LOS ANGELES — You want effort?

Trent Perry followed one sneaky steal with another in a span of less than a minute.

You want defensive intensity?

Xavier Booker stepped in front of his man, rising to block a dunk.

You want offensive efficiency?

Skyy Clark blew by one helpless defender after another on the way to repeated driving layups.

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The Timberwolves had the game seemingly wrapped up — ahead by eight with 50 seconds left to play.

But a comedy of errors and missed free throws caused them to lose to the Suns, 114-113.

Collin Gillespie hit the winning shot for Phoenix with 6.4 seconds to play, and Julius Randle missed a potential winning 3 for the Wolves.

With the loss, ...Read more

BOSTON — It was a familiar situation for the Celtics: trailing in the fourth quarter against a Nets team that’s been one of the NBA’s worst this season.

Boston was able to climb out of that hole Tuesday night, rallying to win by double digits in Brooklyn. Friday’s finish was far more humbling.

The Celtics lost to the Nets, 113-105, at ...Read more

Challenges? This Miami Heat team seemingly can’t get enough.

Friday night, it was having to go without sidelined Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins and Nikola Jovic.

It also was having to win to stay alive in the NBA Cup in-season tournament.

And it was against an opponent that served as a reminder of failing to advance directly to the playoffs ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Three nights after perhaps the lowest point of Mark Pope’s tenure as Kentucky’s head coach, his Wildcats came out like a team knowing it had something to prove.

The 12th-ranked Cats dominated Loyola (Md.) from the start and ultimately left Rupp Arena with an 88-46 victory Friday night. UK (4-2) was coming off an 83-66 ...Read more

DURHAM, N.C. — Mike Krzyzewski made another walk to midcourt Friday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The former Duke coach was back to welcome one of his former players, Greg Paulus, now in his seventh season as head coach at Niagara. Krzyzewski, Paulus and Duke coach Jon Scheyer then dutifully stood together for a round of photos and video.

It ...Read more

CHICAGO — Moments after offering John Paxson the job of a lifetime, Chicago Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf followed up with a warning.

He didn’t actually offer it to Paxson. Reinsdorf had come to Paxson’s home to finalize the details of hiring the former player to succeed Jerry Krause as general manager. Paxson’s then-teenaged sons, ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Liberty landed their next head coach — and he comes with serious championship pedigree.

Chris DeMarco, a longtime assistant for the Golden State Warriors, agreed to a deal to become the next leader of the Liberty, the New York Daily News confirmed.

Friday’s decision follows a nearly two-month search to replace Sandy ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Knicks probably should have listened to Rick Pitino.

Appearing on Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart’s “Roomates Show” podcast, the now-St. John’s head coach said he urged the Knicks in 2017 to draft Donovan Mitchell, whom he coached at Louisville.

The Knicks, who were run by Phil Jackson at the time, held the No. 8 pick in ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The sports executives whom Mark Walter and his Guggenheim Baseball Management trusted to turn around the Dodgers and make them World Series winners have now enlisted Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman to take on advisory roles with the Lakers, people not authorized to speak publicly on the matter confirmed to The Times on Friday.

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LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas freshman guard Darryn Peterson will not play in the upcoming Players Era men’s college basketball tournament in Las Vegas, Jayhawks coach Bill Self said Friday.

Peterson, the 6-foot-6 native of Canton, Ohio, has a hamstring strain and has missed the Jayhawks’ last three games. He currently is not practicing but has...Read more

NEW YORK — It doesn’t get more random than this.

Former Knicks forward Cleanthony Early was the subject of a category on Thursday’s episode of “Jeopardy!”

Seriously.

More specifically, five questions fell under the billing of “International Hoops Terms with Cleanthony Early,” which alluded to Early’s globe-trotting post-NBA ...Read more

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Sacramento Kings continue to find new depths to their miserable season.

Their losing streak extended to eight against a Memphis Grizzlies team that came in 4-11 and was missing its two best players in Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.

The Kings lost by a laughable score of 137-96 at FexExForum and fell to 3-13. They haven�...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Prior to Thursday’s game between the Magic and Clippers, Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley stressed the importance of his team continuing to turn defense into offense and score in transition.

Orlando did that and more inside Kia Center as it racked up a season-high 39 fast-break points en route to a 129-101 victory during the ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Balkans theme for Illinois’ basketball team this season is fun and easy to enjoy, even if some students are so geographically challenged they couldn’t find the Balkan region on a map of Europe if you spotted them Greece.

The Illini have five players who hail from the Balkans, including returning center Tomislav Ivišić, the...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Kings received more devastating news Thursday when All-NBA center Domantas Sabonis was diagnosed with a serious knee injury that could sideline him for a month or more.

A league source told The Sacramento Bee Sabonis has a partially torn meniscus in his left knee, confirming a report from ESPN’s Shams ...Read more