Chet Holmgren said he still has a long way to go before returning to his pre-injury best for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who visit the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night. That’s a daunting thought for opposing NBA teams. Holmgren, who missed 40 games earlier this season with a fractured pelvis, is coming off his top performance since that long layoff, collecting 22 points, 17 rebounds, three blocks, and two steals in the Thunder’s 129-121 win over the host Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday. When asked how close he was to being back to his absolute best, Holmgren was circumspect. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 27, Aaron Wiggins added 24 off the bench, and Jalen Williams had 22 as Oklahoma City overturned an 18-point

A year after head coach Rick Pitino criticized his team’s athleticism following a loss to Seton Hall, St. John’s now finds itself on the verge of history. A win on Saturday at Madison Square Garden would secure the program’s first outright Big East regular-season title since 1985. With an impressive 31-5 record since their collapse against Seton Hall last year, the Red Storm have evolved into one of the nation’s top teams. Their dominance at home has played a major role in their success, as they are attempting to finish the season a perfect 18-0 at home, with 12 of those victories coming by double digits. The demand for tickets was so high that the game, originally scheduled for Carnesecca

The New York Knicks are hoping for a quick recovery for big man Karl-Anthony Towns, who suffered a knee injury. Until then, they might be able to survive his absence if Mikal Bridges performs as he did against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday. Bridges picked up the loss of Towns’ scoring from the outset, dropping in 19 first-quarter points and finishing with 28 in a 110-105 victory. The Knicks, who won for the 11th time in 15 games, travel to Memphis for a Friday game against the Grizzlies, who escaped with a 151-148 home victory in overtime on Tuesday against the Phoenix Suns. Towns’ availability for the game against the Grizzlies is uncertain. He was listed as questionable before the

So far this season, no team in the NBA has played fewer home games than the Miami Heat. However, over the final 25 games, the Heat will be home for 17 of them, including Friday night when they are set to host the Indiana Pacers. If the season ended now, the Pacers would be in the playoffs as the fourth seed from the Eastern Conference. The Heat sit in eighth place—good for a play-in game—and are five games out of the final guaranteed playoff position behind the surprising Detroit Pistons. Spoelstra cautioned that the Heat—just 13-11 at home this season—can’t be too eager to make up the lost ground. It helps, though, that the Heat have a tough-minded center in