BOSTON — Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.
Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.
It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.
In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.
Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.
Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.
After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.
From Gary Klein: The Rams’ remodeled secondary will have a heavy Kansas City Chiefs influence.
A week after trading for cornerback Trent McDuffie, the Rams on Monday agreed to terms with cornerback Jaylen Watson, a person with knowledge of the situation said. The person requested anonymity because deals cannot become official until Wednesday.
Watson’s deal with the Rams is for three years and includes $34 million in guarantees, NFL Media reported.
Watson and McDuffie, who on Sunday agreed to terms on an extension that reportedly includes $100 million in guarantees, won two Super Bowls with the Chiefs.
Watson, 27, has three career interceptions, including two last season. Watson, 6 feet 2 and 197 pounds, played at Ventura College for two seasons before transferring to Washington State. The Chiefs selected him in the seventh round of the 2022 draft.
The Rams have made several moves involving the secondary. In January, safety Quentin Lake received a three-year extension that includes $25 million in guarantees. They traded the 29th pick in this year’s draft and other picks this year and next for McDuffie, and also agreed to terms with safety Kam Curl on a three-year extension that includes about $24 million in guarantees.
Former Baltimore Ravens tight end Charlie Kolar agreed to a deal with the Chargers on Monday.
(Terrance Williams / Associated Press)
The Chargers aren’t hesitating when it comes to bolstering their run-blocking options for new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, reportedly agreeing to terms Monday with former Baltimore Ravens tight end Charlie Kolar.
Kolar and the Chargers agreed to a three-year, $24.3-million deal that includes $17 million in guarantees, NFL Media reported.
Widely considered the best run-blocking tight end available ahead of free agency, Kolar should help an uneven Chargers running attack that forced coach Jim Harbaugh to often rely too much on quarterback Justin Herbert — even when his running backs were healthy.
Ryan Ward hits for the Dodgers during a spring training game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Feb. 25.
(Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)
From Jack Vita: There comes a point in every big leaguer’s career when they graduate from their farm system, a time in which they’ve proven everything they can at the minor league level, and it’s time to see what they are made of in the big leagues.
For some, it’s a fast track. For others, it may come after a few seasons in the minors.
And then there’s players such as 28-year-old Dodgers prospect Ryan Ward. Drafted in the eighth round in 2019, Ward has played 402 games at triple-A Oklahoma City over the past three seasons. Last year, his 36 home runs, 122 RBIs, and .290/.380/.557 slash line made him the MVP of the Pacific Coast League. But after Sunday’s Cactus League game against the Athletics, the Dodgers optioned Ward and left-hander Ronan Kopp to Oklahoma City.
Fears of a broad flight of artists and agents prompted Wasserman to announce that he was selling his talent representation and sports marketing firm. Talks with prospective buyers have been ongoing, according to a person close to the agency but not authorized to speak publicly.
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, right, controls the ball in front of New York Knicks guard Josh Hart during the second half of the Clippers’ win Monday at Intuit Dome.
The Clippers are 32-32 and have won five of their first six games in March as they try to improve their potential position in the NBA play-in tournament. They began the season in a 6-21 tailspin.
It was Leonard’s 42nd straight game with 20-plus points, the second-longest active streak in the NBA and third-longest in team history.
The Fanatics Flag Football Classic, featuring Brady and a slew of other NFL stars and athletes, will take place March 21 at BMO Stadium, the venue that is also slated to host flag football during the 2028 Summer Olympics.
The event was originally scheduled to take place on the same date, but at a location more than 8,000 miles away at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia.
Aaron Judge, center, celebrates in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run for the U.S. against Mexico in the World Baseball Classic on Monday.
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
From the Associated Press: Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer and Roman Anthony added a three-run blast in a big third inning to lead the United States to a 5-3 win over Mexico in the World Baseball Classic at Houston’s Daikin Park on Monday night.
The U.S. improved to 3-0 and will meet Italy (2-0) on Tuesday night, seeking to secure a spot in the quarterfinals in Houston this weekend.
Jarren Duran homered twice for Mexico (2-1), which will face Italy Wednesday night in the last game of Group B play.
1913 — The Quebec Bulldogs win the Stanley Cup in two games over Sydney.
1920 — Quebec’s Joe Malone scores six goals to lead the Bulldogs to a 10-4 rout of the Ottawa Senators.
1961 — Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors becomes the first NBA player to score 3,000 points in a season. Chamberlain scores 32 points in a 120-103 loss to Detroit to bring his season total to 3,016.
1963 — Wilt Chamberlain of the San Francisco Warriors scores 70 points in a 163-148 loss to Syracuse.
1985 — Dick Motta becomes the fourth NBA coach to record 700 victories as Dallas beats New Jersey 126-113.
1991 — Eddie Sutton of Oklahoma State becomes the first coach to lead four schools into the NCAA tournament. Sutton also coached Creighton, Arkansas and Kentucky in the tournament.
1992 — New York Islanders coach Al Arbour becomes the second coach in NHL history to win 700 games with a 5-2 victory over Philadelphia.
2001 — With Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark looking on, Hermann Maier wins the giant slalom for his 13th victory this season, equaling one of the mightiest alpine skiing records. Maier, winner of the overall World Cup title three of the last four years, ties the record Stenmark set in 1979.
2002 — John Stockton, the NBA’s career assist leader, has 13 assists in Utah’s 95-92 loss at Houston to give him exactly 15,000 for his career.
2004 — Orlando’s Tracy McGrady scores a franchise record 62 points in a 108-99 win over Washington.
2011 — Veteran referees Jim Burr, Tim Higgins and Earl Walton, cited for two errors in the final seconds of the St. John’s-Rutgers game, withdraw from the rest of the Big East tournament. The three officials missed two calls — a travel and stepping out of bounds — in the final 1.7 seconds of St. John’s 65-63 win in the second-round of Big East tournament. The Big East acknowledged after the game the officials blew the calls.
2014 — The game between Dallas and the Columbus Blue Jackets is postponed by the NHL after Stars forward Rich Peverley collapses on the bench during the first period.
2018 — Texas Southern beats Arkansas-Pine Bluff 84-69 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game. Texas Southern (15-19) earns an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament after starting out 0-13 this season. The Tigers didn’t win a game until Jan. 1 and never beat a nonconference opponent.
2018 — The Vegas Golden Knights set a record for road wins by an expansion team with a 2-1 shootout victory at Buffalo. At 20-12-3, the Golden Knights break a tie with the 1993-94 Anaheim Ducks for most road wins by an NHL team in its first season.
2022 — After a 99-day lockout, Major League Baseball and MLB Players Assn. reach a new collective bargaining agreement; MLB teams set to play full 162 game season in 2022.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Adrian Kempe scored his second goal of the game with 1:26 left in overtime to give the Kings a 5-4 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.
With the victory, the Kings moved within a point of Seattle in the race for the final Western Conference wild-card spot.
Columbus tied the score late for the second straight home game. Kirill Marchenko scored on the power play at 18:04 to force the extra period.
Brian Dumoulin had a goal and two assists. Scott Laughton scored for the second straight game since joining the Kings from Toronto and added an assist. Artemi Panarin also scored. Anton Forsberg made 28 saves for the Kings in the opener of a five-game trip.
Connor Garland scored twice — his first goals since coming to Columbus from Vancouver — and Denton Mateychuk added a goal and an assist. Jet Greaves made 26 saves for Columbus, which has lost two straight at home.
The Blue Jackets are two points behind Boston in the race for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot, and three points behind the Islanders for third in the Metropolitan Division.
The Kings killed off a high-sticking double minor to start the game before Dumoulin set up Laughton in front of the net at 6:46 of the first. Panarin made it 2-0 at 14:47 with his second goal since joining the Kings from the New York Rangers on Feb. 4.
Garland cut the lead in half with 2:25 left in the period, snapping a career-long 24-game scoring drought. Mateychuk tied it with 9:07 remaining in the second period, and Garland’s second goal put Columbus ahead 81 seconds later.
The lead was short-lived as Kempe tied the game with 5:51 remaining in the second period. Kopitar’s assist was his 167th on a game-tying goal, the most in Kings history.
Dumoulin scored with 9:53 left in the third period, but Marchenko tied it with a power-play goal with 1:56 left,
Columbus defenseman Erik Gudbranson, who missed 42 games earlier this season due to injury, left in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return.
The game had a rare afternoon weekday start after being rescheduled from Jan. 26 because of a blizzard in Columbus.
Juraj Slafkovsky scored his second goal 49 seconds before he set up captain Nick Suzuki for the tiebreaker with 4:33 to play, leading the Montreal Canadiens’ rally for a 4-3 victory over the Kings on Saturday night.
Jake Evans also scored and Jakub Dobes made 35 saves for the Canadiens, who salvaged the final stop of their three-game California trip with a late surge led by their offensive stars.
Shortly after Slafkovsky tied it on Montreal’s only power play, Cole Caufield forced a turnover that went from Slafkovsky to Suzuki for a one-timer that slipped underneath Darcy Kuemper’s arm.
Montreal had its NHL-leading 20th comeback victory one night after making a late rally — and then blowing a lead — in a wild 6-5 shootout loss to the Ducks.
Alex Laferriere scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period for the Kings, who have lost seven of nine — including two of three under interim head coach D.J. Smith.
Scott Laughton scored in his debut for the Kings, who acquired the center in a trade with Toronto on Friday. Kuemper stopped 19 shots.
Captain Anze Kopitar opened the scoring with his seventh goal late in the first period. The Kings’ 38-year-old captain, who is retiring this spring after 20 seasons with the Kings, ended his 21-game goal drought since Dec. 8.
Slafkovsky put Montreal ahead late in the second when he skated in off the boards. The 21-year-old Slovak’s first goal since January was also his 50th point, making him the first Canadiens player to record three 50-point seasons before turning 22.
The Kings didn’t take a penalty until Trevor Moore went off for slashing with 5:53 to play, but Slafkovsky tied it moments later.
Phillip Danault got a lukewarm reception during his first game in Los Angeles since the Kings traded him back to Montreal in December. Danault had four solid seasons for the Kings, but then played 30 goalless games this fall and reportedly requested an exit.
Up next for the Kings: at Columbus on Monday to open a five-game trip.
Unfortunately, his reward for such an achievement was a sore elbow — and a Lakers loss.
James broke Abdul-Jabbar’s record for the most career field goals in the regular season against the Denver Nuggets, but an elbow injury limited his contributions in crunch time of a 120-113 loss that ended the Lakers’ three-game winning streak.
After scoring over Denver center Nikola Jokic in the fourth quarter, James fell to the court and immediately grabbed his left elbow. He eventually got up and went to the bench with 3:58 remaining. He returned with 2:05 left and the Lakers down 112-111 before leaving again with 22 seconds left after Jokic scored consecutive baskets to give the Nuggets a 116-111 lead.
Sitting at his locker with his elbow wrapped in ice, James expressed frustration with referees not calling a foul on the play that led to his injury.
“That’s all [the referees] keep saying, ‘marginal.’ I’m so … tired of that word,” James said. “It doesn’t make no sense.”
And his elbow?
“It’s pretty sore right now,” James said. “It felt like one of those funny bone situations, but like, super more intense.”
USC’s Jazzy Davidson leaves the game after sustaining an injury against Washington on Thursday.
(Justin Casterline / Getty Images)
From Marisa Ingemi: If the USC women’s basketball hoped to make a case for a favorable NCAA tournament seed, the Trojans did themselves no favors during the past two weeks culminating with Thursday’s Big Ten tournament loss.
The No. 9 seed Trojans let a second-round tournament contest against No. 8 seed Washington get out of hand in the third quarter, stumbling to a 76-64 loss at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. USC’s conference run ended quickly after the Trojans delivered one of their worst offensive outings of the season.
It was USC’s fourth consecutive loss, putting its NCAA tournament positioning in question.
“There were eight teams that finished above us in our league,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “Seven of them in the last reveal are hosting, and the other one here is obviously a tournament team that now we’ve split with. I don’t think [an at-large bid] is in question.”
Rams tight end Tyler Higbee celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals on Jan. 4.
(Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)
From Gary Klein: The Rams are keeping their longest-tenured player in the fold.
On Thursday, the Rams agreed to terms with tight end Tyler Higbee on a two-year contract, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The people requested anonymity because the deal has not been announced.
Higbee, 33, was a fourth-round draft pick by the Rams in 2016, and he is the leader of a tight end group that includes Colby Parkinson, Davis Allen and Terrance Ferguson, a 2025 second-round pick. Coach Sean McVay relied heavily on the group last season when he implemented a scheme that featured multiple tight end sets to protect quarterback Matthew Stafford, improve run blocking and complement star receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.
Andrew Toles bats for the Dodgers during a game in April 2017.
(Ralph Freso / Associated Press)
From Ed Guzman: The story of the Dodgers and Andrew Toles is one of a franchise trying to do the right thing by one of its former players struggling with mental health challenges.
Toles, a promising outfielder who played parts of three seasons with the team from 2016 to 2018, did not report to spring training in 2019 and was quietly placed on the restricted list before it was eventually revealed that Toles had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Every year since 2019, the team has quietly renewed Toles’ contract so he can retain his health insurance while placing him on the restricted list so he would not take a roster spot.
