LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Tyson Chandler figured sitting on the bench was better than sitting on the couch.He waited almost until the last minute before deciding he would join his Houston Rockets teammates for the restart. He was bored at home and wasn't going to feel any better if his team won a championship and he was watching it on TV.Then he came to Disney and got so sick he thought he had contracted the coronavirus he had spent all spring at home to avoid.“The first 48 hours, I was going like, ‘What the ... did you do?’” Chandler said. “I was like, ‘Come on, man.’”His health got better and eventually so did the experience. He's glad he came.But for players like Chandler, guys at the end of the bench, being inside the bubble is challenging on several levels. While stars like James Harden and LeBron James deal with the same mental fatigue being at Disney presents, they know when the game starts and the lights come on what time it is. Chandler has no idea if his number will even be... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Tyson Chandler figured sitting on the bench was better than sitting on the couch.He waited almost until the last minute before deciding he would join his Houston Rockets teammates for the restart. He was bored at home and wasn't going to feel any better if his team won a championship and he was watching it on TV.Then he came to Disney and got so sick he thought he had contracted the coronavirus he had spent all spring at home to avoid.“The first 48 hours, I was going like, ‘What the ... did you do?’” Chandler said. “I was like, ‘Come on, man.’”His health got better and eventually so did the experience. He's glad he came.But for players like Chandler, guys at the end of the bench, being inside the bubble is challenging on several levels. While stars like James Harden and LeBron James deal with the same mental fatigue being at Disney presents, they know when the game starts and the lights come on what time it is. Chandler has no idea if his number will even be... [More]

Milwaukee Bucks players and the team's coach said Tuesday they were disappointed that the Wisconsin Legislature didn't take action on policing reform bills during a special session Monday called by Gov. Tony Evers.“Surely there are things to talk about right now, right?” Bucks guard Kyle Korver said at a Zoom session Tuesday from Lake Buena Vista, Florida, where the NBA playoffs are taking place. “Surely there are things our state needs leadership in. How can we be better?”He called the Legislature's inaction “disappointing.”Democrats urged Republicans who control the Legislature to take up the bills, but both the state Senate and Assembly met for less than 30 seconds each before ending the session. Republican leaders gave no indication when they may reconvene. Republican Speaker Robin Vos touted a task force he created, while Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald suggested there would be dozens of bills to consider in the months ahead.Evers called lawmakers into a special session to... [More]

Luka Doncic was impressive in his playoff debut on an injured ankle. Kristaps Porzingis left the NBA bubble amid unsettling questions over whether his knees will allow him to be the trusty sidekick in Dallas.While the Mavericks appear on track to become championship contenders led by the young European stars, there are issues while they await the unknown start of next season — the 10th since their only title, and their last playoff series victory.“We’re on the climb,” coach Rick Carlisle said after the Mavericks were eliminated in Game 6 of a first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers. “You never know the exact timing of things like that. That’s our passion. That’s our obsession.”Doncic averaged 31 points, 9.8 rebounds and 8.7 assists in the playoffs with the bubble's most spectacular moment so far: a step-back 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat the Clippers in overtime in Game 4 on a left ankle he sprained in Game 3.After making his first All-Star game and being named a finalist... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The last time the Houston Rockets played a Game 7, they didn’t have Chris Paul and they wound up losing.Paul wants to see history repeat itself.The former Houston guard simply has willed fifth-seeded Oklahoma City into a deciding game of its Western Conference first-round series against the fourth-seeded Rockets, with Game 7 — the last game of the opening round of this postseason — set to be played Wednesday night.“Ain’t nothing like it,” Paul said.The winner moves on to Game 1 of a West semifinal series against the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night. The loser leaves the NBA’s restart bubble at Walt Disney World and goes home, certain to be lamenting a chance that got away.Houston might already be dealing with some regret. The Rockets had a six-point lead with the ball with 4:01 left in Game 6, a perfect chance to close out the game and the series. They got outscored 12-2 the rest of the way, missing six of their last seven shots and turning the... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Fred VanVleet hadn't seen his family in more than two months.With his Toronto Raptors coming off a bad playoff loss, their long-awaited reunion was a great way to cheer him up. Players began reuniting with family members in the bubble Monday, giving them a feeling of home during a marathon road trip.“I think last time I saw them was Father’s Day, so it’s been a while. But it will be good to see everybody and right on time after getting our butts kicked yesterday. So, that’ll kind of take my mind off it a little bit today and I’ll get prepared and get locked in for the game tomorrow,” VanVleet said after practice, before meeting up with his family.NBA teams began arriving at Disney on July 7 but the Raptors have been on the road even longer. They came to Florida on June 22 to begin practicing at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, rather than gather back in Toronto and have players who had been in the U.S. forced to quarantine.The Raptors had one of... [More]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram has been named the NBA’s most improved player in a season that saw him bounce back from a life-altering blood clot and a trade from the team that drafted him second overall in 2016.Ingram, who came to New Orleans as part of a blockbuster trade that sent Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers, averaged a team-leading and career-best 23.8 points per game while hitting 46.3% of his shots. He also became an NBA All-Star for the first time.“It goes back to last March, me getting injured, and not being able to be back on the court until September," Ingram said on a Zoom call Monday with TNT after being informed by his parents he had won the award. “That's very little time to start preseason and to start the regular season, but I was ready for it. Since Day 1 ... I just wanted to put in my work every single day and just get the best out of it."Ingram credited former Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry for his success, saying the coach who was fired on... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Milwaukee guard Eric Bledsoe was ruled out of Game 1 of the Bucks' Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Miami Heat on Monday night with a strained right hamstring.Bledsoe was listed as questionable and tested the strain before the game, before the Bucks decided that he would not be in the starting lineup.George Hill took over as the first-string point guard for Bledsoe, who started all five of Milwaukee's first-round games against Orlando.Bledsoe averaged 11.6 points and a team-best 6.6 assists per game in that first-round series against the Magic. Hill started for just the third time in 65 regular-season and playoff appearances for Milwaukee this season.Game 2 of the series is Wednesday.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — For Utah and Denver, Game 7 awaits.For Toronto, so may a Game 7 approach.The entertaining Western Conference first-round series between Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell and Nuggets guard Jamal Murray — the two leading scorers in the NBA playoffs, averaging a combined 72.7 points per game, a head-to-head show unlike any other in league postseason history — will come to an end Tuesday night, when Denver looks to become the 12th team in NBA history to successfully rally from a 3-1 series deficit.That game gets preceded by Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between Boston and Toronto, with the Celtics leading 1-0 there.“It’s more of the same for us. We welcome the challenge. We welcome the adversity,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Monday. “And, as we talked about, only 11 teams have done this in NBA history. Why shouldn’t we be the 12th? That’s our attitude.”The last team to successfully rally from 3-1 down was Cleveland, which did it against Golden State... [More]

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kevin Pritchard swallowed hard when the Indiana Pacers endured yet another season-ending first-round sweep last week.Then the Indiana Pacers president of basketball operations tried to wash away the sour taste.Five days after firing coach and longtime friend Nate McMillan, Pritchard has embarked on a search for a replacement who can communicate better with today's players, someone with a more updated playing style and someone who can win in the playoffs.“I think it shows you by the actions of the last few days our ownership expects more," Pritchard said Monday. “It’s up to me to step up to the plate and find the right person to lead the locker room, be creative and find a new age coach. We’ve been in the playoffs, we keep getting into the playoffs, we come up with fourth-best record in the East and that’s something we’re proud of. But we want to play well in the playoffs."That wasn't the case under McMillan, who reached the postseason in all four seasons as the Pacers... