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From Dan Woike: LeBron James grabbed the ball from the net and slammed it to the court, the Lakers’ defense again wasting a possession with inactivity and lousy execution.
Wednesday, in the Lakers’ final game before the All-Star break, they looked slow. They looked unfocused. And most notably they looked pretty terrible.
In some ways this was all predictable, the Lakers playing lifelessly with an eye on the upcoming week off after an emotionally and physically draining first 52 games of the season.
But part of the reason the Lakers looked so disinterested in a 131-119 loss to the Utah Jazz had to do with just how locked in they’d been for the last month.
“I just didn’t feel like we were as connected on the defensive end. We had a lot of blowing coverages,” guard Austin Reaves said. “And then tonight when shots don’t fall, you got to be really good on the defensive end. And we weren’t.”
One game after Luka Doncic marveled at how connected the Lakers (32-20) had been playing, and they routed this same Jazz team in his Lakers debut, the team unraveled as the intensity faded, bringing an end to its six-game winning streak. James turned it over in the backcourt on one possession, fumbling the ball on a pass that went to no one. Doncic rifled a pass at Reaves’ feet, the two players getting crossed up on their timing.
Dalton Knecht talks about his crazy week being traded from, and returning to, the Lakers
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CLIPPERS
From Anthony De Leon: What started as a back-and-forth battle between the Clippers, who have one of the NBA’s best defenses, and the Memphis Grizzlies, who have the league’s top offense, was decided by the Clippers’ 36-point third quarter, which led them to a 128-114 victory Wednesday night at the Intuit Dome.
The Clippers, led by Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, saw their lead surge to as much as 23 points in the third, too great for the Grizzlies, who were playing without Ja Morant.
Leonard played a season-high 34 minutes, scoring 25 points, four assists, and five rebounds. Harden added a near triple-double, scoring 18 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds.
A three-pointer in the third quarter gave Harden his 26,974th point, moving him into sole possession of 13th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, surpassing Hakeem Olajuwon.
DODGERS
From Jack Harris: In his first batting practice of spring training on Wednesday, it took just four swings for Shohei Ohtani to look like himself.
Barely three months removed from the left shoulder surgery he underwent to repair the torn labrum he suffered in the World Series, Ohtani arrived at camp this week in something of rehab mode.
He still is working to regain full range of motion in his shoulder, hopeful he’ll be ready to serve as the Dodgers’ designated hitter by opening day. He still has many boxes to check on the mound too, as he aims to resume two-way duties after being unable to pitch last year while recovering from a Tommy John revision surgery.
After three lazy popups to begin batting practice, Ohtani walloped a long home run to right field, so deep a coach shagging fly balls simply turned and watched it sail over the fence. In the 13 swings that followed, Ohtani launched nine more balls out of the park.
“I feel pretty good,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton afterward. “Almost getting there, to where I want it to be.”
The Dodgers are hopeful that the real challenge for Ohtani won’t be about his health, but rather his process of returning to the two-way role that made him a superstar early in his MLB career with the Angels.
Ohtani’s return to the mound could come with some trade-offs offensively. Dave Roberts said he doesn’t expect Ohtani to steal as many bases as he did last year, when the 30-year-old swiped 59 bags while authoring baseball’s first 50-homer, 50-steal season.
Hernández: What is the ceiling for rookie Roki Sasaki? ‘Inside, I’m really nervous’
ANGELS
Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon will have hip surgery and be out for an extended period, his latest injury setback since joining the team.
General manager Perry Minasian told reporters that Rendon will be out long term.
Rendon, in the sixth season of a $245-million, seven-year contract, has played in just 205 games over the past four seasons and has been on the injured list 12 times since 2021.
USC BASKETBALL
From Ryan Kartje: JuJu Watkins stared blankly toward the court, the frustration evident on her face. It’s rare anything penetrates the preternatural calm with which Watkins plays, but it was clear the superstar sophomore was pressing, in the throes of her worst slump yet at USC.
Now, as a Fox camera zoomed in on her and coach Lindsay Gottlieb, her gaze and frustration were on full display.
Vanessa Nygaard recognized that rare bit of frustration, bottled up within. And she also knew, in Watkins’ case, there was nothing to worry about.
Nygaard was the coach at Windward High when Watkins was a freshman, first finding herself in high school hoops. Even then, Nygaard says, Watkins was so naturally composed, so uncommonly put together for a teenager, that the coach Nygaard actually urged her to let out the frustration once in a while.
“But she always remained so coachable, so engaged,” Nygaard says. “JuJu was always so motivated to win that she never let stuff get to her. She’d bottle it up and keep going. That was part of the fuel that made her really special.”
SPARKS
From Andrés Soto: For Christmas, Kelsey Plum’s boyfriend gifted her a set of candles from different cities. She put them in different rooms throughout her house, and the Los Angeles one ended up right by her bedside.