UCLA gymnast Ciena Alipio, left, celebrates with teammate Jordan Chiles after completing a beam routine against Washington on Jan. 30.
(Jesus Ramirez / UCLA Athletics)
From Anthony Solorzano: Coming into her senior year, Ciena Alipio wanted to be as present as humanly possible and learn how to trust herself going into every competition.
She set forth goals for herself and a bigger one for the UCLA gymnastics team. With the first box checked after clinching their second consecutive Big Ten title, the work toward meeting each of her standards is just beginning.
“You’re seeing the result of every hard practice that we’re having,” Alipio said after Friday’s victory over Maryland. “We’re putting in work and we’re doing what we absolutely have to every single day in the gym and I think it’s just putting it all together on the same day.”
Lakers star Luka Doncic reacts at the end of a 120-113 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
From Broderick Turner: Lakers star Luka Doncic is one technical away from receiving an automatic one-game suspension after he picked up his 15th technical of the season in a 120-113 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.
Doncic, who had 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, was charged with a technical with 5:43 left in the second quarter.
“Just because I yelled at him, I guess. That’s what he said,” said Doncic about his interaction with referee Ed Malloy. “But I heard three other players say the exact same sentence and didn’t get a tech. And that’s my problem, you know, I was trying not to talk at all. This is the first thing I said — no warning or nothing.”
While the right-hander is away from Camelback Ranch, other pitchers vying for a spot in the Dodgers’ starting rotation will be under the microscope — especially with health concerns yet again coming into play.
The Dodgers are no strangers to navigating pitching injuries over the course of a long season. Last year, Yamamoto was the only Dodgers starter to not miss a turn, making 30 starts before making five more during the postseason. But other than the now-retired Clayton Kershaw, who made 22 starts last year, no other Dodger hurler started more than 18 games.
In exchange for Carlson, the Ducks will send a conditional first-round pick (2026 or 2027 draft) and a third-round pick (2027) to Washington.
Carlson, who played an integral part of the Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup win and is a former Norris Trophy runner-up for the NHL’s top defenseman, should bring a veteran presence to a young Ducks team that is on pace to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson, center, celebrates with forwards Artemi Panarin, left, and Anze Kopitar after scoring during the second period of a win over the New York Islanders on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
From the Associated Press:Artemi Panarin scored his first goal in a Kings uniform to lead his new team past the New York Islanders 5-3 on Thursday night for the club’s first victory under interim head coach D.J. Smith.
Kings captain Anze Kopitar had an assist while playing his 1,500th game, becoming the 25th player in NHL history to hit the mark. The Slovenian center, who is retiring this spring after 20 seasons in Los Angeles, is just five points away from passing Marcel Dionne to become the Kings’ career scoring leader.
Learner Tien plays a forehand return to Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open quarterfinals on Jan. 27.
(Dita Alangkara / Associated Press)
From Douglas Robson:Learner Tien’s first trip to the BNP Paribas Open a year ago barely registered — a curious outcome for what was essentially his hometown tournament debut.
Feeling unwell and still adjusting to the weekly grind of the ATP Tour, the Irvine native exited in the first round and quickly scratched it from his mind.
“Honestly, I don’t really remember my tournament here last year that well,” says Tien as he shuttled between pre-tournament media obligations this week. “I was in and out pretty quick.”
But 12 months is a lot of runway for a young player whose all-court ingenuity, appetite for improvement and ability to shed setbacks have generated lift.
“So far this year, everything has felt good,” Tien says. “And I’m feeling pretty comfortable.”
1920 — Mickey Roach of Toronto scores five goals to lead the St. Patricks to an 11-2 rout of the Quebec Bulldogs.
1964 — Boxing legend Cassius Clay joins the Nation of Islam and changes his name to ”Muhammad Ali″, calling his former title a “slave name”.
1976 — Dorothy Hamill wins the World Figure Skating Championships in Goteberg, Sweden.
1977 — Montclair State’s Carol Blazejowski scores 52 points against Queens College, setting a new collegiate scoring record (for men or women) in the current Madison Square Garden in New York.
1982 — The San Antonio Spurs and Milwaukee Bucks combine for 337 points in the highest scoring game in NBA history, to that point. The Spurs win, 171-166, in three overtimes.
1983 — The 12-team United States Football League begins its first season with five games.
1984 — Dale Hawerchuck of the Winnipeg Jets sets the NHL record for most assists in one period, with five in the second period of a 7-3 triumph over the Los Angeles Kings.
1988 — Julie Krone becomes the winningest female jockey in history with her 1,205th career victory. Krone rides a filly named Squawter to victory in the ninth race at Aqueduct Racetrack.
1996 — Detroit’s Chris Osgood becomes the third goalie in NHL history to score a goal, firing the puck into an empty net with 11 seconds remaining in the Red Wings’ 4-2 victory over Hartford.
2000 — Shaquille O’Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers scores an NBA season-high 61 points and had 23 rebounds in a 123-103 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
2001 — George Mason beats North Carolina-Wilmington 35-33 in the second-lowest scoring game in the shot-clock era of NCAA basketball.
2010 — Devin Harris scores 31 points and the New Jersey Nets erased an early 16-point deficit to beat New York 113-93. The Knicks miss all 18 attempts in the most futile 3-point shooting night in league history.
2011 — Lindsey Vonn clinches her third discipline title in three days with a super-G victory to wrap up a memorable weekend of ski racing in Tarvisio, Italy. Vonn took the super-combined and downhill titles the previous two days.
2014 — The Los Angeles Clippers rout the rival Los Angeles Lakers 142-94. It’s the most lopsided victory ever for the Clippers’ franchise and the most one-sided loss in Lakers history.
2015 — Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim is suspended for nine games, with the school punished for ignoring the “most fundamental core values of the NCAA” for academic, drug and other violations committed primarily by the men’s basketball program. The school is put on probation for five years and the basketball team is forced to vacate 108 wins in which ineligible players participated.
2015 — Shane Walsh scores the winning goal in the fifth overtime to lead UMass to a 4-3 victory over Notre Dame in the longest game in NCAA Division I ice hockey history.
2019 — LeBron James scores his 32,293rd point in the 2nd quarter of a Lakers’ 115-99 loss to Denver in LA to pass Michael Jordan into 4th place on the NBA all-time point scoring list.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
From Gary Klein: Les Snead, no stranger to blockbuster trades involving first-round picks, might be on the verge of doing it again.
On Wednesday, the Rams general manager appeared to be getting closer to addressing his team’s most pressing need by nearing a possible agreement with the Kansas City Chiefs to trade for cornerback Trent McDuffie, a person with knowledge of the situation said. The person requested anonymity because an agreement had not been finalized.
According to multiple reports, the Rams would send a first-round pick — the 29th overall — and fifth- and sixth-round picks in this year’s draft and 2027 seventh-round pick to the Chiefs in exchange for McDuffie.
McDuffie, 25, is a former Anaheim Servite and Bellflower St. John Bosco High star who was a first-round pick by the Chiefs in 2022. He was an All-Pro in 2023 and has three career interceptions. He is due to earn $13.6 million this season in the final year of his rookie contract.
The acquisition of McDuffie would strengthen a cornerback group that was often a liability last season. During four seasons with the Chiefs, McDuffie forced eight fumbles, three interceptions and broke up 34 passes.
Zoom Diallo scored a career-high 26 points, Hannes Steinbach added 22 with a career-best 24 rebounds, and Washington rolled past USC 91-72 on Wednesday night.
Washington took the lead for good with 12:31 remaining. A 13-0 run that started with 4:33 to play pushed the Huskies’ lead to 85-65 with about two minutes left. Diallo scored on a dunk and Nikola Dzepina added a three to end the surge.
The Huskies (15-15, 7-12 Big Ten) swept the season series against USC, and have won three of their last five. The Trojans (18-12, 7-12) have lost six straight and 11 of their last 17 games.
Alijah Arenas scored 19 points and Ezra Ausar had 17 for USC. Jacob Cofie and Jordan Marsh added 14 points apiece.
After the switch-hitting middle infielder enjoyed a cup of coffee in the big leagues last season, he’s trying to break camp with the Dodgers and get increased playing time at second base with veteran Tommy Edman expected to be on the injured list as he works his way back from right ankle surgery.
Freeland, who played 29 games with the Dodgers last season, and second-year utility man Hyeseong Kim, who played 71 games and was on the postseason roster, are among those vying for playing time at the start of the season, with veteran Miguel Rojas and and nonroster invite Santiago Espinal also in the mix.
Kim, who started Cactus League games at second base and center field, recently departed for the World Baseball Classic as he competes for Team South Korea, opening a door for Freeland to get more reps in the heart of the Cactus League season.
“Opportunity is present, so I’m trying to make the most of it,” Freeland said. “It sucks that Tommy’s not ready and he won’t be ready for the beginning of the season. He’s a big part of this team, so I wish him a super speedy recovery and I hope that he gets out there as quickly as possible. But yeah, with Hyeseong being gone, I am getting more reps at second and short, so I’m just trying to make the most of them.”
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: A three-pointer clanked off the side of the backboard. Four players were whistled for technical fouls. Passes from the Lakers and the New Orleans Pelicans sailed out of bounds.
The errors added up to an ugly game. The result, however, was beautiful for the Lakers, who notched a 110-101 comeback win over the Pelicans on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena. They clawed back from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win their third consecutive game, showing the kind of resolve coach JJ Redick said he hasn’t seen since November when the Lakers started 15-4.
“Nights like this can change the trajectory for teams and players,” guard Marcus Smart said. “So hopefully this win and tonight, in the way, the fashion that we won it, kicks our confidence up.”
Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points, Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 on 8-for-11-shooting, and the Clippers won their third in a row, 130-107 over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.
Brook Lopez had 17 points for the Clippers while Darius Garland had 12 in his first home game since being acquired in a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers last month.
Pascal Siakam had 29 points in his return after sitting out three games with a left wrist sprain to lead Indiana, but the Pacers lost their seventh in a row and fell to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a 15-47 record.
Cutter Gauthier scored twice in a span of just over three minutes in the first period, backup goalie Ville Husso stopped 42 shots and the Ducks beat the New York Islanders 5-1 on Wednesday night.
Beckett Sennecke, Ryan Poehling and Frank Vatrano also had goals to help the Ducks to their 13th win in 16 games.
David Rittich had 20 saves for the Islanders, who had their five-game winning streak snapped despite outshooting the Ducks 43-25. Anders Lee scored the 304th goal of his career, tying Clark Gillies for the fourth-most in franchise history.
Lou Holtz never met an opponent that couldn’t beat him. Somehow, he squeaked out nearly 250 wins and a national title while cementing himself both as one of the most lovable and unlikable characters in college football — a one-of-a-kind iconoclast in a profession brimming with originals.
The pint-sized motivator who restored greatness at Notre Dame and demanded it everywhere else he went died in Orlando, Fla., Notre Dame announced Wednesday. He was 89.
Spokeswoman Katy Lonergan said the family did not provide a cause of death.
“Notre Dame mourns the loss of Lou Holtz, a legendary football coach, a beloved member of the Notre Dame family and devoted husband, father and grandfather,” Notre Dame president Rev. Robert A. Dowd said in a statement.
1924 — Frank Carauna of Buffalo becomes the first to bowl two straight perfect 300 games. Carauna throws five strikes to open his third game, giving him 29 straight strikes.
1931 — WGL radio broadcasts the first game of the American Basketball League championship series. The Brooklyn Visitations beat the Fort Wayne Hoosiers 14-10 in the first pro basketball game to be broadcast live on radio.
1960 — Carol Heiss wins the ladies title at the World Figure Skating Championships in Vancouver.
1965 — Ernest Terrell wins the world heavyweight title with a unanimous 15-round decision over Eddie Machen in Chicago.
1973 — New York Yankee pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich announce that they’ve swapped wives and children.
1981 — Scott Hamilton wins the men’s title at the World Figure Skating Championships held in Hartford, Conn.
1985 — Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders scores his 50th goal, becoming the first NHL player to score 50 goals in eight consecutive seasons.
2004 — Ottawa and Philadelphia combine for an NHL-record 419 penalty minutes, with the Flyers setting a single-team mark with 213. There are five consecutive brawls in the final two minutes, including one involving both goalies. The previous record for penalty minutes was 406 by the Minnesota North Stars and Boston Bruins in 1981. The Flyers beat the Senators 5-3.
2016 — Makai Mason scores 22 points to lead Yale to a 71-55 victory over Columbia, clinching the Bulldogs’ first NCAA Men’s Tournament bid since 1962. The Bulldogs shared the Ivy championship last year with Harvard, but lost the playoff game with the Crimson. The win ends the second longest NCAA drought of any team that has made the tournament previously.
