Wizards pushing for deal with Brooks, sources say 8:22 PM ET Marc SteinESPN Senior Writer Close • Senior NBA writer for ESPN.com• Began covering the NBA in 1993-94• Also covered soccer, tennis and the Olympics print The Washington Wizards were pressing Wednesday to try to seal a deal with top target Scott Brooks to make him their new coach, according to league sources. Sources told … [Read more...]

How will Pistons defend Kevin Love? 'Maybe rough him up a little' Kevin Love came up huge for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, pouring in 28 points on 10-for-22 shooting and pulling down 13 rebounds to help the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers fend off a tough challenge from the No. 8 Detroit Pistons and take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven opening-round Eastern Conference playoff series. … [Read more...]

Pistons' Stan Van Gundy has a beef with 'most fashionable' list 3:27 PM ET Nick FriedellESPN Staff Writer Close Nick Friedell is the Chicago Bulls beat reporter for ESPN Chicago. Friedell is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and joined ESPNChicago.com for its launch in April 2009. print CLEVELAND -- Stan Van Gundy … [Read more...]

Where should Russell Westbrook dance? Charlie Villanueva has ideas Before Game 2 of the first-round series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks, little-used Dallas forward Charlie Villanueva and rookie Justin Anderson appeared to take exception to the pregame dance routine of Thunder star Russell Westbrook and rookie Cameron Payne, and staged a silent obstructive protest. … [Read more...]

Matt Barnes on his Grizz: 'We're coming to a gunfight with spoons' This is sad. This is unfortunate. For those of us even objective observers that still proudly wear our ‘Grit, Grind’ t-shirts for as many times per month as its frayed edges will allow, these are not the Memphis Grizzlies we know. [Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball] Injuries have … [Read more...]

Watch out, Trail Blazers -- it's a trap! 11:57 AM ET Kevin ArnovitzESPN Staff Writer Close NBA writer for ESPN.com since 2008 Former contributor and editor at NPR print LOS ANGELES -- Less than an hour after the final horn sounded in the Portland Trail Blazers' 115-95 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 1, Damian Lillard climbed onto the bus and immediately called up his … [Read more...]

Former Syracuse great Pearl Washington dies 10:46 AM ET ESPN.com news services print Former Syracuse great Dwayne "Pearl" Washington has died, according to his family. He was 52. Syracuse announced Washington's death in a news release. Washington was diagnosed with a brain tumor last summer. He had surgery in the fall. Washington was born on Jan. 6, 1964, and grew up in the … [Read more...]

Draft Preview: Draft Comparisons: 2016 SGs The shooting guard position didn’t see many first-round picks in 2015, with just four college players getting chosen. This year’s group may end up about the same, but there are a lot of good shooters available, with very diverse offensive games, which may see a couple of others sneak into the late 20’s range. Here is a look at some of the major college … [Read more...]

Basketball Daily Dose: Dose: All Defense Defense wins championships? If you like offense, Tuesday night was not the night for you.  Hawks 89, Celtics 72 The Hawks defense is pretty good and kind of is underappreciated. They ranked first in the NBA after the break for defensive rating with their 96.8 — the Spurs were second at 99.3. They clamped down on the Celtics to take a 2-0 lead. Although, the … [Read more...]

Even a Spurs legend couldn't stifle a yawn during their Game 2 win Predictions for the first-round playoff series between the 67-win San Antonio Spurs and injury ravaged Memphis Grizzlies were fairly consistent in expecting a dominant showing for the higher-seeded team. All four of our BDL writers predicted a sweep, and San Antonio's dominant Game 1 victory did little to change opinions of … [Read more...]