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7:25 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry has seen the Golden State Warriors bounce back before multiple times this season and has confidence they will do it again in Sunday’s Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Citing how the Warriors rebounded from their 39-point loss in Game 5 at the Memphis Grizzlies in the

8:13 AM ET Not one uniformed member of the Boston Celtics had played in an NBA Finals game before Game 1 on Thursday night. Much was made of this, partly because of the vast Finals experience of the Golden State Warriors but mostly because storylines at this stage must be truffle hunted until no soil

7:28 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN SAN FRANCISCO — Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum said he isn’t spending time worrying about his 3-for-17 shooting performance in Game 1, saying it’s not the first time he’s had a bad game and that he’s confident he’ll bounce back in Game 2. “Once you’ve done something before, you know

2:36 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Not long after the Golden State Warriors‘ fourth-quarter meltdown to drop a rare Game 1 in the coach Steve Kerr era, a relaxed Draymond Green began setting the tone for the team entering Game 2. “It’s fine,” Green said after the Boston Celtics stunned the Warriors 120-108. “You get

1:48 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN SAN FRANCISCO — After yet another ugly third quarter in a playoffs full of them for the Boston Celtics, it looked to all the world like the Golden State Warriors were on their way to claiming Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Chase Center on Thursday night. But then

4:06 PM ET Orlando Magic executive Matt Lloyd has agreed to become senior vice president of basketball operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves, sources told ESPN on Friday. Lloyd, who spent a decade with Orlando as assistant general manager and VP of basketball operations, is the first significant hire by Timberwolves’ president of basketball operations Tim

8:00 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO — A year ago, Boston Celtics owners Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca executed an audacious move: They made their successful coach a rookie team president and replaced him with a rookie coach. Had anyone on the dais the day the move to elevate Brad Stevens was formalized — June 2,

11:58 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Like two heavyweights feeling each other out in the opening round of a championship bout, the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics opened the 2022 NBA Finals, with the Celtics striking the first blow with a 120-108 comeback victory. The Celtics won Game 1 with a scintillating 17-0 run

10:55 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN SAN FRANCISCO — Commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA is considering switching the voting process for All-NBA selections each season from the current position-based system to one where voters select the 15 best players regardless of position. Silver said it is something he plans to address with the National Basketball

3:35 PM ET Nike founder Phil Knight and Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Alan Smolinisky have delivered a written offer of more than $2 billion to purchase Portland Trail Blazers and are in serious talks to acquire the team, sources told ESPN on Thursday. Knight and Smolinisky have been engaged in discussions with the Paul Allen

6:58 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN SAN FRANCISCO — The Boston Celtics have been managing injuries to both Marcus Smart and Robert Williams for most of the last few weeks. But, on the eve of the NBA Finals, both players said they were ready to go for the start of the league’s championship round against the

5:33 PM ET Among the assets gathered in the James Harden blockbuster trade, the Brooklyn Nets are deferring acquisition of the Philadelphia 76ers‘ 2022 first-round pick at No. 23 to the 2023 NBA draft, sources told ESPN. Brooklyn informed the league office of the team’s decision on Wednesday, hours ahead of a midnight deadline, sources

8:00 AM ET Which team will be this year’s NBA champion? The 2022 Finals features the league’s top two defenses throughout the regular season, but the Golden State Warriors–Boston Celtics clash will focus on some of the most dangerous offensive threats in the game. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, their Splash Brothers partnership whole again

3:52 PM ET Max Strus still can’t believe his 3-pointer early in the third quarter of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals was overturned by the NBA’s replay center. Speaking for the first time since Sunday’s 100-96 loss to the Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat guard admitted that the call is still bothering him.

