Lakers to face a physical Rockets team
From Broderick Turner: They know the playoff opponent and how difficult that assignment will be for this group of Lakers when they open the postseason against the physical and rugged Houston Rockets.
They know they will be without two of their main cogs in Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves when Game 1 kicks off Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena and they know this group of Lakers will have to dig deeper than any time this season in this best-of-seven series.
They finished the 82-game regular season on a three-game winning streak that gave the Lakers the fourth seed in the Western Conference after their 131-107 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday at home.
And it gave the Lakers a date with the fifth-seeded Rockets.
“Again, we have tried for the last six weeks to build towards the playoffs, both in our mentality, with our habits, all that stuff,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “We knew the reality, whether we got 3, 4, 5, 6, whatever it was, there’s no easy matchup. All those teams slotted there are tough teams, whether it was going to end up being Denver, Minnesota or Houston.
“Houston’s obviously a really, really good basketball team, and we’re going to prepare, and we’re going to fight and we’re going to go try to win a series….Going into today, we told the team, it’s not about the opponent, it’s about us, and now it is about the opponent. And we’re going to do everything we can to get our guys in a great frame of mind, in a great physical shape over the next four or five days and be ready to play.”
Clippers beat Warriors
Bennedict Mathurin had 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists off the bench, and the Clippers defeated the Golden State Warriors 115-110 on Sunday in a play-in tournament preview.
The Clippers settled for the No. 9 seed and will host the 10th-seeded Warriors on Wednesday after Portland beat Sacramento 122-110 to claim the eighth seed. The Clippers and Trail Blazers finished with identical 42-40 records, but Portland won the tiebreaker based on its better Western Conference record.
The Clippers began the season 6-21 and rallied to extend their franchise-record streak of 15 seasons with a winning record, the longest active run in the NBA and fourth-longest in league history.
Dodgers lose to Rangers
From Maddie Lee: As Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz prepared to play catch on the field before the series finale Sunday against the Texas Rangers, he hoped to be available in a save situation.
“I’m really happy with how I’m feeling today,” he said before the Dodgers’ 5-2 loss Sunday, emphasizing that he wasn’t dealing with any physical ailments.
He’d been unavailable the night before during the Dodgers’ 6-3 win. So manager Dave Roberts went to right-hander Blake Treinen to begin the ninth, and then, after a walk and an error by third baseman Max Muncy, had left-hander Alex Vesia come in to get the last out.
On Friday, Díaz had blown a save opportunity for the first time in his early Dodgers tenure. But Muncy’s walk-off homer secured the win.
Díaz’s velocity has been down this season and Friday, his fastball velocity sat at 95.5 mph and slider at 87.8, according to Statcast, 1.7 mph and 1.3 mph down from last season, respectively.
“Two miles an hour, that’s pretty significant,” Roberts said Sunday. “So I think that’s why we sort of flagged it. We wanted to have him down [Saturday] and kind of see what we get. Because a couple days ago there were a lot of throws in there too. So just trying to also, like we’ve done many times, play the long game with our guys.”
It’s time for Roki Sasaki to take next step
Angels defeat the Reds
José Soriano struck out 10 over seven shutout innings to become the major leagues’ first four-game winner, and the Angels beat the Reds 9-6 Sunday for their first series victory at Cincinnati since 2007.
Soriano (4-0) gave up two hits and three walks, throwing 106 pitches and lowering his big league-best ERA to 0.33. He became the first Angels pitcher to win his first four games since Jered Weaver won six straight in 2011.
The Angels opened a 9-0 lead in the eighth inning and took two of three for its first series win at Cincinnati since winning two of three from June 12-14, 2007.
Rory McIlroy wins the Masters
From Sam Farmer: The night before making history at the Masters, Rory McIlroy was a solitary figure on the illuminated driving range at Augusta National, fine-tuning his shots after a frustrating third round.
Sunday evening, McIlroy stood alone again, this time in glory as the first to win back-to-back green jackets since Tiger Woods in 2002.
“I thought it was so difficult to win last year because of trying to win the Masters and the grand slam,” McIlroy said. “And then this year I realized it’s just really difficult to win the Masters.”
In doing so, he became the fourth man to win twice in a row, joining Woods, Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus. It was the sixth major championship for McIlroy, who grew up in Northern Ireland, tying him with Faldo for the most majors by a European player in the modern era.