2016 — Clemson beats Boston College 66-50, completing the Eagles’ winless regular season in Atlantic Coast Conference play. The Eagles (7-24, 0-18) are the first men’s ACC team to go winless in their conference regular-season games since Maryland went 0-14 in 1986-87. Worse, BC’s football team went 0-8 in league play, making the school the first in ACC history to go winless in both sports in the same academic year.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Devon Toews scored the tiebreaking goal late in the third period, Martin Necas added an empty-netter to go with two assists, and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Kings 4-2 on Monday night.
Toews got free in the slot and converted Nathan MacKinnon’s pass with 4:55 remaining to help the Avalanche (40-10-9) become the first NHL team with 40 wins this season.
MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog each had a goal and an assist. Mackenzie Blackwood made 19 saves for Colorado, which has won five of seven.
Brandt Clarke had a power-play goal, Angus Booth scored in his NHL debut, and Anton Forsberg made 35 saves for the Kings, who were playing their first game since firing coach Jim Hiller on Sunday and replacing him on an interim basis with D.J. Smith.
The Kings were also missing seven key players because of injury or illness, including medalists from the Olympic hockey tournament at the Milan-Cortina Games in defenseman Drew Doughty, forwards Joel Armia and Quinton Byfield and goalie Darcy Kuemper. Those absences led to the Kings giving three players their NHL debuts in Booth, center Kenny Connors and winger Jared Wright.
With Kuemper ill, the Kings also recalled Erik Portillo to back up Forsberg. Armia was placed on injured reserve before the game.
The Avalanche capitalized early, scoring twice in the opening 10:13 on one-timers from MacKinnon and Landeskog, before the Kings responded with a power-play goal from Clarke late in the first period.
An early whistle wiped out Necas putting in a rebound early in the second, and Booth got to the top of the crease to tip in Brian Dumoulin’s centering pass to tie it 2-all at 8:32.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. The state basketball playoff pairings are out, but let’s look back on quite a weekend of championship basketball.
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Sierra Canyon’s Jerzy Robinson drives against Ontario Christian’s Kaleena Smith in the first half of the Southern Section Open Division championship game.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
For the first time in the history of the Southern Section Open Division, one school swept the boys and girls titles: Sierra Canyon.
The girls final drew the largest individual game crowd at Toyota Arena, with Sierra Canyon and All-American Jerzy Robinson upsetting Ontario Christian and All-American Kaleena Smith 69-62. Robinson scored 32 points. Smith scored 30 points.
“What a battle,” Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komaki said. “There were a lot of top players on that court.”
The duel between Robinson and Smith, however, was one to remember. The 5-foot-4 Smith was purposely being guarded by the 6-1 Robinson.
“Jerzy is an elite defender and can guard anybody,” Komaki said. “She was going to do whatever she could to win.”
Maxi Adams of Sierra Canyon rises to deliver a dunk against Harvard-Westlake in Open Division championship game.
(Steve Galluzzo)
In the boys final, heavily favored Sierra Canyon saw its lead drop to three points with 19.3 seconds left before prevailing over a stubborn Harvard-Westlake team 59-53. Here’s the report.
In Southern Section Division 1, Crean Lutheran held off JSerra. In Division 2, Bishop Amat routed Hesperia. Here’s the report.
Palisades’ OJ Popoola, right, grabs an offensive rebound during Palisades’ 75-56 win over Cleveland in the City Section Open Division championship game on Feb. 27, 2026.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Palisades won the City Section Open Division boys title, the first upper division title for the Dolphins since 1969. Here’s the report.
State playoffs
The state basketball playoffs begin this week with regional action. The finals are March 13-14 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. Here’s the link to pairings.
Sierra Canyon received the No. 1 seed for boys and girls in the Open Division. The teams will host a doubleheader Saturday night, with the boys hosting the winner of Santa Margarita-Redondo Union and girls playing Sage Hills. Redondo Union was once considered to be the strongest challenger to Sierra Canyon but was upset in the Open Division playoffs. That matchup of two pressing teams would be quite interesting if Redondo Union can get past Santa Margarita.
Harvard-Westiake boys will host the winner of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at Santa Maria St. Joseph on Saturday. The top girls game will take place Saturday matching Etiwanda at Ontario Christian.
Division 1 boys looks like a strong 16-team field with La Mirada seeded No. 1 and hosting Mater Dei on Tuesday.
Baseball
Star center fielder Anthony Murphy of Corona has added closing duties this season. The Panthers are 4-0.
(Nick Koza)
Last season, Corona had as its closer shortstop Billy Carlson, who became a first-round draft pick. This season, center fielder Anthony Murphy has taken over as a closer, throwing 92 mph fastball for the 4-0 Panthers.
Oaks Christian won the Easton tournament championship and is 5-0. The Sheffer brothers, Carson and Ryan, have been performing well.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame is 4-0 and getting strong hitting from catcher Jacob Madrid, who had two home runs in a win over El Dorado. James Tronstein of Harvard-Westlake has seven hits in 10 at-bats.
El Segundo has several players off the 2023 El Segundo Little League championshp team making major contributions during its 4-0 start. Logan Brooks, the older brother of Loyola freshman Brody Brooks, has 10 RBIs.
No. 1-ranked Norco is 4-0 behind its two college-bound pitchers, Coral Williams and Parker May.
Oaks Christian has started 6-0 and picked up wins over Huntington Beach and Mater Dei last week.
1 am proud to announce that in my junior year l was able to beat my freshman year record by getting 19 strikeouts! This means so much to me because this game was mentally and physically tough, despite the situation I knew my team mates me needed so I continued to work hard! pic.twitter.com/eo7ykL27e7
Granada Hills, one of the top teams in the City Section, will be tested this week with games against Sierra Canyon and Oaks Christian.
Track and field
Servite’s 4 x 100 relay team ran the second-fast time in state history at 40.05 in a stunning display of speed for this early in the track season at the Mustang Roundup at Trabuco Hills. The team was made up of Jorden Wells, Benjamin Harris, Kamil Pelovello and Jace Wells.
Maximo Zavaleta of King ran the 3,200 in 9:07.81 and the 1,600 in 4:09.86. Harris won the 100 in 10.46. Pelovello ran the 200 in 21.19.
Rosary’s girls 4 x 100 relay team won in 45.96 seconds. Maliyah Collins, a sophomore at Rosary, won the 100 in 11.77 and the 200 in 24.13
Best individual mark of the day in California so far is Oak Hills junior Quran Clayton Jr. rocketing to a wind-legal 10.29 for 100 meters at the Saddle Up Invitational! That’s equal #9 in state history and the fastest ever in February!! OHHHH MYYYY!!!
El Camino Real’s boys soccer team celebrates winning the City Section Open Division title for a second consecutive season.
(Eliza Lotterstein)
Rivals El Camino Real and Birmingham had another dramatic City Section Open Division boys final, with El Camino Real winning on penalty kicks. Here’s the report. Cleveland won the girls Open Division championship over Granada Hills.
Mater Dei boys and Santa Margarita girls won Southern Section championships in the Open Division.
The regional playoffs begin Tuesday with the first state championships taking place March 13-14 in Sacramento.
To say the City Section soccer playoffs were a mess would be an understatement.
Six teams were removed from the playoffs via forfeits for having ineligible players who broke CIF rule 600 by playing in an outside competition during their season. The Southern Section had one school forfeit in its playoffs, Calabasas, in Division 3, allowing Los Alamitos to be named champion.
From 2011, longtime Crenshaw football coach Robert Garrett talks to De’Anthony Thomas, one of his best former players.
(Robert S. Helfman)
The mysterious absence of Crenshaw football coach Robert Garrett continues. The winningest coach in City Section history with 300 victories was put on administrative leave last August on the eve of the team’s season opener. March marks the eighth month of no action on his case. He sits at home, checks in on his computer, receives full pay and waits.
At the state wrestling championships, among the winners was Birmingham’s Slava Shahbazyan at 165 and two St. John Bosco wrestlers, Jesse Grajeda at144 pounds and Michael Romero at 150 pounds. Here’s the link to complete results. . . .
Chris Williams is the new football coach at Covina. He was head coach at Diamond Ranch. . . .
Ed Hematsiraki, 21, is the new boys basketball coach at Glendale High. . . .
Jeff Bailey is the new Head Football Coach & District’s Asst Director of Strength and Conditioning Coach at Beverly Hills High School. He was board approved and introduced tonight at their board meeting. This video was shown. pic.twitter.com/6nVex23JDe
Jeff Bailey has left Yorba Linda after 16 years as football coach and two Southern Section titles to become head coach at Beverly Hills, which was 0-9 last season. He’ll be making $205,000 a year. Here’s the report. . . . .
Scott Dodge is the new boys basketball coach at Godinez. . . .
Troy has opening for boys basketball coach. . . .
Will Burr is out at Harvard-Westlake after just one season as girls basketball coach. . . .
Anthony Jackson, who had a successful nine-year run as head football coach at Los Angeles High, is the new head coach at South East. . . .
Greg Fontenette has resigned as boys basketball coach at Valencia. . . .
VIDEO: Tara Davis-Woodhall, the amazing young woman and Olympic gold medalist with the multi-million-dollar smile put her money where that smile is, making a tremendous $100K donation to the @AHS_Chargers Agoura HS track and field program at today’s Tara Davis Invitational!… pic.twitter.com/fSMFesh9jb
Tara Davis-Woodhall, an Olympic track and field champion from Agoura who sponsored the school’s invitational Saturday, announced she was making a $100,000 donation to the track and field program. . . .
Freshman golfer William Hudson of St. John Bosco won the Servite Invitational. Here’s the report.
From the archives: Marques Johnson
One of the greatest former City Section high school basketball players, Marques Johnson, celebrated his 70th birthday with his annual dunk. The former Crenshaw High and UCLA player is a beloved basketball legend from Los Angeles. He has a daughter playing basketball for Windward.
His call on radio when UCLA’s Tyus Edney scored on a layup in 1995 during the Bruins’ title run and he yelled, “Yeah baby!” remains something UCLA fans never forget.
Recommendations
From ESPN, a story about the growing concern about street agents in the high school NIL business.
From SI.com, a story on a high school basketball team in Arizona being removed from the playoffs for racial taunts by its fans.
From the Daily Pilot, a story on Sage Hill girls basketball.
Tweets you might have missed
Former Loyola and Stanford kicker Conrad Ukropina is supposed to be on the next Bachelorette. Let’s see if he brings a tee somewhere.
Amalia Holgun, the last high school player from Kobe and Gigi’s Mambas basketball team, was honored with a concrete Kobe mural from the opposing Ontario Christian girls team.
Amalia has committed to the University of Texas where she will wear number 2. 🖤🤍 pic.twitter.com/BRQl7DxVWq
— Kobe Bryant Stories & Motivation (@kobehighlight) February 26, 2026
It’s true the ability to attend high schools with online classes no matter where you live is changing high school sports in California. Palisades basketball is on the verge of winning City title with several key players online outside of their main attendance area.
People in high school baseball still don’t get it. They celebrate a pitcher throwing 90 mph and giving up runs vs. a pitcher throwing 84 mph and giving up no runs. I’ll take the no runs guy every time.
Villeda was the Gatorade & CIF Player of the Year his senior season at Servite after leading the Friars to a Trinity League, CIF and Regional State Championship. He went on play 4 years at UCSB before turning pro. #credo#ForeverAFriarpic.twitter.com/bJaijEpSzL
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The search for sustained consistency remained a focus for the Lakers on Sunday against a Sacramento Kings team with the NBA’s worst record.
And it helped that the Lakers were completely healthy against the Kings, something that has eluded them nearly all season.
Behind strong efforts from Luka Doncic and LeBron James, the Lakers defeated the struggling Kings 128-104 at Crypto.com Arena in their second straight blowout win.
Doncic, one of five Lakers to score in double figures, scored 28 points on 10-for-16 shooting. He made four three-pointers and had nine assists and five rebounds.
James, who played after initially being listed as questionable because of arthritis in his left foot, scored 24 points in 27 minutes on eight-for-15 shooting. He made a trio of threes and had five assists.
Deandre Ayton and Austin Reaves both had 12 points and Luke Kennard had 11 points off the bench. Rui Hachimura played 22 minutes off the bench and had eight points and two rebounds after missing the previous two games because of illness.
Nique Clifford led the Kings (14-48) with 26 points and had seven rebounds.
The Lakers are 3-3 since the All-Star break with 28- and 24-point wins after three straight losses.
“Again, just the world is falling for us 19 times (after double-digit losses this season),” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “ It’s just part of the nature of this cycle and our guys. … Our guys bounced back and responded well throughout the season. Tied in the lost column for fifth (with Denver in the Western Conference) and a couple games out of third with a number of these teams coming up that are right there with us. So, we just are going to keep plugging away.”
Lakers forward Jake LaRavia, top, and Sacramento forward Precious Achiuwa battle for the ball during the Lakers’ win Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
Just as in Saturday’s win at Golden State, the Lakers (36-24) benefited from strong shooting. They shot 50% from the field and 46% from three-point range.
One of the most exciting plays happened in the first quarter when Marcus Smart dived for a loose ball and, while prone on his back, passed to James. The Lakers star then passed to a hustling Austin Reaves, who took a few dribbles to get a Kings defender to commit before making an alley-oop pass to James for a two-handed, rim-hanging dunk.
