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ATLANTA — The Rams already knew they will be on the road for the playoffs, a difficult assignment for any team.

It’s trending toward becoming one especially tough for the Rams, who only a few weeks ago appeared to be the class of the NFC, if not the NFL.

Not anymore.

On Monday night, the Rams for much of their game against the Atlanta Falcons, looked like a team on the road to nowhere. Or one more interested in limping through the end of the regular season before turning it on for the playoffs.

They overcame a 21-point deficit to tie the score, but Zane Gonzalez’s 51-yard field goal with 21 seconds left sent the Rams to a 27-24 defeat at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

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Gary Klein breaks down what went wrong for the Rams in their 27-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.

It was the Rams’ second loss in a row, both coming on the road.

“Here we are again in a disappointing situation,” coach Sean McVay said.

The loss dropped the Rams to 11-5 going into Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium.

On Saturday, the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers will play for the NFC West title and the No. 1 seed in the NFC. The Rams are seeded No. 6. If the Seahawks defeat the 49ers, and the Rams beat the Cardinals, the Rams could move up to No. 5.

McVay said starters would play against the Cardinals rather than rest for the playoffs.

“They were going to play anyways,” McVay said. “We need to play better football.”

Way better.

Defensive lineman Kobie Turner said McVay told the team that if they play in the wild-card round like they did on Monday night, they were going to be sitting on their couches watching the rest of the postseason.

“It’s the reality of the situation,” Turner said, adding, “I back him. … That’s not where we want to be.”

The Rams have no choice about where they will begin their postseason as they attempt to earn a Super Bowl berth for the third time in McVay’s nine seasons.

They will not be at SoFi Stadium, where they have lost only once this season. The Rams’ other losses — to Philadelphia, Carolina, Seattle and Atlanta — came on the road.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford tries to avoid diving Atlanta Falcons linebacker Khalid Kareem during the second half of the Rams’ 27-24 loss Monday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

(Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)

Monday’s defeat by the Falcons (7-9), coming on the heels of their 38-37 overtime loss in Seattle on Dec. 18, gave the Rams consecutive road games defeats for the first time since the start of the 2024 season, when they lost their opener in overtime at Detroit and then got routed at Arizona.

Players could not explain Monday night’s first-half malaise.

“It’s a little embarrassing because we preach about the things we want to get done, and we know how good we can be,” offensive lineman Steve Avila said. “And today was probably the worst we’ve ever shown.”

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford moved past Ben Roethlisberger into sixth place on the NFL’s all-time passing yards list, but there was not much to be happy about on a night that had set up as a possible MVP-clinching stage.

Stafford completed 22 of 38 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns but had three passes intercepted, including one that was returned for a touchdown.

“I obviously didn’t play well enough,” he said. “That’s what it is.”

Rams coach Sean McVay speaks with quarterback Matthew Stafford in the fourth quarter Monday against the Falcons.

(Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)

The first half was a nightmare for Stafford, who went into the game with a league-leading 40 touchdown passes and only five interceptions.

The Falcons built a 21-0 halftime lead on Bijan Robinson’s touchdown catch, Jessie Bates III’s interception return for a touchdown and Robinson’s 93-yard touchdown run, which came one play after Xavier Watts got the first of his two interceptions.

Robinson finished with 195 yards rushing and also caught a touchdown pass.

If there was a bright spot for the Rams, it was special teams. Just over a week after McVay elevated Ben Kotwica to replace fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn, Jared Verse blocked a field-goal attempt and returned it 76 yards for a touchdown that cut the Falcons’ lead to 24-17 with less than a minute left in the third quarter.

The Rams’ chances for a comeback appeared to end when Watts intercepted another pass with just more than nine minutes left.

But Stafford’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Puka Nacua tied the score with 2:46 left.

Gonzalez’s field goal put the Falcons ahead by three.

Stafford got the ball one last time, but he missed a wide-open Xavier Smith on a route, and Tutu Atwell and Nacua could not come up with deep passes. With five seconds left, Stafford’s fourth-down pass to Nacua fell incomplete.

So instead of resting for the playoffs, starters will try to get the Rams back on track in the season finale.

“We don’t need rest right now,” Turner said. “We need momentum.”

Macklin Celebrini became the third player with 60 points this season with a goal and two assists in the San José Sharks’ 5-4 victory over the Ducks on Monday night.

Mario Ferraro, Igor Chernyshov, William Eklund and Zach Ostapchuk also scored for the Sharks, who earned their second win since the holiday break despite getting outshot 43-13. Yaroslav Askarov made 38 saves.

Troy Terry scored two goals, Cutter Gauthier got his 19th goal and Pavel Mintyukov also scored for the Ducks, who have lost three straight and seven of nine while falling out of first place in the Pacific Division. Lukas Dostal allowed four goals on nine shots before Petr Mrazek replaced him during the second period.

With his seventh multipoint game of December, Celebrini needed just 39 games to get 60 points — the most scored by a teenager before New Year’s Day in the NHL. He also extended his points streak to eight games.

Celebrini left the ice after getting hit in the face by a deflected puck in the third period, but returned several minutes later.

Alexander Wennberg set up San José’s first two goals with exceptional passes, but Anaheim scored off an atrocious turnover by Askarov. He gave away the puck behind his net to Nikita Nesterenko, who found an uncontested Terry.

Celebrini scored his 21st goal late in the first, and he set up Chernyshov’s second career goal in the second. Eklund chased Dostal with his 10th goal after another clever pass by Celebrini.

Gauthier scored late in the second before setting up Mintyukov early in the third.

San José scored on two of its three shots in the second period, and it didn’t put the puck on Anaheim’s net in the first 11 minutes of the third. Ostapchuk still made it 5-3 on a long tip with 6:13 to play, but Terry scored moments later with Mrazek pulled.

Chip Kelly didn’t land on his feet by taking the offensive coordinator position at Northwestern on Tuesday, a month after the Las Vegas Raiders fired him.

More likely, he’ll land on his derriere, seated in a comfy chair overlooking Ryan Field, the Wildcats’ gleaming new $850-million stadium, while calling plays for a program that finished 15th in the Big Ten in points per game this season.

