LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The last time Devin Booker walked off the court as a winner in four consecutive games, these were the opponents: Hampton, Cincinnati, West Virginia and Notre Dame.That is, until now.Booker and the Phoenix Suns — the team that came to the NBA restart at Walt Disney World with the worst record in the Western Conference and the second-worst record of the 22 teams in the field — are perhaps the best story of the bubble.They’re 4-0 at Disney, breathing real life into playoff hopes that basically were nonexistent when the season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic on March 11. It’s the team’s first four-game winning streak since December 2018; Booker missed one of those games, so it’s his first run of four wins in a row since helping Kentucky make its Final Four run in 2015.“It definitely feels like a tournament, a big AAU tournament, the March Madness tournament,” Phoenix’s Cameron Payne said Friday. “That’s something I never even got a chance to be... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The New Orleans Pelicans have scratched rookie Zion Williamson from the lineup for Friday night's game against the Washington Wizards.The team designated Friday a rest day for the NBA's top overall draft choice after he scored 24 points in 22 minutes in the Pelicans' 140-125 loss to Sacramento on Thursday.Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry noted that Williamson has not played games on consecutive days at all during his entire rookie season, “and that’s the same thing here.” "We just thought it would be best right now to do it this way, and we’ll evaluate tomorrow and see what’s going on,” Gentry added.The 6-foot-6, 285-pound Williamson has seen his playing time limited after missing nearly two weeks of practice in July to attend to a family medical matter.The former Duke star has played as few as 14 minutes and not more than 25 minutes in a game since the Pelicans resumed their season July 30. Williamson has averaged nearly 17 points and about 19 minutes in the Pelicans'... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The New Orleans Pelicans have scratched rookie Zion Williamson from the lineup for Friday night's game against the Washington Wizards.The team designated Friday a rest day for the NBA's top overall draft choice after he scored 24 points in 22 minutes in the Pelicans' 140-125 loss to Sacramento on Thursday.The 6-foot-6, 285-pound Williamson has seen his playing time limited after missing nearly two weeks of practice in July to attend to a family medical matter.The former Duke star has played as few as 14 minutes and not more than 25 minutes in a game since the Pelicans resumed their season July 30. Williamson has averaged nearly 17 points and about 19 minutes in the Pelicans' four games in the Disney complex. He has averaged 22.4 points in 23 total games this season after missing the first 44 games of his rookie campaign while recovering from right knee surgery.The Pelicans' playoff hopes have faded with three losses in their past four games. They might need to win all of their final four regular-season games to have a chance to qualify.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The last time Devin Booker walked off the court as a winner in four consecutive games, these were the opponents: Hampton, Cincinnati, West Virginia and Notre Dame.That is, until now.Booker and the Phoenix Suns — the team that came to the NBA restart at Walt Disney World with the worst record in the Western Conference and the second-worst record of the 22 teams in the field — are perhaps the best story of the bubble.They’re 4-0 at Disney, breathing real life into playoff hopes that basically were nonexistent when the season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic on March 11. It’s the team’s first four-game winning streak since December 2018; Booker missed one of those games, so it’s his first run of four wins in a row since helping Kentucky make its Final Four run in 2015.“It definitely feels like a tournament, a big AAU tournament, the March Madness tournament,” Phoenix’s Cameron Payne said Friday. “That’s something I never even got a chance to be... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — This is the land of in-between for the Los Angeles Lakers.Games right now matter, in the sense that only three contests are left to build momentum for the postseason. And games right now don’t matter, in the sense that the Lakers basically knew five months ago that they would be the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.They lost again Thursday night, with LeBron James getting the night off in a defeat to the Houston Rockets. The Lakers are 2-3 so far in the bubble, and their offensive numbers are brutal.There are 22 teams here at the NBA restart at Walt Disney World. Of those 22, the Lakers — the team with the second-best record in the NBA — rank last in field goal percentage (.408), last in 3-point percentage (.234), last in points per game (98.8) and next-to-last in free throw percentage (.729).