The crowd was whipped into a frenzy. The Kings called a timeout, allowing the Lakers and their fans to soak in the moment.
Lakers star Luka Doncic celebrates after a three-pointer by teammate Rui Hachimura against the Kings on Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
There was another play in the third quarter in which Doncic slipped and almost fell down, losing control of the ball. But Doncic regained his balance and the ball before shooting an off-balance three-pointer that gave the Lakers a 24-point lead.
“Ah, yeah, it was on purpose,” Doncic said about falling down. “I tripped on purpose and it was, how do you say, the ‘And-1 Mixtape,’ that’s what they said on the bench. So, I did it on purpose.”
Doncic smiled.
It was that kind of night for the Lakers, a game full of highlights and fun that allowed Redick to empty his bench in the fourth quarter.
“Yeah, obviously it was two great wins, but we just got to go game by game,” Doncic said. “Obviously there’s a lot of noise outside, but like tonight, we can’t pay attention to that. … I thought we played great.”
Maxi Kleber was another standout for the Lakers, making all three of his shots for six points. He also had six rebounds and a block.
His two lob dunks left his Lakers teammates celebrating from the bench.
“Every time I do something, you know, you look to the bench, everybody’s celebrating,” Kleber said. “So, obviously it’s a good push for me, a good push for the team.”
Anton Forsberg made 29 saves, Alex Laferriere scored in the second period and the Kings beat the Calgary Flames 2-0 on Saturday night to end a five-game losing streak.
Forsberg had his second shutout of the season and 10th of his NHL career, two nights after coming on in relief of Darcy Kuemper in the second period of an 8-1 home loss to Edmonton.
Laferriere scored with 4:24 left in second, putting his own rebound past goalie Dustin Wolf for his 14th goal of the season. Adrian Kempe added his 22nd into an empty net in the final minute.
Wolf made 35 saves. He spent seven years in the Los Angeles Junior Kings youth program before playing major junior for Everett in the Western Hockey League.
The Kings have three games left on a six-game homestand.
Up next for the Kings: vs. Colorado at Crypto.com Arena on Monday night.
There is a school of thought among some fans that a good season is one where your team still has plenty to play for come April.
Liverpool will not be winning back-to-back Premier League titles, but they will head into March still in the FA Cup and the Champions League and now in a strong position to finish in the top five, which would effectively confirm Champions League football next season.
At the end of a week in which the club confirmed record revenues of over £700m for the last accounting year, with a profit after tax of £8m, the importance of that European spot cannot be underestimated.
Midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, who scored Liverpool’s third goal, told Match of the Day: “The last four or five months is when teams show what they can do.
“That’s what we want. We know how important it is to qualify for the Champions League for the club and us as a team. The goal is there and we are going to do everything to qualify and be closer to the teams on top.”
Team-mate Cody Gakpo took a similar view, telling Sky Sports: “It was a good afternoon. Step by step, we’re getting [to be] a better team.
“We had a difficult moment during the season, but hopefully these last few games are the start of something beautiful.”
With consecutive games against Wolves in the league and FA Cup next week, before a trip to Galatasaray in the Champions League, the next 10 days or so will go a long way to shaping how their season ultimately is remembered.
Get through that unscathed and, whisper it quietly, Liverpool fans may well start to genuinely believe that they can do something beautiful indeed.
From Broderick Turner: The losses are mounting for the Lakers in the most excruciating of ways. They’ve lost their last two games in the final second, and it’s eating at them because they used to be so good in late, critical moments.
The Lakers fell to the Phoenix Suns 113-110 on Thursday after Austin Reaves missed a three-point shot as time expired. The injury-depleted Suns earned the win on a three-pointer by Royce O’Neale with ninth-tenths of a second left.
The Lakers have lost three consecutive games for the third time this season. They were blown out by the Boston Celtics on Sunday before losing by one at home to the Orlando Magic on Tuesday when Luka Doncic passed up a three and threw the ball to LeBron James, who missed a hurried, last-second three.
Against the Suns, the Lakers rallied from 12 points down in the fourth quarter after Doncic went to work. He hit back-to-back threes during the comeback and finished with 41 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
The Lakers made it a clutch game, the kind in which they’ve been an NBA-best 16-5. Still, they lost.
“Our losses are louder than other teams’ because we’re the Lakers and because of the way we lose,” coach JJ Redick said. “Tonight was a one-possession clutch game, which, now we’ve lost a few of those. But we’ve been great for the most part in the clutch all year.”
The Lakers (34-24) tied the score twice in the final minute, first on a three by Reaves and then on a tip-in by James, who had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists, with 22.7 seconds left.
Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow made his first start of spring training a good one, pitching two perfect innings and striking out four against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday at Camelback Ranch.
(Norm Hall / Getty Images)
From Jack Vita:Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow is an admitted overthinker. But you wouldn’t know it based on his efficient first spring training start Thursday against the Chicago White Sox at Camelback Ranch.
Glasnow pitched two-plus innings, retiring the first six batters before coming out after giving up a single to start the third inning. Using a pitch mix that included a fastball that sat at 97 mph, Glasnow struck out the side in the first inning before recording another strikeout to close out the second. Having thrown just 28 pitches, Glasnow started the third inning and threw three more pitches before coming out of the Dodgers’ 7-6 win.
“Very in rhythm,” manager Dave Roberts said after the game. “Very efficient, used his entire pitch mix, it was really good. Good to see him get into the third inning. Positive day.”
The 32-year-old entering his third season with the Dodgers credits his coaches for keeping his mechanics on point.
“It allows me to just go out and pitch and be athletic,” Glasnow said after his outing. “I’m able to just go out and play baseball as opposed to trying to tinker and fix certain stuff.”
UCLA gymnast Sydney Barros performs her floor exercise routine at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 17.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
From Anthony Solorzano: With the Big Ten title on the line during the Big Four Meet on Friday at Pauley Pavilion, the UCLA gymnastics team is focused on what it can control.
“Our goal is to go out there and just do what we’ve been doing all season long,” coach Janelle McDonald said. “Hitting great gymnastics and continuing to just build the confidence on the competition floor before we head into [the] postseason.”
Entering the season, the Bruins had a few elite veterans and an otherwise young team. The steady growth of underclassmen has helped UCLA earn its No. 5 national ranking and move a victory away from claiming its second consecutive Big Ten title.
“Last year, when we came into the Big Ten, we really wanted to make a statement and I think we did just that,” McDonald said. “Coming in this year with a younger team, hungry to just continue that, has just been really special.”
Artist Gustavo Zermeño Jr. paints a mural dedicated to Olympic gold medalist skater Alysa Liu on Wednesday at the corner of W. 156th and Crenshaw Boulevard in Gardena. “I like that it’s a little rough around the edges, but beautiful at the same time,” he said of the portrait.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
From Chuck Schilken: U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu made quite an impression at the Milan-Cortina Olympics with her unique style, her compelling backstory and, of course, her gold medals in the women’s singles competition — the first for an American woman since 2002 — and in the team event.
Her feats captured the attention of local artist Gustavo Zermeño Jr. He wanted to be sure to capture all of it in his new mural paying tribute to the 20-year-old athlete in Gardena.
“Obviously her winning gold was the main factor” in his choosing to paint Liu, Zermeño said.
But once the Mexican American artist learned more about the Chinese American skater, he found inspiration in other aspects of her life as well. That includes the Oakland native’s two-year retirement from the sport starting at age 16, her enrollment at UCLA and her decision to express herself in her own way.
United States’ Hilary Knight (21) celebrates after scoring during the women’s ice hockey gold medal game between the United States and Canada at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Feb. 19.
“I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke, and unfortunately, that is overshadowing a lot of the success of just women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold medal feats,” Knight said Wednesday during an appearance on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”
On Feb. 19, the U.S. defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime for a third gold medal in women’s hockey; the team won gold in 1998 and 2018. Three days later, the U.S. men’s hockey team also won gold by defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime.
Edmonton Oiles captain Connor McDavid, center, battles Kings forward Trevor Moore, left, and defenseman Mikey Anderson for the puck during the first period of the Kings’ 8-1 loss Thursday at Crypto.com Arena.
McDavid scored his 35th goal and Draisaitl got his 30th during his fourth four-point game of the season as the Oilers again routed the opponent they’ve knocked out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in each of the past four seasons.
The game marked the biggest margin of defeat against the Kings this season.
Clippers guard Kris Dunn drives to the basket in front of Minnesota’s Donte DiVincenzo during the Clippers’ 94-88 loss Thursday at Intuit Dome.
(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)
From the Associated Press: Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Donte DiVincenzo added 18 and the surging Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Clippers 94-88 on Thursday night.
Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 12 points and Rudy Gobert had 13 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 5-1 since Feb. 9 and 3-1 since the All-Star break.
Edwards, returning to the site of the All-Star Game, where he was the MVP, was 12 for 24 from the floor and sealed the victory with a step-back three-pointer over two defenders for a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds left.
After all, the “Fight of the Century” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas — won by Mayweather — set records with 4.6 million pay-per-view buys and $72 million in ticket sales.
So it’s no surprise that long after both boxers slipped comfortably into (temporary) retirement, legal fights endured over even slim slices of that cash-stuffed pie.
For 10 years — and counting — lawyers and judges have attempted to determine what claimants are due and whether Pacquiao in particular suffered reputational damage along the way.
From John Cherwa: The hopes of Northern California racing and breeding interests were once again dashed when the California Horse Racing Board refused to license short racing dates to the Tehama District Fair and the Humboldt County Fair on Thursday.
Rather than a discussion about how to grow the sport, the 2-hour 45-minute meeting was mostly about how bad the state of racing is in the state and a determination that the future of Southern California racing is in jeopardy if it isn’t given every advantage available.
That advantage is the amount of money that goes to the host track from advance deposit wagering (ADW) and computer assisted wagering (CAW). If Tehama and Humboldt were racing, then money bet by any means in Northern California would stay there, the way it was since the start of ADW until shortly after the closing of Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley.
1918 — The first neutral site game in NHL history is held in Quebec City. Frank Nighbor scores twice in the first period to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
1955 — Boston beats Milwaukee 62-57 at Providence, R.I. in a game which set records for fewest points scored by one team, and by both teams, since the introduction of the 24-second clock.
1959 — The Boston Celtics beat the Minneapolis Lakers 173-139 as seven NBA records fall. The Celtics set records for most points (179), most points in a half (90), most points in a quarter (52) and most field goals (72). Boston’s Tom Heinsohn leads all scorers with 43 points and Bob Cousy adds 31 while setting an NBA record with 28 assists.
1966 — Richard Petty wins the rain-shortened Daytona 500 by more than a lap at a speed of 160.927 mph. Petty holds the lead for the last 212 miles of the scheduled 500-mile event, which is called five miles from the finish. Cale Yarborough finishes second.
1977 — Stan Mikita of the Chicago Black Hawks scores his 500th goal in a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
1982 — Florida apprentice Mary Russ becomes the first female jockey to win a Grade I stakes in North America when she captures the Widener Handicap aboard Lord Darnley at Hialeah (Fla.) Park.
1992 — Prairie View sets an NCAA Division I record for most defeats in a season with a 112-79 loss to Mississippi Valley State in the first round of the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament. Prairie View’s 0-28 mark breaks the record of 27 losses shared by four teams.
1994 — Sweden wins its first hockey gold medal, defeating Canada 3-2 in the first shootout for a championship at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Canada is 1:49 away from its first championship in 42 years when Magnus Svensson’s power-play goal ties it at 2. Paul Kariya’s shot is stopped by Sweden’s Tommy Salo after Peter Forsberg puts Sweden ahead on his team’s seventh shot.
1998 — Indiana’s 124-59 victory over Portland marks the first time in the NBA’s 51-year history that one team scores more than twice as many points as the other.
2005 — David Toms delivers the most dominant performance in the seven-year history of the Match Play Championship, winning eight out of nine holes to put away Chris DiMarco with the largest margin of victory in the 36-hole final. The score 6 and 5, could have been much worse as Toms was 9 up at one point.
2006 — Effa Manley is the first woman elected to the baseball Hall of Fame. The former Newark Eagles co-owner is among 17 people from the Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues chosen by a special committee.
2010 — Steven Holcomb drives USA-1 to the Olympic gold medal in four-man bobsledding, ending a 62-year drought for the Americans in the event. Holcomb’s four-run time was 3:24.46, with Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz pushing for him.
2015 — Travis Kvapil’s NASCAR Sprint Cup car is stolen early in the day from a hotel parking lot, forcing him to withdraw from a race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The team didn’t have a backup car in Atlanta, so it’s forced to drop out when the stolen machine couldn’t be located in time for NASCAR’s mandatory inspection.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Connor McDavid secured his ninth 100-point season with a goal and an assist, Leon Draisaitl had a goal and three assists, and the Edmonton Oilers snapped their four-game skid with an 8-1 victory over the Kings on Thursday night.
McDavid scored his 35th goal and Draisaitl got his 30th during his fourth four-point game of the season as the Oilers again routed the opponent they’ve knocked out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in each of the past four seasons.