This is what a consolation prize feels like. A year ago, Kelly was calling plays at Ohio State, the most prolific offense in college football and eventual national champion. He’d still be there, pulling the strings again for a juggernaut offense in the College Football Playoff, but for his decision to jump to the Raiders.

It’s been quite the free fall. Las Vegas was 2-9 when Kelly was fired shortly after the lowly Cleveland Browns registered 10 sacks in a 24-10 win over the Raiders on Nov. 23. Whatever play-calling magic Kelly mustered at Ohio State didn’t translate in the NFL, where in years past he had mostly failed in head coaching assignments with the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles.

Kelly, who honed his reputation as a man of few words during his mediocre 2018-2023 tenure as UCLA head coach, didn’t express hard feelings toward the Raiders on his way out.

“Hey, we gotta win,” he told a reporter. “I get it.”

Now he’ll have an opportunity to repair his reputation at Northwestern. Coach David Braun clearly is enamored with Kelly, who cemented his offensive genius bona fides by leading Oregon to a 46-7 record as head coach from 2009 to 2012.

“His innovative approach to offense using systems that focus on varying tempo, efficiency and smart decision-making, his track record of developing quarterbacks, and his ability to maximize talent are exactly what our program needs at this moment,” Braun said in a statement. “Make no mistake: this is a program-defining change and is reflective of our long-term commitment to the pursuit of championships.”

The only titles Northwestern can claim are a dozen Academic Achievement Awards from the American Football Coaches Assn. since 2002. Since leaving Oregon, Kelly has stumbled at every stop except the single season at Ohio State, where he could still be calling plays had he not left for the lure of the NFL.

Welcome back to this week’s Lakers newsletter, where we’re recalibrating for 2026.

The Lakers were forced to do some end-of-year soul-searching after a three-game losing streak. A productive meeting helped the team refocus on its vision board. The board featuring the Lakers’ three main resolutions reappeared in the practice gym this week: “championship habits, championship communication, championship shape.”

See, we all promise to hit the gym harder “next year.”

Two-headed monster

LeBron James and Luka Doncic pose for photos during Lakers media day on Sept. 29 in El Segundo.

(Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

This is the pairing we’ve all been waiting for. But we haven’t seen Luka Doncic and LeBron James together all that often.

Since Doncic joined the Lakers in that blockbuster trade, he and James have played together without Austin Reaves only six times in the regular season. With Reaves now sidelined for a month with a calf injury, the two Lakers superstars are going to have to get familiar with each other again.

In lineups with Doncic and Reaves, the Lakers have a net rating of 7.3, one of the team’s highest ratings for a two-man lineup that’s played at least 100 minutes. Playing together for 452 minutes, it’s the most efficient rating for any pair of regular starters.

But lineups with Doncic and James have a -10.3 net rating in 279 minutes and the James-Reaves pairing is -6.1 in 245 minutes.

Coach JJ Redick acknowledged after the team’s three-game losing streak that the offense since James returned has felt disorganized at times. While Reaves’ injury strips the Lakers of their second-leading scorer and an important ball handler, Redick agreed that just having Doncic and James for now can make the offense easier to untangle.

Redick presented a potential solution by restructuring the substitution pattern during a win over the Kings on Sunday. He subbed Doncic out of the first quarter with about three minutes remaining instead of having him play the entire first frame. He re-entered the game with about nine minutes left in the second instead of waiting until the six- or seven-minute mark.

The plan was to let Doncic and James have more time operating the offense individually, Redick said, while not diminishing either player’s total minutes. The team still used both of them in actions together and it’s not an overarching plan to “keep them apart,” Redick stressed.

“We’re going to do this for the foreseeable future,” Redick said, “and just see how it goes.”

The Lakers were plus-12 in the 18 minutes with Doncic and James on the court against the Kings compared to -5.8 in 23.7 minutes in previous games this year. The projected starting lineup now that Reaves it out would typically feature Doncic, James, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton, and that group has a -26.0 net ranking in 37 minutes together this season.

“I don’t want to create the narrative of ‘me and Luka,’” James said. “It’s five guys on the floor and seven guys that come off the bench. It needs to be all of us. It’s important that we set the tone.”

More than just the production on the court, the Lakers will look to their superstars for leadership during this next stretch. Redick acknowledged that Doncic and James have a responsibility to set the tone for the Lakers, especially at the beginning of games.

The Lakers were minus-28 in first quarters during their three-game losing streak. Doncic said after the Christmas Day debacle that everybody had to give “better effort, starting with me.”

Then he backed up his words with his play, scoring nine points with two assists and three rebounds in the first quarter. He had two steals and a block in the first half.

“He’s the head of the snake,” forward Maxi Kleber said of Doncic before the game. “We all follow him, so it’s good for us to see him also step up in that sense, and take ownership, because it will help everybody else do the same and focus especially with that effort on every possession.”

LeBron vs. Father Time (OT)

Lakers forward Lebron James drives in front of Kings guard Demar Derozan (10) as center Maxime Raynaud (42) watches Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.

(Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)

When James released his LeBron XX sneakers, he battled Father Time in a series of commercials that pitted actor Jason Momoa, dressed in purple robes with gray hair and a long beard, against James in a plank contest, karaoke and ultimately one-on-one basketball.

Three years after James blocked Father Time’s shot in the commerical series’ “final round,” James is still competing against the opponent everyone says is undefeated.

“I’m in a battle with him,” James said Sunday, two days before his 41st birthday. “And I would like to say that I’m kicking his ass on the back nine.”

James then walked out of his postgame interview with a smile on his face after his final game as a 40-year-old.

James, who celebrates his 41st birthday Tuesday, is not the same force that he was in his late 20s or even 30s, but he is still accomplishing feats never seen in the NBA. James is averaging 20.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.7 assists in his record 23rd NBA season. Only five players have ever averaged double-digit scoring during or after their Year 40 season. None averaged better than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 14.6 points per game in 1987-88.

How LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar compare in their 40s.

(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)

“Unbelievable,” 21-year-old guard Nick Smith Jr. said of James’ performance at this stage of his career. “Him and my dad [are] the same age, and my dad hasn’t played in like 10 years. So the stuff he do is incredible. Yeah, he’s not normal.”

