Basketball

CLEVELAND (AP) — Indiana coach Rick Carlisle put it best in summing up his team's finishing punch in the Eastern Conference semifinals. “The winning team writes the script," he said.

These are the NBA playoffs of survival, where not even the stars are safe.

The diagnosis of a torn Achilles tendon for All-Star forward Jayson Tatum is a devastating blow to the defending champion Boston Celtics and the second injury of its kind during the NBA playoffs.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell is in the starting lineup for Cleveland’s must-win Game 5 of its second-round series against the Indiana Pacers despite dealing with a sprained left ankle . The No.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — There was no shortage of “WNBA Portland” T-shirts among the fans at the New York Liberty's preseason game at the University of Oregon.

BOSTON (AP) — When Jayson Tatum toppled to the court, writhing in pain and grabbing at his right foot late in the Celtics’ Eastern Conference semifinals Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks, it looked like a potentially season-altering injury.

BOSTON (AP) — Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves are on the brink of their second straight trip to the Western Conference finals.

CHICAGO (AP) — Rick Welts was there, 40 years to the date earlier, when the NBA draft lottery got started. He worked for the league then and was in the room when that first one took place.

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — A'ja Wilson went into last season trying to prove she was indeed the WNBA's best player even if MVP voters thought otherwise in 2023. She then went out and put together one of the best performances in league history.

The U.S. will open qualifying for the 2027 Basketball World Cup in November against the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and a third nation that will be determined later this summer by the results of a pre-qualifier tournament.