DENVER (AP) — Isaiah Thomas pronounced his surgically repaired hip as fit as it's ever going to be.His confidence? Now that's as healthy as ever with the point guard making his Denver Nuggets debut Wednesday night."My job is not to fit in. It's to stand out," said Thomas, who entered to a standing ovation late in the first quarter against the Sacramento Kings, the team that picked him in the second round of the 2011 draft. "I'm going to do whatever I can to get minutes on the basketball floor and I'm going to play to win and help this team get to the next level."Thomas' last NBA game was March 22 with the Los Angeles Lakers before undergoing an arthroscopic procedure to fix his troublesome hip. The Nuggets signed him to a one-year deal in the offseason and gave him plenty of space to recover from his operation.He could provide a big boost down the stretch for the surging Nuggets, who are near the top of the Western Conference standings.His minutes, though, could come at the expense of Monte... [More]

DENVER (AP) — Isaiah Thomas pronounced his surgically repaired hip as fit as it's ever going to be.His confidence? Now that's as healthy as ever with the point guard on the verge of his Denver Nuggets debut."My job is not to fit in. It's to stand out," said Thomas, who's looking to play Wednesday night against the Sacramento Kings, the team that picked him in the second round of the 2011 draft. "I'm going to do whatever I can to get minutes on the basketball floor and I'm going to play to win and help this team get to the next level."Thomas' last NBA game was March 22 with the Los Angeles Lakers before undergoing an arthroscopic procedure to fix his troublesome hip. The Nuggets signed him to a one-year deal in the offseason and gave him plenty of space to recover from his operation.He could provide a big boost down the stretch for the surging Nuggets, who are near the top of the Western Conference standings.His minutes, though, could come at the expense of Monte Morris and Malik Beasley,... [More]

DENVER (AP) — Isaiah Thomas says his surgically repaired hip has mended enough to allow him to soon make his Denver Nuggets debut.The point guard's first appearance in a Nuggets jersey could be Wednesday night against the Sacramento Kings, the team that picked him in the second round of the 2011 draft. Thomas said he will be a game-time decision but feels like he's ready.Thomas, who turned 30 last week, hasn't played in an NBA game since suiting up for the Los Angeles Lakers last March.The Nuggets signed him to a one-year deal in the offseason and gave him plenty of space to recover from his hip procedure. His minutes will come at the expense of Monte Morris and Malik Beasley, two guards who have been pleasant surprises for Denver.

DENVER (AP) — Monte Morris restored his long-range jumper to mint condition.The Great Spearmint Gum Wrapper Experiment worked.Last summer, the Denver Nuggets backup point guard went through shooting drills with a wrapper from a stick of gum — mostly spearmint, he said — wedged between his thumb and index finger on his guide hand. It was a way to find a more reliable release.Now, there's no bursting his bubble. Morris is shooting 42.9 percent from 3-point range for a Nuggets team that's challenging Golden State for the top spot in the Western Conference."I just wanted more consistency," said Morris, whose team plays at Utah on Wednesday as they try to remain unbeaten in the Northwest Division. "It's now second nature."A 2017 second-round pick by Denver, Morris was signed to a two-way contract last season. He spent most of his time with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League, where he averaged 17.8 points and shot 33 percent from long range. He did play in three games for the Nuggets,... [More]

DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic is happiest when he's simply dribbling the ball up the floor. Or so the Denver Nuggets big man has been told."My godfather," Jokic said , "is always telling me, 'You look so happy when you're dribbling. You don't even need to shoot or pass it. Just punt it into the stands.'"Now that would be something new for Jokic. Or just keep doing what he's doing.Led by Jokic's All-Star-level play, the Nuggets are out front in the Western Conference at the halfway mark of the season. They ride a 12-game home win streak into their showdown Tuesday against Golden State — the team everyone figured would be leading the West."We're doing good right now," Jokic said.At 29-13, the Nuggets are tied for their best NBA start in franchise history with a 1976-77 squad that featured David Thompson and Dan Issel. This also marks the latest in a season the team has led the conference since March 16, 1977.It's a tenuous lead, though, and just a half-game ahead of the Warriors (29-14), who've... [More]

