Jared Johnson

This season, the NBA’s Central Division features three clear lottery teams and two teams in the playoffs. The two playoff squads will play their fourth and final game against each other today as the 37-24 Indiana Pacers visit the 52-9 Milwaukee Bucks (7.05pm ET Wednesday on ESPN).more…

Coming into the NBA season, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers was a popular pick for the NBA Finals matchup.

At this point, that matchup looks doubtful. The 46-13 Lakers look very much like a top title contender, butmore…

The seasons of the 16-40 Minnesota Timberwolves and 36-21 Miami Heat this year are good reminders that the NBA regular season is long and can feature many twists and turns.

Minnesota started 7-4 and hasmore…

The Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors have met in the playoffs four times over the past five seasons, with the Warriors winning all four times. It’s a safe bet, though, that the teams won’t meet again in the postseason this year.more…

With the busyness of the NBA trade deadline and the consistently gruelling schedule, players are undoubtedly relieved to have a nice All-Star Weekend break.

This year, the schedule is similar tomore…

The 46-7 Milwaukee Bucks have cracked the code of the regular season. The team hasn’t lost consecutive games all season and they are on pace for 71 wins despite playing their two All-Stars just 30.9 and 29.5 minutes per game.more…

With the NBA’s Thursday trade deadline looming, there’s a lot of uncertainty around the league. A lot of teams don’t know which players they will keep and which they will lose, and players themselves aren’t sure whether they’ll be on the move or not.more…

News of 41-year-old basketball legend Kobe Bryant’s death on Sunday rocked not only the NBA world, but the world as a whole. Despite this terrible news, the league ended up going through with all Sunday and Monday games. One game on Tuesday between Bryant’s former team, the Los Angeles Lakers, andmore…

The 2019-20 NBA season is over halfway, which means it’s time to pay more attention to battles for playoff seeding. Both conferences have tight competition vying for playoff positioning after the two No. 1 seeds (Milwaukee Bucks in the East, Los Angeles Lakers in the West).more…

The Western Conference landscape has changed significantly this season compared to last season and it has also changed within the season.

The 28-13 Utah Jazz and 15-26 Sacramento Kings are teams heading in opposite directions, but will thosemore…

Last updated January 29th, 2020

Injuries can throw a major wrench in any team’s season and the 15-22 Portland Trail Blazers and 24-12 Toronto Raptors have experienced that this season. These squads face each other in Toronto today (7 p.m. ET Tuesday).more…

Two squads at opposite ends of the NBA standings meet in Atlanta today as the 24-11 Denver Nuggets visit the 8-28 Atlanta Hawks (7:30 p.m. ET Monday).

While the Nuggets are very obviously the better team, recent play would suggest these teams might not be asmore…

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich gets the chance to coach against his former assistants frequently. His most accomplished former assistant is probably Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer. Coach Bud was successful as the Atlanta Hawks’ head coach for five years and he has now led anmore…

The Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder were expected to be fringe contenders for a Western Conference playoff spot this season. So far, though, the 21-11 Mavericks and 17-15 Thunder are both easily in the West’s top eight, as the fifth and seventh seeds, respectively.

The Mavs and Thunder willmore…

The 11-19 Phoenix Suns and 8-24 Golden State Warriors have certainly had eventful seasons so far.

Phoenix was supposed to be one of the Western Conference’s worst teams this season, but they started hot with a surprisingly impressive 5-2 record in which its two losses were each bymore…

There have been several teams this NBA season that have performed different compared to expectations. Both the 7-23 New Orleans Pelicans and 14-16 Portland Trail Blazers have had disappointing campaigns. Each will try to make headway today as they clash in a nationally televised game (10pm ET Monday on NBA TV).

The Pelicans have been hit hard bymore…

A couple of squads in very different positions face each other in San Antonio today. The 15-12 Brooklyn Nets and the 10-16 San Antonio Spurs will each attempt to make headway in their respective conferences (8:30 p.m. ET Thursday).

Brooklyn is in a tier of its own in the Eastern Conference as the No. 7 seed. The six teams above themore…

It is not often that a team wins 15 straight games on the road. In fact, it’s only been done by two teams in NBA history, the 1995-96 Utah Jazz (15 games) and the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (16 games).

Well, this year’s version of the Lakers will attempt to join that exclusive club as a 24-3 Los Angeles squad visitsmore…

Los Angeles Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard won the Finals MVP award in June while leading the Toronto Raptors to their first championship in franchise history. Today he will make his first return to Toronto with his new team as his 18-7 Clippers match up against the 16-7 Raptors (7pm ET Wednesday on ESPN).

The first head-to-head matchup betweenmore…

The 6-17 Atlanta Hawks and 17-6 Miami Heat have perfectly opposite records this season, and they are also at opposite ends of the Southeast Division standings.

Will their season trends continue when they meet today in Miami? (8pm ET Tuesday). The Heat have won the two season meetings between the teams so far, but it is worth noting that Trae Young, easily themore…

In this young 2019-20 NBA season, the 14-7 Indiana Pacers and 8-14 Detroit Pistons have already played each other three times. Detroit won the first two matchups by nine and two points, respectively, then Indiana won the third matchup by six points.

Today the two teams will finish up their season series in Detroit by playing their fourth contest againstmore…

Today the 13-5 Denver Nuggets visit the 4-17 New York Knicks as both teams attempt to halt losing streaks (7:30 p.m. ET Thursday). Denver is coming off two close losses to the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers, while the Knicks are on a seven-game losing streak against a tough schedule.

The Knicks also havemore…

NBA rivalries are always fun. They bring out a heightened level of competitiveness from players and fans alike, leading to a playoff atmosphere even in the regular season.

Unfortunately, rivalries aren’t as fun when one team is much better than the other. This year, that has been the case for the 13-6 Houston Rockets and 7-14 San Antonio Spurs as theymore…

The NBA was off on Thanksgiving Day, giving all those associated with the league a chance to spend time with loved ones. Today is Black Friday and the NBA is back with a massive slate of 13 games. The finale is a contest at Staples Center between the 6-10 Washington Wizards and 16-2 Los Angeles Lakers (10.30pm ET Friday).

Washington has been one ofmore…

The Eastern Conference this season has a clear gap between its contenders and non-contenders. Six teams have records of 10-6 or better, the Brooklyn Nets are 9-8 and then there’s a bunch of below-average teams fighting for the No. 8 seed.

Two of those squads are the 6-11 Detroit Pistons and 6-12 Charlotte Hornets, who will face each other inmore…