How the Masters protects its green jackets and other tales from golf’s exclusive club
Ducks still one point short of playoffs
From Kevin Baxter: The Ducks held their annual fan appreciation day Sunday, handing out thousands of gifts, from a new car to team jerseys and gift cards. But the one prize the Ducks’ long-suffering fans really wanted, a playoff berth, remained just out of reach.
Needing a win to clinch a postseason berth for the first time since 2018, the Ducks lost a sloppy 4-3 overtime decision to the Vancouver Canucks, the NHL’s worst team, leaving them a point shy of the playoffs with two games to play. The loss was the seventh in eight games for the Ducks, who have tumbled from first to third in the Pacific Division standings and may now have to settle for a wild-card berth.
So they’ll hit the road Monday for their final two games of the regular season needing one point from games in Minnesota and Nashville. The Ducks could also back into the playoffs if Nashville losses either of its final two games.
Rogie Vachon is happy in retirement
From Kevin Baxter: The black-and-white photo is as dated as it is iconic.
It shows Rogie Vachon, left hand tucked into a pocket of his bell-bottom jeans and a cigar wedged between two fingers of his right hand, which rests on the hood of a new Mercedes in an empty parking lot outside the Forum. His open V-neck shirt has huge lapels, his hair hangs down to his shoulders and a bushy mustache creases his smiling face, leaving Vachon looking more like the bassist for Spinal Tap than an NHL goaltender.
And that was the point.
Hockey was a bruising, inelegant sport played in the frozen tundra of Canada and the upper Midwest when Vachon was traded from the Montreal Canadiens to the Kings in the winter of 1971. The NHL had expanded to California four seasons earlier, yet even taken together the Kings and California Seals weren’t drawing enough fans to merit the word “crowd.”
“We were the punchline of a bad joke for a lot of years,” said Mike Murphy, who played with Vachon on those early Kings teams.
Hockey was wilting in the sun. If the sport was going to survive in the desert it needed stars, it needed personalities and it needed a cultural makeover — especially in Los Angeles, where the box-office draw was everything.
That’s where Vachon, a small-town farm boy from French-speaking Quebec, came in.
This day in sports history
1927 — Stanley Cup Final, Ottawa Senators beat Boston Bruins, 3-1 for a 2-0-2 series win.
1933 — Stanley Cup Final, New York Rangers beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 1-0 in OT for a 3-1 series win; first best-of-4 Finals series.
1940 — The New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 to win the Stanley Cup in six games.
1940 — Dutch Warmerdam becomes the first man to clear 15 feet in the pole vault in a small track meet at Cal Berkeley. Warmerdam, the last to set records with a bamboo pole, will have 43 vaults over 15 feet at a time when no other vaulter in the world clears 15 feet.
1942 — 9th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Byron Nelson wins an 18-hole playoff by 1 stroke over runner-up Ben Hogan.
1944 — Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 5-4 in overtime for a 4-0 series sweep.
1949 — Basketball Association of America Finals: Minneapolis Lakers beat Washington Capitols, 77-56 to take series, 4 games to 2.
1957 — The Boston Celtics capture their first NBA championship as rookie Tommy Heinsohn scores 37 points and grabs 23 rebounds in a 125-123 double overtime victory over the St. Louis Hawks in Game 7. Rookie Bill Russell scores 19 points and pulls down a game-high 32 rebounds. Russell wins a NCAA title, an Olympic gold medal and an NBA championship in 13 months.
1963 — 33rd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: George Archer wins his only major title, 1 stroke ahead of runners-up Billy Casper, George Knudson, and Tom Weiskopf.
1970 — Billy Casper wins the Masters with a five-stroke playoff victory over Gene Littler.
1975 — 39th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Jack Nicklaus wins his 5th Masters title.
1976 — 1st NBA playoff game for Cleveland Cavaliers.
1980 — Seve Ballesteros, 23, becomes the youngest to win the Masters, with a four-stroke victory.
1980 — U.S. and its allies boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow in protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.
1986 — Jack Nicklaus wins the Masters for a record sixth time and at 46 becomes the oldest to win the event.
1986 — The Celtics end the 1985-86 season with a 135-107 win over the New Jersey Nets at Boston Garden and finish with an NBA-record 40-1 at home.
1991 — Pete Weber wins four games to become the second player in PBA history to win the BPAA U.S. Open twice, this time with a 289-184 victory over Mark Thayer.
1992 — Lou Carnesecca retires as head-coach of St John’s men’s basketball team.