The game marked the biggest margin of defeat against the Kings this season.
Jake Walman scored two goals, Zach Hyman had a goal and two assists, and Ty Emberson, Vasily Podkolzin and Andrew Mangiapane also scored in Edmonton’s impressive rebound from a painful loss against the Ducks. Connor Ingram made 22 saves for the Oilers (29-23-8), who have returned from the Olympic break with 13 goals in two games.
Warren Foegele scored for the Kings (23-21-14), who have lost five straight games since January. The Kings’ humiliating third-period collapse against Vegas one night earlier bled into this game: When Hyman scored on a power play midway through the second period, the Kings had surrendered 10 goals in their past 41 minutes of play.
Darcy Kuemper gave up four goals on 15 shots before getting pulled early in the second period for Anton Forsberg.
Some Kings fans targeted coach Jim Hiller for the struggles, repeatedly chanting “Fire Hiller!” in the third period.
Emberson opened the scoring with his first goal since Oct. 28. Podkolzin scored 54 seconds later on another shot that could have been stopped by Kuemper.
Mangiapane beat Kuemper cleanly on an odd-man rush early in the second, and McDavid made it 4-1 when Kuemper comically fell down six feet outside his crease to leave an open net for the NHL’s top scorer.
Up next for the Kings: vs. Calgary at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.
From Eduard Cauich: Gerardo Tavárez has been counting down the days for months.
The 25-year-old Los Angeles resident planned the perfect summer for his family.
He will get married on June 6, five days before the start of the World Cup. His honeymoon will be in Mexico, where he will watch the Mexican national team’s debut at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City and a second match between Mexico and South Korea in Guadalajara, alongside his father, brother, future wife and young son.
The plan seemed set in stone. Until this week.
After the Mexican army killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel known as “El Mencho,” violence erupted in the state of Jalisco on Sunday, including roadblocks and vehicle fires. Images of smoke rising over Guadalajara quickly circulated on social media, sowing doubts among some planning to travel to Mexico for the World Cup.
According to Mexican authorities, more than 60 people, including 25 soldiers, died during the operation to capture the criminal leader.
“I’m more than worried. I’m nervous. I’m scared,” said Tavárez, born in Los Angeles to parents from Jalisco and a diehard fan of the Mexican national team.
From Jack Vita: Roki Sasaki took the mound Wednesday, looking to build off the success he enjoyed late last season, as he enters his second year with the Dodgers.
It did not go smoothly, with Sasaki struggling to find the strike zone and getting hit hard by the Arizona Diamondbacks when he did. The 24-year-old right-hander gave up three runs on three hits and two walks. He did record three strikeouts, with his fastball topping out at 98.6 miles per hour, but only 17 of his 36 pitches landed for strikes.
“There were some positive things, but also things I need to work on,” Sasaki said via an interpreter after he was lifted from the Dodgers’ 10-7 win.
Sasaki gave up a hard-hit single to leadoff hitter Geraldo Perdomo, and Tim Tawa walked. With one out, Nolan Arenado hit a line-drive double to left that scored Perdomo. Ildemaro Vargas followed with another double, scoring Tawa and Arenado for a 3-0 lead.
Kara Dunn had 24 points and Jazzy Davidson had 22, but Penn State rallied to defeat the USC women, 85-82 on Wednesday night.
The Trojans led 62-58, early in the fourth quarter and 70-68 with 5:35 to play before Kiyomi McMiller and Moriah Murray made key shots to give Penn State the lead.
Dunn made a season-high six three-pointers and had six rebounds and three assists. Davidson had her 25th consecutive double-figure scoring performance and sixth straight 20-point game. Kennedy Smith had 19 points along with six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.
With the loss, USC drops to 17-11 overall and 9-8 in Big Ten play. Wednesday was Penn State’s second win all-time and first win against USC since Jan. 6, 1980.
Vegas scores five goals in third period to defeat Kings
Pavel Dorofeyev had two goals and the Vegas Golden Knights spoiled Artemi Panarin’s Kings debut by scoring five third-period goals to rally for a 6-4 win Wednesday night.
Colton Sissons, Brandon Saad and Reilly Smith scored three goals in a span of 4:14 midway through the third and the short-handed Golden Knights overcame the absence of five players who participated in the gold medal game at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Sunday. Ivan Barbashev added a late empty-netter, and Adin Hill made 15 saves.
Quinton Byfield had two goals, Adrian Kempe and Brandt Clarke scored, while Panarin had two assists in his team debut, but the Kings dropped their fourth straight game.
Joel Quenneville became the second coach in NHL history to win 1,000 games with the Ducks’ 6-5 comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.
Quenneville joined Scotty Bowman in an exclusive hockey club with a milestone win in the Ducks’ first game back from the Olympic break.
Cutter Gauthier scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:14 to play for the Ducks, who erased a pair of two-goal deficits. Leo Carlsson had a goal and two assists in his first appearance since Jan. 10 for the Ducks, who have won six straight home games and 10 of 12 overall to leapfrog the Oilers into second place in the Pacific Division.
1935 — Babe Ruth is released by the New York Yankees and signed by the Boston Braves.
1938 — Glenn Cunningham sets a world indoor records in 1,500-meter race at the AAU nationals at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Cunningham finishes in 3:48.4.
1947 — Brothers Doug and Max Bentley lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 9-7 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Doug Bentley scores four goals and sets up two more goals. Max Bentley scores three goals and assists on another goal.
1960 — Dave Jenkins of the United States wins the figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, Calif.
1967 — Mario Andretti, better known for his accomplishments in open-wheel and USAC competition, wins the Daytona 500 pulling away from 1965 champion Fred Lorenzen in the closing laps. It’s Andretti’s his first and only NASCAR Grand National event. He is the only person born outside the United States to win the Daytona 500.
1968 — Thirty-two African nations agree to boycott the Olympics because of the presence of South Africa.
1981 — The Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota North Stars 5-1 in a game marred by fights. The teams set an NHL record with 84 penalties worth 392 minutes, and 12 players are ejected.
1987 — Michael Jordan scores 58 points, the most by a Chicago player in a regular-season game, to lead the Bulls over the New Jersey Nets 128-113. Jordan scores almost half his points from the free-throw line, hitting 26 of 27.
1989 — The Dallas Cowboys fire coach Tom Landry after a 29-year career.
1989 — Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux becomes the third NHL player to have 100 assists in a season, joining Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky. Lemieux gets three assists and a goal in the Penguins’ 8-6 loss to the Hartford Whalers.
1994 — In Lillehammer, Norway, Vreni Schneider of Switzerland wins the slalom for the fifth medal of her career, the most of any woman in Alpine Olympic history.
2006 — Sweden beats Finland 3-2 to win the Olympic men’s hockey gold. Germany leaves Turin with the most overall medals with 29, 11 of them gold, while the Americans win 25 medals overall, including nine gold.
2007 — Roger Federer reaches a new milestone breaking Jimmy Connors’ 30-year-old mark with his 161st week at the top of the ATP rankings. Connors set his record from July 1974 to August 1977. The ATP rankings began on Aug. 23, 1973. Federer took the No. 1 spot on Feb. 2, 2004.
2012 — Pete Weber wins a record fifth U.S. Open bowling championship, throwing a strike on his final ball to beat Mike Fagan 215-214. Weber surpasses his father, Dick Weber, who won the tournament’s predecessor four times, as did Don Carter.
2012 — In Bansko, Bulgaria, Lindsey Vonn captures her fourth World Cup super-G race of the year and becomes the career leader in the discipline. By winning her 18th super G the American overtakes Austria’s Renate Goetschl for the record.
2017 — 59th Daytona 500: Kurt Busch wins after Kyle Larson runs out of gas on last lap; Jeffrey Earnhardt makes NASCAR history, 1st ever 4th generation driver to compete in Daytona 500.
2018 — The U.S. Open changes to a two-hole aggregate playoff, the last of the four majors to do away with an 18-hole playoff.
2018 — The top-ranked UConn women’s team completes an undefeated regular season for the 10th time in program history with an 82-53 win over No. 20 South Florida. The Huskies (29-0, 16-0 American) are 98-0 in games against American Athletic Conference opponents. They are 86-0 in the regular season and have won all four conference tournaments.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Pavel Dorofeyev had two goals and the Vegas Golden Knights spoiled Artemi Panarin’s Kings debut by scoring five third-period goals to rally for a 6-4 win Wednesday night.
Colton Sissons, Brandon Saad and Reilly Smith scored three goals in a span of 4:14 midway through the third and the shorthanded Golden Knights overcame the absence of five players who participated in the gold medal game at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Sunday. Ivan Barbashev added a late empty-netter, and Adin Hill made 15 saves.
Vegas played without United States center Jack Eichel and defenseman Noah Hanifin and Canada forwards Mark Stone and Mitch Marner and defenseman Shea Theodore, all of whom are expected to be available when their five-game trip continues against the Capitals in Washington on Friday night.
Quinton Byfield had two goals, Adrian Kempe and Brandt Clarke scored, while Panarin had two assists in his team debut, but the Kings dropped their fourth straight game.
Panarin, who was acquired in a trade from the New York Rangers on Feb. 4, set up the Kings’ opening goal by putting his pass in off Byfield’s skate on the power play late in the first period and had the secondary assist on Kempe’s goal in the second period.
Anton Forsberg made 19 saves for the Kings, who came out of the Olympic break three points out of a wild-card berth.
The Golden Knights found themselves trailing after two periods as Panarin reached the 40-assist mark for the 11th straight season. But they responded with a strong final 20 minutes, including Dorofeyev’s power-play goal with 4:01 remaining that made it 5-3.
A popular sun-drenched and culturally rich country has topped the poll as the place to book for Brits heading on holiday this year – but have you been?
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As Brits look towards booking some summer sunshine, the UK’s top trending destination has been revealed – and it’s a sun-drenched country steeped in history just a four-hour plane ride away.
Tour operator Riviera Travel has compared bookings for January and February 2026 to last year’s and discovered the fastest-growing destination has had a 310% increase in demand.
The figures show travellers are increasingly looking beyond typical European destinations and spreading their net to the Middle East and even as far as Southeast Asia. The location with the biggest surge in demand for 2026 is Egypt.
In addition to Egypt’s mostly dry weather that sports lots of sunshine and very little rain, as one of the world’s oldest civilisations, the country has a wealth of unparalleled history.
The Ancient Egyptian civilisation – with a history spanning close to 3,000 years – left a compelling legacy in the many monuments that have stood the test of time. From the mighty pyramids to the impressive temples, sacred chambers, and treasure-filled tombs, there is an abundance of world-famous attractions for travellers to visit.
Many people take the opportunity to cruise down the world-famous Nile while holidaying in Egypt and Will Sarson, travel expert at Riviera Travel, explained why that was proving so popular for holiday makers in 2026.
He said: “Egypt’s 310% surge in interest reflects the timeless draw of the Nile, where travelling by river offers a uniquely immersive way to experience one of the world’s oldest civilisations. Ancient temples, riverside villages and fertile banks unfold gradually, creating a powerful sense of continuity between past and present.
“Time along the Nile allows for deep exploration of monumental sites such as Luxor, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings, balanced with quieter moments watching daily life along the water. The experience feels both awe-inspiring and surprisingly intimate, with history never far from view.”
The best time to visit the country is between October and April when the daytime temperatures are comfortable, and the nighttime temperatures are cool. The coolest month is January and the hottest are from June to August.
For those wanting to experience some sand and sea as well as some culture, Egypt’s beaches offer something for every kind of traveller. From the snorkel-friendly water in Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh to the wildlife-rich bays of Marsa Alam, Egypt’s Red Sea coast lines up some of the country’s best beaches.
Those deciding to visit and stay in one place often travel to the tourist-friendly region of Sharm El Sheikh or Hurghada, which offer a wide array of child-friendly attractions and hotels.
The Mirror’s Jess Phillips was recently blown away by a visit to Egypt. “I genuinely feel as though I discovered one of Egypt’s best-kept secrets after jetting off from London Gatwick on a direct TUI flight to Marsa Alam International – the country’s first privately owned and operated international airport, which opened in 2003,” she wrote.
“Marsa Alam is a burgeoning coastal resort catering to tourists from around the world. The area is still actively developing – though that definitely doesn’t mean it’s lacking in things to do – and offers the best of both worlds: incredible beaches, perfect blue water, and the more traditional Egyptian desert experiences.”
In a video posted to Instagram on Monday, the U.S. ski racing legend said she has been released from the hospital more than two weeks after suffering a complex tibia fracture and other damage that led to compartment syndrome in the leg.
Vonn credited Dr. Tom Hackett, an orthopedic surgeon who works for Vonn and Team USA, for saving the leg. She also gave indirect credit to the complete rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee that occurred during another crash on Jan. 30, just a week before the start of the Winter Olympics.
“I always talk about everything happens for a reason,” Vonn said. “If I hadn’t torn my ACL … Tom wouldn’t have been there. He wouldn’t have been able to save my leg.”
