The incandescent Wizards star and future Hall of Famer plays not for his legacy, but for the moment. The reward is the workThe hot-take ecosystem in sports is unforgiving and relentless. There can be no waffling or clinging to the fence. There can only…
Washington and Houston swap perennial All-StarsNBA champions lock up services of Davis for five yearsRussell Westbrook is headed to the Washington Wizards and John Wall is moving to the Houston Rockets in a significant swap of point guards one an MVP, …
James Harden scores 59 including game-winning free throwTeams combine for third most points in NBA regulation gameJames Harden scored 59 points and hit a free throw with 2.4 seconds left to lift the Houston Rockets to a wild 159-158 win over the Washin…
Twenty-eight year-old to have surgery on ruptured achillesWall was already out for season following heel surgeryThe Washington Wizards’ John Wall, one of the most talented players in the NBA, will miss at least a year after a fall at his home.The five-…
• Kanter has been critical of Turkish president Erdogan• Washington Wizards 101-100 New York KnicksAs the Washington Wizards and New York Knicks rolled into town for the NBA’s ninth London game the league’s commissioner Adam Silver offered his full bac…
• Kanter has been critical of Turkish president Erdogan• Washington Wizards 101-100 New York KnicksAs the Washington Wizards and New York Knicks rolled into town for the NBA’s ninth London game the league’s commissioner Adam Silver offered his full bac…
A look back at the wildest few days of free agency in recent history: the winners (the Warriors, again), the losers (the Cavaliers, again) and all things King JamesAfter the Golden State Warriors swept to this year’s title, the joke was that the real N…
Unlike Philly or New York, Washington was never a sporting capital – but now it has its first cup in 26 years, and big plans for the futureWashington has always been a city of great crowds surging through its avenues, swirling across its vast grassy ma…
When the lanky, uncoordinated Kelly Olynyk is the hero – and villain – of an NBA playoff series, you know things have taken an odd turn
In a sense, the Eastern Conference playoffs essentially ended last night. When the Boston Celtics beat the Washington Wizards 115-105 in Game 7 of their series, they most likely merely secured their spot as the team that LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will beat on their way to their third straight NBA Finals. The only remaining drama in the East might be whether or not the Cavaliers will remain undefeated.
It wouldn’t have been any different had the Wizards won, by the way, although John Wall is a bigger potential X-factor than anybody on the Celtics roster. The truth was that the winner of this series, no matter which team it was, was going to be rewarded with the opportunity to be flattened by a far superior Cavaliers team.
Isaiah Thomas scored 29 points and had 12 assists, Kelly Olynyk scored a career-playoff high 26 points and the Boston Celtics used a big fourth quarter to outlast the Washington Wizards 115-105 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals Monday night.
Boston advances to the Eastern Conference finals, where it will host the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 on Wednesday.
3.56pm BST
Bryan will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s how the Spurs and Warriors got on yesterday:
Stephen Curry scored 40 points and hit a tying three-pointer with 1:48 remaining, and the Golden State Warriors rallied from way down after Kawhi Leonard was lost to an ankle injury to beat the San Antonio Spurs 113-111 on Sunday in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
Draymond Green gave Golden State the lead for good on a three-point play after the Warriors trailed by as many as 25 points. Leonard left in the third quarter after he re-injured his left ankle, and the Warriors capitalized with an 18-0 run.
Isaiah Thomas had one of his front teeth dislodged after an early game collision on Sunday but still ran up 33 points and nine assists, as the Celtics made 19 three-pointers to beat the Wizards 123-111 and take a 1-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup.
“I got in at 4am,” Thomas said after he returned from the funeral of his sister, Chyna, who was killed earlier this month in a car crash. “It’s tough, but it’s the playoffs so there are no excuses. I decided to play and I just tried to give it all for my team.”
Kevin Durant has made the Golden State Warriors the biggest winners of free agency, who were the others?
This offseason was always going to hinge on what Kevin Durant would do when he hit free agency. Durant’s surprise decision to sign a two-year, $54.3m deal with the Golden State Warriors could end up altering the league just as much as LeBron James’s decision to join the Miami Heat back in 2010. Durant’s shocking announcement came while the league was still adjusting to the new realities brought about by a salary cap. Some have found their situations greatly improved by the events of the last few days. Others, particularly those who hail from the Oklahoma City area, not so much.
That the Cleveland Cavaliers would drop a road game against a would-be playoff team while giving LeBron James a rare day off might not be all that surprising to most.
