The Miami Heat are returning to participate in the California Classic Summer League event, hosted in Sacramento and San Francisco, for the eighth-straight season, the league announced Wednesday. The Heat will in the San Francisco pod, which features the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors, held on July 3, 5 and […]
The post Heat to participate in 2026 California Classic Summer League event appeared first on Hot Hot Hoops - Miami HEAT NBA Blog .
LOS ANGELES — Not only have brooms been shoved back into closets, but another flight to Houston has also been booked. After being listed as a game-time decision for three straight matchups, Austin Reaves returned for the Lakers in Game 5 on Wednesday while superstar Kevin Durant remained out, putting Alperen Şengün at the top […]
Change is coming to the Lakers’ G League team. The South Bay Lakers will become the Coachella Valley Lakers in 2026 as they move their games to Acrisure Arena. The Lakers have had their G League team playing in South Bay since 2017, and before that, in 2006, they played at Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples […]
Mike Brown’s performance in the first round of the playoffs has gone similarly to his regular season. It’s been a mixed bag of some brilliance, some head-scratchers, and some gutsy moves. We saw him start off the series with the decision to put cross-match on defense, putting Karl-Anthony Towns on Dyson Daniels, which was expected […]
In Wednesday’s Brotherhood Playoff Action, Detroit beat Orlando, 116-109, Cleveland took down Toronto, 125-120, and Houston handled Los Angeles, 99-93. The story of the night was Paolo Banchero’s 45-point eruption for the Magic. He shot 17-31/6-11 and also grabbed 9 rebounds, and handed out 7 assists. Wendell Carter had 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 […]
LOS ANGELES — Entering Game 5, the Lakers were still comfortably in the driver’s seat against the Rockets. Now, the car is slowing down, making a funny sound and the hazard lights are on. Houston took Game 5 in Crypto.com Arena and, suddenly, a matchup that was one game away from a sweep is just […]
“You have to kill them.” This was JJ Redick’s response when asked about the challenges of closing out a team in a playoff series. His team experienced it firsthand when the Houston Rockets staved off elimination in Game 4. Then, with a chance to deliver the death blow in front of their home crowd, the […]
The Rockets are coming home to Houston. Not to start their off season, but to play Game 6 of their first round series with the Lakers. The series is now 3-2 in favor of the Lakers, and of course it’s easy to see a world where they Rockets would be ahead 3-2. They aren’t, of […]
Allow me to contradict myself from something I said earlier in this series, but what an underwhelming crowd that was for a closeout game. In the opening two games, the Lakers faithful were awesome and had a huge hand in the purple and gold jumping out to an early lead in the series. But on […]
For the second year running, the Lakers will enter the playoffs with home court advantage. Unfortunately, the odds of this series playing out better than the last remain low. The Rockets await the Lakers this postseason, but the LA side they will meet is a much different one than the one they played during the […]
A largely lifeless offensive performance from the Lakers saw the Rockets take a second consecutive win in the series in Game 5 on Wednesday, 99-93. The purple and gold still lead the series 3-2. While Austin Reaves returned for the contest and eclipsed 20 points, few other Lakers showed up as offense was hard to […]
You can never doubt Austin Reaves’ heart. After an initial recovery timeline that would have him out 4-6 weeks, Reaves returned to the court last week and will return to the lineup just under a month after suffering his injury, joining the Lakers for Game 5 against the Rockets on Wednesday. As has been the […]
April 29, 2026 Location: CryptoDotComStaplesForum, Los Angeles California TV: ESPN Radio:KBME Sports Talk 790 / KLTN 102.9 (en español) Online: ESPN Time: 9:00 PM CST Probable Starting Lineups Rockets: Reed Sheppard, Amen Thompson, Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun Lakers: Austin Reaves, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura, Lebron James, Deandre Ayton As expected, Austin Reaves […]
As the Lakers focus on a critical Game 5 against the Rockets on the court, the team is also preparing for important moves off the court as well. One of the bigger changes expected under the new ownership of Mark Walter is an expansion of the front office. President of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka confirmed […]
Back in 2021, the Lakers were deep into their title defense when LeBron James suffered an injury that changed the trajectory of not just that season, but the career of their superstar. Los Angeles was hosting Atlanta when Solomon Hill dove headfirst at LeBron’s legs. Every Lakers fan likely remembers what happened next as LeBron […]
While Austin Reaves is nearing a return, the same can’t be said for Luka Dončić. He has been out since Apr. 2 with a hamstring strain and despite a trip to Spain to speed up his recovery, he has yet to do significant on-court work. The Lakers have figured out how to win games without […]
UPDATE: While it’s a game of semantics, it sounds more and more encouraging that Austin Reaves will make his return in Game 5. On Wednesday morning, Shams Charania of ESPN reported that Reaves expects to play. Here’s his full report on Reaves: “My understanding is Austin Reaves expects to play tonight in Game 5 against […]
When news of Kevin Durant’s initial knee injury first released, the Houston Rockets made the injury out to be a relatively minor thing. In fact, we didn’t even hear about the injury until Friday – one day before Game 1 of the Rockets’ series against the Los Angeles Lakers. Rockets coach Ime Udoka stated that […]
The Houston Rockets are now competing against history. In order to advance past the Los Angeles Lakers, the Rockets will need to win their next three games to become the first NBA team to ever come back from a 3-0 deficit and advance. That task gets taller as Austin Reaves seems destined to make his […]
The series between the Lakers and Rockets shifts back to LA for Game 5 on Wednesday. The Lakers will once again look to eliminate Houston from the playoffs. Start time and TV schedule Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Houston Rockets When: 7 p.m. PT, Apr. 29 Where: Crypto.com Arena Watch: ESPN The Lakers suffered their first postseason loss […]
With both teams suffering a slew of injuries to key players, this Lakers-Rockets series hasn’t exactly been beautiful basketball. All of the games have featured offensive struggles and the winning team having to grit and grind their way to victory. The Lakers have been the better team under these conditions and won the first three […]
If Lakers fans have felt anxious and hopeful about Austin Reaves returning, they can rest assured that he is right there with them. Reaves has been out with a Grade 2 oblique strain since Apr. 2, and it was considered unlikely that he would play in the opening round of the playoffs. However, the Rockets […]
It’s been another less-than-ideal postseason for the Houston Rockets. They headed into their first round series against the Los Angeles Lakers with a heavy amount of optimism, especially with the Lakers missing two of their best players in Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic. The Rockets, however, responded by laying an egg in the first three […]
After a remarkably bad showing from the officials in Sunday’s Game 4, punishments have been handed out… ….to the Lakers. Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard were handed fines of $35,000 and $25,000, respectively, for separate issues involving the officials. Smart’s fine came for “questioning the integrity of game officials,” while Kennard’s was “for directing inappropriate […]
In the week leading up to their series against the Rockets, the Lakers repeatedly emphasized the importance of taking care of the ball. Despite being up 3-1 in the series, there have been very few moments where it’s felt like the Lakers have taken that message to heart. With 80 turnovers in the four contests, […]