#nba

#nba

PORTLAND Steph Curry nailed improbable shot after improbable shot on Friday night, but his expected excellence was not enough to overcome an inspired Blazers team that had spent the past 48 hours mired in controversy. The Blazers were led by acting head coach Tiago Splitter, who stepped into the role after Chauncey Billups was arrested on illegal gambling charges by the FBI on Thursday. The Blazers scorched the nets at the Moda Center, shooting 53.8% from the field. Curry scored a scintillating 35 points after scoring 42 the day before, but the rest of a mix-and-match Warriors lineup looked flat by comparison.

Players are trying their best to win; the games are on the level. If you lose that, if the games are fixed or the players are motivated by something other than the competition, the whole thing collapses. (This is why sports gambling was banned for nearly 100 years after the Black Sox scandal; it was understood by everyone involved, until very recently, that players and coaches gambling on their own games was sports' third rail.) There's no reason to watch a game you can't believe

Miami Heat player Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups were arrested yesterday over their alleged involvement in illegal sports gambling and rigged poker games, according to two separate but related federal indictments that were unsealed. The cases, which involve dozens of defendants spread across multiple states, illustrate the delicate relationship sports leagues have with the sportsbooks that pay them millions in sponsorship deals but also pose a potential reputational risk.

The operation carried out October 23 by the FBI, involving NBA players and several mafia families, could well have been lifted from this acclaimed piece of film making. In total, the FBI has arrested 37 individuals connected to the fraud ring. With the alleged involvement of three La Cosa Nostra crime families, an NBA head coach and Hall of Famer, as well as other current and former professional athletes, the investigative work that culminated with this morning's operation are reminiscent of a Hollywood movie.

The alleged scheme involving Rozier had to do with the manipulation of prop bets. The gamblers supposedly used non-public information about NBA players, and a network of straw bettors operating on online sportsbooks and in-person casinos, to bet hundreds of thousands of dollars. They bet the under on the players who intended to play worse, or remove themselves early from games.

The videos starts with today's stars being asked what memories come to mind when they hear the NBA on NBC. Many of them simply laughed and explained that they weren't even born when NBC carried games. Then, some of the game's past greats including Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Reggie Miller talked about genuine love for the game, and not being concerned with petty debates over which era was the greatest.

The modern NBA is typically a league built around competitive windows rather than perennial contention. Every team has missed the playoffs at least once in the past decade, except for the Boston Celtics (who last missed in 2013-14). As they build and pay their rosters -- especially under the current collective bargaining agreement -- teams must understand their competitive cycles and strategize accordingly. As the 2025-26 season begins, which teams need to win now, and which would prefer to compete later instead?

Gilgeous-Alexander was a little rusty but admitted getting the win was all that mattered. "I need to be better," he said. "We need to be better than what we just did. We're going to be a better team in a few months, but I fully believe this team will use tonight as a learning experience. "It was ugly tonight, but I'd rather it be ugly in a win than a loss for sure."

The uniforms of award winners from the 2024-25 NBA season will look a little different for opening week. Players such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (MVP), Evan Mobley (Defensive Player of the Year) and Stephon Castle (Rookie of the Year) will have their respective trophy icons sewn above the Nike swoosh on the front of their uniforms. Members of the All-NBA, All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams will also don a specific patch. However, individual awards have precedence over that one.

There is some crude math that takes into account last season's performance and offseason shuffling, and the two factors are combined to give a rough estimate of how a team will perform in the next season. This is by nature imprecise work, at best a series of educated guesses that paw at predicting something that cannot be predicted. At best, they can set the table, outlining expectations and identifying the spectrum of possibilities.

It's surreal to be part of the NBA's return to NBC, a network that defined basketball for an entire generation,

In August 2023, the Knicks filed a lawsuit against the Raptors, accusing the organization of illegally poaching Ikechukwu Azotam, a former Knicks staffer who served on their coaching and video coordination team from 2020 to 2023. According to the lawsuit, Azotam provided the Raptors with proprietary information about the Knicks' internal operations, including scouting reports, playbooks, and other sensitive materials related to the 2022-23 NBA season.

In recent years, Butler has become the NBA's undisputed king of media day trolling. In 2023, he had the internet buzzing with his "emo Jimmy" transformation, which came with straightened hair, a (possibly fake) piercing on his eyebrow and a mood that screamed "it's not a phase." But it all began in 2022 with ombre faux locs that had fans questioning how much his hair could've grown during the offseason.

I think obviously it's sad to see a man I've known for a long time part ways with this organization,

There are more possible NBA schedule combinations than there are atoms in the sun. That's not hyperbole-it's the mathematical reality facing anyone trying to arrange 1,230 games across 30 teams over six months while satisfying TV networks, player safety rules, arena operators, and competitive fairness requirements all at once. This impossible puzzle is exactly what Fastbreak AI, a 30-person startup out of New York, has built its business around.

ESPN's dutiful stenographer and avant garde language artist was one of the first people to break news of the Beasley investigation two months ago, and last Friday, he offered what looked like a promising final update to the story: Beasley was no longer the target of the federal investigation. That made it sound like Beasley had been cleared; Charania's ESPN story on the matter included a handful

Rose, a Chicago native, retired before the start of the 2024-25 season following a 15-year career in the NBA, which began when he was selected No.1 overall by the hometown Bulls. He spent eight seasons in Chicago, winning Rookie of the Year in 2009 and being named the youngest Most Valuable Player in league history in 2011. Rose led the Bulls to the NBA's best record during that season at 62-20

As the WNBA is rounding the corner into the final playoff push, we spent the bulk of this week's episode talking through several of the more interesting W storylines, including what makes the Atlanta Dream cool, the exhausting spectacle of Dildogate, and how Maitreyi sold her book.

Terry Rozier is tied to a federal gambling probe and had a disappointing season, averaging 10.6 points, impacting his trade value.