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From Dan Woike: When Stephan Silas and the Rockets last saw LeBron James, it was in mid-January in Los Angeles. The Lakers were on shaky ground, five games below .500, and in real trouble.
But that night against Houston, James put the Lakers on his back, scoring 48 points in his most dominant offensive game of the season.
Sunday, when the Rockets saw James again, it couldn’t have been more different.
They saw him crash the glass. They saw him throw perfect lead passes to Austin Reaves. They saw him respond to a missed transition layup with a thunderous dunk on his next touch.
It was just as Silas feared pregame: This was the Lakers as their best version.
James was able to play his best role — a little of all of them — as he orchestrated a dominant 134-109 win for the Lakers.
The luxury to let James to approach the game with surgical precision came from Anthony Davis, who again dominated and continued to make good on his word to “get back” at teams that had taken wins from the Lakers.
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NBA standings
Western Conference
Top six qualify for playoffs. Nos. 7-10 qualify for tournament to determine final two playoff teams.
1. x-Denver Nuggets, 52-26
2. x-Memphis Grizzlies, 49-29, 3 GB
3. x-Sacramento Kings, 47-31, 5 GB
4. Phoenix Suns, 43-35, 9 GB
5. Clippers, 41-38, 11.5 GB
6. Golden State Warriors, 11.5 GB, 11.5 GB
7. Lakers, 40-38, 12 GB
8. New Orleans Pelicans, 40-38, 12 GB
9. Minnesota Timberwolves, 39-40, 13.5 GB
10. Oklahoma City Thunder, 38-41, 14.5 GB
11. Dallas Mavericks, 37-42, 15.5 GB
12. Utah Jazz, 36-42, 16 GB
13. e-Portland Trail Blazers, 33-45, 19 GB
14. e-San Antonio Spurs, 20-58, 32 GB
15. e-Houston Rockets, 19-60, 33.5 GB
x-clinched playoff spot; e-eliminated from playoff contention
NCAA BASKETBALL
Kim Mulkey had tears of joy streaming down her face as she guided Louisiana State to its first national championship.
Her Tigers used a record offensive performance to beat Caitlin Clark and Iowa 102-85 on Sunday and win the first basketball title in school history.
The victory made Mulkey the first women’s coach to win national championships at two different schools. She won three at Baylor before leaving for LSU two years ago.
“Coaches coach a lifetime and this is the fourth time I’ve been blessed,” Mulkey said. “Never in the history of LSU basketball, men or women, has (anybody) ever played for a championship.”
————
From Ben Bolch: A growing list of awards for Jaylen Clark is also a reminder of what could have been as well as what’s still to come.
The UCLA junior guard on Sunday was honored as the school’s first Naismith defensive player of the year, widely considered the nation’s top defensive award among college players. Clark ranked fourth in the nation with 2.6 steals per game before suffering a season-ending leg injury against Arizona on March 4, preventing him from participating in the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments.
The others honored Sunday were Purdue’s Zach Edey as the winner of the Naismith Trophy that goes to the nation’s most outstanding player and Kansas State’s Jerome Tang as the Naismith coach of the year.
San Diego State out to prove it can defeat heavy favorite UConn for NCAA title
Men’s tournament results, schedule
All times Pacific
Championship
Tonight
UConn vs. San Diego State, 6:15 p.m., CBS
Women’s tournament
Championship
Sunday
LSU 102, Iowa 85
DODGERS
From Mike DiGiovanna: It took four spring training starts for Noah Syndergaard to come to grips with the fact that, despite his December proclamation that there is “no excuse as to why I can’t get back to 100 mph,” his once-vaunted fastball is not going to approach triple digits like it did before 2020 elbow surgery.
“If I don’t throw 100 [mph] again,” the new Dodgers pitcher said on the eve of the regular season, “that’s fine.”
And that’s perfectly fine with the Dodgers, who weren’t expecting the second coming of Sandy Alcantara when they signed Syndergaard to a one-year, $13-million contract.
They will gladly take Sunday’s version of Syndergaard, when the right-hander displayed superb command of a four-pitch mix and held the Arizona Diamondbacks to one run and four hits in six innings, striking out six and walking none, in a 2-1 loss before a crowd of 46,549 in Dodger Stadium.
ANGELS
From Sarah Valenzuela: The Japanese media have a term for whenever Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani hit home runs in the same game.
“Troutani? I like that,” Trout said after the Angels beat the Athletics, 6-0, on Sunday at RingCentral Coliseum.
In the opening series finale between the Angels and the A’s, fans got the first iteration of a Troutani this season. It was the 23rd time Trout and Ohtani have hit home runs in the same game, and the sixth time they hit back-to-back home runs.
Hernández: Brutal early schedule will let Angels know if they can contend for playoffs
KINGS
Alex Iafallo scored twice, Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves and the Kings wrapped up a playoff spot with a 4-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night.
The Kings improved to 45-22-10, winning for the second straight night after topping Seattle on Saturday.
