Howdy, I’m your host, Iliana Limón Romero, filling in for Houston Mitchell, who is probably off plotting the Dodgers’ ideal offseason roster moves. Let’s get right to the news.
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From Dan Woike: Anthony Davis was unsure whether the foot injury he sustained during Monday’s loss to Detroit would linger, projecting a different tone than the times he’d suffered minor injuries in the past.
“l’ll talk to my trainer and just kind of figure out what exactly is going on,” Davis said after the Lakers’ 115-103 loss. “I’ve been managing it since this summer, honestly, and my goal for every game is to be on the floor. And I just kind of landed directly on the spot that’s been killing me. So, we’ll figure it out.”
Davis hobbled after a couple of awkward landings on his left foot, falling to the ground and forcing the Lakers to call timeout midway through the fourth quarter. Davis stayed on the court and grabbed at the back of his heel before standing up and stretching.
He was visibly frustrated, hitting the padding on the basket stanchion. But he finished the game.
Davis was unsure of the severity.
“…We’ll take it a day at a time and kind of see how it feels and where it goes,” Davis said.
MORE LAKERS:
Anthony Davis and LeBron James can’t mask Lakers’ issues in loss to Pistons
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CLIPPERS
From Broderick Turner: The film session examined how the Clippers had blown double-digits leads in all of their games this season, highlighting how carelessness with the basketball played a role in four losses.
Maintain your leverage, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue implored his players during the session; stop turning the ball over at such a high frequency.
To Lue’s dismay, the Clippers started poorly against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, falling behind by 26 points in the first quarter, their defense getting torched amid seven turnovers.
But the Clippers didn’t relent. They picked up their defensive pressure in the second quarter, holding the Spurs to 16 points. They didn’t have a turnover in the second quarter, and they scored 34 points in the period to pull within eight of the lead at the half. Another strong quarter got the Clippers to within eight at the end of the third.
Behind Norman Powell’s 23 points and Amir Coffey’s 21 points off the bench, the Clippers surged in the fourth quarter to a 113-104 win over the Spurs on Monday to snap a three-game losing streak and give the team its first win at the Intuit Dome.
DODGERS
From Jack Harris: The Dodgers extended a qualifying offer to outfielder Teoscar Hernández on Monday, according to a person with knowledge of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.
The real news, however, was their decision not to extend the $21 million offer for next year to Walker Buehler, officially making the pitcher a free agent.
Had the Dodgers extended an offer to Buehler, he would have had two weeks to decide whether to accept it and return to L.A. for one more year under the $21 million salary, or decline it and become a free agent. If Buehler had declined the offer and then signed elsewhere, the Dodgers would have received draft compensation.
MORE DODGERS
Clayton Kershaw declines 2025 player option, but intends to return to Dodgers
UCLA
From Ben Bolch: Nearly five minutes had elapsed in the second half when Lazar Stefanovic took a pass from Skyy Clark in the corner and rose for a three-pointer that extended UCLA’s massive lead in its season opener.
Having barely played to that point, it was Stefanovic’s first shot of the game.
Perhaps nothing better illustrated the Bruins’ offseason makeover than the mainstay from a year ago being relegated to a bit player as part of this new ensemble cast.
Stefanovic didn’t need to play a starring role given the abundance of talent around him. Kobe Johnson, who took his spot in the starting lineup, was a two-way force with his scoring, passing and active defense. Tyler Bilodeau showed his dazzling offensive skill set with 10 points in a five-minute flash to start the second half. William Kyle III got the crowd going with three blocks.
It was a pleasurable introduction for a new and vastly improved team Monday night at Pauley Pavilion, No. 22 UCLA rolling to an 85-50 victory over Rider.
MORE UCLA:
Lauren Betts leads UCLA to a season-opening victory over Louisville in Paris
UCLA women looking for a deeper NCAA tournament run this season
USC
From Ryan Kartje: The final seconds were ticking away before tip-off, counting down to the start of a new era of USC basketball, when Eric Musselman first emerged from the Galen Center tunnel. Exactly seven months had passed since he took the reins as the Trojans’ coach, and in that time, he’d rebuilt the roster from scratch, doing what he could to stamp a stagnant program with his trademark intensity.
There was still plenty of work left to do, though, evidenced by the large swaths of empty seats throughout the arena. That part of Musselman’s plans will take much longer than a few months — and more compelling proof of concept than a couple of exhibition wins — to take hold. Sustaining it would be another thing entirely.
But for one night at least, most everything else would go according to plan as USC rolled past Tennessee Chattanooga 77-51 in Musselman’s debut.
