LeBron James sat out the Los Angeles Lakers’ game Thursday night against Minnesota to rest his left ankle on the second night of back-to-back games.

Draymond Green and Kyrie Irving are among the top players to watch when NBA free agency begins Friday.

Erik Spoelstra has preached about the value of adversity for months, not shying away from saying that it helped the Miami Heat get to these NBA Finals.

Gabe Vincent scored 23 points, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo each scored 21 and the Miami Heat evened up the NBA Finals by overcoming a monster effort from Nikola Jokic to beat the Denver Nuggets 111-108 in Game 2 on Sunday night.

The Heat are playing for their playoff lives Monday night in Boston.

The Miami Heat will start Kyle Lowry at point guard against the Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals after starter Gabe Vincent was ruled out with a sprained left ankle.

Miami Heat starting guard Gabe Vincent has been ruled out with a left ankle injury for Thursday night’s Game 5 against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Jayson Tatum scored 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Jaylen Brown added 17 points and the Boston Celtics staved off elimination in the Eastern Conference finals by running away in the second half to beat the Miami Heat 116-99 in Game 4 on Tuesday night.

With a chance to sweep the Boston Celtics on Tuesday at home in game four of the Eastern Conference Finals, head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke with the media on Monday looking to keep his white-hot heat humble.

The Miami Heat are now one win away from a trip to the 2023 NBA Finals.

Gabe Vincent scored a career-high 29 points, Duncan Robinson added 22 and the eighth-seeded Miami Heat are now just one win from the NBA Finals after rolling past the Boston Celtics 128-102 on Sunday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference title series.

Jimmy Butler scored 35 points, including 20 after halftime, and the Miami Heat rallied in the second half to beat the Boston Celtics 123-116 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Jimmy Butler scored 24 points, Bam Adebayo added 23 and the Miami Heat are headed back to the Eastern Conference finals after topping the New York Knicks 96-92.

Jimmy Butler scored 27 points and added 10 assists, Bam Adebayo finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds and the Miami Heat moved a win away from their third trip to the Eastern Conference finals in the last four years by topping the New York Knicks 109-101.

Jimmy Butler returned from his sprained ankle to score 28 points, Max Strus added 19 and the Miami Heat topped the New York Knicks 105-86 to take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Jalen Brunson scored 30 points and keyed the run the New York Knicks needed just in time to get by a Miami Heat team playing without Jimmy Butler, evening the Eastern Conference semifinals at a game apiece with a 111-105 victory.

Jimmy Butler had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and the No. 8-seeded Miami Heat kept rolling after barely reaching the postseason, beating the New York Knicks 108-101 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Jimmy Butler scored 42 points and the Miami Heat staged a second straight stunning fourth-quarter rally before winning 128-126 in overtime at Milwaukee in Game 5 to cap an upset of the top-seeded Bucks in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Jimmy Butler scored a Miami playoff record 56 points, and the Heat roared back from 14 points down in the final quarter to stun the Milwaukee Bucks 119-114 on Monday night to put the NBA’s top overall seed on the brink of early elimination.

The Miami Heat gave an incredible moment to a fan who traveled a long way to see his favorite player.

Gabe Vincent scored 27 points, Bam Adebayo had 20 points and 13 rebounds and the Miami Heat beat the Milwaukee Bucks 111-95 Saturday.

The Miami Heat were short-handed. The Milwaukee Bucks were short-handed. The Heat got the better of it all.

Bam Adebayo had 31 points and 10 rebounds, Jimmy Butler added 26 points and the Miami Heat held off the Los Angeles Clippers 115-110 on Thursday night.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 25 points and Anthony Edwards scored 10 of his 22 in the third quarter as the Minnesota Timberwolves outlasted the shorthanded Miami Heat for a 105-101 victory Monday night.

The smiles, jokes and laughter returned to Cleveland’s locker room following Sunday night’s win.

It's on to the offseason for the Miami Heat.

A frustrated Bam Adebayo tore his jersey apart as he walked off the court after the final buzzer.

Celtics point guard and Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart was ruled out for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against Miami.

Al Horford and Marcus Smart are coming back.

In Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s mind, the injury situation with Joel Embiid doesn’t doom the Philadelphia 76ers.

Tyrese Maxey scored 13 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter, including nine in a row during a crucial stretch, to lead the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers to a 113-106 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Miami Heat.

Gabe Vincent and Tyler Herro each scored 20 points, and the Miami Heat improved their standing atop the Eastern Conference by topping the Chicago Bulls 112-99.

Duncan Robinson scored 25 points while shooting 7 of 11 from 3-point range to lead four Miami players with 20 or more points in the Heat’s 110-96 victory over the New York Knicks.

Trae Young scored 28 points, Kevin Huerter added 21 and the Atlanta Hawks won their third straight game after nearly blowing an 18-point lead in a 110-108 victory over the Miami Heat.

The NBA has postponed Miami's game at San Antonio after a combination of injuries and positive COVID-19 tests left the Heat unable to meet the league’s requirement of having eight available players.

Kyle Lowry added 14 points for the Heat.

Tyler Herro scored 21 points for Miami in the loss.

Bam Adebayo finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds for Miami.

When the Dream Team era started in 1992, most of the NBA players in the Olympics represented the United States.

Gregg Popovich has been repeating a similar refrain ever since he got the job to coach the U.S. men’s national basketball team.

This is not how USA Basketball expected to open its Olympic summer.

Vincent has also been a part-time starter for the Heat, and Miami was one of the teams concerned that those 50-game appearance limits on the active roster was fast approaching. Ad“We all appreciate that they see that each team is in a different place,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. The rule in past years has been that two-way players could spend 45 days with the NBA club and the rest of the time with a franchise’s G League team. But with a shortened G League season this year, and not all teams having clubs in that league this season, there were obvious reasons to change things. We are just glad that it was seen that way, objectively, because not everybody is in the same circumstance.”___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, right, tries to pass as Miami Heat guard Gabe Vincent defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, in Los Angeles. The Heat even kept it together to pull out a win over the defending NBA champions despite a fourth quarter that nearly went wrong. Nunn scored 27 points, Jimmy Butler had 24 points and eight rebounds, and Miami held off the Los Angeles Lakers 96-94 Saturday night in an NBA Finals rematch. Kyle Kuzma scored 23 points while hitting four 3-pointers, and Montrezl Harrell had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers. ... Goran Dragić missed his eighth straight game with a sprained left ankle.

Miami Heat players Udonis Haslem, left, talks to Jimmy Butler during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021, in Miami. The Miami Heat aren’t believing that quite yet — even after a disastrous start to the 2020-21 campaign. “Heat Nation, we are going to figure this out,” All-Star center Bam Adebayo said. AdThe year after losing the finals has not been kind to the most recent teams who have dropped the title series. Tyler Herro missed seven games with neck spasms.

Miami Heat's Gabe Vincent (2) defends against Brooklyn Nets' Kevin Durant (7) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021, in New York. Kevin Durant scored 31 points, Kyrie Irving took over late and had 28 and the Nets overcame Adebayo's career-high 41 points to beat the Miami Heat 128-124 on Saturday night. Irving helped pull the Nets through with 12 points in the final 5:48 after the Heat had erased nearly all of an 18-point deficit. Adebayo beat the buzzer with a jumper, than Miami opened the fourth with a 13-0 run to get within 96-95. Irving, Harden and Durant quickly combined for eight straight points but Adebayo kept coming, and the Nets needed a couple of clutch baskets from Irving and late free throws to pull it out.