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As Lakers coach JJ Redick talked after practice Monday about the long list of players who would be listed as day-to-day for Tuesday night’s game at Phoenix, he at least knew that center Deandre Ayton will be back after missing two games because of left elbow soreness.

Redick said Luka Doncic (left leg contusion), Austin Reaves (mild left calf strain) and Rui Hachimura (right groin soreness) are day-to-day. Gabe Vincent (lower back tightness), however, is expected to be out longer.

Redick said Doncic was injured when he was kneed by Clippers guard Bagdan Bogdanovic during Saturday night’s loss at Intuit Dome.
Redick said the Lakers have noticed that Doncic, who leads the NBA in scoring (34.1) and is fourth in assists (8.8), gets hit in his lower leg a lot during games.

“It could just be the de-ce. I don’t know,” Redick said, alluding to the way Doncic decelerates with the ball in his hands. “The way he uses his body? I don’t know. … We’re talking about looking into ways to potentially protect against these, so sort of like, collisions.”

Reaves, who’s 10th in scoring at 27.8 points, missed the last three games. He was on the court shooting after practice Monday, and Redick was asked what it will take for his guard to get back in games.

“Given the nature of that area, I think it’s when he feels 100% confident and he doesn’t feel it hurting,” Redick said. “It’s fun, guys. It’s fun. It’s fun. It’s a fun day to talk about injuries.”

Redick said there was no real update on Hachimura’s injury, but that Ayton was a full participant in practice.

Ayton, who is second in the NBA in field-goal percentage (71%) and is averaging 15.3 points and 9.0 rebounds, was asked if he was playing against his former team the Suns. He averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds in the first two matchups.

“Most definitely,” he said. “I’m straight. Most definitely.”

The Chargers will be without starting linebacker Denzel Perryman for the remainder of the regular season.

The NFL on Monday suspended Perryman without pay for two games for repeated violations of playing rules designed to protect player health and safety, including an incident during Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys.

In the second quarter, Perryman was penalized for unnecessary roughness after delivering a forcible blow to the helmet of Ryan Flournoy while the Dallas Cowboys’ receiver was on the ground following a catch. The play violated an NFL rule prohibiting the use of any part of the helmet or facemask to initiate forcible contact to an opponent’s head or neck area.

Perryman will be eligible to return to the Chargers’ active roster on Monday, Jan. 5, following the team’s Week 17 game against the Houston Texans and Week 18 game against the Denver Broncos.

Under the collective bargaining agreement, Perryman may appeal the suspension. Any appeal would be heard and decided by one of three jointly appointed and compensated hearing officers: Derrick Brooks, Ramon Foster or Jordy Nelson.

It’s difficult to overshadow a game in which two touchdowns were negated by the officials in the last 30 seconds, enabling the Pittsburgh Steelers to hang on for a 29-24 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday in a Week 16 game with significant playoff implications.

Offensive interference penalties erased both Lions scores, including one of the wildest plays ever seen as time expired. What possibly could steal a headline from that?

How about Steelers star wide receiver DK Metcalf reaching into the stands and swinging at a fan with seemingly more force than the contact by Lions receivers that prompted the offensive interference flags?

Multiple videos captured Metcalf approach a fan wearing a blue wig at the first row of seats behind the Steelers’ bench at Ford Field. The fan leaned over the rail to say something and Metcalf reached up, grabbed him by the shirt or wig with his right hand before turning and walking away.

What would prompt Metcalf, one of the NFL’s top receivers in each of his seven seasons, to lose his temper and allegedly engage with a fan in a way strictly forbidden by the league?

Well, the fan, who identified himself as Ryan Kennedy from Pinckney, Mich., to the Detroit Free Press, said he called Metcalf by his full given name — DeKaylin Zecharius Metcalf — and that apparently touched a nerve.

“He doesn’t like his government name. I called him that and then he grabbed me and ripped my shirt,” Kennedy said. “I’m a little shocked. Like everyone’s talking to me. I’m a little rattled, but I just want the Lions to win, baby.”

Kennedy didn’t get his wish thanks to Lions receivers getting too pushy themselves, albeit on the field of play.

The play that will be replayed countless times came as time expired. Lions star wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown was stopped after catching a pass at the one-yard line, but before the whistle St. Brown underhanded the ball back to quarterback Jared Goff, who barreled into the end zone for what appeared to be a miraculous game-winning touchdown.

However, St. Brown had given Steelers cornerback Jalen Ramsey a shove before breaking free to make the catch and a flag had been thrown before Goff crossed the goal line. The officials announced after a lengthy huddle that St. Brown had committed offensive pass interference and that the game was over.

The applicable NFL rule reads: “If there is a foul by the offense, there shall be no extension of the period. If the foul occurs on the last play of the half, a score by the offense is not counted.”

Fewer than 30 seconds earlier, Lions rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa set an illegal pick that enabled St. Brown — a former USC and Mater Dei High star — to break free in the end zone and make a nine-yard scoring catch.

The Steelers sideline erupted in joy after the second call resulted in a victory that put them in control of their destiny for the AFC North title. They need one win or a Baltimore Ravens loss in the last two weeks of the regular season to clinch it and secure a home playoff game.

The Lions, meanwhile, had their playoff chances reduced to 6% after the loss.

DeKaylin Zecharius Metcalf, it can be presumed, has a near 100% chance of being fined and suspended by the NFL for taking the swing at Kennedy.

One of college football’s longest-lasting and most storied rivalries will be taking a break in 2026.

After months of negotiations and public posturing, USC and Notre Dame have failed to reach an agreement to continue their rivalry series, according to a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to discuss it publicly.

USC has now turned its focus to finding a new nonconference opponent to fill out its 2026 schedule. The earliest the two rivals could play again, a person familiar with discussions told The Times, is the 2030 season.

The rivalry series dates back to 1926 and was only previously paused for World War II. With the exception of the 2020 pandemic-shortened season, the two schools had played for 78 straight seasons. They last met in October, with Notre Dame dealing USC a 34-24 defeat.

The fact quarterback Luke Fahey of Mission Viejo High signed with Ohio State is impressive enough. Then look at his 2025 statistics and you begin to realize he’s going to be next in line to continue Southern California’s success in developing top quarterbacks.

Over 11 games, he only had three passes intercepted while completing 71% of his passes. He threw for 3,199 yards and 25 touchdowns. He ran for six touchdowns. He had a school-record 569 yards passing against Los Alamitos. He made a clutch touchdown pass in the second half to beat eventual Southern Section Division 1 champion Santa Margarita 7-6 in the season opener.

He clearly performed at his best when the pressure was on and Mission Viejo needed him to lift up his teammates.

“He’s the best leader I’ve had in 25 years of coaching. He’s the total package,” coach Chad Johnson said.

Fahey has been selected The Times’ back of the year.

Before this season, he was sharing time at quarterback, showing incredible unselfishness while putting his trust in the process that everything would work out when it was his time to be the full-time starter. And it did.

“He’s always been real good,” Johnson said. “He was sharing reps and didn’t allow everyone to see his greatness and what he could be. Ohio State saw it. It’s going to be crazy what he can do at the next level.”