James knows his clock is ticking. He has recognized multiple times this season that he is cherishing what could be the final moments of his career. He acknowledged great road crowd receptions in Philadelphia and Toronto and spoke wistfully about how he’ll never be able to recapture the feeling of entering a packed arena.

It’s why moments like his three dunks against the Kings that fired up the home crowd Sunday are still meaningful, even if he’s not jumping as high as he once did.

“It is remarkable,” said Redick, who turned 41 in June this year and last played in 2021. “I have trouble getting out of bed in the morning and got to get an injection on my knee. My body is old and broken.”

A day after James rocked the rim with a reverse dunk against the Kings, Redick was happy to report he can “still barely touch the rim.”

On tap

Dec. 30 vs. Pistons (24-8), 7:30 p.m. PST

Detroit is one of the biggest surprises of the NBA season, emerging from a first-round playoff exit last year to now lead the wide-open Eastern Conference. But the Pistons have lost two in a row, including a stunning loss to the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard, who dropped 55 points on Sunday.

Jan. 2 vs. Grizzlies (15-17), 7:30 p.m. PST

Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant is back from a sprained ankle that cost him four games, but the team is still missing center Zach Edey, who has been sidelined with an ankle injury since Dec. 11. Memphis is 4-4 without Edey (13.6 points, 11.1 rebounds) after going 7-4 with him. He missed the beginning of the season after surgery on the same left ankle.

Jan. 4 vs. Grizzlies (15-17), 6:30 p.m. PST

This game wraps up a four-game homestand for the Lakers, who have 10 of their 16 games in January on the road.

Status report

Jaxson Hayes: Left ankle soreness

Hayes missed two games after reaggravating an ankle injury against Phoenix on Dec. 23 but is expected to return on Tuesday against Detroit.

Rui Hachimura: Left calf soreness

Hachimura missed practice Monday, but Redick doesn’t expect Hachimura to be out for long as the forward is “just a little banged up.” Hachimura is out for Tuesday’s game against Detroit.

Austin Reaves: left calf strain

Reaves will be out for at least a month. He is not scheduled to be reevaluated until around Jan. 26.

Gabe Vincent: Lumbar back strain

Vincent has missed four games and had no status change after his initial reevaluation date of Dec. 25.

Favorite thing I ate this week

Bun mang, Vietnamese bamboo shoot noodle soup.

(Thuc Nhi Nguyen/Los Angeles Times)

I spent Christmas Day with my Lakers beat family at Crypto.com Arena then Boxing Day with my extended family in Orange County. My aunt made bun mang — Vietnamese bamboo shoot noodle soup — for the holiday and saved me a bowl.

It’s more traditionally served with duck, but my aunt prefers chicken. I told her I’d never had this dish before because I don’t think my mom ever made it. She explained that it takes three days of soaking, rinsing and boiling the bamboo shoots, so now I understand why my mom never made it. But it was worth my aunt’s effort.

In case you missed it

Lakers takeaways: Nick Smith Jr. shines in win over Kings with Austin Reaves sidelined

After talking through problems, Lakers find unexpected third scorer to end losing streak

Lakers ‘recalibrate’ after Austin Reaves injury, three-game losing streak

Lakers guard Austin Reaves out for at least a month because of calf injury

‘We don’t have it right now.’ Takeaways from the Lakers’ third straight loss

Lakers lose Austin Reaves, then get called out by JJ Redick after loss to Rockets

‘A million choices’: Lakers’ defense will get a Christmas Day test vs. Rockets

Austin Reaves’ return can’t save Lakers from dismal defensive effort in loss to Suns

Until next time…

As always, pass along your thoughts to me at thucnhi.nguyen@latimes.com, and please consider subscribing if you like our work!

Ulster back row Juarno Augustus will be sidelined “for a number of weeks” because of the ankle ligament injury he sustained in the United Rugby Championship win over Connacht in Galway.

Augustus left the field midway through the second half of his team’s 29-24 success at Dexcom Stadium and Ulster say the damage is “significant”.

The former Northampton Saints number eight has initially been ruled out of Friday’s URC match with Munster in Belfast.

Meanwhile Ethan McIlroy’s injury woe has continued as he faces a further spell out of action after picking up a rib injury in Ballynahinch’s Senior Cup Final victory over Instonians.

Eric O’Sullivan (hamstring), Matthew Dalton (knee), Iain Henderson (back) and Rob Herring (knee) have all resumed team training and their availability for selection will be assessed through training this week.

Ulster sit fifth in the URC table, three points below second-placed Munster, so have the opportunity to leapfrog their Irish interprovincial rivals in the table with a win at Affidea Stadium.

From Gary Klein: The Rams already knew they will be on the road for the playoffs, a difficult assignment for any team.

It’s trending toward becoming one especially tough for the Rams, who only a few weeks ago appeared to be the class of the NFC, if not the NFL.

Not anymore.

On Monday night, the Rams for much of their game against the Atlanta Falcons, looked like a team on the road to nowhere. Or one more interested in limping through the end of the regular season before turning it on for the playoffs.

They overcame a 21-point deficit to tie the score, but Zane Gonzalez’s 51-yard field goal with 21 seconds left sent the Rams to a 27-24 defeat at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

It was the Rams’ second loss in a row, both coming on the road.

“Here we are again in a disappointing situation,” coach Sean McVay said.

The loss dropped the Rams to 11-5 going into Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium.

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NFL scores

NFL standings

MORE RAMS:

What happened to Rams? Why Sean McVay’s team is staggering as rest of NFC heats up

Lincoln Riley takes aim at Notre Dame before Holiday Bowl

Before facing TCU in the Alamo Bowl, USC coach Lincoln Riley called out Notre Dame for turning down a chance to renew its series with the Trojans.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

From Ryan Kartje: The century-old rivalry series between USC and Notre Dame is taking a few years off, and as far as Lincoln Riley is concerned, that’s the fault of the Irish.

In his first public comments since the series was officially put on hiatus, the USC coach put the blame squarely on Notre Dame for not accepting USC’s most recent offer to continue the rivalry, which would have moved the 2026 game, usually scheduled in November, to the very beginning of the season.

