the-nba-playoffs Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

It's time for FS1 to do something about Skip Bayless and 'Undisputed'
Skip Bayless’ “Undisputed” has hit a dry spell since the departure of NFL Hall of Famer and current ESPN “First Take” analyst, Shannon Sharpe. Bayless’ new crew, which includes former NFL stars, rappers and a highly respected media personality, hasn’t been able to captivate the nation in the same ma...

It's make or break for the Los Angeles Clippers
Curses run deep. They fester in bloodlines, foundations and scorched Earth and are lamented in prose, lyric and declaration. From Shakespeare to Dostoevsky, curses are a part of the canon of human creativity. After the Boston Red Sox broke theirs in 2004 and LeBron James brought a championship to Cl...

The Cowboys getting beat down by the Bills might help them in the long run
Taking an ass-whooping can is a part of life. Whether getting physically dominated or simply enduring a hard loss, that moment is eventually almost unavoidable for most people. The Dallas Cowboys got their ass kicked in a physical sense all throughout their Week 15 matchup against the Buffalo Bills....

The NBA's In-Season Tournament is broken. Here's how it can be fixed
Nobody expected the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament to have it all figured out right away. However, there are some drastic changes that need to be made. Friday night marks the final portion of the NBA In-Season Tournament’s Group Stage. After this week, the tournament whittles down to eight tea...

How about some real stakes for the NBA In-Season Tourney?
If the NBA’s goal with its in-season tournament is to simply further pad its upcoming national television rights deals, that’s fine. A few more nationally televised contests will always increase the package, and the players on the floor for these games will compete. However, stars won’t change their...

It’s the summer of Grant!
The NBA Playoffs were not nearly as kind to Grant Williams in 2023 as 2022. However, the summer has been his oyster, specifically this month. He spent Independence Day weekend at the event of the summer — Michael Rubin’s White Party. A couple of days after mingling with A-Listers, the Boston Celtics...

Taurean Prince finds out about own free agency from Woj tweet
Adrian Wojnarowski’s sources inside front offices might be a little too eager to share with him. ...

2023 All-Postseason Team, a FANtastic performance by these 5 players
America, glad to see the NBA playoffs were able to hold your attention again. With an average of 5.47 million viewers per game, the 2023 postseason was the most watched in five years. And more importantly, per Darren Rovell, since April of the 20 most watched programs by Americans under 50, the NBA ...

Taylor Swift moving on...to Austin Reaves?
Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves played his way into a big bag of money during the team’s postseason run to the Western Conference Finals. Reaves became a full-time starter and a big-shot threat bailing the Lakers out in the playoffs on more than one occasion. Because of his play in the postse...

Jeff Van Gundy wages war on NBA halftime and free throws
ESPN NBA color analyst Jeff Van Gundy has never been shy when it comes to speaking his mind and voicing his opinions on the game of basketball. As a former head coach in the association and broadcaster for over a decade, he knows the game’s ins, and outs better than most. However, his latest comment...

Don't tune out the rest of the NBA playoffs just because the Lakers lost
Some of you American sports fans might be done with the NBA for the 2022-23 season. With the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Golden State Warriors all eliminated, some may feel that it’s time to prepare NFL fantasy draft strategies. Feel free, but with the Denver Nuggets playing the Los Ang...

Jimmy Butler completely sonned Grant Williams, Boston Celtics in Game 2
Forget what you’ve heard. The Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler is the most dangerous weapon left in the NBA playoffs. Boston Celtics forward Grant Williams found that out the hard way during game two of the Eastern Conference Finals Friday night. Williams chose the trash talk route and, of all people, chos...

The NBA Playoffs have earlier start times from here on out — God is good
In 2015, I was in Los Angeles for the annual Online News Association Conference. It meant that as a Michigan native, I was up at 9:00 am PST to watch the Wolverines obliterate BYU 31-0 in a college football game that had a noon kickoff on East Coast time. That was also the day that I understood the ...

Joel Embiid is right
Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokić are starkly different people. Yes, they are MVP centers who were not raised in America, but the similarities largely stop there. One player is from Africa and the other is from Europe. One player is the most physically dominant in the NBA, the other combines size, court ...

Will no NBA playoff games on Saturday help the XFL Championship Game’s ratings?
On Saturday at 8:00 p.m. EST on ABC (or ESPN+) in San Antonio, Texas, the D.C. Defenders (9-1) will face the Arlington Renegades (4-6) in the XFL Championship Game at the Alamodome. But, will anybody watch?...

Will the Warriors-Lakers series be determined by a dog on social media?
The defending champion Golden State Warriors pulled out a much-needed victory in Game 5 of their NBA Western semifinals series. Heart of a champion stuff after being down 3-1 to the Los Angeles Lakers right? There was no way that the winners of four of the last eight NBA Championships were going to ...

The NBA Playoffs are Anthony Davis’ world and Golden State is just living in it
On an early defensive possession in the Los Angeles Lakers’ Game 3 victory, Steph Curry turned on the jets along the baseline and left Jarred Vanderbilt eating dust on a drive to the rim. The only deterrent between Curry and two points was Anthony Davis stepping up to contest. Curry attempted to lof...

It’s not supposed to be that easy, Connor
The NHL playoffs like to revel in its celebration of depth and the unsung. Everyone gets a shift, so everyone had better do a job or more, and the puck can bounce onto anyone’s stick or off anyone’s ass to change a game, a series, a whole spring. It is not always a stage for the leading men to provi...

Denver Post columnist pens love letter to Nikola Jokić's undies
The low point of the NBA season has been the interminable debate over the MVP. From Kendrick Perkins and JJ Redick stirring an empty pot about prejudice giving the leg up to Nikola Jokić in the MVP race to Doug Gottlieb bashing his own skull in, blithering on about how race helped Joel Embiid win MV...