There’s one memory Johnson won’t soon forget. It was in the visiting locker room after a game at St. Paul. Fahey stayed behind as the last person to pick up trash to leave the locker room clean. Then he headed to the bus. Only the head coach saw it. The best player on the team doing work others ignored.

“Remarkable,” Johnson said.

Guardiola is known as a strict coach when it comes to player fitness levels and in 2016 exiled some of his squad from first-team training until they met certain weight targets.

Former City full-back Gael Clichy said Guardiola had told his players to avoid pizza, some juice and certain “heavy food”.

Guardiola previously apologised to Kalvin Phillips after saying the City midfielder was “overweight” on his return from the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

City are two points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal, who beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday, and face Forest before an away fixture at Sunderland on New Year’s Day.

Guardiola said he had no problem with his squad’s fitness or running, but they simply “have to play better”.

“The players asked me to have tomorrow’s [Sunday’s] training session off and I said no, because they didn’t play well enough,” Guardiola said.

“So Sunday recovery, train the guys that didn’t play, and after three days off they have two days to prepare for Nottingham Forest.”

Guardiola added that it was important for his players to spend time with their families over the Christmas period.

“I’ve learned from England, since I arrived, as much days [where you can] have a day off, you give them,” he added.

“The schedule is so tight and the players have to forget. The moment of the game they will be fresh in the legs.”

EUGENE, Ore. — Perhaps it was James Madison going for it twice on fourth down on its first drive of the game.

Or, maybe it was coach Bob Chesney calling for a wide receiver pass on the Dukes’ second series of the evening. Even 12th-ranked James Madison successfully pulling off a fake punt could have adequately explained what the scoreboard failed to convey.

It was clear that the fifth-ranked Oregon Ducks were in a different class than their visitors in a 51-34 win in a College Football Playoff first round matchup Saturday at Autzen Stadium. Oregon led 48-13 midway through the third quarter before the Dukes added three late touchdowns to make the final score appear closer than the game really was.

“I think the scoreboard itself, every time we got down there we kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” said Chesney, who takes over as UCLA’s head coach after the JMU loss. “If we did not do that, if we did not end with 13 penalties, is this a little bit of a different game? Maybe. But at the same point in time, that’s a tough offense to stop, and I think it’s tough for a lot of teams in the entire country to stop.”

With James Madison’s loss, Group of Five teams fell to 0-4 all-time in CFP games. No. 17 Tulane fell 41-10 to No. 6 Mississippi on Saturday, too, while Penn State beat Boise State 31-14 in last year’s Fiesta Bowl. Alabama topped Cincinnati 27-6 in a 2022 CFP semifinal at the Cotton Bowl.

Following their loss to Ole Miss, Green Wave head coach Jon Sumrall brushed aside any notion of his team not belonging among the last 12 standing.

“We’re our conference champion and the rules are what they were, and I think there should be access for at least one G5 team moving forward,” Sumrall said. “I do. I think you should have given the American champion an opportunity before the ACC champion this year because we beat the ACC champion. So Duke won the ACC Championship; we beat them.”

To Sumrall’s point, Tulane beat a pair of Power Four teams in Northwestern and Duke, but those schools combined to go 14-11 in 2025.

James Madison, meanwhile, lost to its only Power Four opponent this season, with Louisville beating it 28-14 in a game in which the Dukes mustered just 263 yards of total offense. Most of the season, James Madison ran with the ball with ease against its opponents, rushing for over 300 yards in a game five times and over 200 yards in a game nine times.

But on Saturday, the Dukes mostly abandoned the run after quickly falling behind, and instead often turned to Sun Belt player of the year and quarterback Alonza Barnett III, who attempted a career-high 48 passes in the contest. Even so, Barnett was confident his team belonged in the CFP over other Power Four schools.

“I believe people saw that we were meant to be on this level. When you look at the Power Four teams and whatever, the destiny is really — the ball is in your court. You control your own destiny,” Barnett said. “Most of those teams that didn’t make it, they controlled their own destiny, and we handled what we could handle and we didn’t give into outside noise.”

Among Group of Five schools, James Madison did fare the best of any of them on offense in the CFP. The other three programs scored a combined 30 points in their respective playoff games, a total James Madison eclipsed against the nation’s eighth-ranked scoring defense.

But where the Dukes fell flat was slowing down the Ducks’ ninth-ranked scoring offense. Oregon ran the ball with ease, averaging more than 7.7 yards per attempt against James Madison’s run defense that entered the contest allowing the second-fewest yards per game in the country.

As has often been the case in matchups between Power Four and Group of Five teams, the greatest discrepancies existed in the trenches. To a man, James Madison could not adequately match up with Oregon, just as Tulane couldn’t with Ole Miss and many other Group of Five programs before them both failed to do.

“I think there were moments today where I feel like we could play with them,” Chesney said. “ And I think that today, the complimentary football, and us playing in the way we needed to just did not exist.”

Destin writes for the Associated Press.

On June 12, Peggy Orenstein’s inbox flooded with booking requests for her Inglewood Airbnb.

The date seemed random, but after a quick search, the influx of interest became clear. It was exactly a year before one of the biggest events in American soccer history, when the U.S. will kick off its World Cup in a match against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium, and Orenstein had set up the system to only accept booking requests up to a year in advance.

Orenstein’s rental sits just across the street from the venue. Suddenly, her Airbnb became one of the hottest homes in the Southland.

She hadn’t adjusted the prices yet to reflect the rabid demand, so she declined the requests and tweaked the rates. Typically, a two-night stay at the house would cost around $1,000. For a two-night stay during the Americans’ opening match June 12, it’ll now cost more than $10,000.

Roughly 6.5 million people are expected to travel to North America during the 2026 World Cup, and many of them will be heading to L.A., where SoFi Stadium is hosting eight games, including two U.S. matches during the group stage. Airbnb hosts are viewing the games as a gold mine, hoping soccer fans will shell out thousands to stay near the stadium.

The World Cup rental market will serve as a test case for the 2028 Olympics, when an estimated 15 million people are expected to visit Southern California.

For the night of the opening match June 12, more than 70% of short-term rentals in Inglewood have already been booked, according to data site Inside Airbnb. That’s a 58% increase compared to typical reservation rates on normal days.

Rates are rising as well. On June 1, the average booked rate for an Airbnb in L.A. is $245, according to data platform AirDNA. On June 12, when the U.S. plays Paraguay, it’s $382 — a 56% jump.

In Inglewood, prices are even wilder. Homes that normally rent for hundreds are listed for thousands. The nightly price for a one-bedroom apartment a block from SoFi is typically around $400. On June 11, the day before the game, it’s $713. On June 12, the day of the game, it’s $1,714.

“It’ll be interesting to see how much people will pay,” Orenstein said.

Some hosts use an algorithm to determine their nightly rates, but Orenstein sets the prices herself. She arrived at the $10,000 number by looking at nearby hotels, which are mostly sold out for the nights of the eight World Cup matches.

“The Lum Hotel had a suite available during the World Cup for $1,943. Meanwhile, our house can accommodate eight guests with four bedrooms, plus a kitchen and yard,” she said.

There are classic amenities such as a grill and hot tub, but the biggest amenity is proximity. Orenstein is banking on visitors ponying up for the convenience of parking at the property and walking to the stadium while everyone else navigates traffic jams and long rideshare waits.

