BDL's 2015-16 NBA Playoff Previews: Warriors vs. Trail Blazers How They Got Here • Golden State: The Warriors entered the postseason with a record 73 regular-season wins and as overwhelming favorites to repeat as champions. In many ways, then, their 4-1 first-round win over the listless Houston Rockets went according to plan — Golden State handled a vastly inferior opponent with relative … [Read more...]

NBA playoffs teams' BPI chances to advance 10:43 AM ET ESPN Analytics print Below are the NBA playoff teams' Basketball Power Index chances of advancing in their series. Numbers updated daily. ESPN Stats & InformationESPN Stats & InformationESPN Stats & InformationESPN Stats & InformationNote: The projections involving the Warriors have been removed from this … [Read more...]

Rotoworld Podcasts: Spurs vs. Thunder Preview Saturday, April 30, 2016 This one is going to be a doozy. We break down all the matchups, the lineup combinations, minutes projections and pet plays for this series. This podcast will focused to help you on DFS, but probably about 80 percent of it is about the reality side of things. Mike Gallagher has covered fantasy hoops for eight years … [Read more...]

Basketball Daily Dose: Dose: Luke's Lakerland Living Like an owl out of the dark sky above Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, only the Los Angeles Lakers could swoop in on a Friday night, hire Luke Walton as head coach and steal the playoffs when the franchise isn’t even participating. Bringing in the 36-year-old Walton is a move that will resonate around the NBA, and Walton’s … [Read more...]

Blazers fend off tough Clippers to win series, move on to Warriors No one gave the Los Angeles Clippers much chance to challenge the Portland Trail Blazers after Chris Paul and Blake Griffin went down with season-ending injuries in Game 4 of their first-round series earlier this week. The Clippers weren't able to win any games without their stars, but they pushed the Blazers much farther … [Read more...]

Indiana extends its season with a win, forces a Game 7 in Toronto INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Pacers, yet again, have proven that that they’re not exactly keen on playing from ahead Friday evening. The East’s No. 7 seed came back from 12 down in the first quarter to top the Toronto Raptors in what turned into a 19-point blowout win, taking Game 6 by a 101-83 score and sending the first round … [Read more...]

Lakers announce Luke Walton has been hired as head coach The Los Angeles Lakers have their new head coach, and he's a familiar face to the fan base. The Lakers announced Friday night that Golden State Warriors lead assistant coach Luke Walton has reached an agreement with the franchise to become its next head coach. Walton will replace Byron Scott, who had two team options remaining on a … [Read more...]

Sources: Lue still under old assistant coach deal 8:55 PM ET Dave McMenaminESPN Staff Writer Close Cavs and NBA writer for ESPN.com Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14 and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09 Syracuse University graduate print CLEVELAND -- As the Cavaliers prepare to face the Atlanta Hawks in the second round of the playoffs, head coach Tyronn … [Read more...]

What the Warriors are without Steph Curry 5:40 PM ET Ethan Sherwood StraussESPN Staff Writer Close Covers the Golden State Warriors for ESPN.com Contributes to ESPN's TrueHoop blog Hosts TrueHoop TV Live print OAKLAND, Calif. -- In sports, where not much is literal, the Warriors seek to compensate for a lack of something metaphorically murderous. Right now, Stephen Curry has a … [Read more...]

Paul George is ready to go 48 minutes to keep the Pacers alive Through five games, the Indiana Pacers have outscored the Toronto Raptors by 26 points in 189 minutes with Paul George on the floor. They have been outscored by 29 points in 51 minutes with George sitting. Other factors have helped determine success or failure in their first-round playoff series — stuff like Kyle Lowry's iffy … [Read more...]