Tag: nytimes.com

ATLANTA — Karl-Anthony Towns, with each step, basked in the love a bit more. It was in the third quarter of Saturday’s Game 4 first-round matchup against the Atlanta Hawks when Towns checked out after yet another successful stint. He took a slow walk down the bench, walking past the last player wearing his team’s…

He remembers his coach’s words, back when he was just 12 years old. Back when he was growing up in Giresun, Turkey, a historic city on Turkey’s Black Sea coast. “You got to be the one.” Alperen Şengün was only a middle-schooler, but he realized he had to quickly grow up. Become the man his…

The Denver Nuggets are on the brink of elimination and the Detroit Pistons are in a hole against a No. 8 seed. The first round of the NBA playoffs has had its fair share of surprises. Orlando went up 2-1 on the Pistons with a win in Game 3 while Denver lost for the second…

Despite losing two starters in the first half, the Minnesota Timberwolves moved within one win of advancing to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. Behind a career-high 43 points from Ayo Dosunmu, the Timberwolves pulled away for a 112-96 win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. The sixth-seeded Timberwolves will take a 3-1…

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo suffered a torn right Achilles just over a minute into Saturday’s Game 4 against the Denver Nuggets, a team source told The Athletic. His absence strikes a mighty blow for the Timberwolves, who rely on DiVincenzo for a multitude of contributions. Advertisement DiVincenzo took a deep 3-pointer at…

The New York Knicks evened their best-of-seven first-round series with a convincing 114-98 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday at State Farm Arena. After dropping two straight games, New York responded in a big way behind Karl-Anthony Towns, who recorded a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. It marked his first…

The Orlando Magic can breathe a sigh of relief now. The Detroit Pistons pulled together a big fourth-quarter rally, erasing a 17-point deficit with 3:14 remaining in Game 3 to take a one-point lead, silencing Magic fans inside the Kia Center. But the Magic rose to the moment after relinquishing a lead to the top-seeded…

HOUSTON — Even after a historic collapse in the final seconds of their most important game of the season, the hot topic around the Houston Rockets this weekend has nothing to do with the players who were on the floor. Kevin Durant, who was sidelined with a sprained left ankle for the Rockets’ shocking 112-108…

The Houston Rockets were 27.8 seconds from getting back into their Western Conference quarterfinals series against the Los Angeles Lakers, having overcome a 15-point first-half deficit. But like moviegoers waiting for an MCU post-credit scene, Lakers guard Marcus Smart was hanging around in case the perturbed Rockets wanted to donate a clutch time game in…

PORTLAND, Ore. — Carter Bryant just wouldn’t take the shot. Rookie nerves, it seemed, were getting to just about every player on the San Antonio Spurs at one point or another in Game 3 of their first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers. But the Spurs wing was struggling in the playoff spotlight. Advertisement The…