11:34 PM ET Adrian Wojnarowski Close Senior NBA Insider Host of The Woj Pod Joined ESPN in 2017 Tim MacMahon Close ESPN Staff Writer Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009 Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks Appears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM After weeks of conversations with ownership and management, Utah Jazz coach Quin

2:19 PM ET Golden State’s Stephen Curry has never won an NBA Finals MVP award, but oddsmakers believe this is his year. Curry is the consensus favorite to be named MVP of the Finals between the Warriors and Boston Celtics at sportsbooks around the nation. He’s the even-money favorite at Caesars Sportsbook. Boston’s Jayson Tatum

11:42 PM ET The Golden State Warriors are the favorites in the NBA Finals over a Boston Celtics team looking to make underdog history. Caesars Sportsbook installed the Warriors as -160 favorites over the Celtics (+140) in an intriguing best-of-seven series that tips off Thursday in San Francisco. Golden State opened as a 3-point favorite

2:05 AM ET MIAMI — As the Miami Heat digest a “heartbreaking” 100-96 loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, Erik Spoelstra and his staff believe that a momentum-changing overturned call in the third quarter will provide a “case study” for the NBA as far as replay reviews go

8:00 AM ET After three rounds of upsets, thrillers, blowouts and everything in between, the NBA Finals are here — and it’s a series that will pin some familiar faces against a group with zero experience on the league’s biggest stage. The Golden State Warriors, led by three-time champions Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay

3:15 AM ET MIAMI — Erik Spoelstra’s eyes traced the shot as it left Jimmy Butler‘s hands. The arc looked good. It was rotating perfectly. The emotions swelled in the Miami Heat coach’s chest as he instinctively kicked out his legs in the final moments of Sunday’s Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals inside

11:22 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN MIAMI — Nothing about this Boston Celtics season has been easy. So, it stands to reason, making it to the NBA Finals wouldn’t be, either. But, at the end of a grueling seven-game series in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat, that is exactly where the Celtics have

8:00 AM ET After the many ups and downs of the 2022 Eastern Conference finals, including double-digit wins and injuries to star players, the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics are facing off for Game 7 in Miami on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET (on ESPN and the ESPN app). The winner will advance to play

5:17 PM ET MIAMI — The NBA announced that it has fined the Miami Heat $25,000 for “violating league rules regarding team bench decorum.” “On multiple occasions, several players stood for an extended period in Miami’s team bench area, stood away from the team bench, and were on, encroaching upon or entering the playing court

1:11 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN MIAMI — Ahead of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka said that after his team has gone through a roller-coaster ride of a season to get to this point, it is only fitting that this series will come down to Boston having to win

9:08 PM ET Brianna Williams The Los Angeles Lakers secured their new head coach with the hire of Darvin Ham, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Prior to joining the Lakers, he served as an assistant for the defending NBA Champion Milwaukee Bucks. He has worked under Milwaukee head coach Mike Budenholzer since 2013, when the

2:13 AM ET BOSTON — The Miami Heat might have to clear some room in Championship Alley. That’s the name for the path from their home court to the locker room that is filled with wall-sized memories of greatness from Miami’s past. Gary Payton‘s jumper that started their 2006 Finals comeback. Blood dripping down Udonis

8:43 PM ET The Los Angeles Lakers have hired Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham to be their next head coach, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Ham, who takes over the Lakers as a first-time head coach, replaces Frank Vogel, who was fired in April after the team went 33-49 and missed the playoffs this season.

8:00 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN BOSTON — As they find themselves on the precipice of the 2022 NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics might find motivation in a series that happened a decade ago. The Oklahoma City Thunder were near the top of the basketball world in 2012, having reached the Finals with a roster featuring

11:27 PM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Warriors are heading back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2019 and for the sixth time in the last eight years. The Warriors punched their ticket with their 120-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 on the Western Conference

4:30 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN Zion Williamson has been cleared in his return to play progression without any restrictions, the New Orleans Pelicans announced Thursday afternoon. The announcement clears the way for Williamson to go through offseason workouts unrestricted this summer as he prepares for the 2022-23 season. Williams missed the entire 2021-22 season after