Nba, Playoffs | featured news

Miami took a big step forward. Indiana lost two forwards. Suddenly, the road back to the Eastern Conference finals no longer looks daunting for the Heat.

Eight people were shot in Oklahoma City Monday night just blocks from the Chesapeake Energy Arena as large crowds were leaving the Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers game, police said.

The Spurs rallied in the final minutes to beat the Clippers 102-99 on Sunday night, closing out the series 4-0 and advancing to the Western Conference finals.

After two straight exhausting playoff games that went down to the last gasp, Kobe Bryant knows the Los Angeles Lakers can't hope to keep up with the younger, faster Oklahoma City Thunder.

Dwyane Wade lashed out in frustration during the worst playoff game of his career. His target wasn't wearing an Indiana uniform. Wade confronted his coach as the Miami Heat melted. The star had an animated exchange with Erik Spoelstra on the sideline in the third quarter, a disturbing low point on a night when nothing went Miami's way, and the Heat were throttled 94-75 by the Pacers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The San Antonio Spurs had just taken Game 1, and Manu Ginobili didn't want to hear another word about winning 15 in a row or not losing in more than a month. "I don't even want to know about that," Ginobili said.

Pau Gasol was consumed by determination, holding off Kenneth Faried with one arm and relentlessly tipping the ball at the hoop with the other in the fourth quarter of Game 7. One, two, three, four - five! - offensive rebounds later, the ball finally surrendered and dropped through the hoop....

The NBA playoffs are in full swing and already there have been some surprises. Who would have thought the Bulls could lose a first-round series, or that the Knicks would win a game against the Miami Heat?

Ty Lawson scored 32 points, fellow spark plug Corey Brewer added 18 and the Denver Nuggets forced a Game 7 in their first-round playoff series with a dominating 113-96 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night....

Kevin Garnett had 28 points and 14 rebounds, hitting a jumper to give Boston the lead with 31 seconds left, and the Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks 83-80 in Game 6 on Thursday night to win their first-round playoff series and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the fifth straight year.