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From Ben Bolch: Along one baseline sat Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the legendary UCLA center who went by Lew Alcindor when he dominated college basketball like no one before or since.
Along the other resided Magic Johnson, the great Michigan State point guard who later teamed with Abdul-Jabbar for maybe the most riveting era in Lakers history.
What unfolded between them Tuesday night inside Pauley Pavilion was more slow time than “Showtime,” their alma maters grabbing, pushing and pulling each other during a slog of a Big Ten battle.
Into the fray of a game tilting one way, then the other, stepped Eric Dailey Jr. On a night the UCLA forward’s shot wasn’t falling with any sort of regularity, he hit the big time.
After his coach told him to make a play with the score tied in the final seconds, Dailey did just that. He drove into the paint and banked in a tough, contested left-handed layup with 7.5 seconds left, lifting the Bruins to a breathless 63-61 victory over No. 9 Michigan State.
“Definitely,” Dailey said in something of an understatement, “a highlight moment in my career.”
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LAKERS vs. CLIPPERS
From Dan Woike: Of course the Lakers were excited, a perennial MVP candidate now sitting on the end of their bench in Luka Doncic, a 25-year-old offensive maestro now on their roster.
Of course, the offensive possibilities of him playing with LeBron James and with Austin Reaves, of whipping passes to Dorian Finney-Smith and Rui Hachimura for open corner threes have JJ Redick ready to get to work.
But no matter what happened during the Lakers’ 122-97 win over the Clippers on Tuesday, the team’s feelings following this trade are certainly more complex.
For 47 games, the Lakers tried to solve the problems their roster presented, finding the best ways to cover up their flaws, accentuate their strengths and maximize their potential. And after a win last Saturday night against the Knicks, the Lakers could see it.
They were close.
And then in a matter of moments, everything was different. The previous season was over. The new season was about to start. And there was sadness in that.
“Guys are going to feel a certain way,” coach JJ Redick said. “And there’s a grieving process. There’s an excitement and a rebirth process. There’s all of these things and those things take time. It’s not, we’re not going to wave a magic wand and say, ‘Ah, we’re good today.’ Like it takes time. The important thing is that the mission has not changed and how we go about doing that mission has not changed.”
But even without Anthony Davis, even without Max Christie and even without Doncic, who is still recovering from a calf injury, the Lakers looked like a team still intent on accomplishing that mission, melancholy or not.
‘Imagine how I felt’: Luka Doncic surprised he was traded to Lakers
Plaschke: Luka Doncic joins Lakers with bad baggage … and that’s a good thing
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From Broderick Turner: Tyronn Lue sat with his arms crossed, his voice steady and his message clear about his displeasure with how the Clippers have “pissed” him off with their recent performances and how they all have to look in the “mirror” to fix their problems.
It was more than just the Clippers’ 122-97 beatdown by the Lakers on Tuesday night at the Intuit Dome that had Lue upset.
It was the way his group played in the last three games that had the Clippers coach in a rare moment of ripping his players.
“And we’ve been good, so I can’t be, you know, all the way upset,” Lue said. “But the last three games have really pissed me off.”
The Clippers were down by 31 points to the Lakers at one point, but that was just the latest moment Lue took issue with.
He pointed to the Clippers win over Charlotte, the loss to Toronto and the loss to the Lakers as games that he was not happy about.
“Well, it’s been three straight games. The Charlotte game as well,” Lue said. “Like I said, our starts, we’re just not getting off to good starts. So, we’re not locking in defensively. Like 45 points in the first quarter (for the Lakers), like that’s just way too many. And so we got to take pride in guarding.”
Patty Mills, who won an NBA title with Kawhi Leonard, reunites with him on Clippers
Doncic-Davis trade survey
Do you think the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade is a good one for the Lakers? Vote in our survey here. Results will be announced Friday.
USC BASKETBALL
Nick Martinelli scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and his basket with 2.6 seconds left helped Northwestern hold off USC 77-75 on Tuesday night.
Martinelli split a double team near the baseline and softly laid it in to give Northwestern (13-10, 4-8 Big Ten) the lead in the closing seconds. Out of a timeout, USC put the ball in the hands of Clark Slajchert, who took a few dribbles before a Wildcats defender knocked it out of bounds and time expired.
Slajchert converted a four-point play on a straight-away three-pointer and a free throw with 29 seconds left to tie it at 75-all. With 1:54 left and USC trailing 72-67, Slajchert also drew a foul on Blake Smith from beyond the arc and made one of three from the line.
