The 7-foot Swiss center was injured Wednesday night in a 130-107 win against the Indiana Pacers. Niederhauser was diagnosed with a Lisfranc injury in his right foot and will require surgery, the team said. The injury involves damage to the ligaments or bones in the middle of the foot.
Niederhauser averaged 4.3 points and 2.9 rebounds in 41 games. After being selected 30th in last year’s NBA draft, he began the season in the G League, but after the Clippers traded Ivica Zubac last month, he was earning more minutes.
In his last five games, Niederhauser was shooting 52% from the field and averaging 8.2 points and 6.2 rebounds while playing 18 minutes a game.
INDIANAPOLIS — The UCLA women’s basketball team’s tear through the Big Ten continued on Friday, as the Bruins defeated Washington 78-60 to advance to the conference tournament semifinals.
Behind 26 points from center Lauren Betts, the No. 1 seed Bruins took down No. 8 seed Huskies with an explosive second half to stay undefeated in conference play.
Washington (21-10, 11-9), which defeated No. 9 seed USC on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinal, struggled to respond to UCLA’s second-half surge and trailed by 19 in the fourth quarter.
UCLA (22-1, 19-0), the second ranked team in the nation in the Associated Press top 25 poll, started slow, missing five consecutive shots in a five-plus minute scoring drought in the first quarter. The Bruins’ six first-quarter points were a season low.
The Huskies extended a 10-point lead into the second quarter. Betts, though, kept the Bruins’ deficit from growing with 10 points in the first half, sparking a 15-2 run during the final 6:10. UCLA, which boasts the best three-point percentage in the Big Ten, didn’t make any treys in the first half and didn’t hit one until Kiki Rice’s with 5:27 left in the third quarter.
It tied for the worst three-point shooting performance from the Bruins this season (one for 10).
UCLA led 27-24 at halftime.
Washington went up briefly in the third quarter, powered by 18 points from guard Avery Howell, but the Bruins scoring finally found their rhythm shortly after. UCLA shot 54% overall from the field.
It was UCLA’s 10th consecutive win against the Huskies. It was the Bruins’ 23rd straight win overall after last losing on Nov. 26.
UCLA will face the winner of No. 4 seed Minnesota and No. 5 seed Ohio State in a Big Ten tournament semifinal on Saturday, with a berth in the Big Ten championship game on the line.
If Democrats expect to flip a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, they’ll need all the stars to align. This almost never happens, because politics has a way of scrambling the constellations. But on Tuesday, the first star blinked on.
I’m referring to state Rep. James Talarico’s victory over Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary. Most political prognosticators agree that Talarico, an eloquent young Democrat who speaks openly about his Christian faith, is their best hope in a red state that Donald Trump won by 14 points.
The second star was Crockett’s conciliatory concession — far from a foregone conclusion after a nasty primary — in which she pledged to “do my part,” adding that “Texas is primed to turn blue, and we must remain united because this is bigger than any one person.”
The third star — a vulnerable Republican opponent — has not yet appeared over the Texas sky, although forecasters say it might.
Most observers agree that scandal-plagued Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton would be beatable in the general election, while incumbent Sen. John Cornyn would present a much tougher challenge. Cornyn is the kind of steady, conventional politician who tends to win elections, and so, of course, modern voters are extremely suspicious of him.
In the GOP primary on Tuesday, Cornyn’s 42% share of the vote edged out Paxton by about a point. Unfortunately for Republicans, neither candidate garnered enough votes to avoid a May 26 runoff election.
Conventional wisdom suggests that when a majority of Republican voters choose someone other than the incumbent in the first round of voting, an even greater majority will inevitably break toward the challenger in the runoff. If that happens, Paxton would become the nominee, and Democrats would get their third star to align.
Even better for Democrats — a fourth star, so to speak — would be for this protracted runoff to become a “knife fight,” as one Texas Republican predicted, in which Paxton staggers out of the fight as the battered GOP nominee.
The only problem is that Republicans can see these stars aligning, too.