Still, trailing by as many as 30 points along the way to a 113-99 loss to John Wall and the Washington Wizards on Sunday did not sit well with Cleveland’s JR Smith. “If we’re going to play with a lack of energy … and come out and play the way we did today,” Smith declared, “we shouldn’t be who we are and be in these uniforms.”
The Suns sent Markieff Morris to Washington, the Nets got a new GM, but it was a better day for fans of clever accounting tricks than fans of actual basketball
After last year’s hectic trade deadline, there was hope that there would be a similar amount of action this year. Instead, the basketball world looked mostly the same on Thursday at 3.01pm as it did on Wednesday around that time, a reminder that the NBA trade deadline almost always disappoints. Still, even if Dwight Howard, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin, Pau Gasol and Al Horford all stayed put, enough happened yesterday that we can label a few winners and losers.
Point guard makes 11 three-pointers against WashingtonGolden State win eighth straight gameFollowing one of his worst offensive games this season, reigning NBA MVP Steph Curry stopped thinking about basketball and recalibrated his mind. It worked out j…
Avoiding overtime in Game 6 when Paul Pierce’s potential tying three-pointer was released after the clock expired, the Atlanta Hawks made it to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time by beating the Washington Wizards 94-91 on Friday night.
The Hawks held on thanks primarily to DeMarre Carroll’s playoff career-high 25 points, including two lay-ups in the last minute off assists from Jeff Teague.
Memphis Grizzlies and Atlanta Hawks fall to 0-1; Los Angeles Clippers will face Houston Rockets after eliminating the San Antonio Spurs in dramatic Game 7; Chicago Bulls prepare to face Love-less Cleveland Cavaliers
Now that it’s over, we can be honest: the first round of the NBA playoffs was something of a bust, salvaged only by the instant classic seven-game series played between the Los Angeles Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs. But, hey, maybe that just means that the postseason won’t peak early this year, right?
Well, maybe, assuming that it doesn’t instead devolve into a battle of attrition. While the quality of play should improve in this second round – the absence of the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors can only make things more interesting – it’s not promising that the surviving teams have apparently had to sacrifice players to the Basketball Gods to make it to the second round. The course of this postseason may end up being entirely dependent on the health, or lack thereof, of players like Kevin Love, Chris Paul, Bradley Beal and Mike Conley.
Paul Pierce and the Wizards embarrass Toronto; Rose and Rondo return to the postseason, and the Spurs, Trail Blazers and Clippers seek to split their series
So far, the NBA playoffs have felt underwhelming. Maybe because seven of the eight first-round series weren’t settled until the very last day of the regular season. Or maybe there have been too many teams taking 2-0 leads in this first round. However, there are some intriguing plotlines developing:
Brad Stevens on D on LBJ/Kyrie: “We made those guys earn everything they got, and I think that’s a step in the right direction from Game 1.”
We haven’t done particularly well against Toronto, but I don’t feel they have the ‘it’ that makes you worried.
In the NBA playoffs, home teams playing in the United States are 11-0. Home teams playing Canada are 0-2.
Come in fellows..no heroics …Who is holding Gordon..hell somebody man is open!
Come on Dubs…go to HOLE AND DRAW SOME FOULS! I DONT WANT TO HEAR Barkley’s MOUTH!
They BETTER COME ON….they are allowing AD to work out! I’m getting PISSED!
Paul Pierce and the Wizards embarrass Toronto; Rose and Rondo return to the postseason, and the Spurs, Trail Blazers and Clippers seek to split their series
So far, the NBA playoffs have felt underwhelming. Maybe because seven of the eight first-round series weren’t settled until the very last day of the regular season. Or maybe there have been too many teams taking 2-0 leads in this first round. However, there are some intriguing plotlines developing:
Brad Stevens on D on LBJ/Kyrie: “We made those guys earn everything they got, and I think that’s a step in the right direction from Game 1.”
We haven’t done particularly well against Toronto, but I don’t feel they have the ‘it’ that makes you worried.
In the NBA playoffs, home teams playing in the United States are 11-0. Home teams playing Canada are 0-2.
Come in fellows..no heroics …Who is holding Gordon..hell somebody man is open!
Come on Dubs…go to HOLE AND DRAW SOME FOULS! I DONT WANT TO HEAR Barkley’s MOUTH!
They BETTER COME ON….they are allowing AD to work out! I’m getting PISSED!
