News for LeBron James - 2018 8 Category, $200 Cap, 4G/4F/2C

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Thu Apr 12 201808:33BC-BKN--Playoff Coverage,ADVISORY
Editors:To help you with the upcoming NBA postseason, here are some of AP's plans. Please direct questions to Oscar Dixon (odixon@ap.org). Times are ET. This digest will be updated.PLAYOFF COVERAGE— Each series will get a preview, 650-750 words.— Game coverage will follow the regular-season format, with final updates of about 750 words. Sidebars on merit.— During the early rounds, we will again move BKN--TIPOFF each day until the conference finals, featuring the top story lines looking ahead to the next day's games.— Team wrapups will move the day after the regular season in most cases.___UPCOMING FEATURESBKN--PLAYOFFS SETMIAMI — Finally, the brackets will be set. A race that went to the end in both conferences — just to decide who got in out West, and to decide who plays who in the East — is over, and the long road to the NBA Finals is now underway. By Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds. UPCOMING: 650 words, photos by 3 a.m. THURSDAYBKN--WARRIORS-DIFFERENT PATHOAKLAND, Calif. — Stephen Curry on the sidelines again, this time with a hurt knee. No longer the No. 1 seed. Piecing together rotations based on who's available through illness and injury. Steve Kerr's coaching tested. It hasn't exactly been an easy course down the regular-season stretch for the defending NBA champions. The Golden State Warriors are used to being the best out West, the No. 1 seed and the team everyone in the NBA seeks to unseat. Not this time as they go after a repeat title. By Janie McCauley. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos by 2 a.m. THURSDAYBKN--PLAYOFF PREVIEWThis could be the year for a new NBA Finals matchup. Or maybe not. The Golden State Warriors are not healthy and not the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are seeded fourth in the East. But for someone other than the Warriors-Cavaliers to be in the finals, players who haven't previously gotten it done in the playoffs will have to prove they can. By Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos by 4 p.m. THURSDAY— With: BKN--PLAYOFF CAPSULES___BKN--BUCKS-INSIDE GIANNISMILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo's game is still growing, as is the 23-year-old NBA All-Star from Greece. Off the court, Antetokounmpo cracks jokes and keeps teammates loose with his goofy personality. On it, he's all business — with his rim-rattling jams and intimidating rejections. Through in those demoralizing perimeter jump shots and it can be a long night. And Antetokounmpo lets Bucks know when he has it going, flashing a meme-worthy scowl. By Genaro Armas. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by 3 a.m. FRIDAYBKN--LEBRON-NEVER BETTERCLEVELAND — Amid the chaos of a highly irregular regular season, LeBron James thrived. And now in his 15th season, James, showing no signs of slowing down at 33, heads into the playoffs with a different Cleveland from the one he began with but still expectations that he can get to his eighth straight NBA Finals. By Tom Withers. UPCOMING: 850 words, photos by 1 p.m. FRIDAYBKN--PLAYOFFS-THINGS TO WATCHMIAMI — LeBron James has not lost a first-round game since 2012. And that's just one of many facts you need to know before the NBA playoffs start with four games on Saturday. By Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds. UPCOMING: 900 words, photos by 3 p.m. FRIDAYAlso:— Previews for first-round series that begin Saturday. FRIDAY___PREVIOUSLY MOVEDBKN--PLAYOFFS-WILD EASTMIAMI — Seven years, seven different No. 1 seeds in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The name atop the bracket changes annually on that side of the NBA, but regardless of regular-season results the conference title always — always — goes through LeBron James. By Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds. SENT: 750 words, photos on April 6.BKN--ROCKETS-THEIR TIMEHOUSTON — Mike D'Antoni, James Harden and Chris Paul haven't been able to get it done in the postseason. This year may be different. While the trio have experienced numerous playoff heartbreaks in their careers, they seem to have all the championship pieces to make a title run. By Kristie Rieken. SENT: 750 words, photos. MONDAYBKN--CELTICS JOURNEYBOSTON — The Celtics have been through a ton this season, battling injuries every step of the way after an offseason overhaul that began with so much expectation following the acquisitions of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. Both will be spectators for the postseason begins. Hayward is out for the season after his horrific ankle injury on opening night, and Irving is now sidelined as well following knee surgery. Yet somehow Boston might rate as good as chance as anyone to win the East. By Kyle Hightower. SENT: 750 words, photos. MONDAYBKN-PLAYOFFS-THE REFSMIAMI — The player-referee relationship is going to be a focus again in these playoffs. It was a season where referee Courtney Kirkland was taken off the floor for a week for getting too aggressive with Golden State's Shaun Livingston, where Warriors star Kevin Durant — who'd been ejected once in his first nine seasons — got kicked out of five games, where even LeBron James got tossed for the first time in his 15-year career. And with the playoffs starting Saturday, the stakes and emotions are only going to get higher. By Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds. SENT: 750 words, photos TUESDAYBKN--MELO'S NEW ROLEOKLAHOMA CITY — Carmelo Anthony is one of the league's all-time scoring leaders and has been the go-to player for most of his career. Now, at age 33, he's adjusted to being the third and sometimes fourth option for the Oklahoma City Thunder. An isolation specialist for much of his career, Anthony has found some success as a spot shooter. He has also embraced his role as mentor to Jerami Grant and the team's other young players. By Cliff Brunt. SENT: 700 words, photos TUESDAYBKN--NBA WINGSPAN FASCINATIONOAKLAND, Calif. — There's a wingspan fascination in the NBA. From executives and scouts to coaches and analytics types, teams are paying closer attention to wingspan, especially when it comes to defense. Back in the day, Nate McMillan and Bill Walton didn't even know their wingspans. In today's game, a player's wingspan is charted, discussed and dissected in the same vain as height Kevin Durant has always had an amazing reach from fingertips to fingertips. In recent seasons, he has been determined to put it to use and show the world he is as much a menacing defender as he is an efficient scorer, emerging into a top candidate for defensive player of the year. Utah's Rudy Gobert is another dominant defender, helped by his mind-boggling 7-foot, 9-inch wingspan. This is no accident. Wingspans are carefully measured as organizations look at a potential player, the same way they keep track of more traditional statistics. By Janie McCauley. SENT: 900 words, photos TUESDAYBKN--THE FINAL DAYMIAMI — The last day of the NBA season has arrived, with some statistical races still to be decided and perhaps some milestones even within reach. By Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds. SENT: 650 words, photos. WEDNESDAYBKN--OLADIPO-INDIANA'S BEST MANINDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers thought Victor Oladipo could emerge as an All-Star player. Eventually. The transition came faster than anyone expected. After three losing seasons in Orlando and another season apprenticing under Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City, Oladipo returned to his adopted home state and became an instant smash as the league's most improved player. By Michael Marot. SENT: 750 words, photos by 1 p.m. WEDNESDAY