BASKETTBALL

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Luka Doncic shrugged off the raw emotion of his return to Dallas with a dazzling 45-point display against his former club as the Los Angeles Lakers downed the Mavericks 112-97 to punch their ticket to the NBA playoffs on Wednesday.

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Zach LaVine scored 43 points as the Sacramento Kings inched closer to the NBA postseason on Monday with a 127-117 road win over the Detroit Pistons. The Kings, who are battling to force their way into the Western Conference's play-in tournament, recovered from an 18-point deficit to snatch victory at the Little Caesars Arena. 

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 42 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder bounced back to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers 136-120 on Tuesday in a hard-fought battle that saw Luka Doncic controversially ejected in the fourth quarter. Two days after suffering a 27-point defeat to the Lakers, the No.1-ranked Thunder avenged that loss thanks to Gilgeous-Alexander's 13th 40-point game of the season, with Jalen Williams adding 26 and Lugentz Dort 17.

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Walter Clayton Jr. is having an NCAA Tournament for the ages. Florida now just needs him to deliver one more time.

The Gators finally are getting a shot at another national championship after another special performance from their All-America guard.

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The Florida Gators defeated the Houston Cougars 65-63 to take home the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship! So, let's run it back from the very beginning that finished with Florida head coach Todd Golden making NCAA history. The game started out rough for both teams from behind the arc with Houston shooting 0-8 and Florida 0-4.

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The Miami Heat ended Boston's nine-game NBA winning streak with a 124-103 victory that pushed the reigning champion Celtics further behind Eastern Conference leaders Cleveland - who rallied to beat New York on Wednesday. Tyler Herro scored 25 points to lead seven players to score in double figures for the Heat, who fought off a late Celtics surge to notch a sixth straight victory.

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The Denver Nuggets, mired in a four-game losing streak as the NBA playoffs approach, made the shock decision to fire head coach Michael Malone on Tuesday, just six days before the end of the regular season. Malone led the Nuggets to the NBA title in 2023, but despite the exploits of three-time Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets have struggled for consistency this season.

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Stephen Curry scored 52 points and Draymond Green added a triple-double as the Golden State Warriors clinched a crucial 134-125 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday. Curry, the NBA's all-time leader in three-point shooting, once again demonstrated his long-range prowess, draining 12-of-20 attempts from outside the arc at Memphis's FedExForum.