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From Dan Woike: As the third quarter turned to the fourth quarter, rarely-used Minnesota big man Luka Garza flipped the ball into the bucket just before the buzzer.
The play came after another turnover, a string of mistakes increasingly maddening and propping open the door against the severely undermanned Timberwolves.
Last week, Minnesota lost Karl-Anthony Towns to a meniscus tear. On Sunday, the Timberwolves played without Rudy Gobert and without Towns’ replacement in the starting five, Kyle Anderson.
And after the Garza basket, the Lakers entered the fourth quarter trailing by one, again looking like a team allergic to good vibes and momentum.
But even turnovers — and the Lakers had 20 of them — couldn’t get in the way of the kind of game Anthony Davis had.
Davis and the Lakers’ defense responded with a 21-4 run after Garza’s basket, a reminder of what they’re capable of achieving, in a 120-109 win at Crypto.com Arena.
It wrapped a stretch in which the Lakers played seven consecutive games in their building (once as a road team) and picked up victories over the Clippers, Wizards, Thunder, Bucks and Timberwolves.
Against Minnesota, Davis played a stellar all-around game despite dealing with a shoulder bruise he sustained Friday. He became becoming the first NBA player to have at least 27 points, 25 rebounds, seven steals, five assists and three blocks in a game.
LeBron James, who sat out the win over Milwaukee, returned and led the Lakers (36-30) with 29 points. Austin Reaves had 19, Rui Hachimura scored 15 and D’Angelo Russell had 13.
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CLIPPERS
From Broderick Turner: The Clippers had to try to exact their revenge on the Milwaukee Bucks without stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George because both were dealing with injuries and were not available to play in the game on back-to-back days.
They could not because Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo wouldn’t let the Clippers do so, the two combining for 69 points to lead Milwaukee past L.A. 124-117 at Crypto.com Arena.
Lillard had 35 points, including nine straight points in the fourth quarter that stretched Milwaukee’s lead to 10 points. He also had 11 assists and seven rebounds.
Lillard had 16 points in the decisive fourth quarter, going 4-for-7 from the field, 3-for-5 from three-point range.
Antetokounmpo had 34 points, including the game-icing free throws with 11.12 seconds left that gave the Bucks a four-point lead. He also had 10 assists and seven rebounds.
USC BASKETBALL
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: McKenzie Forbes threw the ball with two hands backward over her head. Tears marked Rayah Marshall’s cheeks as she threw a T-shirt into the crowd. JuJu Watkins shared a bear hug with Tommy Trojan.
These are the final queens of the Pac-12.
USC won its first Pac-12 championship since 2014, knocking off top-seeded Stanford 74-61 on Sunday at MGM Grand Garden Arena in the last conference tournament. Led by Forbes’ 26 points, the Trojans flexed their depth on a rare off game for Watkins, who was held to a season-low nine points.
“This is the best day ever because this group I really love and admire so much got to celebrate,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “You don’t always get that, everyone gets the work in, everyone tries to do their best job but to see the confetti falling and to see them have success at this level, it is beyond words, it is beyond belief.”
Standing in the shower of red and yellow confetti, Forbes, who was selected the tournament most outstanding player, whispered to Gottlieb, “Am I dreaming, bro?”
“It’s truly unbelievable,” Forbes said.
DODGERS
From Mike DiGiovanna: One day, the pain would be in his groin. The next day it would be in his abdomen. Then it would shift to his hips or his adductors or his quadriceps.
For much of the last two seasons, Kiké Hernández played through discomfort that ranged from annoying to excruciating, the utility man sitting out about one-third of the 2022 season with Boston because of injuries and gritting through one of the worst seasons of his career for the Red Sox and Dodgers in 2023.
But with his trade back to Los Angeles last summer came some relief in the form of a diagnosis that multiple MRI tests failed to reveal: Hernández, it turned out, had been playing with not one but two sports hernias, and he underwent surgery to repair them on Oct. 24 with Dr. William Meyers in Philadelphia.
