Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) checks the scoreboard late in Game 3 of an Eastern Conference semifinal NBA playoff basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, Saturday, May 10, 2014, in New York. The Nets won 104-90. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

LeBron James doesn’t turn his phone on or watch much television during the playoffs, but he heard about the growing criticism he received for not being able to finish Game 1 of the NBA Finals because of severe cramps in his legs.

James said that sor

(Photo: Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY Sports)

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. If you can’t stand the Miami Heat, stay away from the NBA Finals.

Here they are again: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and company in the NBA championship round back-to-back-to-back-to-back, a feat not seen since Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics of the mid-1980s.

And if you can’t stand the Heat, you’re hardly alone. Haters emerged when James took his talents to South Beach and said they’d win cha

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Steve Ballmer attends an NBA playoff game between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on April 29.

The Dodgers were sold in May of 2012 for $2.1 billion, while the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars fetched $770 million. The Milwaukee Bucks were the last NBA team to be sold, taking in a paltry $550 million last month in comparison.

That’s $2 billion with an uppercase B!

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has apparently won the bidding war Thu

The letter from Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s attorney to the NBA claiming no wrongdoing on Sterling’s behalf is a persuasive indication he plans to fight the league in court, sports law expert Warren K. Zola says.

“It was to put the NBA on notice that they’re preparing to go to battle,” said Zola, an adjunct professor of business law at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. “It’s clear that the attorney and, I assume, Donald Sterl

Stan Van Gundy will return to the sideline as coach and president of basketball operations for the Pistons, according to sources.
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The Detroit Pistons have reached an agreement in principle with Stan Van Gundy to make him their new coach and president of basketball operations, according to sources with knowledge of the talks.

Sources told ESPN.com on Tuesday night that Van Gundy and the Pistons have verbally agreed to a five-year pact worth an estimated $35 million,

Kobe Bryant, pictured during a game in Arizona on January 15, 2014, will miss the NBA all-star game after the Lakers say he is still suffering from pain and swelling in his knee (Getty/AFP/File, Christian Petersen)

Kobe Bryant, speaking publicly for the first time since Mike D’Antoni resigned from the Los Angeles Lakers, expressed apathy about the turn of events while saying he would, though, like to have an active role in choosing a new coach.

“Honestly I didn’t care,” Bryant said Thursday

Kevin Durant, of the Oklahoma City Thunder, made a memorable speech Tuesday as he accepted the NBA’s MVP award for the 2013-2014 season.

Durant began his speech by thanking God “for changing my life and letting me really realize what life is all about. Basketball is just a platform in order for me to inspire people.”

He then emotionally described the struggles he had growing up and then paid tribute to his mother, Wanda Pratt, who raised him and his brother as a single parent.

Watch Durant’s

Mark Jackson (Photo: Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Sports)

Long before Doc Rivers found himself defending his Los Angeles Clippers players who were the unwelcome participants in team owner Donald Sterling’s racist comments all week, he was concerned about another sensitive subject.

Religion.

It was late 1999, the start of Rivers’ first season as coach of the Orlando Magic, and he saw a situation in the locker room that he felt needed to be addressed. As his players took part in the pre-game pra

(USATSI)

Blowing their playoff opener turned out to be great therapy for the Dallas Mavericks.

Eighth-seeded Dallas rolled to a 113-92 victory over San Antonio on Wednesday night, snapping a 10-game skid against the Spurs and evening their first-round series at a game apiece.

Dallas didn’t relent in Game 2 after watching a 10-point lead evaporate in the final eight minutes of the series opener Sunday.

“Game 1 actually helped a lot more than today,” Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said. “We we

The New York Knicks announced on Monday that head coach Mike Woodson has been relieved of his coaching duties in addition to the rest of the coaching staff.

Team president Phil Jackson made the announcement Monday morning.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mike Woodson and his entire staff,” Jackson said via a released statement. “The coaches and players on this team had an e