Nba Playoffs, Basketball | featured news

The Spurs moved on, and Dallas is done early again. Manu Ginobili scored 26 points and San Antonio survived blowing a 22-point lead to beat the Mavericks 97-87 in Game 6 on Thursday night, handing Dirk Nowitzki and second-seeded Dallas another first-round exit.

LeBron James' puzzling elbow injury will get an extra day of rest before the next round of the NBA playoffs after the Cavaliers decided not to practice Wednesday.

The Celtics showed a killer instinct that had been lacking for much of this season by beating Miami 96-86 in Game 5 Tuesday, enabling them to begin preparing for a second-round series with Cleveland.

Pau Gasol scored 25 points and Andrew Bynum added 21 as the Los Angeles Lakers crushed the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-87 on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.

Antawn Jamison scored 25 points, LeBron James just missed a triple-double and the Cleveland Cavaliers advanced to a playoff date with Boston by beating Chicago 96-94 in Game 5 on Tuesday night in perhaps Vinny Del Negro’s final game as Bulls coach.

As the final seconds ticked down, Dwight Howard was back in his familiar spot on the bench and coach Stan Van Gundy was steamed at his superstar for fouling out again....

Kevin Durant scored 22 points, Russell Westbrook added 18 points and eight assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder evened their first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers with a 110-89 victory in Game 4 on Saturday night.

Jason Richardson scored a playoff career-high 42 points and the Phoenix Suns dominated from the start in a 108-89 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night that gave them a 2-1 lead in their first-round series.

The Suns led by as many as 31 points before Portland mounted a rally in the fourth quarter, closing within 91-80 after Rudy Fernandez hit three consecutive 3-pointers.

Kevin Durant scored 29 points, and Russell Westbrook added 27 as the Oklahoma City Thunder earned their first-ever playoff victory, holding off Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers 100-96 in Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Richard Jefferson rebounded from a miserable performance in the opener to score 19 points, helping the San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks 102-88 on Wednesday night and tie their first-round series at one game apiece.