Vonn has won 84 World Cup races and three Olympic medals, including gold in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games. She returned to competitive skiing last year after a six-year hiatus. Vonn did not allow the torn ACL to prevent her from competing in what she has called her “fifth and final Olympics.”
Despite completing multiple test runs, Vonn lasted 13 seconds in the Feb. 8 downhill race before she crashed. She was airlifted from the Olimpia delle Tofane course in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
From Jack Vita: There are expectations surrounding new Dodgers right fielder Kyle Tucker — not surprising for someone with a four-year, $240-million contract.
But first things first.
“Last year I got one hit in spring, so hopefully I get more than that,” Tucker said, sharing a laugh with reporters after grounding out and walking in two plate appearances in his Cactus League debut Sunday. “So, that’s the goal. But I mean, just feeling comfortable.”
In a clubhouse full of superstar players, the feeling seems mutual with his teammates.
“I’m glad he’s with us,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said, adding: “There might be other superstars on this team, but it’s not really anyone’s focus here. It’s all about getting in every day, working hard, helping us win a ballgame that day and working toward the ultimate goal of winning the World Series.”
The aging greats will have their rematch Sept. 19 live on Netflix in the first boxing match held at the Las Vegas Sphere.
Mayweather defeated Pacquiao by unanimous decision on May 2, 2015 in the “Fight of the Century” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. That fight generated 4.6 million pay-per-view buys and a live gate of $72 million, both of which are records.
It was a long-awaited matchup between two of the biggest names in the boxing world that ultimately earned Mayweather the World Boxing Council, World Boxing Assn. and World Boxing Organization welterweight titles.
“I already fought and beat Manny once,” Mayweather said in a statement released by Netflix. “This time will be the same result.”
1960 — Bill Cleary’s four goals lead the United States to a 9-1 victory over West Germany in the hockey championship round of the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, Calif.
1967 — Wilt Chamberlain of Philadelphia shoots 18-for-18 from the field against the Baltimore Bullets, an NBA record for field goals in a game without a miss.
1978 — Kevin Porter of the New Jersey Nets sets an NBA record with 29 assists in a 126-112 victory over the Houston Rockets.
1980 — The United States hockey team wins the gold medal with a 4-2 victory over Finland at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.
1982 — Wayne Gretzky scores NHL-record 78th goal of season en route to 92.
1985 — Jim Kelly of the Houston Gamblers passes for a USFL-record 574 yards and five touchdowns in a 34-33 comeback-win over the Los Angeles Express. Kelly completes 35 of 54 passes, including three for touchdowns in the final 10 minutes.
1988 — An unprecedented winner of the 90-and 70-meter individual events, Matti Nykanen becomes the Winter Olympics’ first triple gold medalist in Nordic skiing when Finland wins the new 90-meter team ski jumping event.
1993 — Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings scores his career point with two goals and two assists in a 10-7 loss to Buffalo Sabres.
1994 — Lipscomb’s John Pierce becomes college basketball’s career scoring leader with 33 points in his regular-season finale, a 119-102 win over Cumberland. Pierce’s 4,110 points break former roommate Phil Hutcheson’s record of 4,106.
2002 — Svetlana Feofanova breaks the pole vault indoor world record for the fourth time this month, clearing 15 feet, 6 1/2 inches at the Gaz de France meet.
2002 — Canada beats the United States 5-2 for the gold medal in men’s hockey at the Winter Olympics. It’s the seventh time Canada has won the gold in its national sport, but the first since 1952.
2006 — Julia Mancuso earns a stunning victory in the giant slalom to salvage a disappointing Olympics for the U.S. women in their final Alpine event of the Turin Games. Mancuso gives the American women their first Olympic Alpine medal since Picabo Street’s gold in the super-G at the 1998 Nagano Games.
2012 — Missy Parkin becomes the first woman to reach the match play finals in the 69th U.S Open at Brunswick Zone-Carolier. Shafer, a 25-year Professional Bowlers Assn. Tour veteran, completes the 26-game qualifying portion of the U.S. Open with a total of 5,825 pins, averaging at a 224.04 pace.
2018 — Ester Ledecka wins the second leg of an unheard-of Olympic double, taking the gold medal in snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom to go with her surprise skiing victory in the Alpine super-G earlier in the games. The Czech star is the first to win gold medals in both sports.
2018 — The United States wins the Olympic gold medal in men’s curling in a decisive upset of Sweden. John Shuster skips the United States to a 10-7 victory for only the second curling medal in U.S. history.
2020 — Memorial service for NBA star Kobe Byrant held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
From Bill Plaschke: The fans never got an opportunity to give a grateful goodbye, Pat Riley resigning on an early summer afternoon 36 years ago after the end of a lost season.
Everyone will have that chance now.
When Riley left town at the wrong end of grumblings from players and fans, he was the greatest coach not only in Lakers history but also in basketball history, his .730 winning percentage and 102 playoff victories both NBA records at the time.
Everyone will understand now.
He has been Showtime’s forgotten kingpin, its lost leader, its missing warrior, a stylishly distant legend who had been overshadowed by the seven Lakers whose statues stand watch over the plaza outside Crypto.com Arena.
Make that eight Lakers.
Riley finally is coming home, returning Sunday with the unveiling of a long overdue statue in whose bronze reflection a couple of wistful realizations can be found.
Riles has been terribly, terribly missed.
The Showtime era seems terribly, terribly distant.
Riley hasn’t been with the Lakers in 36 years. The Lakers haven’t won an asterisk-free NBA title in 16 years. Maybe because Shaquille O’Neal spoke only via video Sunday, the greatness of this organization never felt further away.
From Broderick Turner: All of the current Lakers realized that playing against the Boston Celtics on national television really was more than just one of 82 games on the schedule.
It was crystallized even more because iconic former Lakers coach Pat Riley sat courtside after a celebration for the unveiling of his statue on the Star Plaza outside Crypto.com Arena. He was the first Lakers coach to beat the hated Celtics for an NBA championship after eight failed attempts.
So, yes, on this Sunday afternoon, this game meant more if only because it was another game in the long rivalry, a game the Lakers lost, 111-89.
Luka Doncic had 25 points for the Lakers but he was just nine for 22 from the field. LeBron James had 20 points but was just nine for 21 from the field.
Desmond Bane scored 36 points and Paolo Banchero added 16 points and eight assists as the Orlando Magic held on for a 111-109 victory over the Clippers on Sunday night.
Wendell Carter Jr. had 15 points and 14 rebounds and Tristan da Silva scored 13 for the Magic, who improved to 5-2 since Feb. 5.
Kawhi Leonard shrugged off an ankle injury to score 37 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 21 points and nine rebounds off the bench for the Clippers, who are 4-5 since Feb. 2. Mathurin missed a three-point attempt to win the game at the buzzer.
Jordan Miller had 14 points for the Clippers (27-30).
From Felicia Keller: The No. 2 UCLA women’s basketball team beat Wisconsin 80-60 on Sunday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion and became outright regular season conference champions for the first time in their history.
“I’m so fortunate to coach incredible young women as people and that we’re willing to believe in a vision that we could create together and to be the first team in UCLA history to win a conference championship outright in the regular season,” coach Cori Close said. “It’s just humbling to be a part of.”
Lauren Betts recorded a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds — including three in quick succession in the fourth quarter — as the Bruins celebrated their six graduates on Senior Day by winning their 21st game in a row. Five Bruins — all seniors — scored in double digits.
“That’s the reason we all came here is to do things UCLA has never done before and to win a lot of games and win championships, and so super proud of everyone on this team for really putting in the work,” Gabriela Jaquez said.
Jaloni Cambridge scored 33 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter, and No. 10 Ohio State used a 15-0 run to rally for an 88-83 victory over USC on Sunday.
It was Cambridge’s fifth 30-point game this season. The sophomore was 12 for 21 from the field and eight for nine from the line as the Buckeyes (23-5, 11-4) snapped a two-game losing streak.
Cambridge also had three steals and helped force USC to commit a season-high 25 turnovers as the Trojans (17-10, 9-7 Big Ten) had their six-game winning streak come to a close.
USC’s Jazzy Davidson scored a season-high 32 points, including six three-pointers, before fouling out with 1.1 seconds left. The freshman also had six rebounds and four assists.
Nicolás Fernández scored on a penalty kick in the second half and New York City FC tied the Galaxy 1-1 in a season opener on Sunday before a sellout crowd of 30,510 at Dignity Health Sports Park.
Newcomer João Klauss needed 90 seconds to win the hearts of Galaxy fans, scoring with assists from Marco Reus and Joseph Paintsil for a 1-0 lead. L.A. worked a cash-for-player trade with St. Louis City to acquire Klauss on a one-year deal, hoping he’ll ease the loss of superstar Riqui Puig for a second straight season after complications from a torn ACL.
Los Angeles maintained the lead until Emiro Garces was sent off the field for a second yellow card, setting up a successful PK for Fernández that tied it in the 66th minute and left the Galaxy a man short. Fernández scored five goals in 19 appearances with L.A. last season.
Two months and three days after getting married, the 26-year-old from South Carolina has another memory to last a lifetime after winning for the first time on the PGA Tour and threatening the tournament scoring record at the Genesis Invitational.
“To do it against this field is way, way better than I’ve ever dreamt,” said Bridgeman, who prevailed by a single shot over Kurt Kitayama and Rory McIlroy. “Fans were super supportive all day and winning at this course is a dream come true. I grew up watching this on TV.”
Beginning the final round with a six-stroke lead, Bridgeman birdied the first and third holes to take a seven-shot lead and send an early message to the other 50 players that he would be tough to catch. He carded a one-over-par 72 to finish at 18 under for a four-day total of 266 — two off the 72-hole standard achieved at the 1985 Los Angeles Open by Lanny Wadkins, who won by seven shots with rounds of 63, 70, 67 and 64.
Over 53 games after his May call-up, the highly regarded prospect batted .204 with a .258 on-base percentage, .582 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, four home runs and 24 RBIs. It was the only time in his baseball life — aside from his freshman year at the University of Louisville — that Rushing was not a regular fixture in his team’s lineup.
“It was very, very up and down,” Rushing said. “It was some good, some bad, some ugly. A lot of things were new to me; the scattering [of] playing time was tough. It was a little tough being able to stay on top of compete mode, keep the swing in a good spot.”
But it still yielded a satisfying end result.
”I got to win a World Series with this team,” Rushing said. “And it’s hard to look back and think, ‘I’d take this back or I’d take that back.’ It went exactly how it was planned.”
With three-time All-Star catcher Will Smith in front of him, Rushing’s role is clear: He is the Dodgers’ backup catcher. Manager Dave Roberts feels good about Rushing’s progression.
1935 — George “The Iceman” Woolf makes history, riding Azucar to victory in the inaugural Santa Anita Handicap. Azucar beats such greats as Equipoise and Twenty Grand in the first $100,000 horse race.
1938 — Joe Louis knocks out Nathan Mann in the third round to defend his world heavyweight title at Madison Square Garden in New York.
1960 — Carol Heiss captures the first gold medal for the United States in the Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, Calif., winning the figure skating event.
1968 — Wilt Chamberlain becomes first player to score 25,000 points in the NBA.
1980 — Eric Heiden wins his fifth gold medal and shatters the world record by six seconds in 10,000-meter speed skating at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. His time is 14:28.13.
1985 — Indiana coach Bob Knight is ejected five minutes into the Hoosiers’ 72-63 loss to Purdue when he throws a chair across the court. Knight, after two fouls called on his team, is hit with his first technical. While Purdue was shooting the technical, Knight picks up a chair from the bench area and throws it across the court, earning his second technical.
1987 — Seattle’s Nate McMillan sets an NBA rookie record with 25 assists to lead the SuperSonics over the Clippers 124-112.
1991 — North Carolina becomes the first team in NCAA basketball history to win 1,500 games with a 73-57 victory over Clemson.
2002 — The Americans end nearly a half-century of Olympic frustration for the U.S. men’s bobsled team, driving to the silver and bronze medals in the four-man race at the Salt Lake Olympic Games.
2007 — Tiger Woods’ winning streak on the PGA Tour, which began in July, comes to a shocking end. Woods fails to notice a ball mark in the line of his 4-foot birdie putt that would have won his third-round match against Nick O’Hern. Woods misses, then loses in 20 holes when O’Hern saves par with a 12-foot putt at the Accenture Match Play Championship.
2013 — Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche makes history just by stepping into the UFC cage. Rousey wins the UFC’s first women’s bout, beating Carmouche on an armbar, her signature move, with 11 seconds left in the first round of their bantamweight title fight at UFC 157.
2014 — Canada defends its Olympic men’s hockey title with a 3-0 victory over Sweden. Canada becomes the only repeat Olympic champ in the NHL era and the first team to go unbeaten through the Olympic tournament since the Soviet Union in Sarajevo in 1984.
2014 — Russia, the host country of the Winter Olympics, finishes with 33 medals overall and 13 gold. It’s the first time Russia topped both medals tables since the breakup of the Soviet Union. The U.S. wins 28 total, including nine gold.