“It’s pretty simple,” Riley said Monday, ahead of USC’s bowl matchup with Texas Christian. “We both worked for months to try to find a solution. Notre Dame was very vocal about the fact that they would play us anytime, anywhere.

“Jen Cohen, our AD, went back to Notre Dame roughly a couple of weeks ago with a scenario and a proposal that would extend the series for the next two years. We took Notre Dame at their word that they would play us anytime, anywhere. That proposal was rejected.

“Not only was it rejected, but five minutes after we got the call, it was announced they scheduled another opponent, which I’ll give them credit, that might be the fastest scheduling act in college football history.”

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MORE USC FOOTBALL

USC vs. TCU: What to watch during Alamo Bowl as D’Anton Lynn coaches his last game for Trojans

USC defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn takes Penn State defensive coordinator job

No. 17 USC rallies, hands Nebraska its first loss

USC guard Londynn Jones drives around Nebraska’s Britt Prince to score during the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Monday in Lincoln, Neb.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

From the Associated Press: Londynn Jones scored all 13 of her points in a pivotal third quarter to help rally No. 17 USC to a 74-66 victory over previously unbeaten Nebraska on Monday in Big Ten play.

Jones, who took just one shot in the first half and missed it, buried three straight three-pointers after teammate Jazzy Davidson grabbed a rebound and scored to begin the third quarter. The Trojans (10-3, 2-0) used an 11-0 run to turn a two-point halftime deficit into a 47-38 lead in less than two minutes.

The Cornhuskers (12-1, 1-1) trailed 65-52 after three quarters but whittled the deficit to 69-65 on a rebound basket by Britt Prince with 2:42 left. Kara Dunn answered with a basket and then made one of two free throws with 59 seconds left to help USC prevail.

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No. 4 UCLA defeats No. 19 Ohio State

UCLA guard Kiki Rice, center, shoots between Ohio State guard Kylee Kitts, left, and UCLA forward Angela Dugalic during the first half of the Bruins’ 82-75 win.

(Paul Vernon / Associated Press)

From the Associated Press: Lauren Betts had 18 points and 16 rebounds as No. 4 UCLA extended its winning streak to six games with an 82-75 win over No. 19 Ohio State on Sunday.

Kiki Rice added 16 points and Angela Dugalic scored 15 as UCLA (12-1, 2-0 Big Ten) beat the Buckeyes for the fourth straight time, dating to December 2023.

Jaloni Cambridge led all scorers with 28 points, and Elsa Lemmila added 13 points and seven rebounds for Ohio State (11-2, 1-1), which had its nine-game winning streak halted in its conference home opener.

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UCLA-Ohio State box score

Women’s college basketball scores

LeBron James turns 41 and remains key for Lakers

Lakers forward Lebron James looks on during a win over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.

(Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: JJ Redick called his players out. The Lakers answered.

The Lakers responded to three blowout losses and a spirited team meeting by playing one of their most complete games of the season Sunday to earn a 125-101 win over the Sacramento Kings at Crypto.com Arena. For the first time this year, the Lakers (20-10) outscored their opponent in every quarter with Luka Doncic (34 points) and LeBron James (24 points) leading the way despite Austin Reaves’ absence.

“Hopefully,” forward Jake LaRavia said, “this is the first of a mini win streak.”

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Kings can’t keep up with Avalance

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, left, stops a shot by Kings forward Adrian Kempe in the first period of L.A.’s 5-2 loss Monday night.

(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

From the Associated Press: Nathan MacKinnon scored the 399th goal of his career, Brock Nelson had a goal and an assist, and the surging Colorado Avalanche won their eighth in a row 5-2 over the Kings on Monday night.

MacKinnon added an assist to go with his NHL-leading 32nd goal this season. Jack Drury, Cale Makar and Martin Necas also scored for the Avalanche, who have won 14 in a row at home.

Colorado has points in 28 of their last 29 games and are 10-0-1 in their last 11 to continue their historic start to the season. Colorado reached 65 points in 38 games, second all time to the 1929-30 Boston Bruins.

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NHL scores

NHL standings

Ducks pick up another loss

Sharks left wing Igor Chernyshov, right, scores past Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal during the Ducks’ 5-4 loss Monday night at Honda Center.

(Caroline Brehman / Associated Press)

From the Associated Press: Macklin Celebrini became the third player with 60 points this season with a goal and two assists in the San José Sharks’ 5-4 victory over the Ducks on Monday night.

Mario Ferraro, Igor Chernyshov, William Eklund and Zach Ostapchuk also scored for the Sharks, who earned their second win since the holiday break despite getting outshot 43-13. Yaroslav Askarov made 38 saves.

Troy Terry scored two goals, Cutter Gauthier got his 19th goal and Pavel Mintyukov also scored for the Ducks, who have lost three straight and seven of nine while falling out of first place in the Pacific Division. Lukas Dostal allowed four goals on nine shots before Petr

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This day in sports history

1956 — The New York Giants win the NFL title with a 47-7 rout of the Chicago Bears.

1962 — The Green Bay Packers beat the New York Giants 16-7 to win the NFL title for the second straight year.

1973 — The Minnesota Vikings beat the Dallas Cowboys 27-10 to win the NFC championship.

1973 — The Miami Dolphins, behind 266 yards rushing, beat the Oakland Raiders 27-10 for an unprecedented third straight AFC title.

1981 — In the 39th game of the season, Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky scores five goals, including his 50th into an empty net, to lead the Oilers to a 7-5 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Gretzy betters the mark of 50 goals in 50 games held by Maurice Richard and Mike Bossy.

1990 — Orlando point guard Scott Skiles dishes out an NBA-record 30 assists in a 155-116 victory against the Denver Nuggets. Skiles breaks the record of 29 assists set by the Nets’ Kevin Porter in 1978.

2000 — Nebraska ends a disappointing season by setting a bowl record for points in a 66-17 victory over Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl.

2002 — TCU sets an NCAA record for fewest points allowed when the Lady Frogs beat Texas Southern 76-16. The 16 points allowed breaks the Division I record for fewest points. Prairie View scored 19 points against Jackson State in 1983.