“It gets crazy out there,” she said. “I’ve had people offer to pay me $40 to use the bathroom while walking by during a Taylor Swift concert. Our neighbor sold parking spots for $1,000 during the Super Bowl.”

David (pictured) and Peggy Orenstein, run an Airbnb across the street from SoFi Stadium.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Colin Johnson has been renting out his home near SoFi Stadium for two years. It’s his actual residence, meaning when someone stays there, he has to book a hotel or crash on a friend’s couch. But he said the payouts are worth it.

“There are so many events and venues around us, why wouldn’t we take advantage?” he said.

A typical two-night stay in the three-story townhouse runs about $600. For the U.S. opening match, it costs more than $3,000.

Johnson said demand is roughly 60% Americans and 40% foreigners, but he expects foreign interest to pick up as the games get closer.

Demand isn’t limited to Inglewood. Luxury rentals across Los Angeles are being booked for eye-popping numbers, according to Mokhtar Jabli, founder of luxury rental platform Nightfall Group.

He’s booked two so far. The first was rented by a Florida client coming to Los Angeles to see Iran play two matches at SoFi Stadium against New Zealand and Belgium. The modern home in Hollywood Hills, complete with an infinity pool overlooking the city, rented for $33,000 for seven nights from June 15 to 22.

The second was booked by a New York client coming to see the U.S. play Paraguay. The 7,000-square-foot mansion in Malibu comes with a movie theater, butler, security and full-time staff. For 10 days, it rented for $100,000.

Jamie Lane, chief economist for AirDNA, expects a surge across L.A. County — not just in demand, but in supply.

“There’s a lot of interest right now in what you can make as a host,” Lane said. “In most cities, there won’t be enough lodging, so that pushes rates higher.”

He added that since Airbnb is the official “Alternative Accommodations and Bookings Platform” of the World Cup, the company is urging people to host. AirDNA has hosted multiple bootcamps around the country for people interested in renting out their homes during the World Cup, teaching them how to furnish homes, how to set prices during the games and more.

Lane expects a boost in listings early next year, which would mirror Paris in the months leading up to the 2024 Olympics, when active listings soared by 40%.

It’s unclear how proactive Southern California cities will be in cracking down on illegal listings as homeowners look to make a quick buck by renting out their rooms. Many cities have strict short-term rental regulations, but haven’t taken the steps necessary to enforce them.

Last year, the L.A. Housing Department estimated that 7,500 short-term rentals were violating the city’s Home Sharing Ordinance, but the city only issued 300 citations.

Orenstein said it won’t be easy in Inglewood.

“You have to jump through hoops to have an Airbnb,” she said. “Apply for permits, do inspections, pay your taxes every month. It has to be done right.”

Clipper Kris Dunn grabs Laker Maxi Kleber ‘s jersey in front of a ref Saturday at the Intuit Dome.

(Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

The Lakers have been assessed five technical fouls in the last two games because of conduct with officials as frustration over inconsistent calls is starting to boil over. After Doncic, Jaxson Hayes and Marcus Smart were all given technical fouls in the third quarter of Thursday’s win over Utah, Doncic and Smart were T’ed up again Saturday in the first and third quarters, respectively.

“I think if any coach, any player, what we ask for is consistency,” Redick said. “And that’s not to single any official out or any crew out, it’s not about that. We need to know what it is night to night.”

Smart also drew a technical foul against Utah after attempting to talk to an official at halftime. When Smart walked away frustrated, he raised his middle finger toward the official, a gesture that got him fined $35,000 Saturday, the NBA announced.

“Sometimes you got to take the hit to get your point across,” Smart said Saturday.

Redick expressed additional frustration with the lack of transparency in the replay system and murky communication with officials. He said he has not received any feedback when he requests it and the distinction between plays that can and can’t be challenged appears to change every night.

The lack of communication has been frustrating for players as well, Smart said, who met with referees before the Utah game as a team captain, but still had his questions dismissed.

“The captain should be able to come talk to them,” Smart said. “They still don’t want to hear it. So control what you can control. They don’t want to talk, you know, you try and you move on. But it definitely is frustrating when you pour your heart out to this game and the feedback is literally waving you off, telling you to get out your face, and then giving you a tech because you’re asking a simple question.”

A look at the Los Angeles Times’ 24-player All-Star high school football team for the 2025 season:

OFFENSE

Quarterback: Luke Fahey, Mission Viejo, 6-0, 185, Sr. — The Ohio State commit had a sensational senior season, passing for 3,199 yards and 25 touchdowns with only three interceptions while completing 71% of his passes.

Running back: Jeremiah Watson, Murrieta Valley, 5-9, 180, Sr. — Injuries took a toll but he still finished with 1,429 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns.

Running back: Darnell Miller, Santee, 6-0, 170, Sr. — Miller led the state in running with 3,296 yards and 40 touchdowns for the City Section Division III champions.

Receiver: Madden Williams, St. John Bosco, Sr. — The Texas A&M commit caught 41 passes for 804 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Trinity League co-champions.

Receiver: Trent Mosley, Santa Margarita, Sr. — The USC commit was one of the most versatile offensive weapons, whether catching passes, playing quarterback out of a wildcat formation or getting the ball on a handoff in leading the Eagles to the Southern Section Division 1 title and CIF Open Division title.

Receiver: Jack Junker, Mission Viejo, 5-10, 182, Jr. — With 14 touchdown receptions and averaging nearly 20 yards per catch, Junker rose up to become one of the top receivers from the class of 2027.

Lineman: Blake Graham, Leuzinger, 6-3, 300, Sr. — The Cal Poly commit cleared the way for more than 2,600 yards rushing for a team that won the Bay League title.

Lineman: Cooper Javorsky, San Juan Hills, 6-4, 285, Sr. — The UCLA commit and future center is a relentless worker who showed up every game to give his best and deliver big blocks.

Lineman: Luke Kingman, Murrieta Valley, 6-5, 315, Sr. — The Idaho State commit used his strength and size to lead one of the best rushing attacks in the Southland.

Lineman: Braiden McKenna, Los Alamitos, 6-2, 290, Sr. — It was the Griffins’ offensive line that was key to a Southern Section Division 2 title, and McKenna, playing center, was the leader, helping produce two 1,000-yard rushers.

Lineman: Kodi Greene, Mater Dei, 6-5, 320, Sr. — The Washington commit was a two-year standout, using his size and strength to be a reliable blocker.

Kicker: Kyle Donahue, San Juan Hills, 5-11, 165, Sr. — A trained soccer player turned out to be the most accurate kicker in the Southland, making 12 of 13 field-goal attempts and 44 of 45 PATs.

Defense

Defensive line: Richard Wesley, Sierra Canyon, 6-5, 260, Sr. — The Texas commit was named Mission League player of the year and finished with 8.5 sacks for the 10-1 Trailblazers.

Defensive line: Max Meier, Loyola, 6-5, 240, Sr. — The Stanford commit recorded 19 tackles for losses, including 11.5 sacks.

Defensive line: Khary Wilder, Gardena Serra, 6-4, 260, Sr. — The Ohio State commit faced repeated double teams and still finished with 20 tackles for losses, including 10 sacks.

Linebacker: Isaiah Phelps, Oxnard Pacifica, 6-1, 200, Jr. Phelps led Pacifica to a Southern Section Division 3 championship, averaging nearly 15 tackles a game with his quickness and instincts.