2014 — Jason Collins becomes the first openly gay athlete in the United States four major pro leagues, playing 10 scoreless minutes with two rebounds and five fouls in the New Jersey’s 108-102 victory of the Lakers.
2014 — Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins a rain-delayed Daytona 500, a decade after his first victory in the “Great American Race.” Earnhardt snaps a 55-race winless stretch that dated to 2012. It also ends a frustrating sequence at Daytona International Speedway that had seen him finish second in three of the previous four 500s.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Welcome to UCLA Unlocked, our weekly newsletter featuring all things Bruins athletics. To sign up to get this newsletter delivered every Monday to your inbox, click here.
The UCLA women’s basketball team is closing in on an undefeated Big Ten season, clinched the outright regular season league title for the first time in school history, is riding a 21-win streak and is ranked No. 2 nationally.
Perhaps most remarkable, the Bruins firmly believe they can be better and have yet to peak as they push to win a national title.
How did UCLA go from being a team that got pushed around by UConn, LSU and South Carolina in the NCAA tournament the last three seasons to a loaded squad no one wants to face in March?
Bruins coach Cori Close solved the riddle by recruiting six senior leaders who accepted they had to continuously sacrifice and push to improve to achieve their goals. They echo their coach’s values, putting each other first in order to succeed.
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“Me and Kiki [Rice] came here in our freshman year and it’s just been amazing to see the program grow since then,” UCLA senior Gabriela Jaquez said. “And I think that’s also a big credit to our coaches and to all the staff at UCLA to really get the fans out there and support us because we really couldn’t do it without them.”
UCLA honored Lauren Betts, Angela Dugalić, Jaquez, Gianna Kneepkens, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Rice during their final regular-season home game Sunday. The group will be back soon to host first- and second-round NCAA tournament games at Pauley Pavilion, but Close wanted them to take the time to celebrate all they had accomplished together.
Betts is in the national player of the year conversation, but the big award is likely to go to another player who carries a heavier workload for their team. Close said the seniors are all projected to be WNBA draft picks, but they have sacrificed better individual statistics and potentially some awards in exchange for a better shot at winning a national championship. She said the selfless approach is rare and should be cherished.
“One of them said the other day, like, ‘I might not ever play on a team like this again,’” Close said of her senior class. “I think the combination of the depth of the relationship, excellence on the court, their love of the work — they love to work and get better together — and their connection off the court.
”… I think these seniors actually do really understand that this is really special. They’ve set a bar for the culture of our program that we will be forever measuring it against.”
Baseball makes a statement
No. 1 UCLA baseball team turned heads with a weekend sweep of No. 7 TCU. The Bruins beat the Horned Frogs 10-2 on Friday, 5-1 on Saturday and 15-5 on Sunday. Roch Cholowsky and Will Gasparino have racked up six home runs apiece during UCLA’s first seven games this season.
Softball keeps rolling
The No. 9 UCLA softball team beat No. 11 Texas A&M 15-7 in five innings on Sunday to cap a 6-0 weekend at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. The Bruins also beat No. 20 Duke and No. 13 South Carolina. Senior Megan Grant delivered a .545 batting average during the weekend with two home runs and nine walks.
Gymnastics knocks out Illini
No. 5 UCLA gymnastics defeated Illinois 197.675-195.475 Sunday in Champaign, Ill.
Jordan Chiles won the all-around (39.650), vault (9.950) and floor exercise (9.975), while Ciena Alipio won balance beam (9.950).
The Bruins host three top 25 programs — Iowa, Ohio State and Maryland — during the Big Fours meet Friday at Pauley Pavilion.
Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email newsletters editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. It’s championship week in high school basketball with some big-time semifinal matchups Tuesday in the Southern Section playoffs.
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Brandon McCoy of Sierra Canyon soars for a tomahawk dunk.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
The toughest divisions in high school basketball in the state have their semifinals Tuesday for boys and girls. Get ready for intense, crowd-pleasing matchups.
For boys in the Southern Section Open Division, it’s Sierra Canyon hosting Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Harvard-Westlake hosting La Mirada.
Both games are rematches, so there will be no surprises for the coaches. Sierra Canyon and Harvard-Westlake won the first meetings, so they deserve the favorite’s role to reach Saturday’s championship game at Ontario Arena. But that doesn’t mean the favorites will win.
Notre Dame has athleticism to play with Sierra Canyon, especially if Zach White is rebounding and NaVorro Bowman is hitting threes. Sierra Canyon, though, is 25-1 and surging with its depth. Harvard-Westlake looked done after losing three of its last four regular season games, but has come on to beat Damien, Santa Margarita and Crespi in the Open Division playoffs.
La Mirada is the surprise team, seeded No. 12 and winning every game on the road. The Matadores eliminated Redondo Union in the quarterfinals behind Gene Roebuck. You have to admire La Mirada. Last season they desperately wanted to be in the Open Division, giving up a chance to be in the state playoffs. Now the Matadores are one win away from playing for a section title.
The girls’ competition should draw even bigger crowds than the boys Tuesday, with the featured matchup Etiwanda hosting Sierra Canyon. The two powerhouses have been preparing for this game all season. Jerzy Robinson of Sierra Canyon will try to make sure Etiwanda doesn’t serve as a roadblock to winning the Open Division or state championship. The other semifinal has top-seeded Ontario Christian hosting Sage Hill. If Etiwanda and Ontario Christian win, they’ll get to play in front of lots of fans Saturday night in Ontario.
Boys basketball
Freshman Phillip Reed was in dominant form for Palisades in the City Section Open Division semifinals.
(Steve Galluzzo)
It comes as no surprise that No. 1-seeded Palisades will play No. 2 Cleveland in Friday’s 8 p.m. City Section Open Division final at L.A. Southwest College. They’ve been the top two teams all season. Palisades is the heavy favorite. Here’s a report from the semifinals.
Jack Levey celebrates a big win in the Dolphins’ return to their home court against Western League rival Fairfax.
Sylmar coach Bort Escoto has his team in the City Division II finals. Two of his ex-players at Sylmar, Jeff Bryant and Sam Harris, have their teams in finals. Bryant for Palisades and Harris for Chatsworth in the Division I final.
The Southern Section Division 1 championship game has two surging Orange County schools meeting: JSerra vs. Crean Lutheran.
Division 2 has two surprise finalists in Hesperia taking on Bishop Amat. Hesperia eliminated Mater Dei and Bishop Amat took out defending Open Division and state champion Eastvale Roosevelt.
Etiwanda is ready to take on Sierra Canyon at home on Tuesday night in an Open Division semifinal.
(Nick Koza)
Etiwanda continues to rely on a balanced attack, which should help the Eagles in their showdown semifinal game against Sierra Canyon. Here’s a report from the quarterfinals.
Valencia’s girls basketball team has reached the Southern Section Division 1 semifinals under coach Jared Honig.
(John Duncan)
Valencia has reached the Division 1 final behind coach Jared Honig, who had previous success at Granada Hills. Here’s the report.
In the City Section, top-seeded Westchester and No. 2 Birmingham will play Saturday night at Pasadena City College in the Open Division final. Westchester has the top player in the City in Savannah Myles. Birmingham has used a young team to get better and better.
Baseball
The approaching storm from last week caused South Hills to come up with the novel idea of playing its season opener against Covina early Monday morning before rain came. So the teams began at 12:40 a.m. and finished at 3:34 a.m. in a new way to pull off Midnight Madness. Here’s the report.
Harvard-Westlake unveiled freshman Louis Lappe of El Segundo Little League fame. Here’s the report.
With darkness coming, Huntington Beach took a 7-5 lead over Loyola in the top of the ninth inning. Coach Benji Medure confirmed that he tried to have his players on base get into a triple play to end the inning immediately to try to win the game before the umpires called the game. Two players were tagged out at home plate, but the home-plate umpire stopped everything before a third runner one could be tagged out. It ended up as a 5-5 tie because of darkness.
The first runner tagged out at home was Jared Grindlinger, who responded to Medure’s instructions to get tagged out by saying, “What?” The creativity wasn’t approved by the umpires.
No. 1 St. John Bosco and No. 2 Orange Lutheran begin their seasons this week.
Mike Boehle is entering his 28th season as volleyball coach at Loyola.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
The boys volleyball season has begun, and Loyola figures to be one of the title contenders in Division 1 after a rough season last year in which players lost homes to the Palisades fire, their coach had prostate cancer and a classmate was tragically killed.
Huge congratulations to @CDMBoysVball on winning the Redondo Union/Mira Costa Tournament. The Sea Kings swept Mira Costa in the final 25-21, 25-23, handing the Mustangs their first home loss since March 25, 2024.
It’s championship week in high school soccer. Once again, the top two boys teams in the City Section all season face off. El Camino Real will take on South East. Both teams won their semifinal games by scores of 1-0.
In girls, No. 1 Cleveland will face No. 7 Granada Hills in a rematch from their West Valley League battles.
Trinity League rivals Orange Lutheran and Mater Dei have advanced to Saturday’s Southern Section Open Division boys final after beating Placentia Valencia and JSerra, respectively.
The girls final will have Santa Margarita taking on Mater Dei in another Trinity League rematch.
TWICE AS NICE The Oaks Christian Girls’ Water Polo team is the back-to-back CIF-SS Open Division champions. The Lions defeated Mater Dei 11-8 to retain the title. pic.twitter.com/HMmuCOLBi5
Oaks Christian won its second consecutive Southern Section Open Division girls’ water polo championship with an 11-8 victory over Mater Dei. . . .
Senior Jaslene Massey of Aliso Niguel, one of the top girls discus and shotputters in the nation, began her outdoor season with a discus mark of 179-6 to set an Orange County record. . . .
Aaron Riekenberg has resigned after nine years as boys basketball coach at La Habra. . . .
Junior defensive lineman Isaia Vandermade from Division 1 champion Santa Margarita has committed to USC, where his father, Lenny, was a lineman. . . .
Pat Harlow, a former head football coach at JSerra, is returning to serve as an assistant coach under new coach Hardy Nickerson. Harlow is well known for his ability to coach the offensive line. This is the second time he’s come out of retirement. “I really believe in the school,” he said. Also added to the staff is former Servite, Notre Dame and NFL quarterback Steve Beuerlein. . .
Former Gardena Serra and USC star Robert Woods has retired from football. . . .
Former Garfield football coach Lorenzo Hernandez has come out of retirement to become football coach at Whittier. Here’s the report. . . .
Former St. Margaret’s and Long Beach Poly coach Stephen Barbee is the new football coach at Irvine Northwood. . . .
Standout pitcher Jared Grindlinger of Huntington Beach has reclassified from junior to class of 2026, making him eligible for this year’s amateur draft. Here’s the report . . .
Chad Rolison from Oaks Christian baseball has committed to Loyola Marymount. . . .
Twins James and Miles Clark from St. John Bosco baseball have committed to Duke. . . .
For the fifth straight year, NFL receiver Trenton Irwin is holding a camp on March 8 at his alma mater, Hart, for grades four through eight. . . . .
Quentin Hale, a junior receiver who transferred from Cathedral to Corona Centennial, has committed to USC. . . .
Patrick Goodpaster is the new football coach at Narbonne. He’s a Narbonne grad, member of the Gardena Police Department and former football player at Colorado State. He’s been a youth football coach in the area. . . .
From the archives: Russell White
Former Crespi, Cal and Rams running back Russell White, who led Crespi to the 1986 Division 1 football championship.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Russell White was one of the greatest running backs in Southern California history, leading Crespi to the 1986 Big Five Conference championship as a sophomore when the Celts routed St. John Bosco in the final.
He’d go on to star at Cal and get drafted by the Rams. He has been at Flintridge Prep the last 10 years coaching eight-man football but is stepping down to perhaps coach 11-man football. His son, Zach, is a standout basketball player at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.
From USA Today, a story on South Carolina legislators moving to replace its high school athletic association over transfers and other disagreements.
From CBS, a story on a Florida proposal to allow high school coaches to spend up to $15,000 on player needs known as the Teddy Bridgewater Act.
From KTLA, a story on how AI cameras are helping youth sports parents capture videos.
From the Los Angeles Times, a story on the controversy surrounding trans high school athletes in California.
Tweets you might have missed
Robert Woods has retired from football. This is one of my favorite stories from his high school days at Gardena Serra explaining his inspiration.https://t.co/lihVQqP60f
Former Loyola, Cal and NFL safety Chris Conte has joined JSerra as assistant. There are so many ex-NFL players coaching now in the Trinity League there needs to be an all-star game for coaches only.
A great opening day for the Notre Dame throwers going 1-5 in the shot put at the Eagle Invite in Santa Margarita. 4 boys throwing over 51. Jadin Beckford 53’ 6, Jordan Peck 51’ 9. Alex Parker 51’ 6, Palmer Connery 51’ 4 and Sacha Galatzan 48’ 5. pic.twitter.com/px6aypjzvT
Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.
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Welcome to the Olympic Edition of the Sports Report, an L.A. Times newsletter published every morning during the Winter Olympics. To sign up to receive it via email (it’s free), go here and select the Sports Report. If you’ve already signed up for the Sports Report, you will receive the Olympics edition as well.