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Fred VanVleet hasn't seen his family in more than two months.With his Toronto Raptors coming off a bad playoff loss, their long-awaited reunion was a great way to cheer him up. Players began reuniting with family members in the bubble Monday, giving them a feeling of home during a marathon road trip.“I think last time I saw them was Father’s Day, so it’s been a while,” VanVleet said. “But it will be good to see everybody and right on time after getting our butts kicked yesterday. So, that’ll kind of take my mind off it a little bit today and I’ll get prepared and get locked in for the game tomorrow.”NBA teams began arriving at Disney on July 7 but the Raptors have been on the road even longer. They came to Florida on June 22 to begin practicing at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, rather than gather back in Toronto and have players who had been in the U.S. forced to quarantine.The Raptors had one of the low moments of the trip Sunday when the Boston... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Orlando coach Steve Clifford proudly displayed a pair of personalized Mickey Mouse ears inside his home office Monday, saying they would be one of the gifts from this season that he would cherish the most.It’s safe to say they weren’t on his wish list when this season started.The world has been turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the NBA into a bubble at Walt Disney World to resume the season — and now that the Magic are out of the bubble, they have no real idea what comes next.So, for now, there’s no concrete plans to be made for the 2020-21 season. That’ll come in time, but Clifford intends to spend the immediate future going over what went right and wrong after a season in which Orlando made the playoffs for a second consecutive year but couldn’t get past the first round.“I think what it does is it makes us more relevant again,” Clifford said. “First of all, making the playoffs is never an easy thing. You can’t take it for granted.... [More]

The Portland Trail Blazers dealt with injuries all season, and the the loss of their biggest star topped it off in the playoffs.While the year was unusual for all of sports because of coronavirus, the Trail Blazers made it to the NBA playoffs for the seventh straight season. Upstart Portland was knocked out of the first round by the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in five games. “It was an interesting season with a lot of different obstacles that we faced. We signed Hall of Famer (Carmelo Anthony), we had coronavirus hit, so many things going on around the world with social injustice, protesting, all those things," guard CJ McCollum said. "We had some games postponed, came back, more injuries. But all in all I think we fought and gave ourselves a chance."All-Star guard Damian Lillard had already departed the so-called bubble in Florida with a right knee injury when Portland took the floor for the elimination game Sunday night. While the Blazers mounted a scrappy effort against the Lakers,... [More]

The law of averages says an Oklahoma City Thunder starter will make a 3-pointer relatively quickly on Monday night.Someone better, or else.Houston — which famously wasted a chance to reach the NBA Finals by missing 27 consecutive 3-pointers in Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference finals — is a game away from the second round of these playoffs, after watching the Thunder suddenly forget how to shoot on Saturday night. The Rockets will take a 3-2 series lead into Game 6 against the Thunder in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on Monday night.“We’ll go back to the drawing board, see what we did well, see what we didn’t do well,” Thunder guard Chris Paul said.Houston rolled in Game 5, winning 114-80 on a night where the Thunder missed 14 consecutive 3-pointers in one 19-minute stretch during which the Rockets outscored them 55-25 — basically the entire winning margin.Thunder starters combined to miss their last 17 attempts from 3-point range and combined for the full game, Oklahoma City’s first-stringers... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Los Angeles Clippers forward Marcus Morris was ejected after a hard foul against Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks in the first quarter of their playoff game Sunday.Doncic was trying to get to the basket against Morris and had inched past him as their arms started to tangle. Morris swung his arm down forcefully, appearing to hit Doncic in the head or neck area and knocking to him to the court.Mavericks coaches quickly raced onto the floor after seeing the play, which happened right in front of their bench. Doncic got up and tried to charge at Morris but was held back by teammate Boban Marjanovic.Referees reviewed the play and determined it was a flagrant 2 foul, triggering an automatic ejection.Earlier in the series, Morris denied trying to hurt Doncic, who has battled a sprained left ankle, when he stepped on his foot.