Linebacker: De’Andre Kirkpatrick, Crenshaw, 6-3, 200, Jr. — Kirkpatrick was a difference-maker to get Crenshaw to the City Section Open Division final, disrupting offenses while making himself as a top recruit.

Linebacker: Matthew Muasau, St. John Bosco, 6-1, 230, Sr. — The UCLA commit showed everyone what fundamentally sound tackling looks like, finishing with five sacks and 64 tackles.

Linebacker: Dash Fifita, Santa Margarita, 5-9, 195, Sr. — The Arizona commit filled the role perfectly of tackling machine on the best defense in the Southland for Division 1 champions.

Defensive back: CJ Lavender, Mater Dei, Sr. — The UCLA commit was a model of consistency, delivering big tackles and big plays every game a fiwhileishing with seven interceptions.

Defensive back: Pakipole Moala, Leuzinger, 6-0, 165, So. — Asked to cover each opponent’s top receiver, Moala showed he belonged, contributing three interceptions and 27 tackles in a breakout season.

Defensive back: Madden Riordan, Sierra Canyon, 5-11, 165, Sr. — The USC commit had four interceptions and prevented big plays with his intelligence, instincts and anticipation.

Defensive back: Jaden Walk-Green, Corona Centennial, 5-11, 180, Jr. — With 10 interceptions, including four returned for touchdowns while also kicking, punting and returning punts and kickoffs, he was the most versatile player in the Southland.

Punter: Jacob Kreinbring, Loyola, 6-0, 195, Sr. — Averaged 41.2 yards a punt, with 18 inside the 20 and also made a 46-yard field goal.

The Rams have lost four games this season, three resulting in part from special teams breakdowns.

In the aftermath of their defeat by the Seattle Seahawks, coach Sean McVay made a significant move.

Chase Blackburn, the Rams’ special teams coordinator for the last three seasons, has been fired, a team official said Saturday.

Assistant Ben Kotwica remains on the staff.

Earlier this month, Blackburn said, “The job of a special teams coach is to be able to adapt and overcome on all things.”

That proved a challenge for a team that features a high-powered offense, and an at-times dominating defense.

On Thursday night in Seattle, the Rams led by 16 points in the fourth quarter when they allowed Rashid Shaheed to return a punt 58 yards for a touchdown. The play sparked the Seahawks’ comeback that sent the Rams to a 38-37 overtime defeat.

The loss dropped the Rams’ record to 11-4, and knocked them out of the No. 1 seed in the NFC and first place in the NFC West.

The breakdown was the latest in a series of special teams issues that have plagued the Rams.

In September at Philadelphia, the Eagles blocked two field-goal attempts by Joshua Karty, returning the second for a winning touchdown on the final play of regulation.

Two weeks later, in a 26-23 overtime defeat by the San Francisco 49ers, Karty missed a long field-goal attempt and had an extra-point attempt blocked. Karty’s kickoff in overtime did not reach the landing zone, giving the 49ers the ball at the 40-yard line.

Before their Week 10 game against the 49ers, the Rams signed kicker Harrison Mevis to replace Karty and signed veteran snapper Jake McQuaide to replace Alex Ward.

The kicking game solidified. Mevis made all eight of his field-goal attempts, including three against the Seahawks, before he missed a 48-yard attempt with just over two minutes left in regulation.

The Rams, who clinched a playoff spot, play the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 29 in Atlanta and then conclude the regular season at home against the Arizona Cardinals.

ARLINGTON, Texas — The NFL regular season is turning down the stretch and the playoff picture is coming into focus, and that means not just the teams but the league’s scheduling crew is hard at work.

The Chargers, who play at Dallas on Sunday, can secure a postseason berth with a victory and some help from a team or two. Coupled with a win over the Cowboys, the Chargers need Las Vegas to win at Houston (unlikely) or San Francisco to win at Indianapolis (more likely) so they can rest easy knowing they’re at least in the playoffs for the second consecutive season under Jim Harbaugh.

Although the Rams have already qualified for the playoffs, they need to regain their balance after a spirit-snapping loss at Seattle on Thursday that likely cost them a chance at the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

Here’s a look at the upcoming schedule for the end of this season and beginning of next, along with decisions that need to be made:

— Why did the league schedule Houston at the Chargers for Saturday of Week 17?

The game was always a candidate for that 1:30 p.m. slot on NFL Network, and Seattle at Carolina was also under consideration.

The league liked Texans-Chargers on Saturday because both of those clubs likely will be playing in January — maybe against each other again — and if that game were moved to Sunday afternoon, it would be going head-to-head against Fox’s national game, Philadelphia at Buffalo, a potential Super Bowl preview.

So the NFL wanted to do the Texans and Chargers a solid and give them the national stage to themselves.

— Rams at Atlanta in Week 17 isn’t a fantastic Monday night game for Week 17, especially with the Falcons currently at 5-9. But with all the games spread throughout the week of Christmas, there weren’t a lot of great replacement options.

The league didn’t move Texans-Chargers into that slot for good reason. Because whoever plays in that “Monday Night Football” slot — it’s staying Rams-Falcons — won’t be a candidate for a Saturday game in the final weekend.

So by moving Texans-Chargers to Saturday, both those teams are in play for the two Saturday spots in Week 18. The Chargers finish at Denver, and the Texans play host to Indianapolis. Either or both of those games could wind up on ESPN for those finishing Saturday games.

— The NFL originally slated Cincinnati at Miami for this week’s Sunday night game but last week decided to move New England at Baltimore into that time slot. That’s notable because it’s the first flex of the season, which is an unusually low number. Typically, there have been three or four flexes to this point.

Why only one? There are multiple reasons. First, the league’s scheduling crew had a pretty clear crystal ball in May, a good idea for which teams would still be in the mix. Credit to those folks.

But the bar for flexing games is also a little higher than it used to be. The NFL is cautious about inconveniencing 75,000 fans for a relatively small bump in viewership. What’s more, with all the new windows and partners — Netflix, Amazon Prime, Peacock, Paramount+ — there are fewer games to go around. Even if the league wanted to flex, there are fewer options. The traditional Sunday inventory is a lot thinner than it used to be.

— It’s worth noting that the league’s philosophy on moving games around is it flexes out of a game that’s falling apart, it doesn’t flex into a better game because the network or streaming service doesn’t happen to like the game it has.

Cincinnati-Miami was a no-brainer flex candidate back in October when both teams were reeling. But then Joe Burrow came back for the Bengals, and the Dolphins started winning, and it got interesting for a while. But then Cincinnati got shut out last week by Baltimore, and Miami just benched its quarterback. Flex was back on.

So what to flex into? The thought was, yes, the NFL can move Patriots-Ravens into that Sunday window for NBC, and at least it can leave behind Kansas City-Tennessee for CBS. Everybody figured the Chiefs would be fighting for their postseason lives. That wasn’t the case. Kansas City was eliminated last week and lost Patrick Mahomes to a season-ending knee injury. Chiefs-Titans isn’t nearly as interesting as anticipated.

It could have been an ugly Sunday for CBS, but the network wound up with Pittsburgh-Detroit for its national game. That very easily could have been the far-less-tantalizing Buffalo at Cleveland.