DENVER (AP) — The topic: Denver leading the Western Conference and whether teams are starting to take the Nuggets more seriously.The look from Nikola Jokic: Nearly expressionless. The Joker doesn't jest about this subject."To be honest, I don't really care," Jokic said . "Because we know that we're good."Denver is missing three starters and still boasts a percentage points lead over Golden State in the conference standings . This marks the latest into a season the Nuggets have been leading the conference since December 18, 1984.The Nuggets have swagger, confidence and Jokic, the big Serbian center/forward/guard who's blossoming into one of the league's most hard-to-defend players."A lot of people just think we are on a hot run right now," said forward Torrey Craig, whose team has won 10 of 12 heading into Tuesday's game against Dallas. "They don't really believe in us. But I think we have started to open a lot of eyes. We just have to realize how we win."Grind it out? They can do that.... [More]

DENVER (AP) — Nuggets coach Michael Malone kept the mood light at practice Monday and the lectures to a minimum.No reason to get too worked up over Denver's current three-game skid. After all, this is the same bunch that began 9-1 for one of the best starts in franchise history.Malone's missive to his team: Rediscover that resolve."It's too early in the season to have their heads down and have it be gloom and doom," said Malone, whose team hosts James Harden, Chris Paul and the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night. "We're young. Some of these guys are in moments they haven't been in before. That's my job, to teach and keep this team moving along in the right direction."Given their recent history, there's a sense of early season urgency. That's understandable since the Nuggets missed the playoffs by a game in each of the last two years. They don't want piled-up losses in November to come back and haunt them in April.Especially since everything was going so smoothly out of the gate. But the Nuggets... [More]

DENVER (AP) — Fair warning: Don't challenge Nikola Jokic and Gary Harris to a game of Spikeball.The Denver duo are the team's undisputed champions of a sport that's a little like volleyball, only players hit the ball off a trampoline-style net that's set up on the ground. They recently won a team tournament."It's the perfect sport for me," the 6-foot-10 Jokic said.Or basketball. Because he's pretty good at that, too.The versatile big man averaged 18.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists last season. His reward from the Nuggets was a max contract worth around $147 million for five seasons.Next on The Joker's to-do list: Lead the Nuggets back to the postseason for the first time since 2012-13. Denver lost out on the eighth and final playoff spot last season with an overtime loss in Minnesota during their last game."We have an identity now and Nikola is a huge part of that identity," coach Michael Malone said. "He's slowly and surely having that confidence and that swagger to be a franchise... [More]

DENVER (AP) — The debates have been so lively inside the Denver Nuggets locker room recently that coach Michael Malone wanders in to make sure everything's all right.Just the enthusiasm of guard Isaiah Thomas bubbling to the surface. He's turning up the intensity with his booming voice in what's been a rather quiet room.Think he's chatty now, wait until he's fully cleared after undergoing hip surgery in March. That's when he will do his real talking — with his play.Thomas hopes to provide another spark to a Nuggets team that hasn't reached the postseason since 2012-13. Last season, the team went down to the wire, with the Nuggets losing out on the No. 8 seed to Minnesota in the final game — a stinging 112-106 overtime defeat."We just have to be more consistent and take things more serious and I think that's what I'm here for," said Thomas, who signed a $2 million, one-year deal in the offseason to prove his hip is healthy and worth a more lucrative contract. "I'm not saying I'm the guy... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Boston playoff star Jayson Tatum and Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue are cousins. The Cavaliers and Celtics might as well be.The Eastern Conference's top two teams have been intertwined for more than a year — from a summer blockbuster trade, from opening night, from afar.Although there were long stretches this season when it seemed at least unlikely, and maybe impossible, that the Celtics and Cavs would reach the conference finals, they're back again and meeting in the playoffs for the third time in four years.The series everyone wanted. The one few expected to see.And yet here they are: the odds-defying Celtics, guided by baby-faced coach Brad Stevens and prospering without injured stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, versus the Cavs, who despite a massive roster makeover in February are rolling as 33-year-old LeBron James enhances his legend with every game."There's been a lot that's happened throughout the season with us and for them," Cavs forward Kevin Love said Thursday... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Boston playoff star Jayson Tatum and Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue are cousins. The Cavaliers and Celtics might as well be.The Eastern Conference's top two teams have been intertwined for more than a year — from a summer blockbuster trade, from opening night, from afar.Although there were long stretches this season when it seemed at least unlikely, and maybe impossible, that the Celtics and Cavs would reach the conference finals, they're back again and meeting in the playoffs for the third time in four years.The series everyone wanted. The one few expected to see.And yet here they are: the odds-defying Celtics, guided by baby-faced coach Brad Stevens and prospering without injured stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, versus the Cavs, who despite a massive roster makeover in February are rolling as 33-year-old LeBron James enhances his legend with every game."There's been a lot that's happened throughout the season with us and for them," Cavs forward Kevin Love said Thursday... [More]

