Sports
Nuggets looking to match Thunder's defensive intensity
Feb 25, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) during the second half against the Boston Celtics at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images The NBA’s top offensive team meets the league’s top defensive team when the Denver Nuggets visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.
The Nuggets come into the game with an NBA-best 120.7 offensive rating, with the Thunder posting a 106.4 defensive rating — points allowed per 100 possessions — to lead the league.
Denver coach David Adelman has been trying to get more from his team defensively for much of the season, and progress was on display in Wednesday’s 103-84 win over Boston that was the Nuggets’ best defensive performance of the season.
“For us to do anything uniquely special this season, the defense has to come along,” Adelman said. “… The challenges will keep coming with OKC next. So it’s just got to be a more consistent thing.”
It will be Denver’s first trip to Oklahoma City since the Thunder eliminated the Nuggets with a 125-93 win in Game 7 of their second-round series last May.
Neither team is close to full strength, though.
Denver’s Jamal Murray left Wednesday’s game due to illness, while the Nuggets also remain without Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon, who are both recovering from hamstring injuries.
Oklahoma City had just nine players available during the second half of Wednesday’s 124-116 loss in Detroit and one of those players played less than a minute.
The Thunder were already without starters Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein in that game, plus key reserves Ajay Mitchell and Alex Caruso.
Isaiah Joe and Branden Carlson left with injuries in the first half of Wednesday’s loss.
Though the Thunder are likely to have more players available Friday, Jaylin Williams figures to continue to play a significant role.
Williams had a career-high 30 points in the loss to the Pistons, helping keep Oklahoma City in the game until the final minute despite the injuries.
“We just have a group of resilient guys,” Williams said. “We’ve been in a lot of different situations and I think regardless of what situation we’re in, we’re going to go at it the same way. We’re going to go out there, leave it all out on the court, we’re going to play defense, we’re going to play hard, we’re going to do those type of things.
“And I think the fact that we’re a team where we do the same things regardless of who’s in. That’s what gives us a chance in every game.”
Friday’s game will be the second of four meetings between the teams this season.
The Thunder won the first, 121-111, in Denver on Feb. 1.
Though it certainly won’t be front-and-center in the game, it will be the first matchup between fellow Serbians Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets and Nikola Topic of the Thunder.
After sitting out last season due to an ACL tear and the first 55 games of this season after an offseason testicular cancer diagnosis, Topic has played the last five games for Oklahoma City, averaging 3.2 points and 2.0 assists in more than 10 minutes per game.
Jokic is looking forward to finally sharing an NBA court with Topic after the two have been teammates with the Serbian national team.
“He’s a really good guy,” Jokic said. “Really talented. He’s the future of Serbian basketball. It’s good. … He’s fighting for something that is probably more important — most important — and he won it.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Heat rally in 4th quarter to take down Rockets
Feb 28, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) argues with Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) during the first quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images Bam Adebayo posted a double-double, and Andrew Wiggins ignited a fourth-quarter rally after returning from an in-game injury to lead the Miami Heat to a 115-105 victory over the visiting Houston Rockets on Saturday.
Adebayo paired 24 points with 11 rebounds to help the Heat snap a two-game skid. Pelle Larsson (20 points) and Tyler Herro (18) contributed to the balanced scoring attack for the Heat, who also received double-digit efforts from Jaime Jaquez Jr. (14 points) and Kel’el Ware (13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds) off the bench. The Heat shot 50% overall from the floor.
But it was Wiggins, who took an elbow to the jaw from Rockets center Alperen Sengun and needed stitches in his cheek to close the gash, who led a critical fourth-quarter surge. He assisted on a Ware alley-oop and a Larsson 3 to put the Heat ahead 100-92 before his transition dunk resulted in a three-point play and a 111-103 lead with 2:24 remaining.
Wiggins finished with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and three blocks.
Kevin Durant scored a game-high 32 points and added eight assists for the Rockets. Amen Thompson (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Tari Eason (10 points, 11 boards) added double-doubles, while Reed Sheppard chipped in 14 points and five assists for Houston.
The Rockets turned an early run, capped by a Sheppard 3, into a 14-4 lead, only for the Heat to respond with an 8-0 rally. Adebayo hit a 3-pointer to give Miami a 27-26 lead, and the Heat carried a 32-28 advantage into the second quarter after hitting 6 of 13 from beyond the arc in the first.
Miami extended its lead to double digits on a Ware tip-in, and led 41-28 before the Rockets scored their first basket of the second quarter with an Aaron Holiday 3-pointer at the 7:07 mark. That ended a 19-2 run by the Heat and sparked another Houston rally, featuring Sheppard and Durant combining to hit three 3-pointers and tie the game at 48.
