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From Broderick Turner: James Harden had a solid effort in his Clippers debut Monday after being acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers last week.
But even with Harden scoring 17 points and handing out six assists during the Clippers’ 111-97 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, the story line turned to coach Tyronn Lue pulling his starters late in the game.
With his team down 16 points in the fourth quarter, Lue called a timeout with 4 minutes, 25 seconds left.
When play resumed, Harden, Russell Westbrook (17 points), Kawhi Leonard (18) and Paul George (10) — the Clippers’ Big Four — were all on the bench.
Harden played in his first NBA game since May, when he and the Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Boston Celtics.
On Monday night there was more bad news for the Clippers when backup center Mason Plumlee was carried off the court by members of the team’s medical staff during the third quarter after a collision with Julius Randle. Randle was chasing down a loose ball when he ran into Plumlee’s left leg, sending him to the court in pain.
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LAKERS
From Dan Woike: The problems aren’t a mystery. But the solutions? Those haven’t been figured out.
Again, the Lakers were beaten on the offensive glass. Again, the Lakers were careless with the ball. And again, the Lakers were losers on the road, falling to the Miami Heat 108-107 on Monday night.
The Lakers had multiple chances down the stretch, but Austin Reaves, LeBron James and Cam Reddish all missed key three-point shots.
After calling their mistakes against the Orlando Magic on Saturday self-inflicted, the problems Monday were more scattered, the team remaining winless on the road this season.
The other major issue was more random, Anthony Davis injuring his hip and finishing the game on the bench after multiple attempts to return.
Lakers star LeBron James says son Bronny is progressing to a return to the court
CHARGERS
From Jeff Miller: Matched against a vaunted defense Monday night, the Chargers’ defenders responded by flexing their own muscles.
The Chargers sacked New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson eight times and generated all three of the game’s turnovers in a 27-6 victory at MetLife Stadium.
Joey Bosa has 2.5 sacks, while fellow edge rushers Khalil Mack and Tuli Tuipulotu added two apiece.
Bosa, Derwin James Jr. and Alohi Gilman had the fumble recoveries as the Chargers improved to 4-4. The Jets fell to 4-4.
The Chargers’ most explosive moment with the ball was supplied by rookie Derius Davis, who ran back a first-quarter punt 87 yards for the game’s first points.
Chargers’ 27-6 road win over the New York Jets by the numbers
RAMS
From Gary Klein: With no game this week, the Rams don’t play again until Nov. 19 against the Seattle Seahawks.
Will quarterback Matthew Stafford return from a right thumb injury that kept him out of Sunday’s 20-3 loss at Green Bay?
Coach Sean McVay on Monday gave every indication that Stafford would be ready to lead a team that will come out of the break with a 3-6 record and a three-game losing streak.
Asked if he would stick with Brett Rypien if Stafford remained unavailable, McVay sounded as if there was no question Stafford would be back.
USC BASKETBALL
From Terrel Emerson: No. 21 USC used a two-prong attack to earn an 82-69 win over Kansas State on Monday night during the season opener for both teams.
The Trojans beat the Wildcats at T-Mobile Arena as part of the Hall of Fame Series Las Vegas.
Fifth-year guard Boogie Ellis put the finishing touches on the win by hitting two free throws with 90 seconds left to give USC a double-digit lead for good. Moments after, he connected on a tough floater as he fell to the hardwood.
Ellis finished with a game-high 24 points to go along with eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.
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Freshman JuJu Watkins scored 32 points in her college debut, lifting No. 21 USC over No. 7 Ohio State 83-74 Monday in the season opener for both teams.
Watkins, one of the nation’s highest regarded incoming freshmen, finished 11 of 18 from the floor with six rebounds and five assists.
Rayah Marshall had 18 points and 17 rebounds for the Trojans while McKenzie Forbes scored 11 points.
Q&A: What USC’s hearing before NLRB could mean for the future of college athletics
UCLA BASKETBALL
From Ben Bolch: Spotting Adem Bona trying to pick him up just inside halfcourt, the guard five inches shorter made his move.
