lakers

The NBA’s leading scorer recorded the second 60-point game of his career as the Lakers take down the Heat in Miami.

Luka Doncic scored 60 points – the most ‌ever recorded against the Heat – as the Los Angeles Lakers won their eighth straight game, defeating ⁠the Miami Heat 134-126 ⁠away on Thursday night.

James Harden had the previous record against Miami with 58 points. He reached that mark while a member of the Houston Rockets on February 28, ⁠2019.

The Lakers (45-25) also got a triple-double from LeBron James, who had 19 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. It was just the second triple-double of the season for James, who no ⁠doubt has fond memories of his time in Miami, leading the Heat to four straight NBA Finals (2011-2014) and two NBA titles.

It is possible that this was the final game in Miami ever for James, 41, who has not yet announced his future playing plans.

Doncic, who entered the day leading ‌the NBA with a 32.9 scoring average, made 18 of 30 shots from the floor, nine of 17 on three-pointers and 15 of 19 at the free throw line. He also had seven rebounds, five steals and three assists.

Over the past two nights, Doncic has scored 100 points.

Bam Adebayo led Miami (38-32) with 28 points and 10 rebounds. He appeared fully healthy after having missed Miami’s previous game due to tightness in his right calf.

However, the ⁠Heat are just 1-3 since Adebayo scored 83 points against Washington on ⁠March 10, the second-greatest scoring game in NBA history.

Tyler Herro added 21 points for Miami, and Norman Powell tallied 20.

The Heat were without two key injured players, Jaime Jaquez Jr (left-hip tightness) and Andrew Wiggins (left big toe). Those ⁠two players combine to average 30.9 points.

Miami led 42-29 at the end of the first quarter, during which the Heat shot 63.0 percent from the ⁠floor and had a 26-12 edge in paint points. ⁠Los Angeles, despite 12 points from Doncic, shot just 40.9 percent.

Los Angeles hit 12 of 20 shots from the floor in the second quarter and cut its deficit to 65-59 at halftime. Miami shot just 40.9 percent.

The Lakers took their first lead ‌of the game at 72-71 with 9:05 left in the third as Doncic hit his third straight three-pointer. By the end of the period, the Lakers led, 97-88.

Doncic scored 19 points in ‌the ‌third. Miami misfired on 10 of 12 attempts from behind the arc in the quarter.

The Lakers closed out the game without much trouble in the fourth quarter, beating Miami for the third straight time.

Out of the mouths of babes …

When measuring the furiously growing buzz around the Lakers, one need only heed the hopeful cries of one of their most rabid fans.

A 6-year-old.

Jackson Tuyay was named the Lakers’ fan of the game when the team beat the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, March 14, 2026. (Courtesy of Tuyay family)

(Courtesy of Tuyay family)

Wearing a Shaquille O’Neal jersey that nearly drapes to his knees.

Leading 20,000 fans in a Saturday night cheer that has swept through a city.

“Yeaaaaaah!,” Jackson Tuyay screamed, and now all of Lakerland screams with him.

It happened in the second half of the Lakers’ steal of a victory against the Denver Nuggets.

The videoboard at Crypto.com Arena announced the regular competition for Fan of the Game, and while searching the stands for the usual dancing fools, the cameras focused on a child who had been cheering the entire night.

Not just cheering, but screaming. Not just rooting, but flexing. Not just clapping, but pounding his fists against his chest.

It was Jackson Tuyay, and he was doing it all with one word in a tiny voice that spoke for a massive fan base.

Yeaaaah indeed. Tuyay was captured on the giant videoboard, he was awarded a $100 gift card for being Fan of the Game, and afterward none other than LeBron James credited him with the comeback win.

“That little kid on the Jumbotron was definitely … I looked up there … I think he’s, yeah, he’s the reason why we won tonight for sure,” James told reporters afterward, and everyone laughed, but there’s something to this.

On what many onlookers credited with being the loudest night of the season, a kindergartner perhaps epitomized what many of this city’s oldest and most die-hard fans are finally feeling.

Everybody is screaming about the Lakers. Everybody is flexing about the Lakers. Everybody is pounding their chest about the Lakers.

They have won nine of the last 10 games, cutting into winning records of the New York Knicks, Minnesota, Denver and Houston in the last 10 days, moving up to third in the West, sprinting toward the potential for greatness.

Did you see them in their fourth quarter comeback win in Houston on Monday night? The Rockets committed nine turnovers, made four baskets and Kevin Durant was held to one garbage-time layup in the entire second half. Once a gaping wound, the Lakers have the league’s sixth-ranked defense during these last 10 games. Combined with its deftly collaborative offense, one can only imagine the heights this team can reach.

They’re playing unselfish basketball, witness James throwing himself through the air while chasing down a loose ball against Denver.

They’re playing tough basketball, witness everything growling Marcus Smart does down the stretch, from steals to treys.

They’re playing redemptive basketball, witness Deandre Ayton finally showing up and proving he is truly the X factor on this team.

And, of course, they’re playing Luka and A.R. basketball, the two best players on this team throwing down one dagger after another, even playing better with James on the court alongside them.

“I think they’re gonna win a lot of games,” predicted Jackson this week, and I think this child genius might be right.

The kid’s impact Saturday night might have been brief, but it’s real, as he received props not just from James, but from Doncic on Instagram.

Lakers center Deandre Ayton blocks a pass to Rockets center Clint Capela during their game Monday.

(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

“I just wanted the Lakers to win because I thought it would be cool,” Jackson said.

Cooler still is that this was the first Lakers game of Jackson’s young life, as his father, Byron, bought four tickets online for him; his mother, Katherine; and his younger sister, Emilia.

“I saw it on the schedule and just figured it would be a fun afternoon for the kids,” said Byron, a South Pasadena lawyer who grew up during the Shaq-Kobe era and is passing his Laker fandom on to his family.

Like any good Lakers fan, the couple bought souvenirs for the kids before the game, including purchasing a jersey and a foam finger for Jackson. The jersey was the smallest size possible, but appropriately celebrated the biggest man imaginable. Jackson swam in it, but was inspired by it.

“We had to get the Shaq jersey,” said Byron. “We’re old school.”

Once the game started Jackson lived up to a nickname given to him because he runs everywhere, including out of his house in the mornings and around the corner to his nearby school.

A friend’s parent calls him “Turbo,” and he was doing all kinds of turbo things when the cameras caught him in the act.

“He has this crazy aura and energy about him,” said Byron. “He was cheering like that all game.”

Once the fans at Crypto.com Arena saw his flexing and chest beating, they couldn’t get enough. He was not only named Fan of the Game, but he was shown on the videoboard several times during the rest of the game, igniting a huge ovation every time and establishing himself as the team’s new talisman.

After the game ended with the Lakers stunning overtime victory, fans lined up to give him high-fives and cheer for him as his family descended a stairway.

He might be hearing more cheers in the future. He’s already been invited to their next home game by somebody from Doncic’s camp, and future invitations are sure to follow.

C’mon Lakers, get this kid in the building for a playoff game. Show that the sophisticated following of the world’s most glamorous sports franchise is actually rooted in the heart of a child.

After all, Laker fans know a hero when they see one, and the postgame chants for Jackson Tuyay were unmistakable.

“M-V-P … M-V-P … M-V-P!”

Luka (40 points), LeBron (30) lead Lakers

From Broderick Turner: The combination of Luka Doncic and LeBron James was overpowering and enthralling for all to see during the Lakers’ dynamic 124-116 win over the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on Wednesday.

Doncic was masterful with his near triple-double of 40 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

“I thought he definitely put on a clinic down the stretch,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “Whether it was in isolation, versus fires in isolations, versus the shock with (Alperen) Segun, he just got us good offense whether for himself or for his teammates every single time down the floor….We moved the basketball, so that kind of got us going and then when Luka came back in he was just fantastic.”

James was a force with 30 points, five rebounds and two assists.

He was super efficient, missing just one of his 14 shots and making both of his three-pointers.

“Look, he was awesome tonight and I think two, part of the evolution of him on this team has been, particularly in this stretch, it’s just been his patience,” Redick said. “His patience, knowing he’s going to get the ball and he’s going to have transition opportunities and he’s going to have plays called for him and he’s going to play off-ball and get a corner three…He was great.”

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Plaschke: ‘Yeaaaaaah!’ A child’s cheer inspires surging Lakers

Lakers box score

NBA standings

Clippers lose to Pelicans

Saddiq Bey scored 25 points, Trey Murphy added 23 and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame an early 18-point hole to beat the Clippers 124-109 on Wednesday night.

Dejounte Murray had 17 points and 11 assists, while Zion Williamson and rookie Derrick Queen each scored 14 for the Pelicans, who received a standing ovation as the final seconds wound down on their sixth straight victory at home and ninth win in their last 13 games overall

Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points and John Collins added 18 for the Clippers, who dropped a game below .500 (34-35), but maintained a tenuous hold on the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference standings, a half-game ahead of Portland.

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Clippers box score

NBA standings

Ohtani looks good in start

From Maddie Lee: A sparse crowd braved the heat, which was approaching 100 degrees when Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani walked off the mound at Camelback Ranch. But those who did were treated to a dominant pitching performance from the four-time MVP in his first start of spring training.

They repaid the favor with a standing ovation.

“I’ve learned that you don’t ever underestimate or try to make predictions on what Shohei’s going to do,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s always going to deliver. Yeah, I thought he would be a little bit more rusty than he was today. The breaking ball was good, got some swing and miss. The fastball command, he was working ahead in the count today. So across the board, really good.”

Ohtani limited the San Francisco Giants to one hit and overshot the innings goal Roberts laid out Wednesday morning by pitching to one batter in the fifth inning. Ohtani didn’t give up a run in those 4 ⅓ innings, and the only other blemishes on the performance were a pair of walks and a hit batter.

Continue reading here

‘It wasn’t just my name.’ Why Miguel Rojas was bothered by erroneous suspension report

Shaikin: The big hit? The WBC. Still looking for that big hit? Team USA.