“It was probably the first time ever I’ve been excited that somebody told me I needed surgery,” said Hernández, a 10-year veteran who signed a one-year, $4-million deal with the Dodgers on Feb. 26.
Trevor Bauer returns to Camelback Ranch; Dodgers bullpen takes a hit for Korea trip
U.S. WOMEN’S SOCCER
From Kevin Baxter: Lindsey Horan’s header in first-half stoppage time proved to be the only goal the U.S. women’s national team would need to beat Brazil 1-0 in the CONCACAF W Gold Cup final Sunday in front of a crowd of 31,528 at Snapdragon Stadium.
Although Brazil controlled the tempo through much of the first half, the U.S. had the best two chances after switching to a press late in the period. The first came when Alex Morgan got behind the defense and found herself with only the goalie to beat, but Luciana charged off her line to break up the play. The second came late in the half when a Rose Lavelle corner kick ricocheted dangerously around the box before the Brazilian keeper scooped it up.
Horan finally found the back of the net in stoppage time, charging toward the edge of the six-yard box and slipping between Brazilian defenders Antonia and Gabi Portilho to nod home a well-placed Emily Fox cross.
GALAXY
Riqui Puig and Dejan Joveljic scored the final two goals in a wild second half and the Galaxy rallied for a 2-2 draw with Nashville SC on Sunday.
Neither team scored until Teal Bunbury connected on a penalty kick in the 54th minute to give Nashville (0-0-3) the lead. Bunbury’s goal came after the Galaxy’s Joseph Paintsil fouled Dru Yearwood in the penalty area.
Yearwood took a pass from McKinze Gaines and scored just four minutes later to stretch the lead to 2-0.
Puig got the Galaxy (1-0-2) on the scoreboard with an unassisted goal in the 67th minute.
Joveljic pulled LA even in the 82nd minute when he used an assist from Julián Aude to score for a third time this season. Joveljic had six goals in 19 starts and 32 appearances for the Galaxy last season.
DUCKS
Kyle Palmieri reached the 20-goal mark for the sixth time in his career, Bo Horvat extended his goal streak to three games, and the New York Islanders moved into a playoff position with their sixth straight win, a 6-1 rout of the Ducks on Sunday night.
The Islanders scored three times in the first period, including Palmieri on a breakaway 7:28 into the game. New York has outscored opponents 11-0 in the first 20 minutes during its winning streak.
It was the second time this season the Ducks have allowed at least three goals in the first period in two straight games.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1979 — St. John’s and Penn post two of the biggest upsets ever in the NCAA tournament in the second round of the East regional in Raleigh, N.C. St. John’s, the 40th and last team selected, beats No. 2 seed Duke 80-78, and Penn comes from behind to beat No. 1 seed North Carolina 72-71.
1991 — Steffi Graf’s streak of 186 weeks ranked as the No. 1 women’s tennis player ends as she is replaced by Monica Seles.
2001 — Jana Kostelic, Croatia’s 19-year-old skiing sensation, becomes the second youngest woman to win the overall World Cup title. She finishes 21st, but she captures the title when Renate Goetschl of Austria skied off the course in the first run in Are, Sweden.
2003 — The longest winning streak in women’s Division I history ends at 70 games when No. 18 Villanova hands No. 1 Connecticut its first loss since the end of the 2001 season, 52-48 for the championship of the Big East Conference tournament.
2009 — Mike Singletary leads Texas Tech to the biggest rally in Big 12 tournament history, scoring all 29 of Texas Tech’s points during a second-half surge that pushed the Red Raiders to a 88-83 win against the Aggies. The Red Raiders erase a 21-point deficit. Singletary, who outscored A&M 29-18 to give Tech the lead for the first time, finishes with 43 points.
2012 — Vanderbilt rallies to beat No. 1 Kentucky 71-64 in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game, ending the Wildcats’ 24-game winning streak.
2017 — Jayson Tatum takes over in the final three minutes, making key plays on both ends of the floor, and Duke becomes the first team to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament with four wins in four days by rallying past Notre Dame for a 75-69 win.
2020 — NBA suspends 2019-20 season until further notice after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tests positive for COVID-19.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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