2007 — Drew Brees sets an NFL record with 443 completions, passing the previous mark of 418 set by Rich Gannon in 2002. Brees completes 35 of 60 passes for 320 yards with three TD passes in New Orleans’ 33-25 loss to Chicago.

2008 — NFL head coach Mike Shanahan is fired by the Denver Broncos.

2010 — Top-ranked Connecticut’s record 90-game winning streak in women’s basketball ends when No. 9 Stanford outplays the Huskies from the start in a 71-59 victory at Maples Pavilion — where the Cardinal have their own streak going. Stanford hasn’t lost in 52 games at home. The Cardinal took an early 13-point lead, never trailed and didn’t let the mighty Huskies back in it.

2016 — Isaiah Thomas scores 29 of his career-high 52 points in the fourth quarter, setting a club record for points in a period and leading Boston to a 117-114 victory over the Miami Heat.

2017 — Alex Hornibrook throws four touchdown passes, three of them to Danny Davis, and No. 6 Wisconsin caps off the winningest season in school history by topping No. 11 Miami 34-24 in the Orange Bowl. Jonathan Taylor finishes his record-setting freshman season with 130 rushing yards on 26 carries for the Badgers (13-1). Taylor finishes the year with an FBS-freshman-record 1,977 yards.

2018 — Patrick Mahomes becomes only the 2nd quarterback in NFL history to throw for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns during KC Chiefs’ 35-3 win over Oakland Raiders; achieves both marks with 3rd quarter 89-yard TD pass to Demarcus Robinson.

2020 — San Antonio assistant Becky Hammon becomes first female to coach an NBA team after Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is ejected in a 121-107 loss to the Lakers

Until next time …

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

In October, Taylor told BBC Sport that he was unsure how long he would continue refereeing, adding that he was “quite old for somebody to be operating at this level, running around after people a lot younger than you”.

Taylor said that the main focus was to have “two refereeing teams at the World Cup”.

Prior to 2018, 2013-14 was the previous time England had three elite officials: Atkinson, Mark Clattenburg and Howard Webb.

The elite list of referees take charge of tournament and Champions League games. The first list is for the Europa League and Conference League. The second list is for Conference League games and qualifying ties.

Germany continues to lead the way with four referees in the elite category. Kavanagh’s promotion finally puts England on a par with France, Italy and Spain, who all have three.

England still lags behind across the two key categories, elite and first, with fewer officials than all the other top leagues.

John Brooks is the only English referee on the first list, meaning there are four in total. Germany has seven, with France and Spain on six and Italy five.

The Premier League has six referees on the second list: Stuart Attwell, Sam Barrott, Darren England, Jarred Gillett, Rob Jones and Andy Madley.

Meanwhile, Emily Heaslip has been promoted to the women’s first list. England has been unrepresented on the elite list of the women’s game since Rebecca Welch retired at the start of the 2024-25 season.

Brennan Johnson is set decide whether he wants to join Crystal Palace after the south London club agreed a £35m deal to sign the Tottenham attacker.

BBC Sport revealed on 18 December that the Eagles were advanced in their efforts to land the Wales international but decided not to make a formal move until after the two clubs faced each other in the Premier League on Sunday.

There is now an agreement between the clubs for Johnson to move across London.

However, the 24-year-old is yet to agree to join the Selhurst Park club.

Johnson is set for talks over his future in the next 48 hours, amid interest from other Premier League sides.

Tottenham are in the market for a new attacker this January which would limit Johnson’s opportunities even more.

It is understood that they have an interest in Red Bull Leipzig’s winger Yan Diomande, 19, and Manchester City attacker Savinho, 21.

ATLANTA — The Rams wanted to make the playoffs in the worst way.

Mission accomplished. They’re headed to the playoffs in the worst way imaginable.

Monday night’s 27-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons was an abomination — you could feel that vibe in the postgame locker room — but the Rams need to study it, even if it requires contraptions to pry open their eyes.

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Gary Klein breaks down what went wrong for the Rams in their 27-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.

“I think if we play the way that we did in the first half … we’re going to be at home watching everything go down in two weeks,” defensive tackle Kobie Turner said. “We’ve got to get our stuff together.”

This was one of only three times in Sean McVay’s nine seasons that his team was held scoreless in the first half, which is bad enough. But that the going-nowhere Falcons built a three-touchdown halftime lead is absurd. Not so long ago, Atlanta lost seven of eight.

The Rams looked nothing like the team that just about everyone had at the top of their power rankings for most of the season. Matthew Stafford had three interceptions. Fill-in left tackle D.J. Humphries had a pair of penalties that wiped out two huge receptions. And Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson would still be running now but decided to stop once he reached the end zone (after a 93-yard touchdown, mind you.)

Those Rams who started 9-2 (and should have won those games against Philadelphia and San Francisco) are a fading memory. Since, they have lost three of five.

Now, all the other NFC contenders are getting hot — Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago — and the Rams are shuddering in an emotional ice bath.

Suddenly, their erstwhile insignificant finale against Arizona on Sunday is vitally important. They need to rediscover their rhythm rather than hoping to do so in the first round of the playoffs. They can’t change their swing in the middle of this golf tournament. They need to work out the kinks on the practice range.

Getting receiver Davante Adams back is key, and he looked good in warmups, running as if his hamstring problems are behind him. But he’s desperately needed in the red zone, and that will lift some weight off the shoulders of Puka Nacua.

Just as important, the team needs left tackle Alaric Jackson and right guard Kevin Dotson back from injuries. The Rams are getting a taste of what the Chargers have been through all season, their offensive line going through a reshuffle every week.

And the defense should benefit greatly from the return of Quentin Lake, a quarterback on that side of the ball.

Regardless, good teams overcome the loss of key players and find ways to win with backups. Every team would love to be at full strength.

Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua pulls in a long pass over Atlanta Falcons cornerback C.J. Henderson in the first half Monday.

(Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)

And while the Rams should have been in position to kick the tying field goal down the stretch — there was an unflagged pass interference against Tutu Atwell, who made a good attempt to catch a deep ball with his hand that wasn’t being grabbed — they shouldn’t have been in that predicament in the first place.