The Rockets led 52-51 at the intermission after Miami missed 7 of 8 3-pointers in the second.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Braeden Carrington explodes for 32 points as Wisconsin routs Washington
Feb 28, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard Braeden Carrington (0) shoots a three point shot over Washington Huskies guard Zoom Diallo (5) during the second half at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images Braeden Carrington came off the bench Saturday to score a career-high 32 points and Wisconsin knocked down 17 3-pointers to earn a 90-73 Big Ten Conference road win over Washington in Seattle.
Nick Boyd added 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Badgers (20-9, 12-6 Big Ten), while Nolan Winter chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds. Wisconsin canned 44.7 % of its 38 3-point attempts, with Carrington going 9 of 15.
Freshman Hannes Steinbach led the Huskies (14-15, 6-12) with 22 points and 11 rebounds, his 18th double-double of the season and the most by a Big Ten player since Jared Sullinger of Ohio State collected the same total 29 years ago. Zoom Diallo scored 21 points.
Washington made 46% from the field but simply couldn’t mute the Badgers’ potent perimeter game. Bouncing back from an 85-71 upset loss Wednesday night at Oregon, Wisconsin earned a 39-35 edge on the boards and committed only six turnovers.
The final margin flattered the Huskies a bit. The Badgers led by as many as 28 points in the second half and cleared the bench by the time Washington scored the final seven points to make the margin more respectable.
Wisconsin set an early tone by stepping up its defense from the loss at Oregon. It held the Huskies without a field goal for a 6:04 stretch of the first half and opened up a 17-4 lead with 13:28 left when Carrington converted a 3-pointer.
Steinbach made two foul shots with 6:51 left to pull Washington within 22-14 but the Badgers pulled away when Carrington hit a 3-pointer and fed Winter for a layup and a 27-14 cushion.
With Boyd canning a short jumper from the baseline, Wisconsin went into halftime with a 36-21 advantage. The Huskies made only 7 of 28 field goals in the first 20 minutes and were outrebounded 25-17.
Boyd led the charge with 14 points in the half, sinking 7 of 14 shots from the field.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Commanding stretch gets No. 2 Arizona past No. 14 Kansas 84-61
Feb 28, 2026; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Koa Peat (10) dunks the ball during the first half of the game against the Kansas Jayhawks at McKale Memorial Center. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images Jaden Bradley scored six of his 10 points in a 16-0 scoring run as No. 2 Arizona took charge to deliver an 84-61 victory over No. 14 Kansas on Saturday at Tucson, Ariz.
The Wildcats (27-2, 14-2 Big 12) avenged their loss at Kansas on Feb. 9, which was their first of the season after a program-record 23-0 start. The victory also clinched at least a tie for the regular-season Big 12 title for Arizona.
Brayden Burries led Arizona with 20 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Koa Peat, who missed the Wildcats’ last three games with a lower-leg muscle strain, had 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Motiejus Krivas finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for Arizona and Ivan Kharchenkov had 11 points and six rebounds. The Wildcats outrebounded Kansas 48-26 and outscored the Jayhawks 30-20 in the paint and 16-8 in second-chance points.
Darryn Peterson, out with flu-like symptoms when Kansas beat Arizona in the previous meeting, finished with 24 points for the Jayhawks (21-8, 11-5). Tre White and Melvin Council Jr. each had 13 points for the Jayhawks.
After Arizona took a 47-35 lead with 14:45 remaining, Kansas went on a 12-2 run. Council, who made a 3-pointer early in the run, culminated it with a jumper to cut the Jayhawks’ deficit to 49-47 with 12:07 remaining.
Arizona responded with a commanding 16-0 run to go ahead 65-47 with 8:52 left. Kansas missed seven consecutive shots from the field in the stretch after making five straight.
The Wildcats’ string of seven straight made field goals pushed the lead to 76-56 with 4:42 left.
Arizona went on a 21-2 run to build a 21-5 lead with 13:35 left in the half. During that run, Kansas missed nine consecutive shots from the field.
Arizona scored six unanswered points to take its biggest lead of the first half, 37-19, with 3:52 remaining until halftime. The Wildcats failed to make a shot from the field thereafter in the half, missing five attempts, and Kansas closed with a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 39-28.
Flory Bidunga, who had 23 points and 10 rebounds in the previous matchup with Arizona, did not score and had two rebounds in the first half. He finished with two points and four rebounds.
Arizona outscored Kansas by 20 points at the free-throw line. The Wildcats were 30 of 34 at the line while Kansas was 10 of 11.
–Field Level Media
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