WNBA, union, reach accord

From Marisa Ingemi: There will be a 2026 WNBA season.

After over more than 100 hours of in-person negotiations since March 10 in New York, the WNBA and its players union came to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement early Wednesday morning.

The deal will allow the season to begin on time, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said, and training camp to kick off at the end of April.

Before that, though, there is a lot to get done.

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Ducks fall to Flyers

Noah Cates scored on a deflection off goalie Lukas Dostal’s skate at 2:17 of overtime and — after a review for offsides on the play — the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Ducks 3-2 on Wednesday night.

The Pacific Division-leading Ducks forced overtime on Leo Carlsson’s goal with 1:54 left in regulation.

Dan Vladar made 34 saves to help Philadelphia rebound from a 2-1 shootout loss to Columbus at home Saturday night. The Flyers are six points behind Boston and Detroit for the two Eastern Conference wild-card spots.

Continue reading here

Ducks summary

NHL standings

March Madness analysis

The NCAA men’s tournament bracket is set and the games are set to begin Tuesday with the First Four.

Here’s a rundown of the players to watch, potential underdog teams and what to know about the 2026 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Click here to continue

————

The NCAA women’s basketball tournament bracket is set and the games will begin Wednesday with the start of the First Four.

Here’s a rundown of the players to watch, potential dark horse teams and game previews for every region in the 2026 NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

Click here to continue

This day in sports history

1942 — The Thoroughbred Racing Associations of the United States is formed, with John C. Clark president.

1950 — Babe Didrikson Zaharias shoots a record 298 and beats Clair Doran by eight strokes to capture the U.S. Women’s Open.

1950 — The Rochester Royals win their 15th consecutive game, 97-66 over the Baltimore Bullets to set an NBA record for consecutive victories to close a season.

1955 — San Francisco wins the NCAA basketball championship with a 77-63 victory over La Salle.

1955 — Dick Ricketts and Si Green combine for 56 points to lead Duquesne to a 70-58 triumph over Dayton in the NIT championship.

1956 — The Minneapolis Lakers defeat the St. Louis Hawks 133-75 for the biggest rout in NBA playoff history.

1960 — Ohio State wins the NCAA basketball title with a 75-55 victory against California.

1960 — Mach Herndon’s 26 points leads Bradley to a 88-72 triumph over Providence for the NIT title. Lenny Wilkens scores 25 points for the Friars.

1966 — Texas Western, starting five Black players, wins the NCAA basketball championship with a 72-65 upset of all-white Kentucky.

1966 — BYU beats New York University 97-84 for the NIT championship.

1972 — The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women holds its first basketball championship and Immaculata beats West Chester State 52-48.

1972 — The Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 162-99 for the most lopsided victory in NBA history.

1987 — Bonnie Blair skates ladies’ world record 500 m (39.43 sec)

1994 — Hartford’s Brian Propp reaches the 1,000-point mark with a goal in a 5-3 win over Philadelphia.

1995 — Chicago’s Michael Jordan returns from his 17-month retirement. Wearing No. 45, he shoots 7-of-28 from the field and scores 19 points in the Bulls’ 103-96 overtime loss at Indiana.

1998 — The U.S. women’s soccer team sustains the worst loss in its 13-year history, falling 4-1 to reigning World Cup champion Norway in the Algarve Cup.

2006 — Tennessee’s Candace Parker is the first woman to dunk in an NCAA tournament game, jamming one-handed on a breakaway 6:12 into the second-seeded Lady Vols’ 102-54 victory against an Army team that was making its NCAA tournament debut.

2011 — Duke gives coach Mike Krzyzewski his 900th victory, a 73-71 win over Michigan, and the Blue Devils advance to the round of 16 for the 12th time in 14 years.

2014 — Chris Eversley scores 19 points to help Cal Poly become the first team in 59 years with 19 losses to win an NCAA tournament game, beating Texas Southern 81-69 in the First Four.

2015 — Lindsey Vonn wins the final super-G of the season and with it her 19th crystal globe trophy — equaling the record of Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark.

2015 — R.J. Hunter’s three-pointer with 2.7 seconds remaining caps a comeback from a 12-point deficit and lifts 14th-seeded Georgia State over third-seeded Baylor 57-56 in the NCAA Tournament.

2015 — William Lee scores the last four points for 14th-seeded UAB in its 60-59 upset of Iowa State.

2019 — Houston Rockets guard James Harden becomes first player in NBA history to score at least 30 points against all 29 opponents in a single season with 31 in a 121-105 win over the Atlanta Hawks.

2022 — LeBron James moves past Karl Malone (36,909) into second on NBA’s all-time scoring list with 38 points in Lakers’ 127-119 loss to Washington Wizards.

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.

HOUSTON — The combination of Luka Doncic and LeBron James was overpowering and enthralling for all to see during the Lakers’ dynamic 124-116 win over the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on Wednesday.

Doncic was masterful with his near triple-double of 40 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

“I thought he definitely put on a clinic down the stretch,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “Whether it was in isolation, versus fires in isolations, versus the shock with (Alperen) Segun, he just got us good offense whether for himself or for his teammates every single time down the floor….We moved the basketball, so that kind of got us going and then when Luka came back in he was just fantastic.”

James was a force with 30 points, five rebounds and two assists.

He was super efficient, missing just one of his 14 shots and making both of his three-pointers.

“Look, he was awesome tonight and I think two, part of the evolution of him on this team has been, particularly in this stretch, it’s just been his patience,” Redick said. “His patience, knowing he’s going to get the ball and he’s going to have transition opportunities and he’s going to have plays called for him and he’s going to play off-ball and get a corner three…He was great.”

The tremendous play of Doncic and James is why the Lakers extended their winning streak to seven straight games and helped them take the three-game series over the Rockets, 2-1, winning both games here, one on Monday night.

And because Doncic and James were clutch down the stretch when the Lakers leaned on them to be clutch, they are the third-place team in the rugged Western Conference, holding a 1-½ lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“You know, when you win, everything is easier,” Doncic said. “Winning is fun. So, just the way we play, I think it’s a lot of fun. And that’s what we just do, we win, have a good time.”

Doncic had 10 points and three assists in the fourth quarter.

But the beauty of the night was when Doncic threw a no-look lob pass to James for a dunk and then when Doncic drilled a three-pointer with 58.4 seconds left for a 120-111 Lakers lead.

Doncic yelled at the crowd and ran down court shaking his head. When the Rockets called a time out, the Lakers bench all ran over to Doncic, hugging him, slapping him and James nudging him for a job very well done.

Doncic was asked what the fan said to set him off.

“I don’t know, some guy. Some guy was talking crazy,” Doncic said. “Showed me his… I don’t know. Nevermind.”

Doncic speaks several languages, including English and his native Slovenian.

He was asked what language he spoke when talking to the fan.

“Off the camera, it was in English,” he said. “I made sure he understand.”

Luka Doncic celebrates after making a three-pointer against the Houston Rockets in the first half.

(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

James had a steal in the first quarter and then threw down a dunk with Alperen Segen chasing him, leading to James to stare at Segun as he ran back down court, drawing cheers from the fans in awe at witnessing the 23-year veteran still making highlight plays at 41.

Early in the second quarter, James gave the fans even more to cheer about, catching a high lob pass from Marcus Smart and throwing down a one-handed dunk to oohs and aahs.

James wasn’t done, taking a pass from Jake LaRavia and throwing down another dunk later in the second quarter that brought the crowd out of its seats. That play gave the Lakers a 13-point lead.

James was at it again with a tip dunk off a Deandre Ayton missed shot late in the second quarter.

By the end of the first half, James had made all eight of his shots and scored 18 points in carrying the Lakers to a 12-point lead after the first 24 minutes of the game.

“Right now, I feel like….” James said after the game. ‘’Right now. But in the game I felt pretty good. Before the game I didn’t feel that great. I mean, I was yawning and tired and telling myself I was literally, just like talking to myself like, ‘Come on, here we go. Let’s figure it out. Let’s get through it.’ But I felt pretty good in the game and like I said I’m happy to make a few plays to help our team win.”

In many ways, it was easy to understand why he felt that way. He had just played in his 1,610th career NBA game, leaving him one shy of the all-time record held by Robert Parish (1,611).

So, James was asked, where did he find the energy to play 34 minutes and six seconds in such a high-level and intense game.

“I mean, if I’m in uniform I got to try to see what I can give,” James said. “And that’s where it stems from.”

Yamamoto is honored

From Maddie Lee: The first pitch of the Dodgers’ 2026 season won’t capture the exuberance of the last pitch of 2025. But it will be meaningful in its own right, as the official first step of the team’s quest for a third straight championship.

How poetic that the same arm should deliver both pitches.

“It’s an honor for me,” Dodgers opening day starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto said Tuesday through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “And then it’s opening day at a Dodger Stadium home game, and that’s very [much an] honor to me. I also feel the responsibility.”

Yamamoto is scheduled to make one more Cactus League start, against the Padres on Friday, before taking the Dodger Stadium mound next Thursday when the Diamondbacks come to town. It will be the second opening-day start of Yamamoto’s MLB career, and his first at home.

It will also mark the end of a whirlwind offseason and spring training for Yamamoto, who not only shouldered a demanding postseason workload, but also navigated an especially quick turnaround to pitch for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic.

“It’s hard to put into words,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He is just very driven, he’s very disciplined in his work. That’s some of the things that allows him to compete at a high level. Where most people would feel that you win the World Series MVP, you don’t have enough to pitch in the WBC. He wanted to pitch for his country, and now he’s really excited about the start of 2026.

“He is a very determined person. He really is. We’re just lucky he’s on our team.”

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‘There’s endless possibilities.’ Mookie Betts embraces Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s training methods

March Madness analysis

The NCAA men’s tournament bracket is set and the games are set to begin Tuesday with the First Four.

