6:55 AM ET The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers have combined to play in nine of the past 15 NBA Finals series — including seven consecutive from 2008 to 2014 — without ever facing each other. That is, until Game 1 on Wednesday, the first time the two teams met on the NBA’s biggest
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The star of the Philadelphia 76ers expressed pure happiness after the team hired Doc Rivers as their new head coach. This past Monday, the Los Angeles Clippers announced the they and head coach Doc Rivers agreed to mutually part ways. Rivers immediately became the top commodity on the NBA’s head coaching market, and the Philadelphia
10:58 PM ET On Thursday, Doc Rivers snatched an opportunity to sculpt a young tandem — Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons — whose stardom would tantalize any coach, but who have yet to make good on their talent. Rivers enters a Philadelphia 76ers organization with title aspirations that believes an upgrade on the bench can
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. It’s hard to take many insights from a game that was essentially over at halftime and saw three of the Heat’s most important players suffer injuries — Goran
Toronto Raptors win Game 3 (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images) Deshaun Watson offers to pay rent of elderly woman struggling due to COVID-19 pandemic by Amy Kaplan OG Anunoby hits improbable buzzer-beater to save Raptors from 3-0 deficit (Video) by John Buhler OG Anunoby won Game 3 for the Toronto Raptors and saved their
6:50 AM ET THERE’S A PLAY in today’s NBA that can produce everything from a cut to the basket to a high-value 3-point shot. It’s a side out-of-bounds box set that features interchangeable positions and multiple options. And whenever the Golden State Warriors run it, they have to pantomime. “I didn’t want my guys yelling
Sep 30, 2020; Orlando, Florida, USA; Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic (7) shoots the ball against Los Angeles Lakers guard Alex Caruso (4) and forward LeBron James (23) during the second quarter in game one of the 2020 NBA Finals at AdventHealth Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports Lakers demolish Heat in injury-stricken Game
12:47 AM ET The Los Angeles Lakers made a loud statement with a 116-98 Game 1 win over the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. LeBron James recorded 25 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists, Anthony Davis added a game-high 34 points and 9 rebounds, and the 3-pointers were dropping for the Lakers, who turned
It doesn’t sound possible, but did you know that the crazy NBA summer of 2019 was, in fact, over a year ago? Wildly, in any normal, non-pandemic season, it all would have been over three months ago and, usually, media days would be right around the corner, but not this time. The 2019-20 NBA season
3:27 PM ET Philadelphia 76ers ownership — including Josh Harris and David Blitzer — will meet with Doc Rivers in Philadelphia on Wednesday night on the franchise’s head-coaching job, sources tell ESPN. Rivers talked earlier Wednesday with general manager Elton Brand. Other top candidates — including Mike D’Antoni and Ty Lue — also met with
The Lakers and Heat are an NBA Finals matchup with all sorts of historical ramifications and interesting questions. These are the lineup, matchup and strategic issues that will decide a winner. The NBA Finals are finally here. It’s been a long, strange road, so let’s not bother with a long preamble. Here are the tactical questions
The Miami Heat win with depth and versatility. The Los Angeles Lakers win with star power. Which style will win out in the NBA Finals? When LeBron James left Miami to rejoin the Cavaliers in 2014, creating a still unrepaired rift between James and his former team, neither the Heat nor the Lakers appeared remotely
7:30 AM ET After much springtime bloviating, there will be no asterisk on this NBA championship. If anything, it will be more badge of honor — a mark of perseverance through isolation, mental strain, and the internal discord of performing a job in the entertainment industry while issues of social and racial justice roiled outside
6:09 PM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Like a parent being asked to rank their favorite children, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James wanted no part in assigning special value to a 2020 NBA championship, should he win it against his former team, the Miami Heat. “It’s no extra meaning to winning a championship,
MIAMI, FL – MAY 24: LeBron James #6 and head coach Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat (Photo by Marc Serota/Getty Images) Twins fan trolling Astros with trash can outside Target Field (Video) by Steven Kubitza LeBron James had a lot of good things to say about Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. Miami Heat head