Welcome to your daily review and preview of this year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics. My name is John Cherwa and I’m your tour director for the Games as we enter the final day with the U.S. setting a record for golds and closing in on total medals.
Guessing we can call these Games a success for the U.S. after it won its 11th gold medal Saturday — the most ever for the U.S. in a single Winter Olympics. Now the U.S. is hoping to beat or tie its best mark of 34 medals set at Salt Lake City in 2002. With five events yet to be completed, the U.S. is at 33 counting a guaranteed medal in men’s hockey. (A few days ago, we predicted the U.S. would finish with 33.)
There is no chance the U.S. will catch Norway, which has 40 total medals, including 18 golds.
So, with five events remaining does the U.S. have a chance to tie or set a record?
Cross-country skiing. The final event is the women’s 50-kilometer mass start. The podium is likely to be populated by Sweden and Norway, but Jesse Diggins of the U.S. has an outside chance of making the podium.
The U.S. is ninth and 12th heading into the final two runs of the four-man bobsled. Could be another Germany sweep.
The U.S. is out of the women’s curling tournament. Switzerland and Sweden play for the gold.
The U.S. has a guaranteed silver in ice hockey when it plays Canada.
The U.S. will not likely medal in the women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe but it could have. One of the favorites is Eileen Gu, who is from the Bay Area but competes for China. Vice president JD Vance criticized her, among other athletes.
Getting them onto the cusp of tying or breaking the total medal record and breaking the gold medal total on Saturday was the U.S. mixed team freestyle aerials group of Kalia Kuhn, Connor Curran and Christopher Lillis, who gave the U.S. back-to-back golds in this event. It was the 11th gold medal.
The U.S. also picked up a bronze when Mia Manganello came in behind the Netherlands and Canada in the speedskating women’s mass start. The men’s mass start was also won by the Netherlands. Three-time medalist Jordan Stolz of the U.S. was fourth.
The U.S. finished the day with a bronze in the two-woman bobsled. Kaillie Humphries and Jasmine Jones were in the sled where, as usual, Germany took gold and silver. Kaysha Love and Azaria Hill finished fifth.
So the U.S needs one more to tie the record. That means either Jesse Diggins or the four-man bobsled have to have career-defining performances.
The big event today is the men’s hockey gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada. The tournament is so much better with the return of NHL players after 12 years.
Here’s a look at NHL players on each team:
United States: Matt Boldy (Minnesota), Kyle Connor (Winnipeg), Jack Eichel (Vegas), Jack Hughes (New Jersey), Jake Guentzel (Tampa Bay), Clayton Keller (Utah), Dylan Larkin (Detroit), Auston Matthews (Toronto), J.T. Miller (NY Rangers), Brock Nelson (Colorado), Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa), Matthew Tkachuk (Florida), Tage Thompson (Buffalo), Vincent Trocheck (NY Rangers), Brock Faber (Minnesota), Noah Hanifin (Vegas), Quinn Hughes (Minnesota), Jackson LaCombe (Ducks), Charlie McAvoy (Boston), Jake Sanderson (Ottawa), Jaccob Slavin (Carolina), Zach Werenski (Columbus), Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg), Jake Oettinger (Dallas), Jeremy Swayman (Boston).
Canada: Sam Bennett (Florida), Macklin Celebrini (San Jose), Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh), Brandon Hagel (Tampa Bay), Bo Horvat (NY Islanders), Seth Jarvis (Carolina), Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado), Brad Marchand (Florida), Mitch Marner (Vegas), Connor McDavid (Edmonton), Sam Reinhart (Florida), Mark Stone (Vegas), Nick Suzuki (Montreal), Tom Wilson (Washington), Drew Doughty (Kings), Thomas Harley (Dallas), Cale Makar (Colorado), Josh Morrissey (Winnipeg), Colton Parayko (St. Louis), Travis Sanheim (Philadelphia), Shea Theodore (Vegas), Devon Toews (Colorado), Jordan Binnington (St. Louis), Darcy Kuemper (Kings—injured), Logan Thompson (Washington).
Elsewhere on Saturday
Oceane Michelon of France approaches the finish line to win gold in the women’s 12.5-kilometer biathlon mass start on Saturday.
(Harry How / Getty Images)
France picked up gold and silver in the biathlon women’s 12.5-kilometer mass start. There were no U.S. competitors.
The U.S. closed its curling competition by losing the women’s bronze medal match 10-7 to Canada. Canada won the men’s gold, beating Britain, 9-6.
Finland beat Slovakia, 6-1, for the men’s bronze in ice hockey.
The men’s 50-kilometer mass start in cross-country skiing was an all Norway medal stand as they swept the medals and lengthened its lead in total medals. Gus Schumacher of the U.S. was 13th.
The new must-watch sport of ski mountaineering (skimo) finished with the mixed relay, which was won by France. The U.S. pair of Anna Gibson and Cameron Smith was fourth.
Best thing to watch on TV today
The centerpiece of Sunday’s final day is the closing ceremony, which is less of a ceremony than a party. Athletes just flood the zone and the party begins. The event is not in Milan or Cortina d’Ampezzo but Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet fame. (Speaking of Shakespeare, the movie Hamnet is a must watch.) It starts at 11:30 a.m. PST and should last about 2½ hours. But, before all that is the gold medal hockey game between the U.S. and Canada. It starts at 5:10 a.m. PST. The final heat of the four-man bobsled is at 3:15 a.m. PST.
Favorite photo
U.S. speedskater Mia Manganello celebrates after earning a bronze medal in the women’s mass start final in Milan on Saturday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Times photographer Robert Gauthier is at the Winter Olympics. Each day, Times newsletter editor Houston Mitchell will select a favorite photo from the many Gauthier has taken.
Sunday’s Olympic TV and streaming schedule
CLOSING CEREMONY 11:30 a.m. — NBC
MULTIPLE SPORTS 2 p.m. — Best of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic Games | NBC 9 p.m. — “Primetime in Milan” (delay): Closing ceremony, bobsled, cross-country skiing, curling, hockey. | NBC
BOBSLED 1 a.m. — Four-man bobsled, Run 3 | Peacock 3:15 a.m. — 🏅Four-man bobsled, final run | Peacock 3:35 a.m. — 🏅Four-man bobsled, final run (in progress) | USA 4:15 a.m. — Four-man bobsled, final run (delay) | NBC 8 a.m. — Four-man bobsled, runs 3-4 (re-air) | NBC
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING 1 a.m. — 🏅Women’s 50-kilometer mass start classic | USA 4 a.m. — Women’s 50-kilometer mass start classic (re-air) | USA 8:45 a.m. — Women’s 50-kilometer mass start classic (re-air) | NBC
CURLING 🏅Women’s gold-medal match 2:05 a.m. — Switzerland vs. Sweden | Peacock 4 a.m. — Switzerland vs. Sweden (delay) | USA, NBC 10:30 a.m. — Switzerland vs. Sweden (re-air) | USA
HOCKEY 🏅Men’s gold-medal match 5:10 a.m. — United States vs. Canada | NBC 1:30 p.m. — United States vs. Canada (re-air) | USA
In case you missed it …
Check out the following Milan-Cortina Olympics dispatches from the L.A. Times team on the ground in Italy:
That concludes today’s Sports Report Olympic Edition newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email newsletter editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here and select the Sports Report.
The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg—and the Battle for the Soul of American Cinema
By Paul Fischer Celadon Books: 480 pages, $32
If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.
Paul Fischer showed “Jaws” to his daughter when she was 10. She wasn’t scared. In fact, she loved it so much that she dressed as Richard Dreyfuss’ Hooper for Halloween. To Fischer, who watched “Raiders of the Lost Ark” at age 4 (“I remember the melting heads but I don’t think I was traumatized”), it shows the staying power of some of the ’70s blockbusters.
“It’s the flip side of how these franchises became so massive and had such a long tail,” he said in a recent video call with The Times, discussing how each generation still finds “Star Wars,” “Raiders,” “E.T.,” “Jaws” and “The Godfather.” “They’ve created films that endured and that overshadow others.”
The narrative then follows their journeys from the late ’60s through the early ’80s, filling in the “ecosystem” the trio came up in and how they wanted to change the system to gain creative autonomy. Spielberg worked within the system, Coppola spent lavishly and even ostentatiously to build his own studio and Lucas found his independence through a quieter, more conservative and technology-driven route.
(Martin Scorsese, who was friends with the three and “the most interesting human being of that generation of filmmakers,” gets plenty of ink but was not a titular character, Fischer said, because he remained an outsider who just wanted to make movies, not change the system.)
“I’m not going to pretend I can tell you what was going on in their heads but I tried to make people feel like they were there when it happened,” Fischer said.
While none of the three men would be interviewed, Fischer had decades of quotes and conducted his own interviews with hundreds of people in the filmmakers’ orbits to get a fuller and more honest story. (He added that their representatives were uniformly helpful with fact-checking and providing photos. “There was never a door closed on me,” he said in an accidental reference to the final scene of “The Godfather.”)
Coppola, “who changed quite a bit, was the hardest one for me to pin down,” Fischer said. “There are layers of complexity to him and his willingness to treat the creative life as if it’s an experiment.” Blending that with his self-indulgent philandering and spending of money, he added, “you can change your mind about that guy every five minutes.”
During that era at least, Fischer said Lucas and Coppola seemed ”completely devoid of any self-awareness.” He chronicles how Coppola pressured Lucas to accept changes to his first feature, “THX 1138,” so the studio would release it while Lucas viewed that as Coppola pushing him to sell out. Meanwhile, Lucas was pushing Coppola to do a studio film for hire to keep his fledgling Zoetrope Studio afloat, making Coppola feel pressured to sell out. (That movie was “The Godfather,” so it worked out OK for Coppola.)
“They keep giving each other advice about how to do things and then betray that same advice when it applies themselves,” he said, although he added that he doesn’t “whip them for 300 pages for having giant egos,” and said it’s part of the recipe to be a visionary filmmaker, especially in the Hollywood studio system.
Ultimately, the book depicts Lucas as more of a sellout, acting like the studio suits he once detested as he pressures “The Empire Strikes Back” director Irvin Kershner to make changes, often based on budget and then focusing more on profitability as he conjured up characters like the Ewoks for “Return of the Jedi.” Fischer doesn’t believe Lucas would recognize that version of himself in the book. “He’s someone who lost his BS detector and has drunk his own Kool-Aid.”
In Fischer’s telling, the creative and business sides are interwoven and inseparable from each other and from the personal relationships — their friendships and rivalries with each other but also their relationships with those who worked for them or loved them.
“They were all able to do what they did because of wives or partners or friends or college classmates, who did a lot of the work without being household names,” he said. To fully tell the story, he devotes plenty of narrative space to Coppola’s wife Eleanor, and his most prominent mistress, Melissa Mathison, who later wrote “E.T.,” producer Kathleen Kennedy, who co-founded Amblin Entertainment with Spielberg, and Lucas’ wife, Marcia, who edited the first “Star Wars” trilogy (and Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver”).
“How did these guys break through? Well, they were middle-class white dudes and these women looked after some of this stuff they couldn’t,” Fischer said. “Those aren’t the only reasons these guys became who they did but without that, they probably [wouldn’t have].”
Fischer celebrates the three men’s vision and talents — he calls “The Godfather” “a perfect film” and says Spielberg “speaks the language of a camera better than anybody else”— but the book makes clear how often they got lucky or were saved from themselves.
If Coppola had spent his money more judiciously, he might not have done “The Godfather;” Lucas resisted hiring Harrison Ford to play Han Solo as well as Ford’s creative contributions; and if someone had bankrolled the first feature film Spielberg pitched before latching onto “Jaws” — “a sex comedy San Francisco Chinese laundry riff on Snow White” — it could have sunk his career.
Additionally, Lucas and Coppola’s friendship frayed when the latter snatched back the directing gig for a film he had long ago promised to his buddy. “But imagine George Lucas making some weird low-budget, ‘Battle of Algiers’ version of ‘Apocalypse Now’ in the back streets of Sacramento,” Fischer said. “That sounds pretty crappy. And we would have lost one of the great, novelistic experiential movies that we have.”
Lucas, meanwhile, dangled his idea for “Raiders of the Lost Ark” before Spielberg’s eyes, then told him that Philip Kaufman had dibs. “He’s a fine director but we would have lost something there too,” Fischer said. “There are these crossroads there but still there has got to be something special about these three or they couldn’t have had repeated successes like they did.”
Writing about their failures, foibles and frustrations did not lessen the hold that these three men and their movie magic have on Fischer. He recounts a story of his own connection to one film with undisguised delight and enthusiasm. After graduating film school at USC, he was producing a documentary (“Radioman”) in New York when he learned that “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” was doing some filming in Connecticut. “Obsessed,” he finagled his way onto the set and into a job. “All I did was turn off the air conditioning,” he said. “‘Roll camera,’ I flip it off. ‘Cut,’ I turn it on. I did that for four days. But when Harrison Ford walked by wearing that jacket, I was 5-years-old again. That was cool.”
Miller is a freelance writer in Brooklyn who frequently writes about movies.