1997 — Tiger Woods wins the Masters by a record 12 strokes at Augusta National. Closing with a 69, Woods finished at 18-under 270, the lowest score in the Masters and matching the most under par by anyone in any of the four Grand Slam events.
1997 — Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mario Lemieux’s last NHL regular season game.
2003 — Mike Weir becomes the first Canadian to win the Masters after the first sudden-death playoff in 13 years.
2008 — Trevor Immelman handles the wind and pressure of Augusta National far better than anyone chasing him to win the Masters, the first South African in a green jacket in 30 years.
2012 — Martin Brodeur stops 24 shots for his 100th postseason win, and a three-goal first period is enough to help the New Jersey Devils spoil the Florida Panthers’ long-awaited return to the Stanley Cup playoffs in a 3-2 victory. Brodeur also picks up an assist for his 10th postseason point, while becoming the second goalie in NHL history to reach triple-figures in playoff wins. Only Patrick Roy has more, with 151.
2014 — 78th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Bubba Watson wins his 2nd Masters, three shots ahead of runners-up Jonas Blixt and Jordan Spieth.
2014 — Manny Pacquiao defeats Timothy Bradley to regain his WBO welterweight boxing title.
2019 — San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich surpasses Lenny Wilkens to became the all-time winningest coach in NBA history with his 1,413th win.
2025 — Rory McIlroy wins his first Masters Tournament and completes a career Grand Slam.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1914 — The first Federal League game was played in Baltimore and the Terrapins defeated Buffalo, 3-2, behind Jack Quinn. A crowd estimated at 27,000 stood 15 rows deep in the outfield to witness the return of major league baseball to Baltimore.
1921 — With new U.S. President Warren G. Harding, former president Woodrow Wilson, and VP Calvin Coolidge watching, the Washington Senators lose their home opener, 6-3, to the Boston Red Sox.
1933 — Sammy West of St. Louis went 6-for-6 in an 11-inning win over the Chicago White Sox. He had five singles and a double off Ted Lyons.
1953 — For the first time in half a century, a new city was represented in the American or National leagues. The Braves moved from Boston to Milwaukee and opened in Cincinnati, where Max Surkont set down the Reds, 2-0.
1954 — Henry Aaron made his major league debut in left field for the Milwaukee Braves and went 0-for-5 in a 9-8 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Cincinnati’s Jim Greengrass hit four doubles in his first major league game.
963 — Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds tripled off Pittsburgh’s Bob Friend for his first major league hit.
1972 — The first player strike in baseball history ended.
1984 — Montreal’s Pete Rose got his 4,000th hit, a double off Philadelphia pitcher Jerry Koosman. The hit came exactly 21 years after his first hit. Rose would score on Tim Raines’ one-out single, sliding into home to give Montreal a 4-1 lead in their eventual 5-1 victory.
1987 — The San Diego Padres set a major league record when the first three batters in the bottom of the first inning hit homers off San Francisco starter Roger Mason in their home opener. The Padres, trailing 2-0, got homers from Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk.
1993 — Lee Smith became the all-time saves leader as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Dodgers 9-7. Smith got his 358th save, surpassing Jeff Reardon of the Cincinnati Reds.
1998 — Ken Griffey, Jr. of the Seattle Mariners hits his 300th home run to become the second-youngest player to reach the milestone.
1999 — Texas catcher Ivan Rodriguez drove in nine runs in the Rangers’ 15-6 victory at Seattle.
2004 — San Francisco’s Barry Bonds hit his 661st homer, passing Willie Mays to take sole possession of third place on baseball’s career list.
2009 — Orlando Hudson hit for the cycle as the Dodgers beat Randy Johnson and San Francisco 11-1.
2009 — Jody Gerut christened the Mets’ new home, Citi Field, with a leadoff homer in San Diego’s 6-5 win over New York. Gerut’s shot off Mike Pelfrey marked the first time in history that the first batter homered in a regular-season opener at a major league ballpark.
2011 — A federal jury convicted Barry Bonds of a single charge of obstruction of justice, but failed to reach a verdict on the three counts at the heart of allegations that he knowingly used steroids and human growth hormone and lied to a grand jury about it.
2018 — Houston’s Gerrit Cole struck out a career-high 14 batters in seven innings to lead the Astros to a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers. Cole joined Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers in major league history to strike out at least 11 in three consecutive starts to start a season. Cole also set an major league record with 36 strikeouts in his first three starts with a new team, surpassing Randy Johnson in 1999 with Arizona (34).
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.