— We’re heading into a postseason with no Kansas City, no Dallas, maybe no Baltimore or Pittsburgh — one of them is going to miss out — and with the rise of Chicago, possibly no Green Bay or Detroit.

A lot of those traditional anchor teams could be watching from their couches.

That means the NFL will have to make some new decisions about who to prioritize in postseason scheduling, perhaps looking with fresh eyes at clubs such as Seattle, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Jacksonville and others. Who are the ones with the most national appeal?

And that rolls into next season. How does the league dole out those big national windows. With Kansas City missing the playoffs, and Mahomes recovering from a major knee injury, do the Chiefs recede into the background after a decade of division titles and deep playoff runs?

Have the Bears broken through? They’re 10-4. At 12-2, Denver looks to be back and set up to keep it going. Heading into Thursday night’s game, the Rams were as hot as any team in the league, and the Chargers could finally get Justin Herbert that inaugural playoff victory.

The Steelers have won two in a row, and could wind up making a postseason run. If so, what does Aaron Rodgers do next season, and how will the club move forward?

The NFL leaned heavily into Washington after one outstanding season, giving them eight nationally televised games this season. That bet didn’t pay off; the Commanders are 4-10.

It’s the game behind the games, and those decisions are taking shape.

UCLA had just put on a dazzling offensive display when a help-wanted sign went up in the postgame news conference.

The search for assistance came from a coach who knows his team can score but will need a lot better effort on the other side of the ball to get to where it wants to go this season.

“My biggest challenge with this team,” Mick Cronin said after the Bruins needed an epic scoring surge in the second half to post a relief of a 108-87 victory over Cal Poly, “is finding a guy or two or three that their mind is on defense.”

Nobody filled that role Friday night during a first half that led to scattered boos serenading the Bruins on their way to the locker room inside Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA was trailing by two points after putting in a low effort and playing just a sprinkling of defense against a mid-major team with a losing record from the Big West Conference.

The Cal Poly logo on the front of the opponents’ jerseys did not elicit the same sort of spirited effort the Bruins had given against more brand-name foes, continuing a troubling trend going back to the season opener.

“I definitely think that’s fair to say,” UCLA guard Skyy Clark said after notching a season-high 30 points while making six of 10 three-pointers and becoming the first Bruin in school history to make at least six three-pointers in back-to-back games. “That’s just something we gotta harp on as a team.”

The Bruins could exhale after going with a smaller lineup that produced 65 points in the second half, the most in a half by UCLA since it splurged for 66 in the second half against George Mason on Dec. 22, 1994.

But plenty of worries linger, most of them on the defensive end for a team that has given up an average of 78.2 points over its last six games.

This was another case of UCLA simply outgunning an opponent, the Bruins shooting 57.4% to Cal Poly’s 51% during a game in which defense was played only in spurts. How do the Bruins explain giving up 45 points in the first half?

“We’ve got too many guys who are conscientious objectors defensively,” Cronin said. “And if I can’t get those guys to quit protesting — they don’t say anything, but until they really believe that’s the way to win … ”

UCLA (9-3) prevailed only after Cronin went with a three-guard lineup, replacing center Xavier Booker with Jamar Brown to start the second half in an effort to combat the Mustangs’ drive-and-kick offense that stationed practically everyone behind the three-point line. With a more mobile lineup, the Bruins proceeded to go on a 15-0 run to transform a two-point deficit into a 60-47 lead, removing any doubt about the game’s outcome.

Clark continued his recent scoring spree and received plenty of help from forward Tyler Bilodeau (24 points and eight rebounds) and point guard Donovan Dent (16 points, 11 assists and five steals) as the Bruins notched a second consecutive victory.

UCLA guard Donovan Dent, center, dribbles past Cal Poly guards Guzman Vasilic, left, and Kieran Elliott to score during the second half Friday night.

(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)

Cayden Ward scored 21 points for Cal Poly (5-8), which had been given a 2% chance of winning, according to the metrics of basketball analyst Ken Pomeroy.

By the game’s midpoint, the possibility of a massive upset had crept uncomfortably upward for UCLA.

Giving up open shots as part of a lackluster defensive effort wasn’t nearly the worst of it for the Bruins.

Trent Perry twice fouled a three-point shooter, once prompting Cronin to yell, “Get over here!” after Perry sent Cayden Ward to the free-throw line for three shots. A new low came late in the first half when Brown fouled Hamad Mousa on a three-pointer that went in, Mousa making the free throw to complete a four-point play.

“Buddy, it’s the worst play in basketball, and I’ve gone literally years with that happening zero times,” Cronin said. “Nobody coaches that more than me. You are not allowed to foul a jump shooter if you play for me, never. Never. If you’re that close, that means the shot is contested. You could deduce that, right? So I don’t care if he makes it, he’s taking a contested shot. Jumping toward the guy, you’re going to land in his space.”

Brown was immediately replaced by Perry, whose defensive inattentiveness quickly reemerged when Ward beat him off the dribble for a one-handed dunk. Things improved considerably the rest of the way. Cronin said he continued to be pleased with Clark’s defense and was satisfied with the second-half effort of forward Eric Dailey Jr., who limited Mousa to only two of his 14 points after halftime.

Cronin suggested that he wanted this team to prioritize defense the way the Bruins did after halftime of their victory over Michigan State in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA tournament, which sparked a flurry of lockdown efforts leading to five consecutive wins.

“From that point on, it took a halfcourt shot to stop us from trying to win the title,” Cronin said, alluding to Jalen Suggs’ buzzer-beater in a national semifinal. “But if that wouldn’t have changed, we weren’t going anywhere, so you just keep trying to stay relentless with it.”

How does Cronin get his team to make that change?

“You play the guys who will do what you tell them to do,” Cronin said. “If you play guys who are conning you with their effort defensively, not only are you going to lose, then the other guys will start doing it because they think you’re a fraud because you’re playing them anyway.”

Applications are being accepted. The next opportunity to fill a heightened role comes Tuesday against UC Riverside.

It’s a testament to the coaching of Jim Harbaugh that the Chargers have been decidedly un-Charger-like this season, continuing to win games despite a slew of pivotal injuries. They’re coming off back-to-back victories over the two teams in last season’s Super Bowl, Philadelphia and Kansas City.

Their challenge Sunday is beating the Cowboys, who went 3-1 in November but began this month with consecutive losses.

The Cowboys lead the league in offense, rolling up nearly 400 yards per game, but they’re 29th in total defense and last against the pass. Facing Justin Herbert is not a favorable matchup for them.

Dallas was eliminated from postseason contention with a Week 15 loss to Minnesota.

The Chargers can clinch a playoff berth with a win and a loss or tie by Indianapolis (versus San Francisco) or Houston (vs. Las Vegas).

How the Chargers can win: If Herbert has time, he should be able to dissect a suspect Cowboys secondary and relies heavily on zone coverage. That has led to a bunch of explosive plays. The Cowboys are vulnerable to the run, as well, and a balanced attack by the Chargers will take them a long way. Get another strong performance from the defense.

How the Cowboys can win: Be aggressive and play to win, not to protect leads. That means outscoring the Chargers, not settling for field goals because Brandon Aubrey is such a weapon. It would help the Cowboys to take some risks and go for it on fourth down more frequently. They can put points on the board, but more often they move the ball well between the 20s. Even a small improvement on defense would help.