As they watched their lead evaporate, the Falcons had to be having flashbacks to their catastrophic 25-point collapse to New England in the Super Bowl. After all, the Rams outscored them in the second half, 21-6.

But all of that was cold consolation to the visitors, who couldn’t close the deal.

The Rams have lost back-to-back games, and were looking for a boost after blowing a 16-point fourth-quarter lead in Seattle. Instead, they got a slap in the face.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford speaks to reporters after a 27-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday.

(Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)

It’s ultra-rare for a team to head into the playoffs on a down note yet still reach the mountaintop. The last franchise to do that was Baltimore in 2012, a club that lost four of its last five games — albeit missing a slew of injured stars — then beat in succession teams quarterbacked by Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and an in-his-prime Colin Kaepernick.

So it can be done. A bumbling team can find its way. And it looked for a moment Monday night as if the Rams had turned a corner.

Jared Verse blocked a Falcons field-goal attempt, recovered the bouncing ball and returned it for a 76-yard touchdown. As he tore past the Atlanta sideline, he glanced over and playfully raised his hand to form a G-rated gesture.

Unless a dramatic change is coming, it’s a message the rest of the playoff teams could be saying to the Rams.

Peace out.

Knighthood

Christopher Dean (former ice skater), for services to ice skating and to voluntary service

Damehood

Jayne Torvill (former ice skater), for services to ice skating and to voluntary service

Sarina Wiegman (England football manager), honorary damehood as she is a Dutch national

Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

Jonathan Davies (former Welsh rugby player), for work as president of the Velindre Cancer Care Trust

Daniel Levy (former Tottenham Hotspur executive chairman), for services to charity and the community in Tottenham

Leah Williamson (England captain), for services to football

Fergus McCann (former Celtic chief executive) for services to the economy and charity.

Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

Zoe Stratford (England captain), for services to rugby union

Derek Brewer (former Nottinghamshire and MCC chief executive, and former board adviser, England and Wales Cricket Board), for services to cricket

Dr Ann Budge (former chair and chief executive officer, Hearts), for services to sport and to the community in Midlothian

Dr James Craig (former Celtic player), for services to Scottish football and to charity

Gabby Logan (broadcaster), for services to sports broadcasting and to charity

John Mitchell (England head coach), for services to rugby union

Barry O’Brien (cricket administrator), for services to the law, to cricket and charity

Marlie Packer (England international), for services to rugby union

Sarah-Jane Perry (squash player, grassroots champion and mentor), for services to squash

Stuart Pringle (chief executive officer, Silverstone Circuit), for services to motorsport

Paula Radcliffe (broadcaster and former athlete), for services to sport

Clive Tyldesley (broadcaster), for services to sports broadcasting and to charity

Gill Whitehead (chair, Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025), for services to women’s rugby

Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)

Dr Frances Akor (non-executive director, UK Anti-Doping), for services to sport

Joe Appiah (athlete), for services to sport, public health and public service

Susan Briegal (chief executive, World Netball) for services to sport

Daniel Costello (chair, Spartans Football Club), for services to community, sport and youth development

Kerry Davis (former England international), for services to football and to diversity in sport

Simone Fisher (director of equality, diversity and inclusion, Professional Footballers’ Association), for services to football

Alex Greenwood (England international), for services to football

Isa Guha (broadcaster and former England cricketer) for services to inclusivity and cricket

Megan Jones (England international), for services to rugby union

Tara Jones (referee), for services to rugby league

Sadia Kabeya (England international), for services to rugby union

James Keothavong (umpire), for services to tennis and tennis umpiring

Ellie Kildunne (England international), for services to rugby union

Louise Kingsley (director of performance, Great Britain rowing team), for services to sport

David Laing (chair, Scottish Borders Disability Sports Group) for services to sport

Julia Lee (former referee and advocate for women’s rugby league), for services to rugby league

Sarah Massey (managing director, Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025), for services to women’s rugby union

Rhys McClenaghan (gymnast), for services to gymnastics

Dr Ritan Mehta (head of medical and team doctor, England women’s football team), for services to football

David Perks (athletics coach), for services to athletics

Kambiz Ramzan Ali (Taekwondo master) for services to taekwondo and the community

Toby Roberts (Olympic champion), for services to sport climbing

Georgia Stanway (England international), for services to football

Ella Toone (England international), for services to football

Nigel Travis (boxing coach), for services to boxing and the community

Keira Walsh (England international), for services to football

Colin Wright (co-founder, Rushmoor Gymnastics Academy), for services to women’s gymnastics

Marie Wright (co-founder, Rushmoor Gymnastics Academy), for services to women’s gymnastics

Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic suffered a “gut-wrenching” knee injury as the Denver Nuggets lost 147-123 at the Miami Heat.

Jokic was hurt late in the first half in an accidental coming together with team-mate Spencer Jones.

Jones stepped on the foot of Jokic who immediately collapsed to the ground clutching his knee.

The 30-year-old will have an MRI scan on Tuesday to determine the seriousness of the problem.

“Immediately, he knew something was wrong,” said Nuggets head coach David Adelman.

“This is part of the NBA. Anyone who gets hurt, it’s gut-wrenching, especially somebody as special as he is. We’ll find out more tomorrow.

“We’ll move on as a team. Obviously, right now, I’m more concerned just about him as a person and the disappointment of going through something like that.”

Jokic, who leads the NBA season in rebounds and assists, had 21 points and eight assists in the game before suffering the injury.

Smith has been England’s one-day opener in their past nine matches, though has not played a T20 since June. The 25-year-old struggled in the one-dayers in New Zealand that preceded the Ashes, then has managed only one half-century in eight innings in Australia.

In contrast, 28-year-old Tongue has been England’s breakout star of the Ashes, claiming 12 wickets in his two Tests. He is in the squad for the T20s and not the ODIs.

Cox, the leading run-scorer in last year’s Hundred, can feel unfortunate to miss out. Tom Banton gets the nod as middle-order batting cover.

Duckett is in both squads despite a difficult Ashes and looks set to bring his Test opening partnership with Crawley to one-day internationals as England look for a combination that can build towards the 50-over World Cup.

