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The Clippers have been on the road for nearly two weeks, forced from their home building because of the Grammy Awards.
It hasn’t slowed the Clippers down whatsoever.
Kawhi Leonard had 25 points and 11 rebounds, James Harden scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half and the Clippers remained red-hot by topping the sliding Miami Heat 103-95 on Sunday night. They improved to 5-1 on their seven-game, 11-day trip that ends Monday night in Atlanta.
“You get those mental blocks at this stage but we’ve been staying afloat,” Leonard said. “Appreciate everybody coming out and playing and staying locked-in. Those are the things that I’m happy about.”
The Clippers are more than “staying afloat.” They are 25-5 since the start of December — by far the best record in the NBA over that span. Harden flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 11 assists and eight assists. Norman Powell scored 16 points and Paul George added 11 for the Clippers.
“It’s just having that mindset that we’re going to try to win every game,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “I give guys credit. They’ve been doing that. We have a lot of talent. We have a lot of guys willing to sacrifice to do whatever it takes to win, and that’s what we did.”
Jimmy Butler scored 21 points and Terry Rozier finished with 17 for the Heat, who fell to 2-8 in their last 10. Bam Adebayo and Josh Richardson each had 14 points for Miami.
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LAKERS
From Dan Woike: With the NBA’s trade deadline coming Thursday, the Lakers will be on the hunt for a player who can pick up the defensive slack in place of Vanderbilt.
Brooklyn’s Dorian Finney-Smith is a coveted 3-and-D wing. Chicago’s Alex Caruso is a player on most contenders’ wish list. Brooklyn’s Royce O’Neal and Toronto’s Bruce Brown are also defense-minded forwards, but at this point in the trade market costs are still high.
As the Lakers weigh their options, the possibility of keeping their 2029 first-round draft pick at the deadline and possibly using it next offseason when they could potentially package three firsts on draft night remains appealing.
Internally, sound team defense and improved effort and communication can help.
“Keep doing what we’re doing. Keep talking,” Anthony Davis said. “Honestly, losing one of our biggest defensive presences is tough, but guys got to step up and take the challenge. I think any one-on-one matchup you got to take personal. That’s how you get better — take it personal.”
DODGERS
From Mike DiGiovanna: As eager as Walker Buehler is to return from his second Tommy John surgery, the erstwhile Dodgers ace will have to wait at least an extra month to make his first regular-season start since June 10, 2022.
The Dodgers — with Buehler’s blessing — have decided to delay the veteran right-hander’s start to the season in order to limit his workload and increase the chances of him being fresh in October.
General manager Brandon Gomes wouldn’t go into specific numbers, but Buehler is expected to be limited to 150-175 innings and 24-27 starts. In his last full regular season, he threw 207 ⅔ innings over 33 starts in 2021.
Hernández: Dodgers handle first Ohtani mania test, but more challenges loom for the team
NFL
From Sam Farmer: The conversation occurred in the immediate aftermath of Super Bowl XXVII, when Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman was riding with his agent from the Rose Bowl back to the team hotel in Santa Monica.
“Do you know what just happened?” Leigh Steinberg asked his exhausted client.
“Yeah,” Aikman said, “we just won the game.”
“No,” the agent corrected him. “When you entered the game you were Troy Aikman, very good quarterback. You left the game as Troy Aikman, superstar, name in lights.”
There have been 57 Super Bowls and 34 starting quarterbacks who presided over winning teams. They are members of the most exclusive club in sports.
“It’s talked about from middle school to high school to college, all the recruiting, how to evaluate the position,” said Brad Johnson, who won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay in 2002. “And it’s the ultimate prize to lead your team to win the ultimate championship. If you’ve hoisted that trophy, it’s a dream come true. It’s a wow. It’s not a vote. It’s not a political thing. It’s won, and it’s earned.”
Next Sunday night, when the Kansas City Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers, one starting quarterback will be standing on the Allegiant Stadium dais in Las Vegas amid a blizzard of confetti.
Father of Patrick Mahomes arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated
SUPER BOWL
Super Bowl LVIII: Start time, teams, betting odds and halftime show
Sunday
at Las Vegas
Kansas City vs. San Francisco, 3:30 p.m. PT, CBS, Paramount+
SOCCER
From Kevin Baxter: The only men’s World Cup ever played in the U.S. ended in Southern California in 1994. When the tournament returns to this country in 2026, it will start there, with Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium announced Sunday as the site of the U.S. team’s opening game.
The 2026 tournament, the largest in history with 48 teams, 104 games and 16 cities spread over three countries, will kick off June 11 in Mexico City. That will make Azteca Stadium the only venue to stage three World Cup openers. The U.S. and Canada, the third host country, will begin play a day later, with Canada’s opener scheduled for Toronto’s BMO Field.