KINGS
From Kevin Baxter: The Kings are 50 games into a regular-season schedule that is still 2 ½ months from the finish line. It’s a time of year when the games become grueling, the practices monotonous and the hotel rooms all look the same.
“I don’t like to say ‘dog days.’ I don’t,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said Tuesday. “I don’t think anybody does.
“It’s just a matter of, ‘OK, it’s tough on everybody. How do you get through it?’ That’s the challenge.”
And Hiller thinks his team may have gotten a little bit of help in meeting that challenge with Drew Doughty’s return from injury last week. The future Hall of Fame defenseman, who underwent surgery after breaking his left ankle in September, made his season debut in the third game of a five-game trip. He’ll play his first home game of the season Wednesday when the Kings face the Montreal Canadiens.
DUCKS
Trevor Zegras scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, John Gibson made 26 saves in his 500th career NHL game and the Ducks beat Dallas 2-1 on Tuesday night to end the Stars’ five-game winning streak.
Cutter Gauthier also scored for Anaheim, which has won four straight at home.
Dallas’ Colin Blackwell had a one-timer off a pass by former Ducks forward Sam Steel 1:29 into the third period to tie it at 1-1. Jake Oettinger stopped 26 shots.
Zegras redirected Alex Killorn’s shot past Oettinger 4:07 into the third period to put the Ducks back on top.
SUPER BOWL 59
Kareem Hunt says this isn’t first time Chiefs coach Andy Reid gave him a second chance
Super Bowl XVIII hero Marcus Allen recognizes something super in Eagles’ Saquon Barkley
Super Bowl LIX: Start time, teams, how to watch and halftime show
Super Bowl 59
Sunday
at New Orleans
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs
3:30 p.m., Fox
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1913 — The New York State Athletic Commission bans boxing matches between fighters of different races.
1919 — Charges against Cincinnati’s Hal Chase of throwing games and betting against his team are dismissed by National League president John Heydler. Two weeks later, Chase is traded to the New York Giants.
1948 — After landing the first double axel in Olympic competition, Dick Button becomes the first American to win the Olympic gold medal in figure skating. Gretchen Fraser becomes the first U.S. woman Olympic slalom champion.
1960 — Bill Russell grabs 51 rebounds in the Boston Celtics’ 124-100 victory over the Syracuse Nationals. Russell is the first player in NBA history to pull in 50 or more rebounds.
1972 — Bob Douglas is the first Black person elected to Basketball Hall of Fame. Known as “The Father of Black Professional Basketball,” Douglas owned and coached the New York Renaissance from 1922 until 1949.
1976 — Austrian Franz Klammer wins the Olympic gold medal in the downhill at Innsbruck, Austria. Bill Koch wins a silver in the 30-kilometer cross-country race to become the first American to win a medal in a Nordic event.
1990 — Notre Dame bucks the College Football Association and becomes the first college to sell its home games to a major network, agreeing to a five-year contract with NBC beginning in 1991.
1991 — Dave Taylor of the Kings has two assists in a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers to become the 29th player in NHL history with 1,000 points.
1999 — Patrick Roy, at 33, becomes the youngest goalie in NHL history to earn 400 wins when he makes 26 saves in the Colorado Avalanche’s 3-1 win against the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.
2003 — Bode Miller of the United States captures his first major title, winning the gold medal in the combined at the world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
2006 — Pittsburgh wins a record-tying fifth Super Bowl, but its first since 1980 with a 21-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
2009 — Tennessee’s Pat Summitt becomes the first Division I basketball coach — man or woman — to win 1,000 career games after her Lady Vols beat Georgia 73-43.
2011 — Dejen Gebremeskel of Ethiopia wins the men’s 3,000 at the Boston Indoor Grand Prix, after losing his right shoe at the start of the race. Gebremeskel stays close to the lead throughout the race and takes over on the final lap to finish in 7:35.37. Britain’s Mo Farah finishes second in 7:35.81.
2012 — Eli Manning and the Giants one-up Tom Brady and the Patriots again, coming back with a last-minute score to beat New England 21-17 for New York’s fourth Super Bowl title.
2017 — Tom Brady leads one of the greatest comebacks in sports, let alone Super Bowl history, lifting New England from a 25-point hole to the Patriots’ fifth NFL championship in the game’s first overtime finish. The Patriots score 19 points in the final quarter, including a pair of two-point conversions, then marches relentlessly to James White’s two-yard touchdown run in overtime beating the Atlanta Falcons 34-28.
2022 — Six days before his 50th birthday, 11-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater wins his 8th Pipeline title beating 22-year old Hawaiian Seth Moniz in the final.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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