Here’s a rundown of the players to watch, potential underdog teams and what to know about the 2026 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Click here to continue

————

The NCAA women’s basketball tournament bracket is set and the games will begin Wednesday with the start of the First Four.

Here’s a rundown of the players to watch, potential dark horse teams and game previews for every region in the 2026 NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

Click here to continue

Alabama guard Aden Holloway arrested on felony drug charge days before NCAA tournament

NFL mock draft

From Sam Farmer: NFL teams are living on the edge.

Sure, it’s a quarterback’s league, but a major focus of the upcoming NFL draft will be about getting to the quarterback. This class is loaded with talented pass rushers, and teams figure to take advantage of that early and often. This mock draft has edge rushers off the board with the second, third and fourth selections.

How appropriate that the April 23-25 draft will be held for the first time in Pittsburgh, birthplace of the Steel Curtain.

The Steelers, incidentally, take a receiver in this mock — and there are lots of talented prospects at that spot, too. This contemplates the Rams selecting USC receiver Makai Lemon, although it’s entirely possible that the sure-handed Trojans star will already be gone by the time the 13th pick rolls around.

The Chargers, meanwhile, take an offensive lineman to address the need that haunted them all last season after they were ravaged by injuries up front.

One look at how the draft could unfold:

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Venezuela defeats the U.S. to win the World Baseball Classic

Venezuela won the World Baseball Classic for the first time, rebounding from a blown eighth-inning lead to beat the United States 3-2 Tuesday night on Eugenio Suárez’s tiebreaking double in the ninth.

Maikel Garcia’s third-inning sacrifice fly and Wilyer Abreu’s fifth-inning homer off rookie Nolan McLean built a 2-0 lead before a roaring pro-Latin America crowd. Meanwhile, left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez and lights-out relievers limited the Americans to two hits through the seventh.

Bobby Witt Jr. walked with two out in the eighth and Bryce Harper drove the second straight changeup from Andrés Machado over the center-field fence for a two-run homer that tied it. Harper slowly trotted around the bases and took time at third to salute coach Dino Ebel.

Luis Arraez walked against Garrett Whitlock starting the ninth. Pinch-runner Javier Sanoja stole second just ahead of catcher Will Smith’s throw and came home when Suárez doubled to the left-center gap. Suárez spread his arms wide and pointed to the sky at second base while teammates streamed from the dugout to greet Sanoja at the plate.

Daniel Palencia struck out two in a perfect bottom half to finish a three-hitter and get his third save of the WBC, striking out Roman Anthony to end the game. Venezuelans ran onto the infield to celebrate as the Americans stared while leaning on their dugout railing.

Continue reading here

Shaikin: U.S. showing class at WBC no matter how the White House might react to a title

This day in sports history

1945 — Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens becomes the first NHL player to score 50 goals in a season during a 4-2 triumph over the Boston Bruins in the final game of the season.

1950 — CCNY beats Bradley 69-61 for the NIT championship.

1953 — Don Schlundt scores 30 points to lead Indiana to a 69-68 victory over Kansas for the NCAA basketball championship.

1990 — Jeff Fryer’s 41 points leads Loyola Marymount to a 149-115 victory over defending national champion Michigan in the highest-scoring game in NCAA tournament history.

1993 — Santa Clara beats Arizona 64-61 to become the second 15th-seeded team to win a first-round game in the NCAA tournament.

1995 — Michael Jordan announces he is ending his 17-month NBA retirement.

2001 — Indiana’s Reggie Miller becomes the first player in NBA history to accumulate 2,000 three-pointers after hitting four in a 101-95 win over Sacramento.

2008 — The Houston Rockets’ 22-game winning streak comes to an end. Kevin Garnett scores 22 points and Paul Pierce adds 20 as the Celtics beat the Rockets 94-74, stopping Houston’s remarkable run.

2009 — New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur breaks Patrick Roy’s NHL record for career wins by a goaltender. Brodeur records his 552nd win in a 3-2 decision over the Chicago Blackhawks.

2013 — LeBron James and the Miami Heat escape Boston with their 23rd win in a row, the second longest win streak in NBA history. James scores 37 points and makes the go-ahead basket with 10.5 seconds left in Miami’s 105-103 victory.

2015 — Lindsey Vonn wins the World Cup downhill title for the seventh time, winning the last race in the discipline at the World Cup finals in Meribel, France.

2016 — Middle Tennessee State sends a big shock through the men’s NCAA Tournament, topping second-seeded Michigan State 90-81 in the first round. Middle Tennessee never trails the Spartans (29-6) in one of the biggest upsets since the tournament began seeding teams in 1985.

2016 — Thomas Walkup scores 33 points and 14th-seeded Stephen F. Austin takes down West Virginia’s full-court pressure with some of its own in-your-face defense, pulling off a 70-56 first-round upset of the third-seeded Mountaineers in the NCAA Tournament.

2017 — Kalani Brown scores 21 points and top-seeded Baylor overwhelms much smaller Texas Southern 119-30, the most lopsided women’s NCAA Tournament game. The 89-point margin breaks the previous record 74-point win by Tennessee over North Carolina A&T (111-37) in 1994. Baylor’s 119 points are the most scored in regulation of a women’s NCAA Tournament game, surpassing the previous record 116.

2017 — Texas A&M pulls off the biggest comeback in women’s NCAA Tournament history, rallying from a 21-point deficit for a 63-61 victory over Penn to close out the first round of the NCAAs. The fifth-seeded Aggies finish the game on a 25-1 run to beat the 12th-seeded Quakers.

2018 — Tennessee loses for the first time at home in women’s NCAA Tournament history. Marie Gulich has 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead sixth-seed Oregon State to a 66-59 win. The third-seeded Lady Vols had been 57-0 at home, with most of those victories coming under late Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt.

2019 — 40-year old Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki overtakes Wilt Chamberlain to move into sixth place with 31,424 points on the NBA scorers’ list; Mavs suffer 129-125 OT loss to New Orleans Pelicans.

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 back to this week’s Lakers newsletter, where we are fully scoreboard watching.

The Lakers have 14 games left and are surging up the Western Conference standings. With six consecutive wins and nine in their last 10, the Lakers (43-25) are third in the West and suddenly have a 1.5-game lead on fourth-place Houston.

The team that couldn’t beat anyone good suddenly has statement wins over four teams with .600 records. The turnaround from fighting to stay out of the play-in to now being in position for homecourt advantage left even JJ Redick struggling to find the right description.

“Is coalesce a word?” Redick said after the Lakers outlasted the Denver Nugget in overtime on Saturday. “Is that the right word? For coming together? Jelling? I think it feels like we’re coalescing right now in a really nice way.”

Lakers’ ‘Big Three’ finds its pecking order

The defining moment of LeBron James’ performance during the Lakers’ game of the season officially went down as a turnover.

His Superman dive to save a loose ball with 54.3 seconds left in regulation against Denver on Saturday turned into one of James’ five turnovers because the Lakers did not corral the jump ball. But the statistical and physical sacrifice of the play showed the type of role James will play on this team coming down the stretch of the season.

“It’s a great example of leadership,” Redick said. “Leadership is not just the voice who’s talking. Leadership is then what you do on the court, and if you want to be a winning team then you need guys who are willing to take the lead and make winning plays.”

With Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves starring, Redick acknowledged that “the best thing for our team is [James] being the third highest-used player.” Since returning from hip and elbow injuries that kept him out of three games, James has had the third-highest usage rate on the team in each of the last three games. All were wins.

Redick acknowledged that “finding the groove” between James, Doncic and Reaves has been “the challenge for all of them, not just LeBron, all season.” It was more difficult because alternating injuries limited the trio’s time together on the court.

The season-long advanced metrics have favored having just Doncic and Reaves on the court, who have a plus-eight net rating together, as opposed to all three (plus-3.2 net rating). But the modest rating of the Doncic, Reaves and James combination has taken dramatic leaps this week alone.

James, Doncic and Reaves outscored opponents by 32.7 points per 100 possessions in wins against the Bulls and Nuggets.

The Lakers have gotten their “best win of the season” four times in the last nine days. Two were without James when the Lakers blew out the Knicks and the Timberwolves. He returned and the wins got grittier: an overtime thriller against Denver and Monday’s tense victory in Houston.

Other teammates made the flashy, standout plays. Doncic nailed the game-winning basket in overtime against Denver, and Reaves forced extra time with a one-in-a-hundred intentionally missed free throw. Deandre Ayton had four consecutive points late in the fourth quarter against Houston that put the Rockets away.

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer, meanwhile, has been a relatively quiet seven-for-13 from the field in each of the last three games, scoring no more than 18 points. He doesn’t mind as long as it adds up to wins.

“If it benefits others, it benefits the team,” James said last week. “The team is most important.”

It won’t count in the stat sheet, but watching James fly across the floor at 41 years old against Denver was “one of the biggest plays of the game,” Reaves said Saturday. Redick joked that after 23 NBA seasons and three years of high school he had never seen James lay out for a loose ball like that.

Because he never had, James replied.

And after sharing a photo on social media of a bright red court burn the size of a nickel, James might never do it again.

“Might be it for diving for the year!” James wrote in an Instagram story showing the wound. “Ouch! Lol!”

Deandre Ayton arrives just in time

Deandre Ayton shoots against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)

Nearly 10 years before teaming up for the Lakers, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton were just teenaged prospects with big dreams. They first met at a Basketball without Borders camp in 2016. The roster that year also included future NBA champions Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Isaiah Hartenstein. Hachimura recalled Ayton dominating everyone. Then the 7-foot center from the Bahamas inexplicably disappeared.

“That’s what I remember,” Hachimura said with a smile remembering his first impression of his future Lakers teammate. “I was like, ‘Where’s this guy going?’”

When Hachimura shared that anecdote in October, it was an unintentionally fitting description of Ayton’s career. Over the last eight years, the former No. 1 pick has dominated and disappeared in equal measure.