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The law of averages says an Oklahoma City Thunder starter will make a 3-pointer relatively quickly on Monday night.Someone better, or else.Houston — which famously wasted a chance to reach the NBA Finals by missing 27 consecutive 3-pointers in Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference finals — is a game away from the second round of these playoffs, after watching the Thunder suddenly forget how to shoot on Saturday night. The Rockets will take a 3-2 series lead into Game 6 against the Thunder in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on Monday night.“We’ll go back to the drawing board, see what we did well, see what we didn’t do well,” Thunder guard Chris Paul said.Houston rolled in Game 5, winning 114-80 on a night where the Thunder missed 14 consecutive 3-pointers in one 19-minute stretch during which the Rockets outscored them 55-25 — basically the entire winning margin.Thunder starters combined to miss their last 17 attempts from 3-point range and combined for the full game, Oklahoma City’s first-stringers... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — There was a point this week when LeBron James and the Lakers weren't sure they would remain in the bubble.They decided to stay and look like they could be here a while.The Lakers moved into the Western Conference semifinals by finishing off the Portland Trail Blazers with a 131-122 victory on Saturday night.It was the Lakers' first series victory since 2012 and set them up for a second-round matchup against Houston or Oklahoma City. The Rockets lead 3-2 with Game 6 on Monday, so the Lakers will have some time off.They just got back from a break.Los Angeles was scheduled to play Wednesday night and the players were relaxing in their rooms when they got word that the Milwaukee Bucks had decided not to play their game that afternoon against Orlando. It was a surprise to everyone else in the league and there was some frustration that night when players held a meeting.James was one of the frustrated people, having realized the Bucks hadn't fully thought through... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Houston’s P.J. Tucker and Oklahoma City's Dennis Schroder were ejected from Game 5 of their first-round playoff series Saturday night after a tussle following a hard pick that sent them both to the floor.Midway through the third quarter with Houston leading 67-49, Tucker set a pick on Schroder, who swung his right arm between Tucker’s legs, hitting him in the groin. When the two players stood back up, Tucker approached Schroder and head-butted him from behind.After checking the video, referee James Capers called a flagrant 2 foul on Schroder and ejected him. Tucker was given a technical foul with an ejection.Schroder was leading the Thunder with 19 points. Tucker had five points and six rebounds. The best-of-seven series was tied 2-2.___More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Luka Doncic and Jamal Murray have put on some of the best shows in the bubble.Without another one Sunday, their shows may be over.With their teams facing elimination, Doncic and Murray might be down to their final day at Disney when they play the two Game 6s in the Western Conference.Dallas trails the Los Angeles Clippers 3-2, the same deficit Denver faces against Utah. But the Mavericks appear to be in the tougher predicament.Not only are they playing again without Kristaps Porzingis, but they have to slow down a No. 2-seeded Clippers team that crushed them 154-111 in Game 5 on Tuesday after Paul George snapped out of a prolonged slump.The Clippers were then one of the teams that expressed frustrations the next night at the leaguewide meeting that followed the three game postponements, but eventually decided they wanted to stay and play. “We’re obviously fully committed to winning a championship here,” George said, “but we just want everything to be basically... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The Milwaukee Bucks came to the arena and prepared for a game, just as they did three days earlier.This time, they played it.The rescheduled Game 5 of the Bucks' series against Orlando began Saturday as the NBA postseason resumed after a historic stoppage that players hope will bring change in their communities.“It was a moment in which the world needed and obviously we know this is going to be a long, ongoing process,” Bucks guard Wesley Matthews said. “But we’re in. We’re in the trenches and we’re in this fight for the long haul.”The teams were scheduled to play Wednesday afternoon, but the Bucks decided not to take the court to show their frustration over the police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, along with other acts of racial injustice.That led to a two-day postponement of games that ended when players and owners agreed to expanded initiatives, many tied to increased voting awareness and opportunities, such as... [More]