Phillip Danault’s decreasing role with the Kings led to the veteran two-way center getting an opportunity for a fresh start in a familiar setting after being traded to the Montreal Canadiens on Friday.

The Kings acquired a second-round draft pick while also freeing up salary-cap space and ice time for other players in the trade reached just before the NHL holiday roster freeze on Saturday. The draft pick the Kings landed is one Montreal previously acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Prompting the move for the Kings was the development of Quinton Byfield and Alex Laferriere, and the offseason additions of Joel Armia and Corey Perry. General manager Ken Holland also expressed a desire to provide more playing time for Alex Turcotte and second-year center Samuel Helenius.

“Phil’s role changed here, got reduced on the penalty killing and on the power play. It’s been a bit of a struggle here offensively for Phil since the start of the year,” Holland said on a video call.

“So I found a trading partner, and I think it’s going to be good for Phil,” he added. “He gets to go back to a city where he had a lot of success. And we get a second-round pick and obviously we see some cap space to use going forward.”

Danault was in the fifth season of a six-year, $33 million contract he signed with the Kings in the summer of 2021.

The 32-year-old Danault, who topped 40 points in each of his first four seasons with the Kings, hasn’t scored a goal and has just five assists in 30 games, while missing the past four with an illness. Holland said he consulted with Danault and his agent in opening trade discussions before landing what he believed was the best offer.

Danault, who is from Victoriaville, Quebec, returns to Montreal where he spent six seasons and established himself as one of the league’s better defensive-minded forwards.

He had 54 goals and 194 points in 360 games with Montreal over a stretch that ended with the Canadiens reaching the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, which they lost in five games to Tampa Bay.

Danault was selected in the first round of the 2011 draft by Chicago, and spent his first two seasons with the Blackhawks before being traded to Montreal.

The Canadiens add a 12-year veteran to a young, up-and-coming team that reached the playoffs last season for the first time since 2021, and is in the thick of a tightly packed race. At 18-12-4, Montreal enters Saturday eighth in the Eastern Conference standings with eight points separating the last-place Blue Jackets and second-place Washington Capitals.

The Kings are in a similar situation in the West. At 15-10-9, they’re seventh, with eight points separating the 10th-place St. Louis Blues and fourth-place Vegas Golden Knights.

The trade comes after the Kings ended an 0-2-2 skid with a 2-1 win at Tampa Bay on Thursday night.

Holland acknowledged the Kings need more offensive production — they rank 28th in the NHL, averaging 2.56 goals per game. But he’s pleased with the team’s defensive play and goaltending, with the Kings ranking third in giving up 2.5 goals per outing.

“Certainly we need more goals,” he said, noting the Kings are a combined 5-9 in overtime and shootouts. “I’m hoping that some of the people that have scored in the past will start to score here going forward.”

Holland also backed third-year coach Jim Hiller by noting how the Kings are no different than a number of NHL teams approaching the midway point of the season.

“If we’re in a malaise, then 25 teams are in a malaise. Like, the whole league’s packed together,” Holland said. “Jim’s done a good job, and our team is playing very structured and competes every night.”

Once again, Bill Plaschke has literally jinxed another Southern California sports team with his proclamation questions regarding the Rams:

Who’s going to beat them?

Who’s going to stop the unstoppable offense?

Who’s going to score on the persistent defense?

Who’s going to outwit the coaching genius?

I have the answers, and it’s not just Seattle. It’s their special teams, their defensive backs and it’s coach Sean McVay’s play-calling. Well, maybe the referees … but that’s for another day.

Thanks again for the poison-pen article, Bill.

Gary Grayson
Ventura

Just four days after Bill Plaschke promised that the Rams would win the Super Bowl, the team blew a big lead and lost in a stinker to the Seahawks. Like my mother told me when I was a kid: Be honest, respect others, and bet against Plaschke — you’ll win every time!

Jack Wolf
Westwood

Can we quit the Rams praise now? They can’t tackle anyone that gets past the line of scrimmage. Coach Sean McKay and defensive coordinator Chris Shula went into a shell as the Rams lost the game to the Seahawks and any chance of a long playoff run.

Russell Hosaka
Torrance

How many more times do we need to see Emmanuel Forbes chasing a receiver because of a blown coverage or missing an assignment and giving up a big play. The secondary is the weak link in the Rams defense and he’s absolutely a broken link. Chris Shula, please put someone else back there. The mascot Rampage would be a better choice than Forbes.

Doug Vikser
Manhattan Beach

Bill Plaschke writes of the Rams: “Who’s going to score on the persistent defense?” Maybe the Lions with 34 points?

William P. Bekkala
West Hollywood

Bill Plaschke’s Rams encomium is puzzling. During the course of the game I watched, Detroit moved through the Rams defense like Sherman through Georgia. This was, at best, park football. The first team that exploits the Rams defense as the Lions did and consistently moves the ball on offense will defeat the Rams.

Skip Nevell
Eugene, Ore.

Just when the Rams thought that they solved their kicking situation, they lost another game because of a missed field goal. After the game, they must have been kicking themselves.

Jeff Hershow
Woodland Hills

It looks like the Bills are going to win the Super Bowl, because Plaschke wrote, “The Bills? Not ever.”

Vaughn Hardenberg
Westwood

It was a game to remember for Londynn Jones. She played with confidence and showed her dribbling skills and displaying her all-around skills as she finished the game with a career-high 28 points in the USC women’s basketball team’s 86-39 win over Cal Poly on Thursday night at Galen Center.

In the first part of the game, Jones was perfect on offense while aggressively defending every time the Mustangs had the ball. When Cal Poly attacked, she came up with steals and completed the play with a field goal, sometimes even adding one more point on a foul.

“I’m just happy we’re figuring it out, starting to finally put the pieces together,” she said. “I know that’s something we’ve been emphasizing in practice, just watching films and putting the pieces together.”

Jones finished the game making 11 out of 16 field goals, and Jazzy Davidson scored 17 points and had nine rebounds.

The Trojans (8-3) looked sluggish in the first half, with Davidson making only three of 11 field goals, and the Mustangs (2-9) grabbing 15 rebounds. But as the game progressed, the USC defense forced Cal Poly to run out the shot clock on multiple occasions and caused 27 turnovers while scoring 39 points off of them.

“We sort of played the way we wanted to, for a majority of the game, and that’s encouraging,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said.

After losing to Connecticut 79-51 on Saturday, Gottlieb wanted to see her team play with intention while defending, she wanted them to pressure on the ball, and she wanted to see participation from all the players on the court, at once.

Offensively, she wanted her team to do the simple things better. Gottlieb wanted them to create space and have better movement.

“I saw that in practice and I think we saw a lot of it in the game tonight, too,” she said. “But, it’ll continue to be a work in progress.

The Trojans started the third quarter with 10 unanswered points. Cal Poly scored only five points in the quarter, allowing the Trojans to extend their advantage, closing out the third quarter with a 43-point lead, 71-28.

The Trojans finished the game with 15 steals and the bench scoring 45 points. As a whole, the team finished the game with 44 rebounds, with the majority of them coming from the offense.

“I thought our defensive intensity created more open looks for us,” Gottlieb said.

