Sports
NBA roundup: Josh Giddey, Bulls stun Lakers at buzzer
Mar 27, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Coby White (0) celebrates his three point basket against the Los Angeles Lakers with guard Josh Giddey (3) during the second half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images Josh Giddey buried a miracle shot from beyond halfcourt at the final buzzer as the Chicago Bulls overturned an 18-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 119-117 on Thursday.
The Bulls trailed 115-110 with 12.6 seconds remaining before delivering down the stretch with a wild sequence of plays. Patrick Williams and Coby White hit 3-pointers for Chicago before Los Angeles’ Austin Reaves made a layup with 3.3 seconds left, setting the stage for Giddey’s heroics.
Giddey finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists for his fifth triple-double of the season, while White scored 26 points and Kevin Huerter added 21 for Chicago. The Bulls won their fourth game in a row.
Reaves scored 30 points for the Lakers, and Luka Doncic had 25 points, 10 boards and eight assists. Los Angeles took its fourth loss in five games.
Pacers 162, Wizards 109
Nine players scored in double figures as Indiana set multiple franchise records in a blowout of host Washington.
The Pacers began to pull away with a 12-0 run in the first quarter. That spurt set Indiana on its way to scoring 83 first-half points, just three shy of matching the franchise’s single-half record. But while the Pacers did not quite reach a half scoring mark, they broke their single-game record of 157 points reached twice last season.
Tyrese Haliburton’s 29 points led the Pacers. Haliburton hit 7 of 10 from 3-point distance, helping Indiana set another organization record for 3-point makes with a 27-of-47 night from beyond the arc as a team. Alex Sarr scored 22 points in the most lopsided loss in Wizards history.
Heat 122, Hawks 112
Tyler Herro scored a game-high 36 points on 13-for-17 shooting, helping guide Miami over visiting Atlanta.
Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell added 16 points apiece for the Heat, who have won three consecutive games. Bam Adebayo collected 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Trae Young had 29 points and 12 assists for Atlanta, which dropped its second in a row. Caris LeVert scored 17 points off the bench.
Cavaliers 124, Spurs 116
Jarrett Allen scored 29 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and Darius Garland produced five key points in the final 1:16 as host Cleveland defeated San Antonio.
Donovan Mitchell added 25 points, 14 assists and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers, who have won three straight games. Max Strus scored 18 points.
Stephon Castle led San Antonio with 22 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Devin Vassell also had 22 points as the Spurs dropped their second game in a row.
Mavericks 101, Magic 92
Jaden Hardy scored 22 points and Anthony Davis added 15 to go along with seven rebounds, fueling Dallas to a victory at Orlando.
Brandon Williams scored 14 points and Klay Thompson and Max Christie each had 12 for the Mavericks, who changed the complexion of the game by erupting for a 20-2 run to end the third quarter.
Orlando’s Paolo Banchero finished with 35 points to eclipse the 30-point plateau for the fifth straight game, and he grabbed 10 rebounds. Franz Wagner recorded 20 points and nine rebounds as the Magic saw their three-game winning streak end.
Rockets 121, Jazz 110
Alperen Sengun totaled 33 points and 10 rebounds to boost Houston to a victory over Utah in Salt Lake City.
Jalen Green added 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists as the Rockets posted their 11th win in 12 games. Amen Thompson and Tari Eason each had 15 points, and Thompson pulled down 10 rebounds.
Collin Sexton led Utah with 21 points, but the Jazz fell for the fourth consecutive outing. Brice Sensabaugh and Keyonte George each contributed 17 points off the bench.
Thunder 125, Grizzlies 104
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 37 points to lead Oklahoma City over visiting Memphis, the Thunder’s eighth straight victory.
Gilgeous-Alexander added six assists and three steals and didn’t have a turnover. Oklahoma City All-Star Jalen Williams scored 20 points in his return from a hip injury. Isaiah Hartenstein scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 11 rebounds.
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 27 points to lead the Grizzlies, who have lost four of their last five to drop to fifth in the Western Conference standings. Scotty Pippen Jr. added 17 points.
Kings 128, Trail Blazers 107
Zach LaVine scored 29 points on 13-of-18 shooting to help Sacramento break a four-game losing streak with a win over visiting Portland.
Domantas Sabonis recorded 22 points, 19 rebounds and six assists and DeMar DeRozan had 21 points and 10 assists for the Kings, who shot a season-best 64.9 percent.
Deni Avdija registered 24 points and nine rebounds and Shaedon Sharpe added 22 points and seven rebounds for Portland, which clinched a losing season with a third straight loss.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Knicks and Nuggets Blow Big Leads: What Went Wrong in Game 2?
Roughly 5,000 feet of elevation separate Denver and New York City.
Still, gravity works the same regardless of where one stands. Just ask the NBA teams in both towns.
“You get too high, and you get, I don’t want to say cocky, but feeling yourself,” Nuggets guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said.
That sensation went south on either side of the country Monday night.
After squandering sizable leads that would have cemented commanding 2-0 advantages in their respective first-round playoff series, the Nuggets and Knicks now find themselves bracing for a fight.
Should their opponents ultimately have their number, Denver and New York will look back with disdain on 19 and 14. Those were the Game 2 cushions the teams coughed up as the No. 3 seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference.
“It’s a game we should’ve won,” Knicks guard Josh Hart said. “In the playoffs, we can’t give away games.”
Be that as it may, the Knicks did just that against the Atlanta Hawks. They controlled the outcome for much of the night and took a 12-point edge into the fourth quarter after leading by as many as 14.