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — And now the real season begins for the Los Angeles Lakers.At least that's what the fans of the 16-time NBA champions repeatedly have been told while Los Angeles missed the playoffs and finished with a losing record for the fifth consecutive year.Ever since they took over the Lakers' basketball operations a year ago, Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka have founded their rebuilding project around the acquisition of one or two elite free agents this summer — or next summer, they've recently amended.Magic firmly believes the Lakers' championship pedigree, glamorous location and salary cap room for two enormous contracts can attract superstars near the primes of their careers to lift one of the NBA's cornerstone franchises back to its accustomed heights. The Lakers had only missed the playoffs five previous times in their first 65 years of existence before they doubled that number during this dismal half-decade.But while the pursuit of Paul George and LeBron... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — Maybe, just maybe, the worst is behind the Phoenix Suns.Their 50th anniversary season was awful, even worse than the two that came before.For the eighth season in a row, the Suns won't make the playoffs. The win totals the past three seasons: 23, 24 and — this year 21. That 21-61 mark is the worst since Phoenix went 16-66 in its inaugural 1968-69 season.The season devolved in the final months, with injuries depleting the already exceedingly young roster, leaving a contingent of G League transfers to fill out the lineup in the final days. The Suns lost a franchise-record 15 straight in one stretch.Now, everyone involved is insisting, enough is enough."I'm done with not making the playoffs," rising star Devin Booker said as the players cleaned out their lockers and conducted exit interviews Wednesday. "I'm serious. This is probably my last year ever not making the playoffs. If that's putting pressure on myself, I'm going to take this summer and work that hard so that it doesn't... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — Maybe, just maybe, the worst is behind the Phoenix Suns.Their 50th anniversary season was awful, even worse than the two that came before.For the eighth season in a row, the Suns won't make the playoffs. The win totals the past three seasons: 23, 24 and — this year 21. That 21-61 mark is the worst since Phoenix went 16-66 in its inaugural 1968-69 season.The season devolved in the final months, with injuries depleting the already exceedingly young roster, leaving a contingent of G League transfers to fill out the lineup in the final days. The Suns lost a franchise-record 15 straight in one stretch.Now, everyone involved is insisting, enough is enough."I'm done with not making the playoffs," rising star Devin Booker said as the players cleaned out their lockers and conducted exit interviews Wednesday. "I'm serious. This is probably my last year ever not making the playoffs. If that's putting pressure on myself, I'm going to take this summer and work that hard so that it doesn't... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — It's two hours before tip-off, and Jose Calderon is working up a healthy sweat on the floor at Quicken Loans Arena.Then he retreats to the locker room to study. Sitting at his cubicle, just feet from where LeBron James dresses, Calderon watches video of that night's opponent on his phone or on a large TV mounted on the other side of the room.Calderon may play tonight — or sit. He never knows exactly. Either way, abiding by the Boy Scout's motto, he will be prepared."I know I got to be ready in any moment," he said.Now in his 13th season, Calderon is Cleveland's Jose-on-the-spot, a dependable player capable of starting, coming off the bench or pulling for his teammates from the bench as an extended member of the coaching staff.Invaluable. Trustworthy. At 36.On Friday night, Calderon was needed in the third quarter after starting point guard George Hill sprained his left ankle. Calderon sparked the Cavs to a 107-102 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, preventing Cleveland... [More]