Dribbling past the UCLA big man into the paint, Saint Francis’ Cam Gregory appeared to have Bona beat by half a step on his way to the basket. Nope.
Sprinting from behind, the headband-wearing Bona closed with superhero speed. He leaped to contest the shot, his right arm swatting the ball off the backboard as Gregory went flying onto the court behind the baseline.
Bona gave his poor victim a quick staredown before running back under the basket and snagging an offensive rebound. On the other end of the court, Bona was equally unstoppable. He caught lobs for dunks, made hook shots and powered his way toward the basket for layups.
In his first game back from the shoulder injury that sidelined him late last season, Bona lived up to his coach’s prediction that he would be the Bruins’ best player.
Turning UCLA’s season opener into his own series of highlights, Bona led the Bruins to a 75-44 victory Monday night at Pauley Pavilion.
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Lauren Betts scored a career-high 20 points, Londynn Jones added 20 points and No. 4 UCLA routed Purdue 92-49 Monday night in a matchup of future Big Ten opponents.
The Bruins never trailed as they opened the 50th year of women’s basketball in Westwood against the alma mater of John Wooden, who guided UCLA’s men’s program to 10 of its record 11 national championships.
UCLA star Charisma Osborne was scoreless in the first half and finished with 11 points after hitting three 3-pointers in the second half. But the Bruins got plenty of scoring from their other four starters.
Betts, at 6-foot-7 the tallest player on the floor, transferred from Stanford, where she helped the Cardinal win the Pac-12 regular season title.
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Alex Grinch was one of the first people on Lincoln Riley’s private plane to Los Angeles. They had visions of building a college football powerhouse together. Less than two years later, the embattled defensive coordinator is out.
After weeks of unwavering support for Grinch, Riley reversed course by firing the coordinator Sunday, less than 24 hours after USC’s 52-42 loss to Washington at the Coliseum. The decision with two regular-season games remaining came as Riley held onto hope that the Trojans (7-3, 5-2 Pac-12) can salvage their season and redirect the future of a program that feels like it’s just a serviceable defense away from a College Football Playoff breakthrough.
“I have complete belief and conviction we will play great defense here,” Riley said Monday. “It is going to happen. There’s not a reason in the world why it can’t. We’ll continue to take the steps we have to do to do it and we’re going to be very aggressive that way.”
From Ben Bolch: Uh-oh. Things appear to have gotten a bit awkward between UCLA’s struggling offense and its better half.
Linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo repeatedly used the word “disunified” Monday to describe the team during its 27-10 loss to Arizona on Saturday, saying the defense was paying too much attention to the offense’s inability to produce points late in the game.
“I think slowly by slowly we just started to kind of get disunified, which we can’t let happen,” Oladejo said. “ … I think people were discouraged in the third and fourth quarter down by two touchdowns and we just had a loss of focus, so we need to all bring it back together, stay motivated to finish the season strong, three games left.”
There’s no sugarcoating that UCLA’s defense has vastly outperformed an offense that has repeatedly switched quarterbacks and is averaging 28.6 points per game, tied for No. 62 in the nation. The Bruins’ defense is giving up just 16.3 points per game, tied for No. 13.
UCLA SOCCER
From Kevin Baxter: UCLA, the defending national champion, will open the NCAA women’s soccer tournament Friday against UC Irvine at home. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. PST. The meeting with Irvine, the Big West conference winner, will be the second of the year between the two schools. UCLA won the first 4-0 in August.
The tournament invite is the Bruins’ eighth straight and 27th overall. UCLA has advanced to the Round of 16 or beyond in nine of the last 10 seasons, making final four appearances in 2013, 2017, 2019 and 2022 and winning the national title 2013 and 2022.
