LeBron James is edging closer towards the summit of the NBA all-time top scorers list with 27 points in the Cleveland Cavaliers' 114-84 win over the Miami Heat.

Stephen Curry scored 36 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 96-88 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder and into an NBA title rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

LeBron James continued his love affair with the Eastern Conference play-offs as the Cleveland Cavaliers booked their place in the final.

Unlike their Premier League counterparts, Spain-based players usually have their feet up around this time. But a shortened La Liga winter break this year means everything is speeding up and in places hurtling out of control.

Boxing’s back off the canvass with the billion dollar fight of the century — and that’s bad news for the upstart UFC bidding to muscle in on the money.

To cheer or to jeer, that is the question, writes Kieran Shannon.

Illuminada “Nelly” Magtoto had one wish for her 90th birthday - to play one-on-one with her favourite basketball player, Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade.

NBA superstar LeBron James had decided to line out for his former team, Cleveland Cavaliers.

LeBron James is heading back to free agency.

That thrilling, slightly jarring draw between the US and Portugal on Sunday night was the most watched soccer game of all time in America.

Annual traditions are everywhere in San Antonio.

Kawhi Leonard will probably never adorn an NBA billboard in China, nor will Boris Diaw or Patty Mills.

What are you currently driving?

Thurles last Sunday. One new discovery. A vaccine. When the terrible pandemics look set to engulf us, someone always mixes a potion before apocalypse.

Does your nana love sport? Because this one adores NBA basketball!

Watching Des Bishop travelling and breaking China the other week, it struck us just how far a certain sport has travelled as well.

Nothing to see here. We're all good. Just a sister thing.

Beyoncé and Jay Z were all smiles at a basketball game just hours after a leaked security video appeared to show the singer’s sister attacking the rap star.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have endured a wretched time in the NBA so far this season with their playoff hopes hanging by a thread in a poor Eastern conference.

Chicago Bulls centre Joakim Noah is in the form of his life this season in the absence of star teammate Derrick Rose and produced another talismanic performance Sunday evening against the Miami Heat.

The US first-lady videobombs a White House interview with the Miami Heat. FLOTUS got game.

One of the signposts welcoming traffic to Brooklyn from Queens calls on those who pass by to “Believe the Hype”, paraphrasing that classic Public Enemy hip-hop track.

James Waldron was in a tight spot.

He’d won over the judges but Danny O’Connor’s face and entire demeanour seemed more like a swollen tribute to some sort of courageous defeat.

As a reporter, you’d watch those Sunday evening draws anticipating where the wonderful magical backdoor journey could take you.

Writing off Pádraig Harrington is a bit like writing off Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky — an exercise that’s likely to blow up in your face as the hero takes yet another horrific pummelling but somehow manages to haul himself off the canvas.

LeBron James is closer to all-time greatness after inspiring the Miami Heat to retain the Larry O’Brien trophy

"I'm LeBron James from Akron, Ohio, from the inner city. I'm not even supposed to be here… It doesn't matter what anybody else says about me. I ain't got no worries."

The San Antonio Spurs spent most of the past week resting, answering the same questions from the media and battering each other during practice.

They have a phrase in American sport: “the Face of the Franchise”.

When the members of the LA Lakers team that won the 1971-72 NBA title got together last year to reminisce about the good old days, one question dominated the event: would there ever be a season like theirs?

There are big games, very big games and then there are mega games.

Back when I met Dave Hopla last March, he told a story which gives an insight into Kobe Bryant.

These used to be the moments that suffocated LeBron James.

LeBron James led the way with a triple-double as the Miami Heat completed a 4-1 series win over the Oklahoma City Thunder to secure the NBA title last night.

Americans like their team sports to be reduced to duels, the battle of stars who are more often than not defined by recent form.

Chris Brown has been spending time with Rihanna's family.

Until this season, the Los Angeles Kings ice hockey team were really only known for one saga: the infamous big-money acquisition of Wayne Gretzky, a move that shocked the sport and tore the heart out of a city and a country in the late 1980s.

PICK OF THE DAY

CHRISTMAS DAY is the jewel in the crown of the NBA season but this year it will bring with it a bigger gift than ever: basketball’s return from the brink.

THE NBA fined Miami Heat owner Micky Arison $500,000 (€365,000) for comments he made on Twitter that violated the league’s regulations on speaking publicly about the lockout that has crippled the sport.

DIRK NOWITZKI, the German playmaker who led the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA Finals victory, admitted he was “overwhelmed” by the response as he came back to his tiny home city Wuerzburg yesterday.