“It’s exceptionally exciting to us,” said LAFC president Larry Freedman, co-chair of the Los Angeles host committee. “We’ve got eight matches. We’ve got the first and third matches for the U.S. national team. We’re exceptionally happy with the way this is worked out.”
USC BASKETBALL
Freshman JuJu Watkins scored 29 points to lead No. 15 USC to a 79-69 victory over California on Sunday.
Watkins made 12 of 27 shots from the floor with two three-pointers for the Trojans (16-4, 6-4 Pac-12 Conference). She added five assists, four rebounds, four steals and blocked two shots.
Watkins came in averaging 27.2 points per game, second in the nation only to the 32.4 average of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. Watkins was coming off a season-best 51-point performance, scoring all but 16 points in the Trojans’ 67-58 victory over No. 4 Stanford.
UCLA BASKETBALL
Tara VanDerveer pulled each of her star post players aside and asked them to stay within themselves and play to their strengths.
Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen made all the right decisions two days after a rare loss.
Brink had 19 points, 19 rebounds and seven blocked shots, and No. 4 Stanford beat No. 7 UCLA 80-60 on Sunday.
Iriafen scored 18 points as the Cardinal (20-3, 9-2 Pac-12) bounced back nicely after losing 67-58 to JuJu Watkins and No. 15 USC on Friday night.
UCLA SOFTBALL
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: When Megan Grant closes her eyes to lock in before a practice, the UCLA sophomore pictures her powerful swing connecting on pitches. She sees impeccably fielded ground balls at third base. She watches herself hit towering home runs.
Grant says she believes in the power of visualization, that the images in her head can manifest onto the field. That belief is why, days before No. 10 UCLA was set to begin its season, Grant stopped to picture how she wanted it to end.
“Make it to OKC,” Grant said in a low voice.
After UCLA failed to advance out of an NCAA regional for the first time since 2013, the Bruins are refocused on starting a new streak of Women’s College World Series appearances. They open the season Thursday against Cal State Fullerton at Easton Stadium.
NHL
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1913 — The New York State Athletic Commission bans boxing matches between fighters of different races.
1919 — Charges against Cincinnati’s Hal Chase of throwing games and betting against his team are dismissed by National League president John Heydler. Two weeks later, Chase is traded to the New York Giants.
1948 — After landing the first double axel in Olympic competition, Dick Button becomes the first American to win the Olympic gold medal in figure skating. Gretchen Fraser becomes the first U.S. woman Olympic slalom champion.
1960 — Bill Russell grabs 51 rebounds in the Boston Celtics’ 124-100 victory over the Syracuse Nationals. Russell is the first player in NBA history to pull in 50 or more rebounds.
1972 — Bob Douglas is the first Black person elected to Basketball Hall of Fame. Known as “The Father of Black Professional Basketball,” Douglas owned and coached the New York Renaissance from 1922 until 1949.
1976 — Austrian Franz Klammer wins the Olympic gold medal in the downhill at Innsbruck, Austria. Bill Koch wins a silver in the 30-kilometer cross-country race to become the first American to win a medal in a Nordic event.
1980 — Gordie Howe plays his 23rd and final All-Star Game. Howe doesn’t score, but sets up the final goal of the game, by Real Cloutier, in the Wales Conference’s 6-3 win against the Campbell Conference at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
1990 — Notre Dame bucks the College Football Association and becomes the first college to sell its home games to a major network, agreeing to a five-year contract with NBC beginning in 1991.
1991 — Dave Taylor of the Kings has two assists in a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers to become the 29th player in NHL history with 1,000 points.
1999 — Patrick Roy, at 33, becomes the youngest goalie in NHL history to earn 400 wins when he makes 26 saves in the Colorado Avalanche’s 3-1 win against the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.
2003 — Bode Miller of the United States captures his first major title, winning the gold medal in the combined at the world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
2006 — Pittsburgh wins a record-tying fifth Super Bowl, but its first since 1980 with a 21-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
2009 — Tennessee’s Pat Summitt becomes the first Division I basketball coach — man or woman — to win 1,000 career games after her Lady Vols beat Georgia 73-43.
2012 — Eli Manning and the Giants one-up Tom Brady and the Patriots again, coming back with a last-minute score to beat New England 21-17 for New York’s fourth Super Bowl title.
2017 — Tom Brady leads one of the greatest comebacks in sports, let alone Super Bowl history, lifting New England from a 25-point hole to the Patriots’ fifth NFL championship in the game’s first overtime finish. The Patriots score 19 points in the final quarter, including a pair of 2-point conversions, then marches relentlessly to James White’s 2-yard touchdown run in overtime beating the Atlanta Falcons 34-28.
2022 — Six days before his 50th birthday, 11-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater wins his 8th Pipeline title beating 22-year old Hawaiian Seth Moniz in the final.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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