NBA

Los Angeles beat Houston 98-78 at Toyota Center, ending the series with its best defensive performance when the season required it most. After two straight Rockets wins had turned tension …

Some playoff games are won. Others are escaped. Toronto’s 112-110 overtime win over Cleveland in Game 6 belonged to the second category: frantic, strange, breathless and finally unforgettable. The Raptors …

Detroit’s season did not end in Orlando. It hardened. The Pistons beat the Magic 93-79 in Game 6 at Kia Center, tying the series 3-3 and forcing a Game 7 …

The Minnesota Timberwolves did not eliminate the Denver Nuggets at full strength. That is what made it feel louder. They were missing Anthony Edwards, Donte DiVincenzo, Ayo Dosunmu and Kyle …

The 76ers did not merely avoid elimination. They dragged the Celtics back into uncertainty. Philadelphia beat Boston 106-93 in Game 6, tying the first-round series at 3-3 and forcing a …

The Knicks did not close the series. They detonated it. New York walked into Atlanta for Game 6 and delivered a playoff performance that feels less like a win than …

Oso Ighodaro did not describe the Thunder as simply athletic, young or deep. He described something more unsettling: a team that seemed to know what was coming before it arrived. …

Stephen A. Smith heard Draymond Green’s what-if and took it somewhere colder: accountability. Green recently wondered aloud whether Steve Kerr’s system hindered his offensive development, especially after Kevin Durant arrived …

Draymond Green’s greatness has always lived inside a contradiction: the Warriors needed him to be everything, but not always in the ways he may have wanted. His latest reflection on …