MORE USC
Kiki Iriafen lifts USC women to season-opening win over Mississippi in Paris
With JuJu Watkins leading a star-studded roster, USC has high expectations
CHARGERS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Still basking in the glow of a 27-10 win over the Cleveland Browns, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh called the performance the best of the season Monday.
After reviewing the film, Harbaugh said he didn’t want to spend much time singling out every individual performance but couldn’t help himself as he launched into an 11-minute soliloquy highlighting the offense’s explosive plays and ball security, the defense’s connection between the pass rush and the secondary that led to three interceptions and the big returns and blocked field goal on special teams.
Harbaugh mentioned 22 players by name and shouted out to special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken.
RAMS
From Gary Klein: Despite the continued fall of offensive linemen and other possible needs, the Rams are not expected to be major players at the NFL trade deadline Tuesday.
Veteran right tackle Rob Havenstein, who left the Rams’ victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday because of an ankle injury, will be out of next Monday night’s game against the Miami Dolphins, coach Sean McVay said Monday.
Havenstein’s injury is not serious enough to consider putting him on injured reserve, McVay said during a video conference with reporters.
KINGS
Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves for his first shutout of the season and 32nd overall, helping the Kings beat the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Monday night.
Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and Anze Kopitar and Kevin Fiala also scored. The Kings have won two of their last three.
Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators. They are 1-2-1 in their last four.
Kopitar opened the scoring with 6:36 remaining in the opening period. Saros denied the Kings captain’s first shot, but Kopitar collected the rebound below the goal line and banked it off the netminder’s skate.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1927 — Walter Hagen beats Joe Turnesa 1-up to capture the PGA Championship for the fourth consecutive year and fifth overall.
1955 — Montreal’s Jean Beliveau scores the second fastest hat trick in NHL history in a 4-2 win over Boston. Beliveau, who scores all four Canadien goals, gets three in 44 seconds against Bruins goaltender Terry Sawchuk on the same power play.
1961 — Bill Stacy of the St. Louis Cardinals returns two interceptions for touchdowns in a 31-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
1966 — Virgil Carter of Brigham Young passes for 513 yards and rushes for 86 to set an NCAA record for total yards with 599 in a 53-33 victory over Texas Western.
1977 — BYU sophomore Marc Wilson sets an NCAA record with 571 passing yards in a 38-8 rout of Utah.
1978 — Oakland coach John Madden becomes the 13th head coach to win 100 games in the NFL as the Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs 20-10.
1988 — Alysheba becomes the richest racehorse when he beats Seeking the Gold by a half-length in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.
1994 — George Foreman regains part of the heavyweight title he lost to Muhammad Ali in 1974, stopping Michael Moorer with a two-punch combination at 2:03 of the 10th round. Foreman, 45, captures the IBF and WBA championships to become the oldest champion in any weight class.
1999 — Carolina’s Ron Francis becomes the sixth NHL player to reach 1,500 career points when he assisted on Sami Kapanen’s first-period goal for the Hurricanes in 3-2 loss at Detroit.
2008 — Tony Parker scores a career-high 55 points, including a 20-footer at the buzzer to force a second overtime in San Antonio’s 129-125 victory over Minnesota.
2010 — Calvin Borel and Javier Castellano tussle at Churchill Downs just moments after tangling during the $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Marathon in an ugly, chaotic scene. Castellano’s horse Prince Will I Am runs into the path of Romp and Martin Garcia. Garcia is able to stay on top of his horse but also impedes Borel and A.U. Miner. After the race, an enraged Borel is restrained by security personnel and his older brother Cecil.
2010 — Mexico beats the United States in one of the biggest upsets in the history of women’s soccer. The Mexicans, on goals by Maribel Dominguez and Veronica Perez, post 2-1 victory and qualify for the 2011 World Cup.
2011 — Drew Alleman kicks a 25-yard field goal in overtime to give top-ranked LSU a 9-6 win over No. 2 Alabama.
2016 — Arrogate catches 4-5 favorite California Chrome in the final 100 yards to win the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
2017 — Shalane Flanagan dethrones three-time winner Mary Keitany to become the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon since 1977.
2017 — Eli Manning of the Giants became the seventh NFL quarterback to reach the 50,000-mark with his completion to Sterling Shepard in the fourth quarter against the Rams.
2022 — Alex Ovechkin scores 787th career goal for the Washington Capitals surpassing Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings, for all-time NHL record for most goals scored for a single team, in 3-2 loss to Arizona Coyotes.
2022 — MLB World Series: Houston Astros win 2nd title in franchise history; beat Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 iat Minute Maid Park, Houston for 4-2 series victory; MVP: Astros SS Jeremy Peña, Dusty Baker (73) becomes oldest manager to win championship, Phillies set ignominious record striking out 71 times.
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.