...