“That’s a hell of an accomplishment for our group,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “I thought tonight was a tough night for us to play, a lot of heavy games on this trip and to play back to back, short turnaround, complete team win tonight.”
DUCKS
Milan Lucic and Michael Stone scored in the third period and the Calgary Flames rallied to beat the Ducks 5-4 on Sunday.
Frank Vatrano had two goals and an assist, Max Comtois had a goal and an assist, and Scott Harrington also scored for Anaheim, which has lost eight straight. Kevin Shattenkirk had two assists and Lukas Dostal made 36 saves.
ANGEL CITY
Katie Johnson’s goal on the final play of the match gave Angel City a 2-1 victory against the Orlando Pride in the lone National Women’s Soccer League contest Sunday.
Claire Emslie converted a penalty kick for Angel City (1-1-0) in the first half at Orlando’s Exploria Stadium after Alyssa Thompson, selected first in the 2023 NWSL draft, was taken down on a breakaway in the box. Emslie sent Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse diving in the other direction and slotted her shot to the right corner.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1930 — The Montreal Canadiens win the NHL Stanley Cup with a two-game sweep of the Boston Bruins.
1933 — Ken Doraty’s overtime goal gives the Toronto Maple Leafs and 1-0 victory over the Boston Bruins in semifinals of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The goal comes at one hour, 44 minutes and 46 seconds of the overtime beyond the one-hour regulation game.
1966 — Tom Seaver signs with the New York Mets.
1975 — Bobby Fischer stripped of world chess title for refusing to defend it, title awarded to Russian Anatoly Karpov.
1977 — Jean Ratelle of the Boston Bruins scores his 1,000th point with an assist in a 7-4 triumph over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
1982 — Buffalo’s Gil Perrault scores his 1,000th point with an assist in a 5-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
1983 — Second NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship: USC beats Louisiana Tech, 69-67.
1987 — Chicago Cubs trade Dennis Eckersley to Oakland A’s.
1988 — Louisiana Tech wins the NCAA women’s basketball championship with a 56-54 come-from-behind victory over Auburn.
1988 — Amy Alcott shoots a 1-under 71 to win the Dinah Shore by two shots over Colleen Walker.
1988 — Mario Lemieux wins NHL scoring title, stopping Gretzky’s 7-year streak.
1989 — Michigan beats Seton Hall 80-79 in overtime to win the NCAA basketball championship. Rumeal Robinson hits two free throws with three seconds left for the Wolverines. It’s the first time that a first-year coach, Steve Fisher, wins the national title.
1991 — Bo Jackson signs 1-year contract with Chicago White Sox.
1993 — For the first time in its 157-year history, the Grand National steeplechase is declared void because of a false start. Esha Ness crosses the line first, but most of the jockeys are unaware a false start is called and the majority of the 39-horse field continue the 4½-mile race around the Aintree course even though nine stay behind at the start line.
1994 — Charlotte Smith’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gives North Carolina a 60-59 victory over Louisiana Tech in the NCAA women’s basketball championship game.
1995 — UCLA wins its first national basketball championship in 20 years and record 11th NCAA title, keeping Arkansas from repeating with an 89-78 victory.
1996 — St Francis Fighting Saints scores college baseball run record with 71.
2000 — 62nd NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Michigan State beats Florida, 89-76.
2004 — St. Louis clinches its 25th consecutive NHL playoff berth, the longest in major league sports, with a 4-1 win over Nashville.
2006 — Joakim Noah dominates UCLA with 16 points, nine rebounds and a record seven blocks to key a 73-57 blowout for Florida’s first national title in men’s basketball.
2006 — Steve Yzerman scores his final NHL goal (#692).
2007 — After a nine-year title drought, Tennessee and coach Pat Summitt are NCAA champions. The Lady Vols capture an elusive seventh national title, beating Rutgers 59-46.
2010 — Bernard Hopkins wins a brutal unanimous decision over Roy Jones Jr. in their long-delayed rematch, emphatically avenging his loss in the famed champions’ first fight nearly 17 years earlier.
2012 — Brittney Griner scores 26 points and grabs 13 rebounds to help Baylor finish off an undefeated season with an 80-61 win over Notre Dame in the women’s national championship game. Baylor becomes the first team in NCAA history to win 40 games.
2017 — Justin Jackson delivers the go-ahead three-point play and North Carolina scores the last eight points for a 71-65 win over Gonzaga and an NCAA title that heartbreakingly eluded the Tar Heels last year. It’s an ugly game, filled with 44 fouls and 52 free throws. Carolina was down 2 with 1:40 left when Jackson took a pass under the bucket from Theo Pinson, made a layup and got fouled. The free throw made it 66-65, and after a Gonzaga miss on the other end, Isaiah Hicks made a shot to help North Carolina start pulling away to the school’s sixth title.
2019 — San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich is ejected after an NBA record low 63 seconds in the Spurs 113-85 loss in Denver; receives 2 technical fouls in a verbal confrontation with a referee.
—Compiled by the Associated Press
And finally…
UCLA defeats Arkansas to win the men’s basketball title in 1995. Watch and listen here.
Until next time…
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