Michael C. Wright

• Download the NBA App • NBA playoffs bracket • NBA playoffs schedule We examined five of the stars emerging from the first round of the playoffs. But with the conference finals fast approaching, let’s delve deeper to explore some potential difference-makers we’ll see in these upcoming series. It’s impossible to dismiss the significance of star power with so many big names set to step onto one of the game’s grandest stages. But as we’ve witnessed many times before, the supporting cast…

• Download the NBA App OKLAHOMA CITY -- Luka Doncic flexed hard, nodding defiantly at the crowd in the fourth quarter after drilling a 3-pointer over Cason Wallace to put Dallas up by 18 points. Thunder coach Mark Daigneault had warned earlier that Game 2 was “a pretty important case study for us tonight because that was the last time Dallas came off a loss against us.” He recalled how the visitors’ “physicality, effort, intensity they came in the gym with was potent.” Dallas brought in…

• Download the NBA App DALLAS -- As Oklahoma City gathered, arms wrapped around one another for its group postgame interview after a 100-96 win, the Dallas Mavericks headed to the locker room seething. The home team walked the long hall at American Airlines Center knowing it had just squandered a prime opportunity Monday to seize control of this Western Conference semifinal series. Not to discredit the heroics of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who produced his third-straight game with 30-plus…

• Download the NBA App DALLAS – Oklahoma City stormed to a 5-0 start this postseason, but its youthful bounce has been weakened these last two games by the brute physicality of the Dallas Mavericks. The young Thunder possess fresher legs, more overall depth, and the speed to even this series it currently trails. As OKC deals with its first true test of adversity this postseason, coach Mark Daigneault hopes his team can rely on muscle memory built through the regular season to overcome.…

• Download the NBA App DALLAS – The name P.J. Washington lacks the marquee luster of superstars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, but sometimes anonymity steps to the forefront to make the difference. Twice, actually. Fresh off a career postseason-high 29 points in Game 2, Washington conjured an encore showing Saturday for Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals. The trade-deadline acquisition gave Oklahoma City all it could handle in reeling off a team-high 27 points to lead the Dallas…

• Download the NBA App OKLAHOMA CITY -- Writhing in agony, Luka Doncic grabbed at his head just as it bounced off the hardwood at Paycom Center. The fall occurred not even a minute into Game 2. “I think today was one of the hardest games I’ve had to play,” Doncic said. “I’m battling out there. I’m trying to do my best to help the team win.” The Mavs walked out with a 119-110 triumph over the Oklahoma City Thunder to even their Western Conference semifinals series 1-1 as it heads back…

• Download the NBA App OKLAHOMA CITY -- Jason Kidd subbed out his stars in surrender Tuesday, as Dallas trailed by 22 points with more than five minutes left in a 117-95 loss at Oklahoma City in Game 1 of the conference semifinals. Kidd falls to 0-5 in Game 1s as the Mavericks coach. “There’s no being pleased in a playoff series,” Thunder Kia Rookie of the Year runner-up Chet Holmgren said. “The series isn’t over.” Kidd’s history indicates as much, considering Dallas bounced back to…

• Download the NBA App LOS ANGELES -- Luka Doncic ambled off the floor for the night, untucking his jersey with 5:39 left and his team leading by 30. That lopsided margin remained at the end, as the Dallas Mavericks captured Game 5 on Wednesday with a decisive 123-93 win against the LA Clippers. The victory provides the visitors an 82.5% chance to take this series as it heads back to Dallas on Friday for Game 6 (9:30 ET, ESPN). Historically, Game 5 winners of a 2-2 series advance at tha…

• Download the NBA App DALLAS — Little by little, LA’s 31-point lead disintegrated. Once Kyrie Irving drove for a bucket with 2:15 left to complete a Dallas rally that finally pushed the Mavericks ahead 105-104, something interesting took place. “I looked at you, and you were looking crazy,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue recalled. “I said, ‘We’re OK.’ They’re a great team. Kyrie and Luka [Doncic] are gonna make shots. We knew they would make a run. But also, we didn’t think we’d come into t…

DALLAS – The LA Clippers ruled out star forward Kawhi Leonard for Game 4 of their first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks due to right knee inflammation. LA held off a furious Mavericks’ rally in the final minutes, winning 116-111 to even the series at 2-2. The teams play Game 5 on Wednesday (10 ET, TNT). Clippers team president Lawrence Frank announced the news Sunday approximately two hours before tipoff and declined to provide a timeline for Leonard’s potential return. The 32-ye…