By virtue of its No. 1 seed, UCLA (16-1-1), the Pac-12 champion and the No. 2 team in the country, could play at home through the quarterfinals. Irvine (8-7-6), which has won the last three Big West titles, will be appearing in the NCAA tournament for the fifth time.
DODGERS
The Dodgers’ first significant offseason acquisition was announced on Halloween morning last week, hours before Game 4 of the World Series. It didn’t draw attention around the industry. It didn’t include a player or a member of the coaching staff. But it was an indication of the Dodgers’ plans.
Lorenzo Sciarrino was rejoining the organization as senior vice president for global partnerships. Sciarrino, who previously spent 12 years with the Dodgers, was hired away from WME Sports to head the franchise’s “global sponsorship department, supervising and engineering franchise partnerships with businesses domestically and internationally.”
It is not a coincidence the Dodgers made this move two days before Shohei Ohtani officially became a free agent and before Yoshinobu Yamamoto posts to join a Major League Baseball team in the coming weeks.
Judge tosses out petition to repeal public funds for Athletics stadium in Las Vegas
LITTLE LEAGUE
From Eric Sondheimer: The world champion El Segundo Little League World Series team will ride on a float sponsored by DirecTV in the 135th Rose Parade on Jan. 1.
The announcement was made Monday, with players being surprised with the news after being invited to a gathering at the AT&T building cafeteria in El Segundo.
El Segundo won the Little League World Series in August on a walk-off home run by Louis Lappe, setting off a victory celebration heard from Williamsport, Pa., to El Segundo.
HORSE RACING
From John Cherwa: Cody Dorman, whose relationship with a horse who was named after him became an inspiration to the country, died while flying from Los Angeles to Kentucky the day after Cody’s Wish won his second Breeders’ Cup race. He was 17.
“We are heartbroken to share the news that our beloved Cody suffered a medical event on our trip home to Kentucky [Sunday] and he has passed away,” Kelly and Leslie Dorman, Cody’s parents, said in a statement. “On Saturday, Cody watched his best friend, Cody’s Wish, display his usual perseverance and toughness in winning a second Breeders’ Cup.
“Those are the same characteristics Cody has showed time and again for the 18 years we were blessed to have him. We have been completely amazed to experience the impact Cody has had on so many people, through the journey that this wondrous racehorse has taken us all on.”
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1943 — The Detroit Lions and New York Giants play the last scoreless tie in the NFL.
1968 — Red Berenson scores six goals, including four in the second period, to lead the St. Louis Blues to an 8-0 victory over Philadelphia.
1974 — South Africa is awarded the Davis Cup against India. India refuses to play in the final because of its opponent’s apartheid policy. It’s the first time the final is not played.
1985 — Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the former middleweight boxer convicted twice of a triple murder in 1966 and the hero of a Bob Dylan song, is released after 19 years in prison. Carter, 48, is freed after a federal judge rules the boxer and a co-defendant were denied their civil rights by prosecutors during trials in 1967 and 1976.
1991 — Magic Johnson, who helped the Lakers to five NBA championships, announces he has tested HIV positive and is retiring.
1999 — Tiger Woods becomes the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win four straight tournaments, capturing the American Express Championship.
2008 — Jerry Sloan is the first NBA coach to win 1,000 games with one team when his Utah Jazz beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 104-97. Sloan, 1,000-596 with the Jazz, has an overall coaching record of 1,094-717 with the Jazz and Chicago Bulls.
2009 — Zenyatta comes from last after a poor start and fights off Gio Ponti in the stretch to win the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. The 5-year-old mare, ridden by Mike Smith, beats a loaded field of 11 males and becomes the first female to win the race in its 26-year history.
2016 — Stephen Curry sets an NBA record with 13 3-pointers — one game after missing all his long-range attempts for the first time in two years — and the Golden State Warriors beat the winless New Orleans Pelicans 116-106. Curry finishes with 46 points, three days after his league-record streak of 157 games with at least one 3 was snapped.
2018 — For the second straight year, France wins the Six Nations Rugby Championship on points difference from Ireland.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.