Just in time for the Lakers’ biggest games of the year, the enigmatic center returned to his “DominAyton” mode.

Ayton averaged 13 points and 9.8 rebounds per game in wins over the Knicks, Timberwolves, Bulls and Nuggets after coming back from a one-game injury absence. When Jaxson Hayes and Maxi Kleber were sidelined for games against Minnesota and Chicago, Ayton starred with back-to-back double-doubles.

“Felt like I picked up my energy and my focus,” Ayton said. “I finally caught up with the team.”

One of the surest signs of Ayton’s engagement is his activity on the boards. The Lakers are 29-7 when Ayton has eight or more rebounds and 8-14 when he has seven or fewer. Lately he has been especially clutch with three rebounds and four points in overtime against Denver and five rebounds with six points in the fourth quarter against Houston when the Lakers finished the game on a 13-4 run.

“He is an X factor for us, if not the X Factor,” Redick said after Ayton scored 23 points with 10 rebounds against the Bulls, “because him playing at a high level raises our ceiling. It changes the makeup of our team.”

Ayton had his son Deandre Ayton Jr. in the locker room after that performance against the Bulls. The five-year-old bounced a white rubber ball on the ground while waiting for his dad to finish showering then joined him at his locker for his media obligations. After the game when the Lakers celebrated “Girl Dad Night,” this proud boy dad left a lasting impression.

“Truly a blessing,” Ayton said of having his son join him at the game, “especially being a Laker. Just hope he [is] inspired.”

On tap

Wednesday at Rockets (41-26), 6:30 p.m.

This game will decide the head-to-head tiebreaker between Houston and L.A. In the tight conference race, the Lakers already own head-to-head tiebreakers against Denver and Minnesota, but not against Phoenix, which is lurking in the seventh spot with a 39-29 record, four games behind the Lakers.

Thursday at Heat (38-30), 5 p.m.

The Heat were one of the hottest teams in the East before losing to the Orlando Magic on Saturday in Norman Powell’s return from injury. Powell came off the bench after missing seven games because of a groin injury and scored 20 points. The Heat were 7-0 during the stretch without Powell, even playing without Tyler Herro for two games.

Saturday at Magic (38-29), 4 p.m.

The Magic’s seven-game winning streak came to an end Monday in Atlanta. Franz Wagner (ankle) has played in just four games since Dec. 7, and Paolo Banchero is averaging 24.8 points on 51.4% shooting, 9.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists during the month of March.

Monday at Detroit (48-19), 4 p.m.

The Pistons are cruising toward the top seed in the East. Cade Cunningham has continued his breakthrough year with 24.9 points and 10.1 assists per game.

Status report

Maxi Kleber (lumbar back strain)

The backup big man has missed four games because of a back injury that started earlier this season and recently flared up against. Kleber has good days and bad days, Redick said, and has been shut down for five days. He did not travel to Houston for the beginning of the six-game trip, but the Lakers hope he can join.

Favorite thing I ate this week

Korean short ribs (galbi) with rice and Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon radish.

(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)

Made possible only through teamwork with my favorite coworker Brad Turner, I did the impossible: I had two uninterrupted weeks at home during the NBA season. After coming home from a month overseas, I needed that time to settle back into my normal life, including my kitchen. I missed it. We kept it low-key for the homecoming with Korean short ribs (galbi) with rice and Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon radish. Green onions for garnish because my mom would never let a dish touch the table if it wasn’t garnished.

In case you missed it

Lakers surge late and defeat Rockets for their sixth consecutive win

How Austin Reaves pulled off a perfect game-tying missed free throw in Lakers’ win

LeBron James’ adaptability a key in victory over the Bulls

The Lakers turn a big liability into an asset, using strong defense to beat Minnesota

Swanson: Booooo! Bam Adebayo was ‘cheating the game’ in surpassing Kobe Bryant’s 81-point effort

Until next time…

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

Resilient win for the Lakers

From Broderick Turner: In their first meeting of the season on Christmas Day, Lakers coach JJ Redick said the Lakers were “punked” by the Houston Rockets and vowed not to let it happen again.

On Monday, the Lakers displayed their toughness in a 100-92 win over the Rockets at Toyota Center.

Even when they missed 14 straight shots at one point in the fourth quarter, the Lakers showed their resilience with a gritty defensive effort that kept them in the game. The Lakers scored just 17 points in the fourth, but they held the Rockets to just 12 points en route to their sixth consecutive win.

“They’re a really good basketball team and they make you either play hard and match their physicality, and how they muck the game up, or you can lay down,” Redick said. “And we didn’t lay down tonight. Had a deficit there in the third quarter. Our guys just kept playing.”

Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 36 points, six rebounds and four assists. LeBron James scored 18 points and Austin Reaves had 15 points.

But three big baskets from Deandre Ayton (seven points, 11 rebounds) and a big three-pointer by Marcus Smart (11 points) helped the Lakers open their six-game trip with a win.

Continue reading here

Lakers box score

NBA standings

Clippers edged by Spurs

Victor Wembanyama had 21 points and 13 rebounds and the San Antonio Spurs overcame an early 14-point deficit before blowing most of a 24-point lead and recovering to hold off the Clippers 119-115 on Monday night at Intuit Dome.

Stephon Castle had 23 points, eight assists and seven rebounds to lead the Spurs (50-18), who reached 50 wins for the first time since 2016-17 and trail the first-place Thunder by three games in the West. Devin Vassell added 20 points.

Fighting to secure a spot for the play-in tournament, the Clippers’ second straight loss dropped them back to .500 with Kawhi Leonard watching from the bench. The NBA’s sixth-leading scorer sat out with a sprained left knee.

Continue reading here

Clippers box score

NBA standings

Yamamoto to start on opening day

From Jack Vita: It’s only fitting that the pitcher who recorded the Dodgers’ final eight outs of the World Series will take the mound on opening day, as the club tries to pick up where it left off in 2025 and chase a third straight championship in 2026.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Monday that World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto will toe the rubber for the March 26 opener at Dodger Stadium against the Arizona Diamondbacks — the second straight year he’s had the honor and the first time at home, after pitching last season’s opener in Tokyo against the Chicago Cubs.

Roberts added Yamamoto is expected to return to Camelback Ranch soon, after participating in the World Baseball Classic with Team Japan. The Samurai Warriors, seeking a second straight WBC title, were eliminated by Team Venezuela Saturday night in the quarterfinals.

Continue reading here

Dodgers reportedly agree to deal with Uniqlo for naming rights to Dodger Stadium field

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani apologizes for ‘shortcomings’ in Japan’s early exit from WBC

Venezuela defeats Italy to set up WBC title showdown with U.S.

March Madness analysis

The NCAA men’s tournament bracket is set and the games are set to begin Tuesday with the First Four.

Here’s a rundown of the players to watch, potential underdog teams and what to know about the 2026 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Click here to continue

————

The NCAA women’s basketball tournament bracket is set and the games will begin Wednesday with the start of the First Four.

Here’s a rundown of the players to watch, potential dark horse teams and game previews for every region in the 2026 NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

Click here to continue

Kings defeat Rangers

Alex Laferriere had a goal and two assists to lead the Kings to a 4-1 win over the New York Rangers on Monday night.

Drew Doughty, Mikey Anderson and Trevor Moore also scored for the Kings, who have won three of five.

Darcy Kuemper stopped 21 shots.

Despite 22 saves from Igor Shesterkin, New York’s four-game winning streak ended.

Continue reading here

Kings summary

NHL standings

This day in sports history

1897 — Bob Fitzsimmons knocks out Jim Corbett in the 14th round to win the world heavyweight title in Carson City, Nev. It’s the first boxing match photographed by a motion picture camera.

1908 — Tommy Burns knocks out Jene Roche in 80 seconds at the Royal Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, to retain the world heavyweight title.

1939 — Villanova wins first game of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament, defeating Brown 42-30 in Philadelphia. Ohio State beats Wake Forest 64-52 in the second game of the doubleheader.

1940 — For the first time in NHL history, one line — The Kraut Line of Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer — finish 1-2-3 in NHL scoring when the Boston Bruins score five goals in the third period to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 7-2.

1955 — Canadien fans riot in the streets of Montreal protesting NHL President Clarence Campbell’s suspension of Maurice “Rocket” Richard the previous day. The Canadiens forfeit the game to the Detroit after a smoke bomb goes off in the Forum and crowds spill into the streets, setting fires, smashing windows and looting.

1961 — Manhattan District Attorney Frank S. Hogan arrests two pro gamblers, Aaron Wagman and Joseph Hacken, and implicates Hank Gunter and Art Hicks of Seton Hall in a collegiate point shaving scandal.

1993 — Dallas snaps a 19-game losing streak with a 102-96 win over visiting Orlando. The Mavericks were one game away from tying the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers for the longest single-season losing streak in NBA history.

2001 — Connecticut cruises to a 101-29 win over Long Island University in the first round of the East Regional, the best defensive effort in the history of the women’s NCAA tournament. Connecticut’s 72-point victory also ties the second-biggest margin in tournament history.

2006 — Jermaine Wallace hits a fadeaway three-pointer with a split-second left, and little Northwestern State pulls off a shocker with a furious rally, beating No. 3 seed Iowa 64-63 in the first round of the men’s NCAA tournament.

2012 — Lindsey Vonn sets a women’s record for the most World Cup points in a season after finishing eighth in a slalom won by Austria’s Michaela Kirchgasser at Schladming, Austria. Vonn reaches 1,980 points to beat the mark of 1,970 set by Janica Kostelic of Croatia in 2006.

2016 — Little Rock advances with an out-of-nowhere comeback that leads to an 85-83 double-overtime victory over Purdue in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

2018 — The UConn Huskies open their NCAA Women’s tournament with a record-setting 140-52 rout of Saint Francis (Pa.). The tournament’s top seed sets a record for points in a tournament game and all-time NCAA records for points in a period (55 in the first) and a half (94 in the first).

