DAVID FIZDALE

Ja Morant scored 41 points, Desmond Bane added 20 and the Memphis Grizzlies overcame a 14-point second-half deficit to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 104-99 on Wednesday night.

NBA players who test positive for COVID-19 now have a quicker path to return after the league completed a significant update to its health and safety protocols.

Keita Bates-Diop scored a career-high 30 points and the San Antonio Spurs routed the slumping Los Angeles Lakers 138-110 in the final event at Staples Center under the 22-year-old arena’s original name.

DeMar DeRozan scored 38 points after missing two weeks in the NBA’s health and safety protocols to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 115-110 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

The NBA has called off five games for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday because of coronavirus-related concerns.

Rookie Austin Reaves swished a 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds left in overtime to give the Los Angeles Lakers a 107-104 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

Thibodeau is back in New York as the Knicks new coach. The former NBA Coach of the Year was hired Thursday, July 30,2020, returning to the team he helped lead to the NBA Finals as an assistant coach. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)NEW YORK Tom Thibodeau brought the Chicago Bulls to their greatest success since Michael Jordan. He has seen what it's like in New York when the Knicks win and wanted to be the coach to make it happen again. Rose then conducted a long search before tabbing Thibodeau to be the 13th different person to coach the Knicks since Van Gundy.

ATLANTA If basketball icon LeBron James gets his way, NBA arenas and other sports venues around the country will be mega polling sites for the November general election. James and his voting rights group, formed this spring with other black athletes and entertainers, are joining with other professional basketball leaders and Michigans top elections official to push for mega voting sites to accommodate in-person balloting amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In Georgia, Fulton County elections officials this week approved the Atlanta Hawks proposal to use State Farm Arena as a polling site. Plans call for the arena to serve any Fulton County voters during early voting and on Election Day, Nov. 3. Voting rights advocates argued in federal court that the plan, part of culling voting sites statewide amid coronavirus concerns, would harm minority voters.