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From Ben Bolch: It was a frighteningly familiar tale for UCLA.
From fully locked in and comfortably ahead to being on the verge of collapse.
What had been a 14-point lead over Northwestern with a little more than two minutes left Monday night was down to one with 21 seconds to go after Bruins forward Tyler Bilodeau was triple-teamed and called for traveling, eventually leading to a backdoor layup for the Wildcats.
It was another late-game blunder in a series of turnovers, missed free throws and empty possessions that seemed so recognizable.
This was the same scenario that had unfolded earlier this season during losses to North Carolina and Minnesota, as well as victories over Indiana and Oregon that were a lot more harrowing than they needed to be.
What is it about these Bruins that tends to go so wrong in the final minutes?
“My buddy, Scott Van Pelt, likes having us on ‘Bad Beats,’ ” UCLA coach Mick Cronin cracked in one corner of Welsh-Ryan Arena, alluding to the ESPN segment devoted to epic meltdowns that lead to betting losses. “So I’m trying to get on that show.”
Cronin could joke about the circumstances given the way things turned out. His Bruins shrugged off their self-inflicted misfortune to hold on for a 73-69 victory after another breathless finish.
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USC BASKETBALL
From Bill Plaschke: She began the game by nailing a three-pointer in less than a minute, calmly dribbling into the teeth of a swarming UCLA defense and throwing it down with a shrug.
She ended the game by blocking a Gabriel Jaquez shot so fiercely, the ball bounced back off Jaquez’s head and out of bounds.
Moments later, USC’s JuJu Watkins added a final stroke to another masterpiece after being joyfully removed from an eventual 80-67 blowout.
She danced to the bench, hugged everyone in sight, then marched purposely in front of a UCLA student cheering section that had been serenading her with, “Air-ball” chants for most of the second half.
Don’t you know that JuJu Watkins is the best women’s college basketball player on the planet?
Can’t you see that USC is headed for its first national championship in 41 years?
From Ryan Kartje: When he lived in Los Angeles before, Chad Bowden worked at one point as a telemarketer. He was 18 at the time, making calls for a Google ad services company based out of the Flynt Building in Beverly Hills. Every day, hundreds of times per day, people on the other line would find colorful ways to share how unhappy they were to hear from him.
It was a thankless job. For a while, it wore him down emotionally. But “it was the greatest experience,” he says.
Turns out, as Bowden learned later, it was perfect training for a career in major college football.
“Because I’m so used to people telling me no,” Bowden says, “and trying to get them to say yes.”
That conviction is part of the reason why Bowden has risen so quickly through the front-office ranks and why USC made him one of the highest-paid personnel directors in the nation in late January, plucking him for Notre Dame with a seven-figure salary.
DODGERS
From Jack Harris: Four months later, it’s the most grueling memories that have also become the most meaningful ones.
When the Dodgers won the World Series last October, it set off a cathartic celebration throughout the team and around the city. Old postseason demons had been vanquished. A club that had repeatedly fallen short of expectations — the pandemic-shortened 2020 season aside — finally returned to the pinnacle of the sport. After a three-and-a-half decade wait for a full-season title, the Dodgers relished all the recognition that came with their Fall Classic defeat of the New York Yankees.
Looking back, however, the most meaningful recollections for many Dodger players and personnel have less to do with the season’s triumphant conclusion, and more with the challenging road they traversed to get there.
None more so, perhaps, than one story line that didn’t become completely clear until after the dust had settled.
“We all wanted to win,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “But we were all going through something.”
That something was a reference to the tenuous state of the team’s overall health — with large swaths of the roster, players have noted in hindsight, playing at far less than 100% during the club’s run to a championship.
LAKERS
From Dan Woike: It’s been fodder for memes, the cold open on “Saturday Night Live” and the predictable polarizing political talking points, but last week’s Oval Office spectacle with President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky left one Lakers player with a small sense of hope among a continued sense of grief.
Reserve center Alex Len, one of two Ukrainian players active in the NBA, said he’s seen public support for his country’s fight against Russia wane since the war’s first days, and he’s hoping the news coverage of the argument between America’s and Ukraine’s political leaders can be a step toward resolution.
“At the end of the day, we all want just one thing — for the war to stop and for everybody to feel safe again,” Len told The Times on Sunday. “I think that’s the end goal of this whole thing. People just want to live normal life. Like my friends and family that I talked to back home, everybody wants that. … We’re tired of the war. We want the war to stop and we want to come back to normal life and just, live normal life.