“It’s just funny to me because it was on my spirit for a while,” she said of her new home. “And I look back now and it makes perfect sense.”
Plum took the podium at Crypto.com Arena Wednesday afternoon for her introduction as a Spark, 2½ weeks after the team pulled off a blockbuster, three-team trade with the Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm that sent shock waves across the WNBA and landed the two-time champion with the team she grew up idolizing.
“I’m from 90 minutes away-ish, depending on the traffic,” the San Diego native said. “I remember coming to Sparks games as a kid when my mom would take me. I’m just super grateful for the love and support. … The ownership and the legacy that this franchise has had, I’m very well aware and I understand that we’re here to compete.”
From Ben Bolch: New UCLA offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri will make more than $1 million in annual compensation as part of the two-year contract he signed after replacing Eric Bieniemy, according to documents reviewed by The Times as part of a public records request.
Sunseri’s contract, which will pay him $785,000 per year in base salary and talent fee, also included a one-time hiring bonus of $250,000 and a retention bonus of $50,000 for staying on the job 30 days after he signed his contract in December.
Sunseri, who turned 36 in December, will receive additional retention bonuses of $215,000 if he remains on the job through April 30; $207,500 if he remains on the job through April 30, 2026; and $207,500 if he remains on the job through the end of the 2026 season.
NFL
From Sam Farmer: Roger Goodell is always looking for a new way to shake up the status quo.
That doesn’t mean making changes for the sake of making changes, but the NFL commissioner encourages alterations that push the envelope. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.
So, on the heels of Philadelphia’s Super Bowl victory, and as the league heads into another offseason, it’s safe to say more changes are afoot, even if they have yet to fully take shape.
First, the changes that are built into the game, the reshuffling of rosters. Among the star players who almost certainly will be changing teams are All-Pro receiver Cooper Kupp — the Rams have been looking for a trade partner — defensive end Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns, and quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets, Sam Darnold of the Minnesota Vikings and Kirk Cousins of the Atlanta Falcons.
What other changes could be in store?
Has Travis Kelce played his final NFL game? ‘I’m gonna take some time to figure it out’
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1923 — The New York Renaissance, the first all-Black pro basketball team, is organized. Rens become one of the dominant basketball team of the 1920s and 1930s.
1937 — Maribel Vinson wins her ninth and final U.S. figure skating singles championship. Robin Lee wins his third straight men’s title.
1948 — Dick Button, the Olympic gold medalist, beats Hans Gerschwiler again to win the men’s World Figure Skating championship in Davos, Switzerland.
1954 — Furman’s Frank Selvey scores 100 points in a 149-95 victory over Newberry. Selvey breaks the record of 73 points, set by Temple’s Bill Mlkvy in 1951, with 41 field goals and 18 free throws.
1973 — Frank Mahovlich of the Montreal Canadiens scores his 1,000th career point with an assist in a 7-6 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
1975 — Boston’s Bobby Orr gets an assist in the Boston Bruins in a 3-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres to become the first player in NHL history to reach 100 points in six consecutive seasons. It’s the final 100-point season of his career.
1990 — Bryan Trottier of the New York Islanders becomes the 15th player in NHL history to reach the 500-goal mark, scoring in the second period of a 4-2 loss to the Calgary Flames.
1994 — Tommy Moe wins the men’s downhill over local hero Kjetil Andre Aamodt at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Moe won by .04 seconds, the closest Alpine race in Olympic history. Norwegian speed skater Johann Olav Koss has a world record-setting gold medal performance in the 5,000 meters in 6 minutes, 34.96 seconds.
1995 — Connecticut is voted No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 and joins the school’s women’s team at the top. It is the first time teams from one school were ranked No. 1 in the men’s and women’s college basketball polls.
1999 — Steve Jaros rolls the 13th televised 300 game in PBA history en route to winning the Chattanooga Open.
2003 — Teresa Phillips becomes the first woman to coach a men’s Division I team, but her presence couldn’t stop Tennessee State from losing for the 17th straight time, 71-56 at Austin Peay.
2015 — Ted Ligety wins the giant slalom at world championships held at Beaver Creek, Colo. Ligety defeats Austrian rival Marcel Hirscher by 0.45 seconds, to attain his third straight world giant slalom title.
2018 — Chloe Kim saves the best for last in winning women’s halfpipe snowboarding event at the Pyeongchang Games. The 17-year-old from Torrance puts up a leading score of 93.75 on the first of her three finals runs, and then betters it with a near-perfect 98.75 on her final run. Kim, with the gold already well in hand, becomes the first woman to land back-to-back 1080s, confirming her dominance in the sport.
2022 — Super Bowl LVI, SoFi Stadium, Inglewood: Rams beat Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20; MVP: Cooper Kupp, Rams, WR.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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