2020 — French Open becomes first Grand Slam tennis tournament to be postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

HOUSTON — In their first meeting of the season on Christmas Day, Lakers coach JJ Redick said the Lakers were “punked” by the Houston Rockets and vowed not to let it happen again.

On Monday, the Lakers displayed their toug to hness in a 100-92 win over the Rockets at Toyota Center.

Even when they missed 14 comsecutive shots at one point in the fourth quarter, the Lakers showed their resilience with a gritty defensive effort that kept them in the game. The Lakers scored only 17 points in the fourth, but they held the Rockets to just 12 points en route to their sixth consecutive win.

“They’re a really good basketball team and they make you either play hard and match their physicality, and how they muck the game up, or you can lay down,” Redick said. “And we didn’t lay down tonight. Had a deficit there in the third quarter. Our guys just kept playing.”

Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 36 points, six rebounds and four assists. LeBron James scored 18 points and Austin Reaves had 15 points.

But three big baskets from Deandre Ayton (seven points, 11 rebounds) and a big three-pointer by Marcus Smart (11 points) helped the Lakers open their six-game trip with a win.

Sitting third in the Western Conference, the Lakers (43-25) will take a 1½-game lead over the Rockets (41-26) into their rematch on Wednesday night.

“Obviously, we have another one on Wednesday, but it was a very important game,” said Doncic, who shot 14 for 27 from the field. We’ve been playing very good. Our defense has been pretty good, so just gotta continue that way.”

The Lakers threw double teams at Houston’s Kevin Durant all game, limiting him to 18 points and forcing him into seven of the Rockets’ 24 turnovers.

Durant shot only 16 times yet made eight. He was one for three in the fourth quarter and had just as many turnovers as points (two) in the final 12 minutes. One of those turnovers was on an eight-second violation.

“He’s one of the greatest players we’ve ever seen play,” James said. “Obviously you got to try to show him different looks, try to keep him off-balanced and when he shoots, hope he misses. So, I thought we did a good job of having a game plan but also just switching up our pitches.

“You can’t show a great like that too many of the same coverages throughout the whole game. He’ll get a feel for it.”

Doncic got off to what has become his typical first-quarter starts, scoring 16 points on seven-for-10 shooting. But Houston took a 58-51 lead at halftime after taking control of the boards in the second quarter. The Rockets turned six offensive rebounds into 13 points.

The Lakers also had a hard time scoring, shooting only 32% from the field and 13% (one for eight) from three-point range in the quarter.

After trailing by as many as 10 points in the third quarter, the Lakers surged and took an 83-80 lead heading into the fourth. After what happened in L.A. back in December, the Lakers were determined not to let Houston run away with the game.

After taking an 85-80 lead, the Lakers struggled to find consistent offense until Ayton checked back into the game with 4:52 left. Ayton scored on a tip shot to give the Lakers an 89-88 lead, then scored off a pair of offensive rebounds in the final 90 seconds to help keep the Lakers ahead for good. He finished with six points and five rebounds in the fourth quarter.

“He was amazing,” James said. “I mean, just the fact that he was sitting over there for as long as he did and stayed locked in on the game and came in and finished the game. He was able to get a tip-dunk, a couple of jump hooks around the rim, and a couple of rebounds. He helped us finish the game.”

Note: Lakers backup center Maxi Kleber did not play as he continues to recover from a lumbar back strain. “He’s basically been shut down for five days to sort of heal,” Redick said. “He’s not with us right now, and we hope he’s able to join us later on in the trip.”

UCLA coach Cori Close has said all the right things all season, hammering the importance of winning each day and making the most of every practice.

After watching her team struggle during the Final Four last season, she also urged the Bruins to remember the joy of their journey together was far more important than the final tournament results.

She continued to run the John Wooden playbook on Selection Sunday, brushing away the suggestion that UCLA was snubbed by the NCAA tournament selection committee.

“Everybody else can talk about whatever they want,” Close said. “We’re going to talk about what that takes, and we are completely committed to just being really focused on us and our journey and keeping the main thing, the main thing.”

While she rightly is focusing on her team, there is no denying UCLA got a bad draw.

Not only were the Bruins denied the No. 1 overall seed despite playing a much tougher schedule than overall No. 1 seed UConn, the Bruins will have to fight through the toughest regional to reach the Final Four in Phoenix.

LSU was the highest rated No. 2 seed and Duke was the highest rated No. 3 seed. Both were assigned to the same regional as UCLA. No. 5 Ole Miss, led by Ohio State transfer and dynamic SEC newcomer of the year Cotie McMahon, is another potent team slotted in the Bruins’ side of the bracket.

“The Sacramento region with UCLA, they absolutely have the toughest region when you look at the LSU-Duke matchup — the No. 1 two seed, the No. 1 three seed,” former Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said on ESPN. “I don’t know how they ended up with the same bracket as UCLA as the No. 2 overall. … I’m perplexed.”

McGraw has been doing the work Close arguably couldn’t for weeks without coming across as whining. The retired coach questioned the NCAA tournament selection’s committee previous rankings that slotted UCLA behind UConn.

On March 2, McGraw posted on X, “Does anyone else think UCLA deserved the overall [No. 1] seed? Undefeated regular season Big Ten champs, beat 11 ranked teams, six of which are currently in the committee’s top 16. They have 14 Quad 1 wins, more than anyone in the country, and their only loss was to another [No. 1] seed. And what about SEC champ South Carolina as the [No. 2] overall?

“UConn is certainly good enough to win the national championship, but UCLA and South Carolina have had as much success against a much tougher schedule.”

UConn fans were quick to point out McGraw’s losing record against Huskies coach Geno Auriemma and their bad blood, but the former Notre Dame coach was armed with notable stats that are supposed to be the basis for the selection committee’s bracket.

McGraw made her case before No. 2 UCLA (31-1) beat No. 9 Iowa (26-6) by 51 points in the Big Ten tournament championship game.

It wasn’t enough to help the selection committee ignore the score that seemed to matter the most — a 85-51 UCLA loss to UConn in last season’s Final Four.

“We watched a lot of UConn, we watched a lot of UCLA,” NCAA tournament committee chair Amanda Braun said on ESPN. “The way we watched UConn win throughout the year from beginning to the end, UCLA did a lot of winning too, but ultimately we gave UConn the edge.”

The Bruins have said every team is tough in the NCAA tournament and they must simply focus on being their best each day. Surviving a challenging regional will only make their success sweeter.

And UCLA can take solace that at least one team had a worse draw than it did on Sunday. Crosstown rival USC was awarded a No. 9 seed and will play No. 8 seed Clemson in Columbia, S.C., a short commute for the Tigers’ fans. If the Trojans survive, they most likely will face No. 1 seed South Carolina on the Gamecocks’ notoriously hostile home court.

Survey says

We asked, “How far will the UCLA women advance in the NCAA tournament?”

After 460 votes, the results:

They win it all: 80.8%
They lose in the title game: 14.6%
Just like last year, they lose in the Final Four: 3.5%
A surprising elimination in the Sweet 16: 0.9%
A shocking upset in the first or second round: 0.2%
They lose in the Elite Eight: No votes

Survey time

How far will the UCLA men advance in the tournament?

They lose in the first round
They lose in the second round
They lose in the Sweet 16
They lose in the Elite Eight
They lose in the Final Four
They lose in the title game
They win it all

Click here to vote in our survey

In case you missed it

‘We know what it takes to get there.’ No. 1 UCLA ready to begin NCAA title chase

UCLA men’s basketball earns No. 7 seed, to face No. 10 UCF in Philadelphia

NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournament brackets: A look at every matchup

How Gabriela Jaquez became a breakout shooting star for No. 2 UCLA

UCLA star Jordan Chiles helps Bruins win her final home meet, knocking out rival Utah

UCLA falls to Purdue in Big Ten semifinal without injured Tyler Bilodeau

UCLA stuns Michigan State to advance to Big Ten tournament semifinals

Donovan Dent achieves Big Ten tourney history in UCLA win over Rutgers

UCLA won a Big Ten tournament title with a group of ‘Pac-12 Avengers’

Have something Bruin?

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. The champions have been crowned in high school basketball and soccer. What a weekend it was in Sacramento.

Champions

Damien players celebrate their state Division I boys’ basketball title victory over Folsom at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on March 13, 2026.

(Greg Stein)

In the highest divisions at the CIF state championships at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Southern California basketball teams continue to dominate.

Sierra Canyon and Ontario Christian were crowned Open Division boys and girls champions, respectively. Sierra Canyon overcame the loss of Maxi Adams to an ankle injury in the first quarter to defeat Richmond Salesian 78-70. Here’s the report.

Kaleena Smith of Ontario Christian gets emotional in the first half at Golden 1 Center against Archbishop Mitty.

(Greg Stein)

Ontario Christian received another standout performance from junior guard Kaleena Smith to defeat Archbishop Mitty 56-49. Here’s the report.

Damien won Division I for coach Mike LeDuc. Here’s the report. Corona Centennial’s one-two punch of Sydney Douglas and Cyndee Bryant led the Huskies to the Division I girls title. Here’s the report.

Sylmar and Birmingham came up short trying to become the first City Section teams from the San Fernando Valley to win state titles. Sylmar was beaten in Division V. Here’s the report. Birmingham settled for runner-up in Division III. Here’s the report.

El Dorado’s girls’ team broke through in Division III. Here’s the report.

Soccer

Garfield goalkeeper Javier Zarate gets his photo taken with CIF executive director Ron Nocetti at state soccer finals. Garfield lost 2-0 in Division V.

(CIF)

Garfield was beaten in the Division V state boys final 2-0 by Branson. But sophomore goalie Javier Zarate continues to impress. Here’s a look at his impact.

Mater Dei deserves the name soccer school of the West. The Monarchs won boys and girls state titles in Division I. The boys defeated Salinas Everett Alvarez 2-1. The girls defeated unbeaten Bishop O’Dowd 2-0. Los Alamitos won Division III boys over Watsonville 1-0. Irvine University won Division IV 3-2.