“This is a totally different season, a totally different drastic situation for all of us, including myself,” James said this week.If they win Game 1 of the... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons is seeking treatment options on his injured left knee, and the 76ers are unsure the extent of the issue or how many games the All-Star could miss.Simmons left Philadelphia’s game against Washington on Wednesday midway through the third quarter because of injury, officially diagnosed as a suffered a subluxation of the left patella. A subluxation is a partial and temporary dislocation; the patella is the kneecap.It’s not uncommon for such injuries to require a recovery time of several weeks, though the 76ers have yet to announce a timeline.“Stuff is still being evaluated,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said. Simmons won’t play Friday against Orlando, but Brown said he’s still waiting to learn more. Later, Brown said he was hopeful of knowing more sometime Friday.Losing Simmons would be the latest big blow for a franchise that has endured many of them in recent years on the injury front. The 76ers went 47-199 in Brown’s first three seasons... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Two-time All-Star Ben Simmons left Philadelphia's game against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday in the third quarter with a left knee injury and did not return.Simmons grabbed a rebound and appeared to tweak his knee. He left the game and hobbled toward the locker room. He left the locker late in the fourth quarter wearing street clothes.Coach Brett Brown said after the game the team doesn’t know anything on the extent of the injury.“We don’t know," Brown said. "I’m sure the club will make some announcement. But as far as knowing more than that, I don’t. Obviously I’m very curious.”Simmons had eight points on 2-of-10 shooting before his departure.Philadelphia is off Thursday before facing Orlando on Friday.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Ben Simmons left Philadelphia's game against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday in the third quarter with a left knee injury and won’t return.Simmons grabbed a rebound and appeared to tweak his knee. He left the game and hobbled toward the locker room.Simmons had eight points on 2-of-10 shooting before his departure.Philadelphia is off Thursday before facing Orlando on Friday.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The Memphis Grizzlies will be without forward-center Jaren Jackson Jr. for whatever remains of this season after he hurt his left knee. The Grizzlies announced Tuesday that Jackson was injured when he landed awkwardly after making contact with an opponent while contesting a shot. Further evaluation found a meniscus tear in his left knee. Jackson is expected to make a full recovery. The Grizzlies, 0-3 in their seeding games, have a two-game lead over Portland and San Antonio for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. Jackson, the No. 4 overall selection in the 2018 draft out of Michigan State, is second on the Grizzlies with 17.4 points per game. Jackson scored 33 points in the Grizzlies' opening loss to Portland in the seeding games. ___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — All the Brooklyn Nets were missing Tuesday were their leaders in salary, points, points per game, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and 3-pointers. If that wasn’t enough, the feel-good story of Jamal Crawford’s return to the NBA lasted for about six minutes.And they won.The severely undermanned Nets beat Milwaukee 119-116 on Tuesday, temporarily delaying what will be the Bucks’ clinching of the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Bucks didn’t use Brook Lopez or Wesley Matthews at all, plus didn’t play All-Stars Giannis Antetokounmpo or Khris Middleton after halftime, though it should be noted that the Nets were winning at intermission anyway.Who the Bucks played or didn’t play wasn’t all that relevant to the Nets. The walls of the temporary locker rooms at the Visa Athletic Center are paper thin and don’t hold sound, but the Nets probably didn’t mind the fact that anyone within 100 feet could have heard their raucous postgame celebration.“Very... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Jamal Crawford made his Brooklyn debut, and it ended quickly.Crawford hurt his left hamstring in the second quarter of the Nets’ game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday. Crawford had five points and three assists in six minutes off the bench. He got hurt while being guarded by Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton, who appeared to step on Crawford’s foot. Crawford immediately started hopping, asked for a sub, went to the bench and the Nets didn’t need long to determine that his day was over.Crawford hadn’t played in Brooklyn’s first two games of the restart, held out for conditioning reasons. His appearance Tuesday made him the eighth player in NBA history to appear in 20 different seasons — and, with Vince Carter now officially retired, made him the oldest player currently in the league.At 40 years and 137 days, Crawford also became the oldest player to play for the Nets. He was signed July 9 as a replacement player by Brooklyn — which is without seven players because... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — NBA referee David Guthrie said it was a mistake for his officiating crew to charge Miami’s Kelly Olynyk with a flagrant foul during the fourth quarter of what became a four-point Heat loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday.Guthrie, the crew chief on the game, told a pool reporter afterward that in real time he felt that Olynyk was too aggressive when he swiped at Toronto’s Kyle Lowry with 6:56 left in the game. Tre Maddox, another member of the three-man crew, called the foul.Lowry fell to the court on the play, which was reviewed. Guthrie was among those who studied replays of the incident and helped to ultimately determine that it met criteria for a flagrant foul 1. Lowry was awarded two free throws and Toronto kept possession after those.“After reviewing that more postgame, and thinking about it a little bit more, to me, it now is more of a natural basketball play going for the ball and that the contact really did not rise to the criteria of a flagrant foul,” Guthrie said after the game.Lowry made the two free throws for the flagrant to give Toronto a 94-92 lead, and the Raptors scored again on the ensuing possession. It was part of a 9-0 run by the Raptors, who never trailed again and won 107-103.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Jonathan Isaac would routinely be inside the Orlando Magic’s AdventHealth practice facility by 7:15 a.m. most days this spring when the facility was open, putting in hours of work to rehabilitate a serious injury to his left knee.And now another, longer rehab regimen awaits the young forward.Isaac left the NBA’s bubble at Walt Disney World on Monday for more tests on his left knee, to determine if additional damage was done when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament on a jump-stop Sunday night. Magic President Jeff Weltman went to visit Isaac before he left, with plans to cheer him up.No need: By then, Weltman said, Isaac was trying to comfort him, not the other way around.“He was chipper and kind of looking at this as Day 1 of his recovering,” Weltman said.ACL tears can take many months, perhaps even a full year, to recover from in most cases — and given the timing of this injury, it raises the possibility that Isaac could miss much of the 2020-21 season... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — So far, so good.The NBA’s bubble remains intact. The extraordinary health protocols put into place to try and save this season seem to be working. The mission shared by coaches and players to use their platform and continue the conversation about racial injustice is off to a strong start.Through four days, here’s just some of what has happened at Walt Disney World: LeBron James had a gamewinner for the Los Angeles Lakers, T.J. Warren put his name all over the Indiana record book with a 53-point outburst, Houston and Dallas combined for more than 300 points in a game, the defending champion Toronto Raptors came out flying and Joel Embiid had a 41-point, 21-rebound night — in a loss.And don't forget the symmetry: Rudy Gobert was the first player to test positive for coronavirus, so naturally, it made sense that the Utah center was the first player to score when the pandemic shutdown was officially over.If that wasn’t enough, the quality of play is so good that... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Jimmy Butler was not with the Miami Heat for practice Sunday, and one of his teammates suggested that he was quarantining away from the team.The Heat said only that Butler, who scored 22 points in Miami’s restart-opening win over Denver on Saturday, had “an excused absence." But Heat teammate Jae Crowder indicated that it wasn’t just a day off for Butler.“We want to talk to him as soon as he gets out of quarantine or whatever he’s in,” Crowder said. “It’s just a next-man-up mentality from a standpoint of staying locked in and engaged, because we know he’s locked in and engaged once he’s able to get back with us.“It’s definitely a curveball for all of us to hear stuff like what’s going on with him,” Crowder added. “You never know what to expect.”Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he didn't know whether Butler would be available to play Monday when Miami faces the Toronto Raptors. The Heat play the Boston Celtics on Tuesday.Crowder's reference to “quarantine," especially... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Jimmy Butler was not with the Miami Heat for practice Sunday, and one of his teammates suggested that he was quarantining away from the team.The Heat said only that Butler, who scored 22 points in Miami’s restart-opening win over Denver on Saturday, had “an excused absence." But Heat teammate Jae Crowder indicated that it wasn’t just a day off for Butler.