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Los Angeles Lakers guard Isaiah Thomas will have arthroscopic surgery on his right hip, ending his season.The Lakers announced the decision Wednesday before their game against Dallas. Los Angeles (32-41) already is eliminated from playoff contention for the franchise-record fifth consecutive season.Thomas averaged 15.6 points and 5.0 assists in 17 games with the Lakers, who acquired him from Cleveland in February. His hip problems also limited him to just 15 appearances with the Cavaliers.Thomas will have surgery Thursday. The procedure typically requires months of rehabilitation.Thomas is a two-time All-Star selection who will be a free agent this summer. He has expressed interest in staying with Los Angeles, but the Lakers will first attempt to sign two elite free agents to maximum contracts.___More AP NBA: www.apnews.com/tags/NBAbasketball

With the Houston Rockets on top of the NBA and James Harden on top of the scoring race, he may be running away with the MVP vote.Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard might have something to say about that.With stellar play steering their sizzling teams, they have at least entered their names in the conversation with a little more than a month left in the regular season.Harden has been runner-up to Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook in recent years, but it's looked like his time this season. With more than 31 points and nearly nine assists per game — third in the league in that category — for a team with the league's best record, it's hard to imagine needing to look elsewhere."What Harden and Houston is doing right now, he's the MVP of the league right now," Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas said on NBA TV.Davis and Lillard could deserve some thought.Davis has carried New Orleans with dominant basketball since DeMarcus Cousins was lost for the season last month. The Western Conference player of the... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Only the biggest accomplishments are celebrated by the Los Angeles Lakers. They hang banners for championships, they retire jerseys for legends, they build statues for the elite.Back-to-back winning months are no cause for a party.But for a franchise that still may miss the playoffs for a fifth consecutive year — after not reaching them on five occasions, total, in its first 65 seasons — the results of late are worth noting. The Lakers had winning records in January and February, the first such stretch since March and April 2013, and a season that looked to be a disaster at the midway point is getting more than a little interesting.On Thursday, the Lakers went into Miami and opened March with a 131-113 win over the Heat."Early on, even when we weren't winning games, I could tell this was a group that is eventually going to be a really good basketball team," Lakers coach Luke Walton said. "We went into training camp and the way that they worked, the way that they competed, the... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Isaiah Thomas still feels like there's time.He's four months away from free agency, the wheeling-and-dealing period when — the way things were looking a year ago — he would be signing a contract worth well over $100 million, ensuring himself a level of wealth that would be well beyond what the player picked last in the 2011 NBA draft should have reasonably expected.Nothing is certain now.He's gone from a star in Boston to being cast aside in Cleveland and now finds himself as a backup with the Los Angeles Lakers, still trying to get healthy after hip surgery. If that wasn't enough, there's the added strain that what he does over these next few high-stakes weeks will go a long way in determining what he'll earn and where he'll play over the next few years."All you need is one team to love you," Thomas said Thursday. "It's like the draft all over again. You just need one team."He averaged just under 29 points per game last season. And until Thursday night, when he led the Lakers... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Isaiah Thomas still feels like there's time.He's four months away from free agency, the wheeling-and-dealing period where — the way things were looking a year ago — he would be signing a contract worth well over $100 million ensuring himself a level of wealth that would be well beyond what the player picked last in the 2011 NBA draft should have reasonably expected.Nothing is certain now.He's gone from a star in Boston to being cast aside in Cleveland and now finds himself as a backup with the Los Angeles Lakers, still trying to get healthy after hip surgery. If that wasn't enough, there's the added strain that what he does over these next few high-stakes weeks will go a long way in determining what he'll earn and where he'll play over the next few years."All you need is one team to love you," Thomas said Thursday. "It's like the draft all over again. You just need one team."He averaged just under 29 points per game last season. He hasn't scored more than 24 in any game this... [More]