Lakers lead series, or do they?
From Bill Plaschke: There have been 160 times an NBA team has led a series three games to none.
There have been 160 times that team has won the series.
Marvel in that statistic. Appreciate its power. Wax in its endurance. Embrace its existence.
Because the Lakers are two losses from blowing it to bits.
This is not really happening, is it? The Lakers aren’t really on the verge of messing up a three-games-to-none lead to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, are they?
It’s happening. With a glare and a snarl and youthful athleticism, the wrong side of history beckons.
Like Reed Sheppard wrestling the ball out of LeBron James’ hands in the final minutes, the Rockets are in the process of stealing this.
Swanson: Lakers need another ageless LeBron James performance after Game 5 loss
Marcus Smart says Lakers must ‘be willing to run through a wall’ in Game 6
Lakers playoff schedule
First round
All times Pacific
at Lakers 107, Houston 98 (box score)
at Lakers 101, Houston 94 (box score)
Lakers 112, at Houston 108 (box score)
at Houston 115, Lakers 96 (box score)
Houston 99, at Lakers 93 (box score)
Friday: Lakers at Houston, 6:30 p.m., Prime Video
*Sunday: Houston at Lakers, TBD
*-if necessary
Ducks advance to second round
Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry and Chris Kreider had a goal and two assists apiece, and the Ducks eliminated Connor McDavid the two-time defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers with a 5-2 victory in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series Thursday night.
Cutter Gauthier had a goal and an assist, Ryan Poehling scored the opening goal and Lukas Dostal made 25 saves in a standout performance for the upstart Ducks, who stormed to their team’s first playoff series victory since 2017.
After ending a seven-year postseason absence by knocking out the powerhouse Oilers, the Ducks will face the winner of the Vegas Golden Knights’ series with the Utah Mammoth. Vegas leads 3-2 heading to Salt Lake City on Friday night.
Connor Murphy and Vasily Podkolzin scored as Edmonton followed up its worst regular season since 2021 by going out in the first round for the first time since that season.
Ducks playoffs schedule
All times Pacific
at Edmonton 4, Ducks 3 (summary)
Ducks 6, at Edmonton 4 (summary)
at Ducks 7, Edmonton 4 (summary)
at Ducks 4, Edmonton 3 (OT) (summary)
at Edmonton 4, Ducks 1 (summary)
at Ducks 5, Edmonton 2 (summary)
Cheap transportation to World Cup in L.A.
From Kevin Baxter: Ticket prices are just the start of the soaring expenses many fans will face while trying to watch World Cup games this summer.
NJ Transit is charging $150 for round-trip tickets from Manhattan to the Meadowlands (the regular price is $12.60) for the World Cup final, while host committee shuttle buses will cost $80.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is demanding $80 to ride one of the 14 express trains on the 30-mile trip from downtown Boston to Foxborough for games at Gillette Stadium. That’s more than three times the normal price.
In Southern California, however, it will cost $1.75 to get to SoFi Stadium on a combination of buses or trains from as far away as Claremont and Simi Valley. That’s also what it costs to get to the Inglewood venue on any other day of the year; only two of the 11 World Cup cities in the U.S. are offering less expensive public transportation.
Sparks say they can make playoffs
From Marisa Ingemi: Expectations around the Sparks are higher than they’ve been in some time. During Thursday’s media day, that was evident.
The Sparks reloaded for this season, adding veterans Nneka Ogwumike, Erica Wheeler and Ariel Atkins to returners Kelsey Plum and Cameron Brink.
After falling just two games short of the playoffs last season, this year’s goal is clear.
“Transformation takes time, and it’s a process, right?” Plum said. “And I think I see that we’ve had tremendous growth. To bring in players like Nneka, Erica Wheeler and then Ariel, we have everyone in camp fully healthy.
“I think, really, our depth and our talent is immense this year, and the mission is very clear from everyone on this team and equipped with the jump and training camp, very excited about the hunger and sense of urgency that we have. We want to win now, that’s very important to us.”