Yakiya Milton was a big part of that with her eight rebounds with four blocks in 10 minutes of play. One of the four blocks came when she stopped a Mustang drive to the basket and protected the rim. Something that Gottlieb preached during practice, she said.

“I try to capitalize on any opportunity I’m given,” Milton said. “I’m trying to play with as much energy and intensity as I can.”

As the Trojans look ahead to a stretch of Big 10 games against Nebraska and UCLA, Gottlieb doesn’t see a starting five. She sees the strengths of her team to be how deep their roster is.

“No one played 30 minutes at all and maybe that’s a little bit atypical, but we do believe that we can play different kinds of lineups, different people who have different skill sets, different looks,” she said.

And with the help of Jones, who has been to the Final Four with UCLA and has played in big conference games, she knows the team will feed off her energy and play with confidence

“I mean, she was wearing the wrong colors or the other colors,” Gottlieb quipped. “But you know, she’s been in situations and that experience is premium.”

“She’s going to bring that confidence and swagger no matter what,” she added.

MAISIE Williams stripped down to nothing in a new post this week as she shared snaps of her bare body while skinny dipping with pals.

The Game Of Thrones star, 28, can be seen walking into the sea fully nude in a video clip taken from behind during a trip to Sardinia, Italy.

Joined by a group of friends, the trio all posed naked for pictures in the stunning blue sea before jumping off a nearby cliff into the water.

A far cry from Winterfell, and the crisp UK weather, Maisie shared a slew of pictures of the beautiful Italian surroundings.

She captioned the post: “Summer is so over but life is still happening in a big way x”

In the comment section, fans were quick to leave plenty of Game Of Thrones references.

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“So winter is no longer coming?” said one follower as they joked about Maisie’s lack of clothes.

Another said: “Did I just get flashed by Arya Stark”.

Maisie is known for portraying Arya in Game Of Thrones, a role she finished up in 2018.

While the popular series may not be returning, Maisie recently teased a new project with the show’s creator George R.R. Martin.

The author shared a post earlier this year which detailed how he met up with Maisie over the summer.

He said: “We also got together with Maisie Williams for pizza and pasta, and talked about… well, no, better not get into that, do not want to jinx it. But it could be so much fun.”

Maisie is yet to speak out on any potential collabs with her former colleagues.

She has appeared in a number of TV shows since GOT, including portraying Second World War resistance fighter Ginette “Catherine” Dior in The New Look.

While she also starred in Danny Boyle’s Sex Pistols series, Pistol.

The six-parter is based on guitarist Steve Jones’ 2018 memoir, Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol.

SALT LAKE CITY — When Brice Sensabaugh drilled a wide-open three pointer in the third quarter, Lakers coach JJ Redick quickly called a timeout and began to gesture with both hands toward his players, clearly showing his displeasure with their defense.

The Lakers responded.

They especially picked up their defensive intensity for an important spurt in the fourth quarter, slowing down the Utah Jazz and in the process the Lakers’ offense took off, the two converging at the right time to push them to a 143-135 win Thursday night at the Delta Center.

The Lakers gave up 41 points in the first quarter and a season-high 78 at the half. They allowed 57 points in the second half and put the Jazz away by scoring 41 points in the fourth quarter.

“Obviously we know this Utah team can score points at a very high rate, but it was very imperative that we got stops,” said LeBron James, who had another productive night with 28 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. “We had to get stops to start that fourth and then it allowed our offense to click.”

But even with the Lakers building a 12-point lead in the fourth, the Jazz continued to put stress on L.A.’s defense, getting within four points late in the game.

The Lakers’ Lebron James dunks over the Jazz’s Kyle Filipowski at Delta Center Thursday night in Salt Lake City, Utah.

(Alex Goodlett / Getty Images)

The Lakers had answers every time, keeping the game in their hands behind Luka Doncic’s triple-double — 45 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds.

His 45-point triple-double and five steals made Doncic just the second player in NBA history to accomplish that feat since steals became official in 1973-74. Detroit Cade Cunningham (46 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals) is the other player to do so, producing that against the Wizards on Nov. 2025 in overtime.

Doncic was 14-for-28 from the field, four-for-12 from three-point range and had just one turnover in 39 minutes and 33 seconds of play.

Doncic also was the first Laker to have a 40-point triple-double since Magic Johnson in 1981.

“I think, honestly, I could do so much more,” Doncic said. “But I think that one turnover is the best stat-wise on this stat sheet. So, we had seven turnovers, which is impressive for us and we won the game. And again, that’s what matters. But I think we locked in a lot in the second half. We did a great job.”

The Lakers got a scare when James went down holding his left knee after a collision with Utah’s Walter Clayton Jr.

James was dribbling the basketball near the three-point arc when Clayton went for a steal, but instead his knee hit the inside of James’ knee, knocking the Laker to the floor with 7:52 left in the second quarter.

James eventually got up and continued to play, taking a rest with 4:53 left in the half.

James described what happened on the play.

“Just a little bolt to the knee, like a sharp pain to the knee,” James said. “Got kneed on the the inside, like the medial side of the knee. And just kind of wanted to take my time a little bit as it calmed down or whatever the case may be. Or hoping it calmed down. Told Mike (Mancias) my trainer, I said, ‘We dodged a bullet there.’ ”

The Lakers were already without starters Austin Reaves (left calf strain) and Deandre Ayton (left elbow soreness), but then they added key role player Gabe Vincent (lower back tightness) to the injury list, leaving them without three main players entering the game at Utah. Vincent will be reevaluated in a week.

Lakers guard Luka Doncic celebrates after making a play during the second half of a win over the Jazz Thursday night at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

(Alex Goodlett / Getty Images)

Jaxson Hayes started at center in place of Ayton and Smart started at guard for Reaves.

Injuries also hit the Jazz, as star forward Lauri Markkanen, the ninth-highest scorer (27.8) in the NBA this season, was out because of a right groin injury.

Smart had 17 points, which included him going three-for-four from three-point range in the fourth quarter.

Hayes had 16 points, making all seven of his field goals.

Redick talked to his team at halftime about their poor defensive effort and he did again in the third quarter during that timeout.

His message was simple.

“The players gotta go out and do it,”: Redick said. “So it’s not, I don’t know if it sparked ‘em or not, and I just know that after that they were better.”

Sunday, 10 a.m. TV: CBS, Paramount+.

Line: Bills by 10½. O/U: 41½.

After an amazing comeback against a really strong New England team last Sunday, the Bills are emboldened and Josh Allen is on an MVP pace. Cleveland relies on its stout defense, but that unit didn’t show up in Week 15 against Chicago, surrendering 31 points. Buffalo, which is 7-2 outside the division, wins this going away.

Pick: Bills 27, Browns 16

Through a near-perfect nonconference slate, no matter what was thrown USC’s way, whether injuries or other unforeseen circumstances, the Trojans had never lacked for life on the court. It was that endless energy that had helped power them to a 10-1 start.

But for a while Wednesday, that vigor was conspicuously absent against Texas San Antonio, a team that lost four of its last five. Maybe it was the setting, in a mostly empty and eerily quiet Galen Center. Maybe it was the “devastating” news from earlier in the day, as USC announced that point guard Rodney Rice would undergo shoulder surgery and miss the rest of the season.

