nba-finals Page 29 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Nets will be ultimate test of ‘defense wins championships’ theory
At some point, the Brooklyn Nets will need to get stops. Simultaneously, when it matters, they’ll need to prove they’re healthy. But even without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, James Harden was able to turnaround what would’ve been a dispiriting loss to the Phoenix Suns — who led by as many as 24 po...

The NBA All-Star Game is a fan event, and playing one without them is idiotic and dangerous
For the most part, the NBA has done a good job navigating through the pandemic....

The Miami Heat are victims of circumstance
It’s easy to eyeball the defending Eastern Conference champions through the prism of disappointment without absorbing the nuance plaguing their dispiriting season. ...

Defense and the play of a former Celtic gave Lakers their 17th NBA championship
Defense wins…. well, you know the rest....

Butler does it again — but like, at a whole ’nother level — to extend NBA Finals
If you watched Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Friday night, you know that just watching it was incredible and that not a whole lot needs to be said. The Heat extended everyone’s stay in The Bubble with a 111-108 win, with Jimmy Butler getting the best of LeBron James in a back-and-forth battle for the ...

Finals TV Ratings prove LeBron isn’t must-see TV
This was supposed to be appointment television....

Three years ago, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was balling with an ankle monitor, last night he helped LeBron James take a 3-1 lead in NBA Finals
Role players are imperative to a team’s championship run....

The Heat is off in NBA Finals; Time is a flat circle in WNBA Finals; Central teams all spit bit in MLB playoffs
The Lakers and Heat did indeed play a basketball game...

It wouldn’t be the NBA Finals without devastating injuries
It happens practically every year during the NBA Finals....

How a first quarter timeout helped LeBron James win Game 1 of The Finals for only the second time in his career
Whoever came up with the idea that a single play can’t determine the outcome of a game is a damn liar....

Lakers-Heat feels a lot like Lakers-Pistons
Before you simply dismiss the Miami Heat and hand the Los Angeles Lakers the NBA championship trophy, stop and take a little closer look at this matchup....

The NBA Finals begin tonight, here’s what you should know
Tonight’s matchup involves two fan bases that were bored during last year’s playoffs as the Heat and Lakers were at home, with Miami finishing with a 39-43 record while Los Angeles finished 37-45. It’s the first time two teams are meeting in the Finals that didn’t qualify for the postseason the year...

We Rank the Worst No. 1 Picks in NBA Lottery History
Since the NBA’s first draft lottery in 1985, there have been 11 first-overall picks who did not make an All-NBA team or appear in an All-Star Game. That number is a little inflated because Zion Williamson and DeAndre Ayton are just getting started, so when you’re trying to figure out which is the wo...

No One Has More To Lose On An NBA Reboot Than LeBron James
If — or when — the 2019-2020 NBA season gets back under way, there can be only one loser at season’s end....

Surprise, Surprise: Masai Ujiri Won't Be Charged For Allegedly "Concussing" Sheriff's Deputy After Winning NBA Finals
In a statement almost perfectly timed with the beginning of the defending champion Toronto Raptors’ season, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has announced that team president Masai Ujiri won’t be charged for his role in an altercation with a sheriff’s deputy that happened when he tried ...

Emma Meesseman Proved She Can Carry The Mystics To Greatness (As Long As She Wants To Play For Them)
Going into the WNBA playoffs, it would have been fair to underestimate the impact of Washington Mystics forward Emma Meesseman. Though she was one of the Mystics’ most efficient scorers—she’d be in the 40-50-90 club if she had enough attempts to qualify—she often felt like a lesser version of her te...

The Mystics Did The Shit
The Washington Mystics used a strong fourth-quarter surge and the interior dominance of series MVP Emma Meesseman to overcome a second-half Connecticut Sun lead, then confidently held the relentless visitors at arm’s length down the stretch to win Game 5, 89–78, and capture the franchise’s first eve...

Connecticut Sun Survive Massive Mystics Comeback, Force Winner-Take-All Game 5
Kristi Toliver should have worn a different shirt. The Washington Mystics’ veteran guard was not quiet about her and her team’s intentions as they walked into enemy territory in Connecticut for Game 4 of the WNBA Finals: They wanted to clinch the franchise’s first-ever championship, and they wanted ...

Right On Cue, Elena Delle Donne's Back Is All Screwed Up
Elena Delle Donne left Game 2 of the WNBA Finals with back spasms after just three minutes in the first quarter Tuesday night, not 24 hours after I (a blithering, cheeky idiot!) proclaimed the Washington Mystics more or less invincible. The Connecticut Sun managed to steal the game on Washington tur...