“Cause this is crazy.”
RAMS
From Gary Klein: Star quarterback Matthew Stafford is back in the fold. Star receiver Cooper Kupp remains a potential trade asset.
With one week before the start of NFL free agency, Rams coach Sean McVay is resting, if not resting easy, knowing Stafford will be leading his team for a fifth season.
“I’ve been sleeping better these last couple days,” McVay said Monday during a videoconference with reporters.
Stafford and the Rams agreed to a contract adjustment on Friday, ending several weeks of speculation about the 16-year veteran’s future. The Rams gave Stafford’s agent permission to speak with other teams about the parameters of a contract if Stafford was traded, but Stafford ultimately chose to remain with McVay and the Rams.
“You want to make sure there’s good vibes going into it,” McVay said, “and we were able to check all of those boxes.”
KINGS
Spencer Knight made 41 saves in his first game with Chicago to help the Blackhawks beat the Kings 5-1 on Monday night.
Former Kings defensemen Alec Martinez and Ethan Del Mastro scored for the Blackhawks, who opened a three-game homestand with their second consecutive win. Ilya Mikheyev, Andreas Athanasiou and Ryan Donato also scored.
Knight was acquired by Chicago when it traded defenseman Seth Jones to Florida on Saturday night.
Anze Kopitar scored his 14th goal for the Kings, who dropped a season-high tying fourth straight game. L.A. has scored six goals in that span.
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1960 — Phil Latrielle of Middlebury scores an NCAA-record 10 goals in a 13-2 victory over Colgate. Latrielle, a three time All-American, would score a record 250 goals in the 85 games of his collegiate ice hockey career.
1962 — Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors registers his fifth straight 50-point game with 58 against the New York Knicks and sets a season scoring record with 3,921 points.
1968 — Joe Frazier wins the vacant New York world heavyweight title with an 11th-round TKO of Buster Mathis at Madison Square Garden.
1981 — Guy LaFleur of the Montreal Canadiens scores his 1,000th point with a goal in a 9-3 rout over the Winnipeg Jets.
1990 — Hank Gathers, one of two Division I players to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding in the same season, dies after collapsing during Loyola Marymount’s West Coast Conference tournament game against Portland. He was 23.
2004 — Mianne Bagger makes sports history at the Women’s Australian Open as the first transsexual to play in a pro golf tournament.
2006 — Rafael Nadal ends top-ranked Roger Federer’s 56-match hardcourt winning streak with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory in the final of the Dubai Open.
2011 — Miikka Kiprusoff becomes the first goalie in 25 years to stop two penalty shots in a game and finishes with 37 saves, leading Calgary past Columbus 4-3.
2013 — Gonzaga, the small Northwest school that has delivered big NCAA tournament wins, is on top of The Associated Press’ Top 25 for the first time. Riding the best record in Division I at 29-2, the Bulldogs become the 57th school to be ranked No. 1 since the AP poll began in January 1949.
2013 — Brittney Griner scores a Big 12 single-game record 50 points in her final regular-season game at Baylor and leads the Bears to a 98-50 win over Kansas State.
2015 — Russell Westbrook becomes the first player since Michael Jordan in 1989 to have four consecutive triple-doubles and the first since Jordan that year to have back-to-back triple-doubles with at least 40 points. Westbrook sets career highs with 49 points and 16 rebounds, and adds 10 assists, helping the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Philadelphia 76ers 123-118 in overtime.
2017 — Marit Bjoergen wins world championship gold in the 30-kilometer classical race as Norway completes a sweep of women’s cross-country ski titles at the world championships in Lahti, Finland. Bjoergen takes her record 18th career gold medal and fourth of the championships. No country had won all women’s cross-country gold medals at a single world championships since Russia in 1997, when there were only five events, rather than the current six.
2017 — Austrian Marcel Hirscher stuns the world of Alpine skiing by locking up an unprecedented sixth straight overall World Cup He becomes the first male skier to win six overall titles. Hirscher’s 44th career win also secures him the giant slalom title.
2017 — Napheesa Collier scores 24 points and top-ranked UConn routed Tulsa 105-57 in the American Athletic Conference quarterfinals. The Huskies (30-0) extend their NCAA-record winning streak to 105 games and reach the 30-victory mark for the 12th consecutive season.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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