Then New York shot 5-for-22 from the floor in the final 12 minutes compared to 10-for-15 for Atlanta. Fighting through vulgar chants from the Madison Square Garden faithful, Hawks star CJ McCullom scored six straight points down the stretch during one key sequence on the way to a game-high 32.
“In that fourth quarter, you could tell [the Hawks] were playing with a level of desperation,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “There were four 50-50 balls, and they got three of the four. We always use that stat to gauge the level of aggression in a game. In that fourth quarter, their aggression stepped up.”
New York’s melted at the same time. How many late possessions saw the Knicks pass or hold the ball around the perimeter before settling for subpar looks from 3-point range? The Knicks went 3-for-11 from deep as part of their flop.
Denver led the Minnesota Timberwolves by 19 points early in the second quarter before crumbling. The Nuggets still were ahead by three points to start the fourth quarter but a combined 2-for-12 shooting effort from pillars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray in the final 12 minutes took a toll.
“I feel like we had the game in hand, and then we just didn’t make our shots,” Murray said.
As with the Knicks and Hawks, the reversal of fortunes stemmed both from the hosts’ miscues and an outstanding effort from a visiting player, as Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards had 30 points.
“Great leadership, positive,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “He recognized he needed to get into attack mode and get downhill a little bit more. He did that.”
The Knicks and Nuggets no doubt sensed the need to amp up their own urgency as things started slipping away Monday.
That neither could act upon it didn’t signal the end for either New York or Denver, of course. But now there’s unnecessary added weight for the climb back to the top.
Sports
Pistons seek return to identity vs. Magic after Game 1 shocker
Apr 19, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris (12) is defended by Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) in the second half during the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images After an exceptional regular season, this wasn’t the start to the NBA playoffs that the Detroit Pistons envisioned.
Reeling from a stunning Game 1 loss in which only two players reached double figures, the Eastern Conference’s top seed heads into Game 2 Wednesday against the visiting Orlando Magic facing early pressure to reset the best-of-seven series.
The eighth-seeded Magic controlled the opener from the start, never trailing and leaning on a balanced offensive attack. Paolo Banchero led the way with 23 points while Franz Wagner scored 11 of his 19 in the fourth quarter to help close out the 112-101 win.
For Detroit, the issue wasn’t just the loss — it was how it happened. The Pistons never established their defensive identity and struggled to find consistent offense beyond star guard Cade Cunningham, two areas that will be central entering Game 2.
“It starts, always, with us defensively,” said Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff. “When you go back and watch the film of that (game), we weren’t ourselves defensively. The telling tale is typically when we play them, they go to the free-throw line a ton.
“… We went 38 (times) but they went 19. So that means we weren’t playing our brand of basketball, being physical, being handsy, being aggressive. That kind of sets the tone for us.”
Offensively, the Pistons leaned on Cunningham, who scored 39 points, but got little other support — scoring their fewest points in nearly three months, since a loss to the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 29. Detroit will need more help from All-Star center Jalen Duren, who was held to just eight points and seven rebounds in Game 1.
“They came out ready from the jump,” Duren said. “We didn’t really meet their intensity. They’ve been playing with their backs against the walls the last few weeks, so they were already kind of already rolling. I think we just got to do a better job meeting that intensity.”
Duren said the Pistons remain confident despite the loss, which extended their home playoff losing streak to 11 games, the longest in NBA history.
“We know the type of team we are,” Duren said. “We feel like we’re the better team. We know that we’ve just got to make adjustments and come out smarter, come out playing harder.”
Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said he has talked to his team about not becoming too overconfident coming off Sunday’s win.
“It’s one game at a time,” Mosley said of his message to the team. “It’s the reality that, yeah, you did get the Game 1 win, but now you have to go and figure out how to get a Game 2 (win). There’s going to be, obviously, the positive talk about what you’ve done, and thinking there’s reasons to celebrate, but at the end of the day, it’s one game, and that’s the most important piece that we’ve talked about: just taking it one game at a time.”
Banchero said the team has received the message, and he believes the key for the Magic is to play defense like they did in the opener.
“I thought we were on a string, just communicating, talking out coverages,” Banchero said. “I think it’s just going to continue to take that, being aggressive, being the aggressors on defense and just not trying to give them much. Obviously they’re going to make shots, but just not trying to give them any free looks.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lynx star Napheesa Collier (ankle) targets June for on-court work
Mar 2, 2026; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Unrivaled Co-founder Napheesa Collier at Barclay’s Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images The Minnesota Lynx said Tuesday that star forward Napheesa Collier’s rehab from left ankle surgery is “progressing as expected,” and she could resume on-court activities in early June.
The team plans to release updates on Collier’s progress when available.
The timeline means Collier will miss, at minimum, the first month of the WNBA season, which begins May 10 for the Lynx.
Collier underwent surgery on her ankle on March 24 after sustaining a severe injury during the 2025 playoffs. Per reports at the time, she sustained a Grade 2 tear of three ligaments in the ankle and a muscle in her left shin on a collision during Game 3 of the playoff semifinal series vs. Phoenix.
Collier, 29, averaged a career-high 22.9 points and shot 40.3% from 3-point range to go with 7.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.5 blocks per game last year. The back-to-back WNBA Most Valuable Player runner-up, Collier is a five-time All-Star and earned MVP honors in the 2024 Commissioner’s Cup final and the 2025 All-Star Game.
–Field Level Media
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