Baseball

Freshman Louis Lappe of Harvard-Westlake receives congratulations after his first high school hit.

(Craig Weston)

Freshman Louis Lappe of Harvard-Westlake, the former El Segundo Little League star who gained national fame for his walk-off home run at the Little League World Series in 2023, hit his first high school home run on Wednesday.

Let’s just say he was a little excited.

Brody Schumaker of Santa Margarita had four hits, including a grand slam, and seven RBIs in a win over Los Osos. He has struck out once in 34 at-bats.

Landon Hovermale of Norco has allowed no runs in 18 2/3 innings this season.

(Nick Koza)

Norco has one of the hottest pitchers around in Landon Hovermale, who has given up no runs in 18 2/3 innings. Here was his latest performance.

Foothill pitchers have thrown three consecutive shutouts.

There’s every indication that the Southern Section is going to introduce a new playoff format for Division 1 baseball only. It’s expected to be a 16-team tournament broken into four pools with double elimination leading to the quarterfinals with the top two teams in each pool advancing, followed by single elimination. The baseball advisory committee has been pushing for such a tournament in Division 1 for years.

Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings by The Times.

Softball

Emily Yoon of El Dorado threw a no-hitter in a win over Villa Park in a league opener.

Here’s last week’s top 20 softball rankings, with unbeaten Murrieta Mesa leading the way.

Track and field

Benjamin Harris of Servite turned on the speed at Redondo Union on Saturday, running a wind legal 10.27 seconds in the 100 meters.

One of the most versatile track and field athletes this season has to be junior Davis Benson of Moorpark. He’s putting up good marks in a variety of events. He’s already set school records in the 110 hurdles of 14.30 and the 300 hurdles in 38.82. And he’s gearing up for a high jump showdown later in the season with Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s JJ Harel. Benson has gone 6-10.

Carson’s Jayden Rendon stamped himself as a state contender in the 110 hurdles with a time of 13.91 at Redondo Union.

Lawrence Kensinger of Venice, another pupil of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame throwing coach Nick Garcia, is closing in on 60 feet in the shotput. He recorded a career-best 59-8.

Jaslene Massey of Aliso Niguel, already No. 1 in the state in the discus, won the Nike Indoor Nationals in the shotput at 54-2.75, seventh-best mark in California history. She also got a mark of 188-7 in the discus, second-best all-time.

Loyola’s Ejam Yohannes ran 400 meters in a state-leading 46.24. It was a school record.

Bob Johnson dies

Former Mission Viejo coach Bob Johnson died last week. He was 80.

(Los Angeles Times)

High school football fans across Southern California were offering memories of Hall of Fame coach Bob Johnson after his passing Wednesay. He was 80.

Johnson won nine Southern Section titles coaching at Mission Viejo and El Toro.

Here’s the report.

Notes . . .

One of the best sporting events of the year happens Friday night when volleyball powers Mira Costa and Loyola face off at Mira Costa. . . .

Alfred Rowe has resigned after one season as football coach at Long Beach Jordan. . . .

Earl Sanchez has resigned as basketball coach at Sierra Vista. . . .

Former Gardena Serra and UCLA tight end Caleb Wilson has been hired as an assistant coach at Colorado State under former UCLA coach Jim Mora Jr. . . .

Luis Cruz Jr. is the new football coach at Sunny Hills. . . .

The top football player in the state for next season, Honor Fa’alave-Johnson of Cathedral Catholic, announced he has committed to USC.

From the archives: Mason Edwards

In 2023, Left-hander Mason Edwards of Palisades was one top pitchers in the City Section. Now he’s the ace at USC.

(Steve Galluzzo)

Mason Edwards, a junior at USC from Palisades High, is off to one of the best starts by a pitcher in the nation. He entered last week having allowed no runs and only three hits in 24 innings while recording a 3-0 record. He gave up his first run of the season on Friday. He’s left-handed and has 42 strikeouts. He throws between 90 and 93 mph.

Edwards has continued to improve at USC since his arrive in the fall of 2023.

Recommendations

From the Players Tribune, former El Toro pitcher pitcher Paul Skenes offers advice to Little Leaguers.

From the Daily Bruin, a story on Brentwood basketball coach Ryan Bailey, a former UCLA basketball standout.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on former Chatsworth guard Alijah Arenas keeping his NBA dreams alive.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

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.

Did you get this newsletter forwarded to you? To sign up and get it in your inbox, click here.

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: In this game of “he said, he said,” Luka Doncic got the last laugh.

Doncic, fueled by trash talk from his opponents Thursday, recorded his first 50-point game with the Lakers, checking out with 1:41 remaining to a standing ovation with 51 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Lakers to a 142-130 win over the Chicago Bulls.

The Lakers (41-25) jumped into third place in the Western Conference with their seventh win in their last eight games, climbing from sixth in just one week despite not having LeBron James for the last three games.

James, returning from elbow and hip contusions sustained in a fall against the Denver Nuggets on March 5, had 18 points with seven rebounds and seven assists. Austin Reaves scored 30 points with seven assists to reach 5,000 career points, and Deandre Ayton had his second consecutive double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

The Lakers let the struggling Bulls (27-39) go on a 12-3 run to tie the score at the end of the first quarter but started to heat up when Doncic scored 10 consecutive points in the second quarter. The streak signaled to the six-time All-Star he was going to have one those nights.

“Somebody started talking to me,” Doncic said, “so I woke up.”

Continue reading here

Lakers box score

NBA standings

Donovan Dent leads UCLA men past Rutgers

From Ryan Kartje: This was hardly a masterpiece of Big Ten basketball, what with the barrage of bricks and busted possessions. Nor was it the sort of night to convince you of UCLA’s chances as a surefire conference contender.

But amid the mess of its 72-59 win over 14th-seeded Rutgers on Thursday night, UCLA showed the sort of mettle it may need to keep its season kicking this March.

It started with Donovan Dent, whose masterful month continued with his first career triple-double — and the first triple-double in Big Ten tournament history. The senior tallied 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. He and Tyler Bilodeau, who added a game-high 21 points, were the rare bright spots on offense for the Bruins.

Otherwise, UCLA struggled to find any sort of rhythm. It shot just 38% from the field, worse than it had in any win this season. And still, the Bruins were in control for most of the game after pulling away early in the second half.

None of that will fly against No. 3 seed Michigan State on Friday at 6 p.m. PDT, which beat UCLA by 23 points the last time they met.

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UCLA box score

Controversy about L.A. Marathon finish

From Anthony Solorzano: Just 0.18 seconds separated Michael Kimani Kamau from $15,000. Sunday’s 41st L.A. Marathon was decided by a late-charging sprint from Nathan Martin, the winner who received $25,000 for first place. The runner-up earned $10,000.

With five miles to the finish line and no one else picking up pace, Martin decided to push himself to the end. Kamau’s experience down the stretch was different. Less than a quarter mile from the finish, his race took an unexpected turn because of a fan.

With many fans cheering him on, one interfered and led him off course. A video posted on Reddit shows Kamau following a fan off course for roughly 10 seconds.

He briefly followed the lead vehicles off the designated course while trying to avoid a spectator who ran into his path. Fans immediately stopped him and pointed him in the right direction.

“I actually thought he won until I got home later that day and saw the news channels reporting that Nathan had an amazing kick at the end,” said Ivan Torres, who filmed the scene.

Organizers are aware of the video but no protests were filed and the results are unchanged.

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Trent McDuffie’s wish comes true

From Gary Klein: Trent McDuffie was a young high school player in Southern California when the Rams returned from St. Louis to Los Angeles in 2016.

In 2020, McDuffie watched HBO’s “Hard Knocks” episodes about the team, and he was enamored by coach Sean McVay.

“I remember just being like, ‘Dang, I would like to play for that guy,’” McDuffie said Thursday.

McDuffie, an All-Pro cornerback acquired by the Rams in a blockbuster trade, recalled those thoughts during an introductory news conference at the team’s facility in Woodland Hills after he signed a record-breaking four-year extension that reportedly includes $100 million in guarantees.

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Concerns about L.A. Olympics

From Kevin Baxter: A report on how Olympic organizers will tackle civil rights, homelessness and human trafficking ahead and during the 2028 Games has not been made public by the city more than two months after it was filed and no date for its release has been set, leaving human rights advocates fearing the issues will not get the attention and funding they deserve.

Council president Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who chairs the ad-hoc committee on the LA28 Games, has not included the human rights report on the committee’s agenda. His office did not respond to requests for comment and Sharon Tso, the city’s chief legislative analyst, and Matthew Szabo, the city’s administrative officer, both said they have not seen the report and “nothing appears on the council file,” according to Tso.

The delay is limiting discussion on an important topic, said Stephanie Richard, a clinical professor who leads the Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative at Loyola Law School, which released its own comprehensive report on human trafficking and the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics in December.

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Ducks lose to Toronto

William Nylander broke a tie on a power play 36 seconds into the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Ducks 6-4 on Thursday night to end an eight-game losing streak.

The victory was tempered by the loss of captain Auston Matthews on a knee-on-knee hit from Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas with four minutes left in the second period. Matthews stayed down favoring his left leg before being helped to the locker room. Gudas was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct.

Matthews scored earlier to end a 12-game goal drought.

Cutter Gauthier, Ian Moore, Pavel Mintyukov and Alex Killorn scored for the Pacific Division-leading Ducks. Lukas Dostal stopped 23 shots.

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Ducks summary

NHL standings

This day in sports history

1894 — J.L. Johnstone of England invents the starting gate for horse racing.

1920 — NYU wins the national amateur basketball championship in Atlanta. The Violets beat Rutgers 49-24 in the final of the AAU tournament.

1961 — Floyd Patterson knocks out Ingemar Johansson in the sixth round to retain the world heavyweight title in Miami Beach.

