Nba Playoffs | featured news

Kevin Durant scored 25 points and hit the game-winning jumper from the foul line with 1.5 seconds left to lift the Thunder to a 99-98 victory over the Mavericks on Saturday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series..

The air got sucked out of United Center with 1 minutes 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Derrick Rose, back and bouncing, was still in the game, neither the score (12-point lead) nor the clock requiring it. But this was the playoffs, Philadelphia had trailed a few minutes earlier by 20, Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau wanted to seal the deal.

Incredibly, they were the 29th-ranked offense in April, scoring less than a point per possession over their final 16 games. Only the 7-59 Charlotte Bobcats were worse. Now, it's not like anyone was writing the Heat off before the postseason began.

The Orlando Magic entered Indiana's building as huge underdogs and walked out talking trash....

Knicks rookie Iman Shumpert had to be carried off the court after he suffered a left knee injury midway through the third quarter of Game 1 between the Knicks and Heat on Saturday.

Sure, basketball is a team sport, but NBA games are often won and lost by individual matchups. Here are five to watch in the first round of the playoffs....

A year ago, it was all different. LeBron James calls it a transition phase, one where he was wrapped up in figuring out how his game was going to mesh with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami....

Derrick Rose and the Bulls outclassed the Knicks, who showed improvement but still lost their sixth in a row and fell into a tie with the Bucks for eighth place.

This was how LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh envisioned it when they decided to unite in Miami, and now that a championship is in sight, they're not offering any apologies.

After all the incredible shots Dirk Nowitzki has hit this postseason, it was his vintage stuff - a straightaway 3-pointer and a pair of free throws - that put the Dallas Mavericks back in the NBA finals.