Crawley has played eight one-day internationals, the last of which in West Indies in December 2023 was also his last List A game.

Root, who turns 35 on Tuesday, would have been a potential candidate to rest after the Ashes, yet travels to Sri Lanka for the ODIs only. His next cricket would then likely come in the home summer.

All-rounder Jacks missed the tour of New Zealand as he recovered from a broken finger and returns to both squads as one of a number of spin options in the subcontinental conditions.

Jacks joins Adil Rashid, Liam Dawson, Rehan Ahmed and Bethell in the slow-bowling ranks.

Along with Nepal, England join West Indies, Bangladesh and tournament debutants Italy in Group C of the T20 World Cup. All of their matches take place in Kolkata and Mumbai.

If Brook’s men finish in the top two, they would progress to a second-round group that could include New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The top two from that group advance to the semi-finals.

DENVER — Nathan MacKinnon scored the 399th goal of his career, Brock Nelson had a goal and an assist, and the surging Colorado Avalanche won their eighth in a row, 5-2 over the Kings on Monday night.

MacKinnon added an assist to go with his NHL-leading 32nd goal this season. Jack Drury, Cale Makar and Martin Necas also scored for the Avalanche, who have won 14 in a row at home.

Colorado has points in 28 of their last 29 games and are 10-0-1 in their last 11 to continue their historic start to the season. Colorado reached 65 points in 38 games, second all-time to the 1929-30 Boston Bruins.

Corey Perry scored and Joel Armia added a short-handed goal for the Kings, who have lost seven of nine.

Drury opened the scoring midway through the first period and Perry tied it with a power-play goal 5:15 into the second period.

Necas put Colorado back in front later in the second when he tapped in a puck that was sitting on the goal line. Nelson’s snap shot beat Anton Forsberg over his left shoulder with 2:30 left in the second.

Forsberg finished with 21 saves for the Kings.

Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 23 shots, including a save on Adrian Kempe’s short-handed breakaway late in the second period.

He couldn’t stop Armia, who skated the length of the ice and scored through the pads during a Colorado power play.

It was the NHL-leading seventh short-handed goal of the season for the Kings.

Forsberg came off for an extra skater with 2:26 remaining and MacKinnon scored an empty-netter with 1:37 remaining. Makar added another goal with 45 seconds to go to seal it.

Up next for the Kings: vs. Tampa Bay at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.

First clue that someone is serious about pingpong: They call it table tennis.

Second clue: They bring their own paddle.

Timothée Chalamet dropped a third clue on movie sets all over the globe. To prepare for his role in the delightfully frenetic “Marty Supreme,” the two-time Oscar nominee traveled for years with a table in tow, training and presumably enjoying the sport at the center of the current holiday season hit.

Director Josh Safdie enlisted the husband-and-wife table-tennis teaching tandem of Diego Schaaf and Wei Wang — a former U.S. Olympian — to elevate Chalamet’s game as well as serve as technical advisors on set.

But Chalamet was already playing nearly well enough to emulate a world champion on screen. He’d taken lessons and done his homework — setting up a table in the living room of his New York apartment and playing throughout the pandemic.

“Everything I was working on, it was this secret,” Chalamet told the Hollywood Reporter. “I had a table in London while I was making ‘Wonka.’ On ‘Dune: Part Two,’ I had a table in Budapest [and] Jordan. I had a table in Abu Dhabi. I had a table at the Cannes Film Festival for ‘The French Dispatch.’”

It seems implausible that Chalamet was immersed in table tennis while also learning to sing and play guitar for the role of Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.”

“If anyone thinks this is cap, as the kids say — if anyone thinks this is made up — this is all documented, and it’ll be put out,” he said. “These were the two spoiled projects where I got years to work on them. This is the truth. I was working on both these things concurrently.”

Wherever Chalamet found the time, Schaaf was impressed by the result.

“He was singularly dedicated to getting this to be the same quality as the rest of the movie,” Schaaf told the Hollywood Reporter.

Eschewing a stunt double for the table tennis scenes was a point of pride for Chalamet. The only concession to modern moviemaking was that several of the longer sequences during games were choreographed without a ball, which was added later via computer-generated imagery (CGI).

“We realized it had to be scripted to be able to film it,” Schaaf told the Washington Post. “And because it was scripted, we had to practice it first with a real ball. He had to understand the physical layout of the point: Where does he have to go? When does he have to go there? When you later on do [visual effects] and put the ball in there, it’s critical that the player goes to the right place.”

Schaaf said about 60 points were scripted.

“We needed a lot of rehearsal, and I was amazed,” he said. “Timothée wound up getting a better feel for it than most professional players because professional players take the cue from the ball. You take the ball away, they all were like ‘What is the timing?’

“Of course, they have a good sense of timing and then they learned it quickly. But Timothée was right there on top of it.”

The on-screen rival of Chalamet’s character, Marty Mauser, is Koto Endo, portrayed by real-life Japanese table tennis champion Koto Kawaguchi. Their dynamic approximated the real-life rivalry between 1950s U.S. champion Marty Reisman and Japan’s Hiroji Satoh.

In her review of “Marty Supreme,” Times film critic Amy Nicholson noted that well-struck pingpong balls travel up to 70 mph.

“Set in 1952 New York, this deranged caper races after a money-grubbing table tennis hustler (he prefers ‘professional athlete’) who argues like he plays, swatting away protests and annoying his adversaries to exhaustion,” she wrote.

Nicholson offers that Reisman would be pleased by the movie, “which time-travels audiences back seven decades to when American table tennis players were certain bright days were ahead.

“As an athlete, Chalamet seems to have lost muscle for the role. Yet as funny as it is to see a guy this scrawny carry himself like Hercules, he leaps and strikes with conviction.”

Nothing gives an actor — or an athlete — self-assurance like practice, repetitions and rehearsals. Chalamet’s paddle performance is proof.

Nathan Aspinall became the latest seed to fall at the PDC World Championship, but 20-year-old Charlie Manby continued his dream run by reaching the last 16.

Aspinall, who reached the semi-finals in 2019 and 2020, lost 4-3 in a final-set thriller against the Netherlands’ Kevin Doets.