1982 — Elaine Zayak of the United States wins the world figure skating championship.

1983 — Randy Smith’s consecutive game streak ends at 906 games, the longest in NBA history. Smith played for Buffalo, San Diego (twice), Cleveland and New York during the streak.

1997 — The America’s Cup, the oldest trophy in international sports and yachting’s most coveted prize, is all but destroyed by a Maori protester who struck it repeatedly with a sledgehammer in Auckland, New Zealand.

1998 — Bryce Drew hits a leaning three-pointer as time expires to give Valparaiso a shocking 70-69 upset of Mississippi in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional.

2001 — Philadelphia’s Mark Recchi picks up his 1,000th point during a 5-2 win over St. Louis. He’s the 60th player in NHL history to reach the mark.

2007 — Lance Mackey wins the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, becoming the first musher to win major long-distance North American sled dog races back-to-back. On Feb. 20, Mackey won his third consecutive Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, a 1,000-mile race between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, Yukon.

2007 — Dallas’ Mike Modano becomes the 39th player in NHL history and second born in the United States to reach 500 goals, scoring with 10:24 left in the third period of a 3-2 victory over Philadelphia.

2008 — Bode Miller clinches the men’s overall World Cup ski title. Miller earns his second title in four years with a 12th-place finish in the super-G combined, along with Didier Cuche’s announcement that he would not enter the season-ending slalom in Bormio, Italy.

2011 — The NCAA men’s basketball selection committee releases its 68-team draw, which included a record 11 teams from the Big East, the deepest conference in the nation. The tournament adds three more at-large teams that will open the tournament in what the NCAA is calling the “First Four.”

2012 — BYU pulls off the biggest comeback in NCAA tournament history on a wild opening night. Noah Hartsock scores 16 of his 23 points in the second half and the Cougars rally from 25 points down to beat Iona 78-72 in the first round. It marks the biggest comeback in an NCAA tournament game. Previously, the largest deficit overcome was 22 points in 2001 when Duke fought back to beat Maryland 95-84 in the national semifinals. It’s the second incredible turnaround of the night in Dayton. With President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron watching, Western Kentucky comes back from a 16-point deficit in the final 5 minutes to beat Mississippi Valley State 59-58.

2018 — Russell Westbrook picks up the 100th triple-double of his career and the Oklahoma City Thunder uses a 16-0 run late in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Atlanta Hawks for a 119-107 victory. Westbrook scores 32 points, dishes out 12 assists and grabs 12 rebounds to become the third-fastest player to reach the milestone.

2020 — Elite football in Britain, including England’s Premier League, EFL, Women’s Super League plus in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is suspended until at least April 3 because of COVID-19 pandemic.

2022 — After a 40-day retirement, record breaking quarterback Tom Brady announces he will play at least one more season in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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.

He didn’t miss it this time.

Luka Doncic recorded his first 50-point game of the season Thursday, hitting two late free throws as the crowd at Crypto.com Arena showered him with “MVP” chants in the fourth quarter. Doncic checked out with 1:41 remaining to a standing ovation with 51 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Lakers to a 142-130 win over the Chicago Bulls.

The Lakers (41-25) jumped into third place in the Western Conference with their seventh win in their last eight games, climbing from sixth in just one week behind Doncic’s brilliance. The NBA’s leading scorer has averaged 40.2 points in the last four games, all wins. Doncic had a chance at 50 points in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves in October, but missed a late free throw that forced him to settle for 49 points.

LeBron James returned after missing three games because of elbow and hip contusions he sustained against the Denver Nuggets on March 5. He finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Austin Reaves had 30 points and seven assists, surpassing 5,000 points for his career. Center Deandre Ayton held down a short-handed big man rotation with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

The Lakers were without starting guard Marcus Smart (right hip contusion) and backup centers Jaxson Hayes (back soreness) and Maxi Kleber (lumbar back strain). Smart has been playing through the injury for several games, but with a six-game road trip starting next week, “we need it to calm down,” coach JJ Redick said. The coach expected Smart to be available Saturday when the Lakers play the Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers gave up a 12-3 run to end the first quarter and led the struggling Bulls (27-39) by only five at halftime. James helped give them the breathing room going into the locker room as he scored his first points of the game with 54 seconds left in the first half. His three-point play sparked a quick five-point run to end the half, which ended with a dunk from Rui Hachimura.

Lakers star LeBron James, center, drives between Chicago’s Rob Dillingham, left, and Matas Buzelis during the second half Thursday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

James came alive in the third quarter, beginning with his dunk off a hit-ahead pass from Doncic. He returned the favor by diving out of bounds for a steal on the next possession and the save led to a three-pointer from Doncic.

Doncic made nine of 14 three-point attempts as the Lakers made 17 of 36 shots from beyond the arc, their best three-point percentage in a game since Feb. 20.

After not taking a single shot in the first quarter, James had 11 points, three rebounds and two assists in the third quarter as the Lakers’ lead grew to 22 points.

Lakers center Deandre Ayton shoots over the Timberwolves’ defense on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena.

(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)

With 33 missed shots between both teams in the first quarter, Deandre Ayton certainly had plenty of opportunities for rebounds, and the 7-foot center made the most of them.

Ayton almost single-handedly kept the Lakers in contention in the first half, scoring 12 of his 14 points in the second quarter and had a first-half double-double with 11 rebounds.

Ayton, who was scoreless in the first quarter but had six rebounds, scored three of his first four baskets off offensive rebounds. The only exception came when Reaves drove in the lane, wrapped a pass around his back as he found Ayton cutting down the lane for a vicious two-handed dunk. The crowd roared.

“He was a monster,” said Reaves, who had 31 points and eight assists. “… He was the only person scoring for us efficiently and then just being high energy on the other end, just doing what he does. That’s what we need him to do. When he does that, we’re a different team and we’re thankful to have him.”

Ayton’s effort has waned throughout the season, sometimes resulting in him getting benched late in games. But he provided major lifts in marquee wins against the Knicks (six points, eight rebounds) and Timberwolves to earn the confidence and trust of his teammates.

The Lakers needed Ayton at his best after backup centers Jaxson Hayes (back soreness) and Maxi Kleber (lumbar back strain) were ruled out of the game about 15 minutes before tip-off. Hayes was starring in his reserve role in recent weeks, bringing much-needed energy off the bench and a seamless connection with Doncic, but hearing that Ayton would have to hold down the front line by himself gave the former No. 1 draft pick extra motivation.

“I know I’m the only big,” Ayton said, “so I try my best to stay out there as long as possible, especially down the stretch.”

From Mirjam Swanson: Wham, Bam, pfft.

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo scored 83 points Tuesday night, the second most in an NBA game in history, surpassing Kobe Bryant’s iconic 81 points two decades ago.

Congrats to Adebayo, I guess.

The way it went down was highly questionable. Nothing romantic or real about it. We thought flopping and foul-baiting made for unethical hoops, but those are but basketball misdemeanors; Adebayo’s big night was felonious.

Tuesday’s game featured intentional clock-stopping, game-extending fouls by the Heat. And it was ripe with free-throw-abetting fouls by the Washington Wizards, an actively tanking team that got itself blown out, 150-129.

So, no. Bryant’s necessary, organic 81 this was not. The Lakers trailed that game against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006, at halftime and actually needed Kobe’s 55 second-half points to pull away for the win.

The Heat were up by as many as 28 points in the fourth quarter with Adebayo continuing to play pop-a-shot in the historic farce — which also moved him past LeBron James, whose 61 points in 2014 stood as Miami’s previous franchise record.

Now a Laker, LeBron cheered the effort on X, writing: “BAM BAM BAM” with a bunch of fire emojis.

Clippers run up big score in victory

Kawhi Leonard scored 45 points and the Clippers routed the Minnesota Timberwolves 153-128 on Wednesday night, moving above .500 with their third straight victory and sixth in seven games.

Eighth in the Western Conference at 33-32 after opening 6-21, the Clippers had their highest point total of the season. They blew out Minnesota after beating New York on Monday night to open a five-game homestand.

Leonard was 15 of 20 from the the field, six of nine on threes and made nine of 10 free throws. Los Angeles made 19 of 37 threes.

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Clippers box score

NBA standings

USC men’s basketball season ends with a thud

From Luke DeCock: The eventual end of the USC men’s basketball season came the same way that it fizzled out during the past month, with yet another second-half collapse that featured the added pain of overtime.

Tuesday’s 83-79 overtime loss to Washington in the Big Ten tournament, the Trojans’ eighth straight defeat, brought to a close what USC coach Eric Musselman called the toughest stretch of his coaching career. It included not only USC’s longest losing streak in a decade, but a pair of 19-point losses to UCLA and the dismissal of leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara from the team in the past 10 days alone.

The Trojans led the Huskies by 13 in the second half and had chances to win at the end of regulation and overtime, only to miss all three potential game-winning or game-tying shots and go 2-for-5 from the free-throw line in overtime. For a team that was once in NCAA tournament consideration before stumbling, that failure to finish was a persistent flaw.

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Iran won’t play in World Cup

From Kevin Baxter: Iran’s sports minister said his nation will not participate in this summer’s World Cup following the attacks on the country by the U.S., one of the tournament’s hosts.

The U.S. bombing campaign against Iran, which began two weeks ago, has triggered a region-wide conflict and killed more than 1,300 Iranians including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, according to Iran’s U.N. ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani.

“Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” sports minister Ahmad Donyamali said on state television Wednesday.

“Our players do not have security, and fundamentally the conditions for participation do not exist.”

Donyamali’s statement came just hours after FIFA president Gianni Infantino said he had received assurances from President Trump that Iran would be allowed to participate in the tournament, which will be played in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

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This day in sports history

1937 — The first National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) men’s basketball tournament is won by Central Missouri State. Central Missouri wins the eight-team, single-elimination tournament by defeating Morningside College (Iowa) 35-24.