This day in sports history
1943 — Count Fleet, ridden by Johnny Longden, wins the Kentucky Derby by three lengths over Blue Swords.
1948 — Citation, ridden by Eddie Arcaro, wins the Kentucky Derby by 3½ lengths over Coaltown. It’s Citation’s toughest race in winning the Triple Crown.
1954 — 80th Kentucky Derby: Raymond York wins aboard Determine, his only Derby success.
1955 — American golfer Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins the Peach Blossom LPGA Tournament in Spartanburg, South Carolina, her final victory before her death the following year.
1959 — Floyd Patterson scores 11th round KO of Englishman Brian London in Indianapolis; his 4th World Heavyweight Boxing title defence.
1965 — The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 in Game 7 to capture the Stanley Cup.
1965 — 91st Kentucky Derby: Bill Shoemaker wins aboard Lucky Debonair, the third of his four Derby victories.
1969 — Leonard Tose buys NFL Philadelphia Eagles for a professional sports record $16.15 million.
1976 — 102nd Kentucky Derby: Puerto Rican jockey Ángel Cordero Jr. wins aboard Bold Forbes, the second of three Derby successes.
1981 — Tennis player Billie Jean King acknowledges a lesbian relationship with Marilyn Barnett, becoming first prominent sportswoman to come out.
1982 — Gato del Sol, ridden by Ed Delahoussaye, comes from last place in a field of 19 to win the Kentucky Derby. Gato del Sol, finishes 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Laser Light, who beat Reinvested by a neck for second. He finishes in 2:02 2/5 and returns $44.40 for a $2 bet. Air Forbes Won, the 5-2 favorite of the crow of 141,009, finishes seventh.
1984 — NFL Draft: Nebraska wide receiver Irving Fryar first pick by New England Patriots.
1988 — After scoring 50 points in Game 1, NBA Eastern Conference playoff series, Michael Jordan has 55 in Chicago Bulls 106-101 win vs Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2; first to score 50+ points in consecutive playoff games.
1992 — The Pittsburgh Penguins become the 11th NHL team to rebound from a 3-1 deficit and win a playoff series after beating the Washington Capitals 3-1.
1993 — Bruce Baumgartner wins his 11th straight national wrestling title by beating Joel Greenlee 6-0 in the 286-pound freestyle division at the U.S. championships in Las Vegas.
2003 — The three-time defending champion Lakers beat Minnesota 101-85 to win the series 4-2. It’s the 13th straight playoff series won under Phil Jackson, and Jackson-coached teams have an NBA-record 25 consecutive series wins.
2004 — Smarty Jones splashes his way past Lion Heart in the stretch to win the Kentucky Derby. Smarty Jones runs his record to 7 for 7 and becomes the first unbeaten Derby winner since Seattle Slew in 1977.
2005 — 17-year old Lionel Messi scores his 1st senior league goal for FC Barcelona in 2-0 win against Albacete Balompié, at the Spotify Camp Nou in Barcelona.
2006 — Detroit, winner of the President’s Trophy by leading the league in points (124) this season, is eliminated in the first round for the third time in five postseasons after a 4-3 loss to Edmonton in Game 6.
2008 — Johan Franzen records his second hat trick in three games with three more goals and helps Detroit complete a four-game sweep of Colorado with an e is 8-2 win. He is the first player with two hat tricks in one playoff series since Jari Kurri did it for Edmonton in 1985.
2010 — Jockey Calvin Borel steers Super Saver through the mud to win his third Kentucky Derby in four years, beating Lookin At Lucky by 2 1/2 lengths. The win ends trainer Todd Pletcher’s Derby drought. Pletcher, who had four horses in the race, came into the race 0 for 24 since 2000.
2019 — Argentine forward Lionel Messi scores twice for his 600th goal for FC Barcelona in a 3-0 home win over Liverpool in a Champions League semifinal.