“We want to talk to him as soon as he gets out of quarantine or whatever he’s in,” Crowder said. “It’s just a next-man-up mentality from a standpoint of staying locked in and engaged, because we know he’s locked in and engaged once he’s able to get back with us.“It’s definitely a curveball for all of us to hear stuff like what’s going on with him,” Crowder added. “You never know what to expect.”Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he didn't know whether Butler would be available to play Monday when Miami faces the Toronto Raptors. The Heat then play the Boston Celtics on Tuesday.Crowder's reference to “quarantine,"... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Marcus Smart was fined $15,000 by the NBA on Saturday for criticizing referees after the Boston Celtics guard claimed the officials changed a call Friday night to keep Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo from fouling out.Antetokounmpo appeared to have picked up a sixth foul after he was called for charging when he crashed into Smart with 1:28 left. However, referees changed the call to a blocking foul after video replay, and Antetokounmpo converted a tiebreaking three-point play that helped Milwaukee pull out a 119-112 victory.Smart said afterward the explanation from referees for changing the call was that he was too late, but he felt there was another reason.“Quite frankly, I think we know all what that was all about. Giannis’ sixth foul and they didn’t want to get him out,” Smart said. “Let’s just call that spade a spade and that’s just what it is.”___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Meyers Leonard has a brother who served two tours in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marines. He carries a military-themed backpack, wears combat boots and has a phone loaded with Navy SEALs who are his friends.He also makes this clear: “I absolutely believe Black Lives Matter,” he said.Still, Leonard simply could not bring himself to kneel for the national anthem.Wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt over a jersey that he ordered to say “Equality,” and as all other coaches and players around him knelt, Leonard stood for the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” on Saturday before the Heat re-opened their season by facing the Denver Nuggets at Walt Disney World.“Some of the conversations I’ve had over the past three days, quite literally, have been the most difficult,” Leonard told The Associated Press prior to the game. “I am with the Black Lives Matter movement and I love and support the military and my brother and the people who have fought to defend our rights... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Meyers Leonard has a brother who served two tours in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marines. He carries a military-themed backpack, wears combat boots and has a phone loaded with Navy SEALs who are his friends.He also makes this clear: “I absolutely believe Black Lives Matter,” he said.Still, Leonard simply could not bring himself to kneel for the national anthem.Wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt over a jersey that he ordered to say “Equality,” and as all other coaches and players around him knelt, Leonard stood for the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” on Saturday before the Heat re-opened their season by facing the Denver Nuggets at Walt Disney World.“Some of the conversations I’ve had over the past three days, quite literally, have been the most difficult,” Leonard told The Associated Press prior to the game. “I am with the Black Lives Matter movement and I love and support the military and my brother and the people who have fought to defend our rights... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — CJ McCollum scored 33 points, teaming with Damian Lillard for 11 of Portland's 16 in overtime, and the Trail Blazers pulled out a desperately needed victory to resume their season by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 140-135 on Friday.Lillard finished with 29 points and nine assists as the Trail Blazers boosted their hopes for a seventh consecutive playoff appearance. Carmelo Anthony added 21 points as Portland moved within 2 1/2 games of the Grizzlies for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference.“Everybody knew how important that game was," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “This is playoff basketball from us and we have that pressure and you can’t shy away from it.”McCollum started fast, scoring 19 points in the first half, and finished strong with two crucial 3-pointers in overtime. The first one to open the extra period gave Portland the lead for good, and he added six assists.Jaren Jackson Jr. had 33 points and rookie Ja Morant added 22 points and 11 assists... [More]