Whatever it was, USC was eventually able to shake it off Wednesday night, turning a deficit late in the first half to a convincing, 97-70 victory over San Antonio in the second.

The blip, however brief, would beg questions of how a short-handed roster might handle the brutal Big Ten slate that awaits USC in two weeks’ time. The Trojans start that stretch with an especially savage span that includes three top-10 teams in No. 2 Michigan, No. 9 Michigan State and No. 6 Purdue. Whether they can weather that stretch without three players coaches expected to be top contributors should say a lot about where the Trojans are headed this season.

Chad Baker-Mazara reacts after scoring on an offensive rebound in the first half.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“Without them, we’re going to have to grind and play so hard to win games,” coach Eric Musselman said. “We have a lot to clean up, and we have to exceed the opposition from a playing-hard standpoint. We’re undermanned. We don’t have Alijah Arenas. We don’t have Rodney Rice. And we don’t have Amarion Dickerson. That’s a lot.”

That grind was the focus of Musselman’s message to his team at halftime Wednesday, after USC had come out looking unusually lifeless. Through the game’s first 15 minutes, the Trojans were outhustled and outworked on the glass as the Roadrunners drew fouls, forced turnovers and racked up seven early offensive rebounds.

With 3:38 remaining in the first half, they were still trailing the 4-6 Roadrunners, who in their last two had lost to Alabama by 42 and Colorado by 24.

But when the Trojans finally turned it on, in the final minutes of the first half, there was no stopping the onslaught. Ryan Cornish hit a jumper. Ezra Ausar took a steal to the hoop. Chad Baker-Mazara dunked home a missed three. USC finished the first half on a 13-0 run and took control from there.

It did so in the same fashion it had in pretty much every game since Rice went down, by leaning on Baker-Mazara and Ausar, who are averaging a combined 38 points per game.

Both emerged like a shot of adrenaline after halftime. Mazara poured in 17 second-half points to give him 20 total for the game, while Ausar, the nation’s leader in free-throw attempts, continued bullying defenders in the paint.

Ausar finished with a game-high 22 points and added 10 rebounds, giving him his first double-double of the season.

“My energy is contagious, and humbly, once I’m going, everybody is going,” Ausar said. “If my energy ain’t right, my team’s energy ain’t right.”

He’ll be especially critical next month, with a series of bruising Big Ten frontcourts awaiting the Trojans.

“Ezra is going to keep getting better,” Musselman said. “His basketball future is so bright. He hasn’t even tipped what he’s going to be. … We’re gonna rely on Ezra to keep this group together and be a leader, and he’s done that.”

Arenas returns to practice in the coming days and will hopefully be ready to go by mid-January. Others will have to make the mark, until then, if USC hopes to survive that stretch short-handed.

Against San Antonio, it was Cornish who answered the call. The Dartmouth transfer had played more than 15 minutes in a game just once this season before Wednesday. But in his first start at point guard, Cornish came alive with 18 points, including four three-pointers.

“He was at the bottom of the roster almost, and he’s earned what he’s getting,” Musselman said. “We need people to step up, and we need to develop our roster the best that we possibly can, and Ryan’s a great example of someone stepping up.”

The film tells the truth. The Lakers are not a good defensive team, evidenced by the sight of the NBA’s top guards blowing past Lakers defenders into the paint during a 10-game defensive swoon that ranks among the league’s worst.

Yet when coach JJ Redick shows his team the tape and then backs it up with the numbers, there’s still cautious optimism that the Lakers can improve.

“I don’t think there’s anybody in that meeting room that thinks we’re a good defensive team right now,” Redick said, “but I also don’t think there’s anybody in that meeting room who thinks we can’t be a good defensive team. We’ve got to get better.”

In the 10 games since LeBron James returned to the lineup, the Lakers have scored 121.8 points per 100 possessions, a significant increase in their offensive rating of 115.4 during the first 14 games of the season. While their offensive rating ranks fifth in the league during the last 10 games, their 120.9 defensive rating ranks 27th. It’s a dramatic increase from their previous 113.7-point defensive rating.

The most glaring issues are the team’s defense in transition and early in the opponent’s offense, Redick said. The Lakers give up 1.19 points per possession in transition, fifth-worst in the league.

Sunday’s game in Phoenix against the Suns, who scored 28 fast-break points against the Lakers on Dec. 1, will be a significant test as the Lakers (17-7) try to avoid their first losing streak this season.

Led by Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves — who is out for at least a week because of a left calf strain, the team announced Friday — and the 40-year-old James, the Lakers are not destined to be a fast team on either side of the court. They were outmatched against San Antonio’s dynamic backcourt led by the speedy De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle, who combined for 50 points Wednesday as the Spurs scored 27 fast-break points and knocked the Lakers out of NBA Cup contention.

Losses like that exposed the Lakers’ lack of speed on the perimeter, but the team also has shown flashes of excellence against the best guards. The Lakers held 76ers star Tyrese Maxey to five points on two-for-six shooting in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ four-point win at Philadelphia on Dec. 7.

“It’s less of scheme stuff. A little more of urgency,” guard Gabe Vincent said. “A little more of doing all the little things. If you don’t do them, like I said, there are some great players in this league that will expose you.”

One of the team’s top defensive options is on the bench. Forward Jarred Vanderbilt has played only three minutes in the last 10 games. He entered the game against Philadelphia only after Jake LaRavia took a shot to the face that loosened a tooth.

Vanderbilt, an athletic forward, has been a consistent force on defense during his career but struggles to contribute on offense. While he impressed coaches with how hard he worked in the offseason to improve his shooting and ballhandling, Vanderbilt made only four of 14 three-point shots in the first 14 games. He averaged 5.6 rebounds per game before James returned to the lineup Nov. 18, pushing Vanderbilt to the bench.

Before the Lakers’ last game against the Suns, Redick said part of it was a numbers game with James’ return and felt the team would settle on a nine-man rotation. Vanderbilt had tasks he “needed to be able to do consistently to play” even before James returned, Redick said.

Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox, scoring against Lakers guard Luka Doncic, and teammates continually drove past their defenders during an NBA Cup game Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

But making changes at that time was difficult, the coach acknowledged. The Lakers were in the midst of a seven-game winning streak. But they’re 2-3 in the last five games, which have laid their defensive struggles bare, and coaches are “looking at everything.”

“If this continues,” Redick said Friday, “he’ll definitely get his opportunities.”

After practice Friday, Vanderbilt stayed on the court shooting extra three-pointers with staff members.

Meanwhile, Reaves will be reevaluated in approximately one week, the Lakers said after practice.

The guard averaging 27.8 points, 6.7 assists and 5.6 rebounds has led the Lakers in total minutes played as the team weathered stretches without James and Doncic. Reaves responded with a career-best start. He is ninth in the NBA in scoring and could be on track to earn his first All-Star nod as he enters a critical contract decision this offseason.

Reaves will miss at least Sunday’s game at Phoenix, Thursday’s game at Utah and a Dec. 20 game at the Clippers. After another game at Phoenix on Dec. 23, the Lakers begin a stretch of five consecutive home games, starting with a marquee Christmas Day matchup against the Houston Rockets.

Etc.

The Lakers assigned guard Bronny James to the G League on Friday.