Joel Embiid and his girlfriend welcomed their first child on Thursday. Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers had NBA championship aspirations this season. But that never came to fruition, as the 76ers were the first team eliminated from the playoffs in the Orlando bubble after getting swept by the Boston Celtics. While getting sent home early
6:45 AM ET An hour before the 2019 NBA Finals tipped off in Toronto — the first time the league’s showcase event had been played outside the United States — commissioner Adam Silver reminded those watching that basketball’s founder, James Naismith, was a Christian missionary who brought the game to China and Europe in the
Miami Heat rookie Tyler Herro has made a small leap during the playoffs to help his team reach the NBA Finals in Orlando. The signature bucket of Tyler Herro’s 37-point Game 4 performance will be remembered as the deep, bravado-driven step-back triple he netted over All-Defensive First Team member Marcus Smart. It pushed Miami’s lead
11:38 AM ET Ramona Shelburne Close ESPN Senior Writer Senior writer for ESPN.com Spent seven years at the Los Angeles Daily News Ohm Youngmisuk Close ESPN Staff Writer Ohm Youngmisuk has covered the Giants, Jets and the NFL since 2006. Prior to that, he covered the Nets, Knicks and the NBA for nearly a decade.
The LA Clippers have parted ways with Doc Rivers. Who should replace him as head coach? Doc Rivers is a well-respected NBA head coach with championship experience. He’s 11th on the league’s all-time wins list, has won nearly 60 percent of his games over 21 years in the association and is one of the biggest
5:18 PM ET Doc Rivers is out as head coach of the LA Clippers, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, following a season that fell well short of championship expectations after the team landed All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George last summer. Against the Denver Nuggets, the Clippers squandered a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference
7:50 PM ET The risk profile on next season, already trending toward the red, just got hotter for the LA Clippers. After a devastating postseason collapse along with the crashing realization that both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George can become free agents next summer, parting with Doc Rivers Monday has only increased the stakes. This
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. In 2015, with backs to the wall and 1.5 seconds left on the clock, LeBron hit a buzzer-beating baseline jumper to give the Cavaliers another playoff win. It
12:43 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — This season, the Boston Celtics reached the Eastern Conference finals for the third time in four years. Now, although there was one obvious difference about this trip — it came inside the NBA’s bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort — they find themselves facing
10:12 PM ET There aren’t many days that go by during the NBA season when LeBron James doesn’t use lessons he learned during his four years with the Miami Heat. One has proven to be the most important: Keep the main thing the main thing. It is one of the core tenets that Heat president
Boston Celtics’ Kevin Garnett tries to block LeBron James (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images) Eagles lose DeSean Jackson, Dallas Goedert to injury by Rucker Haringey Should the Red Sox bring back Alex Cora as manager? by Brad Berreman Kevin Garnett isn’t as impressed with LeBron James’ career as most KG and Paul Pierce are enjoying
Few teams in NBA history have had such a stark contrast between their regular season and playoff success. As a result, the Milwaukee Bucks’ young superstar may be on his way out. If I told you that your favorite team would earn the No. 1 seed in back-to-back years, and on top of that employ
Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo won his second straight MVP award, beating out LeBron James for the NBA’s most prestigious individual award. Bucks superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo took home his second consecutive MVP award on Friday, becoming just the fourteenth player in NBA history to win the award multiple times. Just 25 years old, the
10:06 PM ET Associated Press LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — It was exactly one year ago Sunday when Jimmy Butler walked into the Miami Heat practice gym, took a seat on a makeshift stage and said he wanted to be part of the team’s next title run. He’ll have that chance. The Heat are going
The Denver Nuggets struck back with a much-needed win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3. After their Game 2 comeback fell short at the hands of an Anthony Davis buzzer-beater, the Denver Nuggets easily could’ve fallen apart in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. And yet, facing a 2-0 deficit against the