Go beyond the scoreboard
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From Bill Plaschke: The confetti erupted and the curtain came down and, amid audible gasps, there appeared a muscular bronze figure doing something nobody expected.
Kobe Bryant isn’t shooting. He isn’t scoring. He isn’t celebrating.
He is sharing.
He is walking off the court after his 81-point game in 2006 and pointing to the fans as if to say, “This was for you.”
It is not the swaggering Kobe most people remember, but it is the inclusive and unselfish Kobe that he had become.
At first glance it was weird, but upon further inspection it was perfect.
The long-awaited unveiling of Bryant’s statue at the Crypto.com Arena Star Plaza Thursday wonderfully proved Kobe to be defiant to the end.
It turns out, he essentially designed his surprising sculpture himself.
“For the record, Kobe picked the pose you’re about to see,” said his widow, Vanessa Bryant, before the big reveal. “So if anyone has any issue with it, tough s—.”
Complete coverage of the Kobe Bryant statue unveiling
Lakers unveil Kobe Bryant statue celebrating his ‘timeless’ legacy
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From Broderick Turner: The day was defined by the emotional unveiling of Kobe Bryant‘s statue, a depiction of the Lakers legend wearing his iconic No. 8 jersey with his taped right index finger pointing to the sky. Before the ceremony, the Lakers decided not to make a move at the NBA trade deadline because the asking prices were not to their liking.
It was against this backdrop that the Lakers went out and played the defending champion Denver Nuggets on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena — the same Nuggets who swept them in the Western Conference finals last season and had beaten them six consecutive times.
The losing streak reached seven games after the Lakers were unable to keep up with the Nuggets in the final moments of a 114-106 defeat.
Even with Anthony Davis scoring 32 points, LeBron James finishing with 25 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and Austin Reaves producing his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 assists, the Lakers couldn’t win after tying the game 104-104 with 2:18 left.
Lakers don’t make a move as NBA trade deadline passes
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DODGERS
From Jack Harris: The way Clayton Kershaw sees it, he has faced few truly “big decisions” in his life.
“I got drafted by the Dodgers, married the same girl from high school,” the veteran pitcher and future Hall of Famer said Thursday. “I didn’t have many decisions to make along the way.”
This past winter, however, was different.
Kershaw entered free agency for a third straight offseason, once again picking between a return to the Dodgers or a move to his hometown Texas Rangers. But this time, the 35-year-old left-hander also had to consider retirement more seriously than ever before, knowing that in order to extend his 16-year playing career, he would have to undergo his first surgical procedure to repair injuries to ligaments and the capsule in his left shoulder.
“That was kind of a hard road to go down,” Kershaw said. “This was really the first offseason where I had some choices to make, and it wasn’t easy.”
More difficult, sure. But the outcome, once again, was the same.
Shohei Ohtani vs. LeBron James: Who makes more?
SUPER BOWL
From Gary Klein: Nearly three decades ago, quarterback Steve Young passed for a record six touchdowns as the San Francisco 49ers won the last of their five Super Bowl championships.
Lost in the stat sheet of that 49ers’ rout of the Chargers was that Young, the preeminent mobile quarterback of his generation, also rushed for 49 yards.
On Sunday, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will lead the 49ers against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium.
In the NFC championship game, Purdy engineered a dramatic comeback victory over the Detroit Lions, passing for a touchdown but perhaps more importantly setting up two touchdowns with timely scrambles that helped him finish with 48 yards rushing.
Young, a Hall of Famer, said Purdy must again use his legs and deceptive speed if the 49ers are to defeat the Chiefs and star quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“I said before the [NFC championship] game, if he could spit out 50 yards that would be great,” Young said. “I think the Super Bowl, at least 50, because he’s going to need to do that.”
In his last Super Bowl, CBS’ Sean McManus reflects on ‘the ultimate TV drama’
Super Bowl LVIII: Start time, teams, betting odds and halftime show
Super Bowl LVIII matchups, analysis and prediction: And the winner is …
Sunday
at Las Vegas
Kansas City vs. San Francisco, 3:30 p.m. PT, CBS, Paramount+
USC BASKETBALL
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: It’s gotta be the shoes.
JuJu Watkins poured in a USC record 51 points against Stanford, torching the Pac-12 leaders with a dizzying array of stepbacks, crossovers and silky jumpers and dancing with defenders in her Kobe “Mambacita” sneakers. The black snakeskin-patterned shoes honor not only late Lakers star Kobe Bryant, but also his daughter Gianna, with her AAU jersey No. 2 on the side of each shoe.
“Kobe is L.A.,” Watkins said after practice Wednesday with the sneakers untied and strewn on the floor at her feet. “I’m always just in constant awe of him and his legacy, and of course Gigi, too. [I’m] just always making sure I have that type of mindset and trying to adopt more of that Mamba mentality every time I step on the court.”
Watkins’ mentality is only beginning to take over the city like the legends before her. On the weekend before Bryant’s statue was set to be unveiled at Crypto.com Arena, Watkins made history for USC as the Trojans secured their first Bay Area road sweep since 2001. Watkins, who followed up her historic performance at Stanford with a team-high 29 points and five assists against California last Sunday, wasn’t even born the last time USC pulled off the rare sweep.
NHL
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1940 — Joe Louis beats Arturo Godoy with a split decision to defend his world heavyweight title at Madison Square Garden.
1966 — The NHL doubles in size — from six to 12 teams — when the Owners-Governors award franchises to Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and St. Louis.
1991 — Terry Norris knocks down Sugar Ray Leonard twice and beats him up over 12 rounds in Leonard’s Madison Square Garden debut and final fight. Norris wins a unanimous decision.
1992 — Magic Johnson, playing for the first time since announcing his retirement on Nov. 7, scores a game-high 25 points and hands out nine assists to lead the West to a 153-113 win over the East in the NBA All-Star Game at the Orlando Arena.
2009 — Lindsey Vonn wins the downhill for her second gold at the World Championships in Val D’isere, France. Vonn becomes the second American woman to win two golds at a worlds. Andrea Mead Lawrence won the slalom and giant slalom at the 1952 Oslo Olympics, which doubled as the worlds.
2015 — San Antonio rallies from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit and gets an 18-foot baseline jumper from Marco Belinelli with 2.1 seconds left to give coach Greg Popovich 1,000 wins with a 95-93 victory at Indiana.
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.