The 15th seed won the first and third sets, but was pegged back on both occasions, only to seize control again with a stunning 170 checkout to claim the fifth set.

However, from there, Doets took over, reeling off sixth consecutive legs to seal a sixth straight win over Aspinall and set up a last-16 tie against world number two Luke Humphries on Tuesday.

Manby, who is playing in the tournament for the first time, overcame Ricky Evans 4-2.

The bricklayer from Huddersfield struggled on his doubles early on, taking out just four of 30 attempts in the first three sets as he went 2-1 down.

Scoring was never an issue though and his accuracy on the checkouts improved, alongside a drop-off from Evans, as he sealed a place in round four and a minimum £60,000 in prize money.

He will face the Netherlands’ Gian van Veen in the next round in what will be his toughest test so far, with the 10th seed having the tournament-high match average of 108.28 in his second-round win.

After the match, Evans posted on Facebook that he had received death threats as well as hate and fat jokes.

Another debutant also progressed with Somerset’s Justin Hood beating Ryan Meikle 4-1.

He raced into a 3-0 lead before Meikle pulled a set back but Hood sealed his place and said afterwards that he would not have to work in 2026 after also confirming at least £60,000 in prize money.

He has climbed to a provisional 63rd in the world rankings already and said post-match he still has aspirations to open a Chinese restaurant one day.

He will face 11th seed Josh Rock in the last 16, after the Northern Irishman overcame Callan Rydz 4-2 in the final third-round tie.

Rydz was emotional throughout following the death of his grandfather since his previous match.

Manchester United midfielder Mason Mount faces a fitness test on the injury that forced him off against Newcastle.

Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire will again miss out, while Amad Diallo, Noussair Mazraoui and Bryan Mbeumo are at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Wolves are without midfielder Andre, who serves a one-match suspension following his fifth booking of the season.

Yerson Mosquera should be fit after suffering from cramp against Liverpool, but Santiago Bueno is a doubt with a knock.

Players out: Man Utd – De Ligt, Fernandes, Mainoo, Maguire, Mbeumo, Amad Diallo, Mazraoui Wolves – Agbadou, Andre, Bellegarde, Chirewa, Chiwome, Munetsi, R Gomes, Toti

Doubts: Man Utd – Mount Wolves – Bueno

Key FPL notes:

The mother of a local tennis star joined Los Angeles County prosecutors on Monday in calling for stricter DUI penalties in California after they say her son was killed by a two-time drunk driver.

Braun Levi, an 18-year-old South Bay tennis standout, was struck and killed by a car in the early-morning hours of May 4 in Manhattan Beach.

According to Los Angeles County prosecutors, 33-year-old Jenia Resha Belt was behind the wheel, speeding while driving on a suspended license and with a blood alcohol level almost twice the legal limit. Belt, prosecutors say, has a previous conviction for driving drunk.

“California’s current DUI laws are broken and weak and fail to protect families like ours, and it’s devastating,” Braun’s mother, Jennifer Levi, said at a news conference Monday. “His death haunts my every breath, every day.”

Although his parents were proud of his athletic and academic achievements, they were most proud of how he treated other people, Levi said. “He had a smile for everybody. He had a heart for everybody. I miss him so much.”

In light of her son’s death, Levi said she would work with state Sen. Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera), whose granddaughter died after being hit by a drunk driver last year, to write and pass a bill that will restructure the state’s DUI penalty laws and requirements, she said.

“The feeling, the sight, the smell of identifying our son’s body will never leave my mind, body or soul, so I will not be silent,” she said.

The SoCal athlete, who died a month before his high school graduation after entering the top national ranks in boys tennis, is part of a larger trend of DUI-related deaths over the last 15 years, according to a CalMatters investigative series that L.A. Dist. Atty. Nathan J. Hochman referenced.

Roadway deaths have been steadily rising since 2010, partially due to repeat drunk drivers and people driving over the speed limit, CalMatters reported. Alcohol-related deaths have increased by 50% over the last decade, according to the investigation.

“Braun should be home right now from his first semester at UVA, spending the holidays with his family, their first as a family still displaced by the Palisades fire,” said Councilmember Traci Park, whose district includes Pacific Palisades.

“He should be planning his future, not being remembered for the way his life was taken from him.”

California’s DUI laws, although considered to be nation-leading in the 1980s, have fallen behind the curve, Hochman said.

Hochman warned drivers, especially ahead of the New Year’s Day holiday, that his office would continue to charge them — and potentially those who over-serve alcohol at bars or parties — with serious crimes.

“We are here to prevent crimes and send crystal clear messages to would-be drunk and drug drivers, to people who want to engage in excessive speed on our roads: We will come after you,” Hochman said, calling the issue a “fight for people’s lives.”

Belt is charged with second-degree murder, felony gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and a misdemeanor count of driving with a suspended license after a DUI. She is being held on $2-million bail and faces life in prison if convicted.

Belt’s arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 13.

For McClenaghan, having the surgery this year hopefully paves the way for an uninterrupted two-year build-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“It was a thought that crossed my mind when I opted to get the surgery.

“We’ve got the time now. We’d rather miss out on 2025 as opposed to push through an injury that will haunt me until 2028. You need to think big picture sometimes.”

He added: “In terms of my gymnastics, I’m going to take it competition by competition, really work hard and assess how I’ve been competing and performing.”

One of the athletes hoping to deny McClenaghan a second Olympic crown will be Great Britain’s three-time gold medallist Max Whitlock, who has come out of retirement after stepping away from the sport following the Paris Games.

“I don’t blame him because I spent a bit of time away from gymnastics with my injury and I missed it,” said McClenaghan.

“I don’t blame him for stepping away and being like ‘you know what, this is actually a pretty awesome job, I don’t want to stop this’. Fair play to him and I look forward to seeing him in the next pommel final, hopefully.”

Regardless of the opposition, McClenaghan is determined to win another gold.

“The ultimate goal, similar to the Paris Olympics where it was my most difficult routine, is to peak at that right time, on the day when it matters.

“That’s certainly the goal for the LA Olympics, to piece together this puzzle of a routine and hopefully produce a world’s best again.”