2021 — 147th Kentucky Derby: Medina Spirit gives jockey John Velazquez his fourth Derby win and trainer Bob Baffert a record seventh victory in the race.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1884 — Toledo’s Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first Black player in the pre-modern era of the major leagues. His Blue Stockings lost 5-1 to Louisville.
1891 — In front of almost 10,000 fans, Cy Young of the Cleveland Spiders defeats the Cincinnati Reds, 12-3, in the first game ever played in Cleveland’s League Park.
1901 — Chicago’s Herm McFarland hit the first grand slam in American League history and Dummy Hoy also homered in the Chicago White Sox’ 19-9 rout of the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers committed an AL record 12 errors, 10 by the infield, in the loss.
1906 — John Lush of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a no-hitter at Brooklyn, beating the Dodgers 6-0.
1920 — Joe Oeschger of the Boston Braves and Leon Cadore of the Brooklyn Dodgers each pitched 26 innings in a 1-1 tie, the longest in major league history.
1920 — Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a Yankee, and 50th of his career, as New York beat Boston 6-0 at the Polo Grounds.
1925 — The Philadelphia Athletics introduce another future Hall of Famer, 17-year-old catcher Jimmie Foxx, who pinch-hits a single in the 9-4 loss to the Washington Senators.
1926 — Legendary pitcher Satchel Paige makes his debut in the Negro Southern League.
1944 — George Myatt of Washington went 6-for-6 and the Senators beat the Boston Braves 11-4.
1951 — New York’s Mickey Mantle hit his first major league home run in an 8-3 loss at Chicago. The first of Mantle’s 536 homers came in the sixth inning off Randy Gumpert.
1968 — Philadelphia Phillies pitcher John Boozer was ejected by umpire Ed Vargo at Shea Stadium for throwing spitballs during his warmup pitches. Boozer was the second major league pitcher to be ejected from a game for this.
1969 — Houston’s Don Wilson beat the Cincinnati Reds with a 4-0 no-hitter at Crosley Field, one day after the Reds’ Jim Maloney no-hit the Astros and nine days after Wilson absorbed a 14-0 pounding by Cincinnati.
1973 — The San Francisco Giants scored seven runs with two out in the ninth inning to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-7.
1975 — Hank Aaron collects four hits and two RBI in the Brewers’ 17-3 win over Detroit. This brings his career RBI total to 2,211, breaking Babe Ruth’s published record of 2,209.
1984 — Dwight Gooden became the first teenager to strike out a least ten batters in a game since Bert Blyleven did it in 1970. The Mets’ 19-year-old phenom would set a major league rookie record with 276 strikeouts.
1991 — Rickey Henderson surpassed Lou Brock as baseball’s career stolen base leader with his 939th steal as the Oakland Athletics beat the New York Yankees 7-4.
1991 — Nolan Ryan pitched his seventh no-hitter, struck out 16 and shut down the best-hitting team in the majors, as the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0.
1992 — The Dodgers postponed a three-game series against Montreal because of rioting in Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict.
1992 — Rickey Henderson garners his 1,000th stolen base.
2000 — San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds becomes the first player to hit a ball into San Francisco Bay (McCovey’s Cove) as the first “splashdown” home run at Pacific Bell Park.
2012 — Orioles manager Buck Showalter wins his 1,000th game as a major league skipper when the O’s defeat the Yankees, 7-1.
2015 — Alex Rodriguez ties Willie Mays for fourth place on the all-time home run list when he hits number 660 against the Red Sox.
2020 — Even though there is no baseball being currently played, pitcher Emmanuel Clase of the Indians manages to get himself suspended, as the results of a test are positive for Boldenone, an anabolic steroid. He will be suspended for 80 games from whenever the season eventually starts.
2022 — Kelsie Whitmore becomes the first woman to start a game in the Atlantic League, which is now part of Organized Baseball as a partner league of Major League Baseball, when she starts in left field for the Staten Island FerryHawks against the Gastonia Honey Hunters.
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. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.