1966 — In the last race of his 40-year career, John Longden wins the San Juan Capistrano Handicap at Santa Anita, aboard George Royal. He retires with a then-record number of victories, 6,032.

1984 — Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean of Britain become the first ice dancing team to record nine perfect marks of 6.0 during the world championships.

1985 — Larry Bird scores 60 points, including Boston’s last 16, to set a Celtics record and lead them to a 126-115 victory over Atlanta.

1994 — The Arkansas men’s track and field team wins its 11th straight NCAA Indoor Championship with a meet-record 94 points. The 54-point victory margin is the biggest in the meet’s 30-year history.

2002 — Siena (17-18), with an 81-77 victory over Alcorn State in the play-in game, becomes first team in 47 years to win an NCAA men’s basketball tournament game with a losing record.

2003 — Damian Costantino’s NCAA-record hitting streak ends at 60 games, one day after he broke Robin Ventura’s 16-year-old mark. Costantino, an outfielder for Division III Salve Regina of Newport, R.I., fails to get a hit in the first game of a doubleheader against Baldwin-Wallace. It’s the first time he finishes a game hitless since March 25, 2001.

2005 — Bode Miller becomes the first American in 22 years to win skiing’s overall World Cup title. He finishes ahead of his only remaining challenger, Benjamin Raich of Austria, in the season’s final giant slalom to capture the crown.

2008 — The Houston Rockets are the third team in NBA history to win 20 straight games and ties for the second-longest winning streak with an 83-75 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

2009 — Syracuse outlasts Connecticut in the second-longest Division I game ever played, capping a Big East tournament quarterfinal doubleheader in which the second- and third-ranked teams in the nation both lose. Andy Rautins hits a three-pointer 10 seconds into the sixth overtime to give the Orange their first lead since regulation and they go on to a 127-117 victory over the third-ranked Huskies. Much earlier in the evening, West Virginia beats No. 2 Pittsburgh 74-60.

2011 — The No. 21 Connecticut Huskies win their seventh Big East championship by winning five games in as many days. Kemba Walker shatters the tournament scoring record, getting 19 points in the ninth-seeded Huskies’ 69-66 victory over No. 14 Louisville.

2017 — Joakim Jensen finally ends what is believed to be the longest game in hockey history, scoring in the eighth overtime in the Norwegian League playoffs. More than 8 1/2 hours after the game started — and after 217 minutes, 14 seconds of play — Jensen breaks through to give the Storhamar Dragons a 2-1 victory over the Sparta Warriors. Storhamar leads the best-of-seven quarterfinal series 3-2.

2018 — Alex Ovechkin scores twice to reach 600 goals as the Washington Capitals beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 in overtime. The Russian winger is the 20th player and fourth-fastest in NHL history to reach 600 goals.

2018 — Marc-Andre Fleury makes 38 saves to become the 13th goalie in NHL history with 400 wins, and Ryan Carpenter scores the winning goal with 2:40 left to lead the Vegas Golden Knights over the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2.

2020 — 2020 NCAA men’s basketball tournament is cancelled over concerns of the spread of COVID-19; first time ‘March Madness’ not held since it began in 1939; women’s tournament also cancelled.

2020 — NHL announces the pausing of the 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

Luka Doncic is attempting to bring his daughters to the United States from his native Slovenia after separating from his fiancée, according to reports.

His former fiancée, Anamaria Goltes, 28, has filed a petition in California seeking child support and attorney fees from Doncic. One of Doncic’s daughters was with him for three months in 2025, and his other daughter has never been to California. Doncic, 27, told ESPN that he had “no idea” Goltes filed the petition.

“I love my daughters more than anything, and I’ve been doing everything I can for them to be with me in the U.S. during the season, but that hasn’t been possible, so I recently made the tough decision to end my engagement,” Doncic said in a statement. “Everything I do is for my daughters’ happiness, and I will always fight to be with them and give them the best life I can.”

Doncic and Goltes were engaged for nearly three years. Their oldest daughter, Gabriela, was born in November 2023, and Olivia was born in December. Doncic traveled to Slovenia for Olivia’s birth, missing games against the Toronto Raptors on Dec. 4 and Boston Celtics on Dec. 5.

During his visit, Doncic told Goltes he wanted to bring Gabriela to the United States when he returned to rejoin the Lakers, according to reports. Goltes objected, and Doncic departed without his daughter.

“I don’t even know how to describe it,” he told reporters of being present for Olivia’s birth. “It was a lot. I was there for the birth of my daughter, so that means everything to me. But it was definitely a roller coaster.

“I got to see my daughter again, my newborn. Coming back, it was kind of hard to leave them behind. But it’s a job, so I got to do it. So hopefully I’ll see them soon.”

Doncic posted a photo on social media of Olivia wearing a pink sweater with a heart emoji covering her face. In his first game back, he inscribed a G and O with a heart on his shoes.

“Two girls, they’re going to make my life hell for sure, I know that,” Doncic said, half-joking. “I’m going to be their security after I retire. All jokes aside, it’s the best thing in the world. I’m just blessed.”

Goltes deleted photos of her and Doncic from her Instagram account last week, and Doncic acknowledged that they had separated. Two weeks ago, he filed an injunction with a Slovenian court seeking immediate contact with his daughters, ESPN reported.

Doncic, who was traded to the Lakers from the Dallas Mavericks for Anthony Davis in February 2025, leads the NBA with a 32.5 points-per-game average. The guard also averages 8.4 assists and 7.8 rebounds.

Wham, Bam, pfft.

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo scored 83 points Tuesday night, the second most in an NBA game in history, surpassing Kobe Bryant’s iconic 81 points two decades ago.

Congrats to Adebayo, I guess.

The way it went down was highly questionable. Nothing romantic or real about it. We thought flopping and foul-baiting made for unethical hoops, but those are but basketball misdemeanors; Adebayo’s big night was felonious.

Tuesday’s game featured intentional clock-stopping, game-extending fouls by the Heat. And it was ripe with free-throw-abetting fouls by the Washington Wizards, an actively tanking team that got itself blown out, 150-129.

So, no. Bryant’s necessary, organic 81 this was not. The Lakers trailed that game against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006 at halftime and actually needed Kobe’s 55 second-half points to pull away for the win.

The Heat were up by as many as 28 points in the fourth quarter with Adebayo continuing to play pop-a-shot in the historic farce — which also moved him past LeBron James, whose 61 points in 2014 stood as Miami’s previous franchise record.

Now a Laker, LeBron cheered the effort on X, writing: “BAM BAM BAM” with a bunch of fire emojis.

Lakers fans were not as fired up, but they were hot, booing when news of Adebayo’s 83 points was delivered inside Crypto.com Arena before the Lakers’ 120-106 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“Honestly, it hurts,” said Los Angeles’ Erik Ortiz, who was 6 years old when Bryant had his 81-point night. “And it’s kind of messed up. All those free throws? No disrespect, but it didn’t feel earned.”

“A disrespect to the game,” said Robert Horry, who played with Bryant in L.A. for seven seasons. “To me, don’t cheat the game. If you’re gonna play like that, that’s cheating the game.”

“But,” Horry added, diplomatically, “scoring 83 points is still hard regardless if you cheat the game or not.”

Lakers star Kobe Bryant scores in front of Toronto’s Matt Bonner on his way to scoring 81 points during the Lakers’ 122-104 victory on Jan. 22, 2006.

(Matt A. Brown / Associated Press)

JJ Redick offered his most diplomatic two cents: “It’s incredible what he was able to do.”

The Lakers’ coach described walking in and seeing the Heat leading with three minutes left, on the verge of winning their sixth consecutive game and Adebayo on the free-throw line (naturally).

“I said to my coaching staff, ‘Ah, the Heat are rolling.’ And they kind of looked at each other and they were like, ‘Are you kidding right now? No, Bam has 77!’ I watched the last three minutes and … that was a different type of basketball.”

Adebayo scored 31 points in the first quarter, 12 in the second and 19 in the third — a legitimately impressive career-high 62 points, and in just three quarters. Precisely the same number of points that Kobe had after three quarters when coach Phil Jackson pulled him from a blowout win against Dallas a few weeks before he dropped 81.

But on Tuesday, Adebayo kept going, for no reason but to pad his points tally in pursuit of Kobe.

If only Adebayo, well respected by peers and fans alike, could’ve taken the baton from his basketball hero while playing regular old basketball. Lakers fans know ball; they wouldn’t have held it against him, they would have saluted.

Heat players celebrate with center Bam Adebayo after he scored 83 points, the second-highest single game total in NBA history, against the Wizards on Tuesday in Miami.

(Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)

But Adebayo shot 3 for 8 from the field in the final period, including 1 for 6 from three-point range. And he went 14 for 16 at the line in the final frame, bringing his free-throw shooting total to a historic 36 for 43 from the charity stripe, so aptly named this game.

There’s magic, and then there are magic tricks, manufactured illusions, sleight-of-hand acts of pseudo-sorcery. That’s how we should remember Adebayo’s 83. That’s how we should explain that game to our children and grandchildren.

It isn’t as though Kobe’s 81-point output wasn’t going to be eclipsed. It was only a matter of time, especially considering the offensive emphasis in today’s NBA.

In 2024, then-Maverick Luka Doncic scored 73 points in a 148-143 win against the Atlanta Hawks. But Doncic went just 15 of 16 from the free-throw line that night, and 25 for 33 from the field, including 8 of 13 from behind the arc.

Or imagine, going forward, what 7-foot-4 center Victor Wembanyama could be capable of if the San Antonio Spurs force-feed him offensively for a full game.

But records are made to be broken, not stolen. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters he was “caught up in the moment like everyone else, and I didn’t want to get in the way.”

Late Lakers owner Jerry Buss once described Kobe’s 81-point “like watching a miracle.”

Adebayo’s output felt more mechanical than ethereal. Artificial and impure, and achieved by doing something only slightly resembling basketball.

Lakers fans were right: Boo.