And while the Texas Senate seat matters a lot on its own, it matters even more in the context of nationwide midterm elections, in which a Texas win would help Democrats take back the Senate.
Enter the cavalry — or, more accurately, President Trump, who is now entering a second war in the span of a week, this one a civil war in the Lone Star State.
The day after the primary, Trump announced that he would be “making my Endorsement soon, and will be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE!”
Reports suggest Trump may endorse Cornyn in order to save the seat for Republicans. But who knows? Trump is famously unpredictable. And it’s likely he admires Paxton’s ability to survive scandals that would have caused most normal politicians to curl up in the fetal position. As they say, “game recognizes game.”
Whomever he backs, conventional wisdom also says Trump should make his endorsement “soon,” as he promised. That would save Republicans a lot of time and money. But Trump currently has enormous leverage. Right now, people are coming to him, pleading for his support.
Do you think he wants to resolve that situation quickly?
Me neither.
With Trump, you never know what you’re going to get. In 2021, he helped torpedo Republican Senate candidates David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in Georgia, handing Democrats control of the Senate. The following year he backed football legend Herschel Walker in another Georgia Senate race, which did not exactly work out great. Democrat Raphael Warnock won and holds that seat, though Walker is now ambassador to the Bahamas so that’s something.
This is to say: Trump’s political assistance does not always assist.
It’s unclear whether Trump’s endorsement would be dispositive — and whether he could muscle the other Republican out of the primary race.
Paxton, for example, initially vowed to stay in the race, no matter what. (He later suggested he would “consider” dropping out if the Senate passes the SAVE America Act, a bill to require proof of citizenship to vote.)
There’s also this: Trump’s endorsements tend to either be made out of vengeance or to pad the totals of an already inevitable winner, so his track record is probably overrated.
Case in point: While most of his endorsed candidates won their Texas elections, his endorsed candidate for agriculture commissioner lost reelection. And according to the Texas Tribune, “at least three Trump-endorsed candidates for Congress were headed to runoffs, one of them in a distant second place.”
Another issue is that Cornyn needs more than a perfunctory endorsement: He needs a clear, full-throated endorsement.
In a 2022 Missouri Senate race, Trump endorsed “ERIC,” which was awkward because two candidates named Eric were running.
More recently, he endorsed two rival candidates in the same 2026 Arizona gubernatorial race — like betting on both teams in the Super Bowl.
This is all to say that the only thing standing between Texas Democrats and a rare celestial alignment may be the whims of the Republican Party’s one and only star.
Sure, establishment Republicans can beg Trump to quickly step in and settle the race, and maybe he will. But it’s entirely possible the president will find a way to blow up his party’s chances for holding the U.S. Senate — and there’s nothing they can do to stop him.
Running free during a game of catch on the empty field at SoFi Stadium is a fantasy most Angelenos will never experience. For comedians Jo Koy and Gabriel Iglesias, it’s just a warm-up to a dream that’s been a lifetime in the making.
Gripping the football with fingers covered in Filipino tribal tattoos extending in a sleeve up his arm, Koy looks across the expanse of emerald green turf at his son jogging toward the south end zone of the Inglewood stadium on a recent afternoon. “To be able to throw at SoFi is crazy,” Koy said with a sparkling grin of bright white veneers.
The 54-year-old comedian with a beard full of gray stubble drops back to pass, launching a tight spiral underneath SoFi’s massive technicolor halo scoreboard hovering above a sea of empty stands. Joseph Jr. — a wiry 22-year-old with a head full of curly dark brown hair — runs briskly toward the goal line with a black cast on his left arm. He raises his right arm just in time to scoop it into his chest for a touchdown. The imaginary crowd goes wild.
“Yes!!!” Koy shouts, his excitement echoing in the stadium. He jogs over to Joseph in his navy blue coverall jumpsuit and L.A. Dodgers cap to deliver a satisfying father-son chest bump.
A few yards away, Iglesias is watching Roka, his tiny black chihuahua, dart around the field like four pounds of rambunctious entitlement. The plus-sized comedian — better known as “Fluffy” — is sporting his typical loose-fitting vintage Hawaiian shirt, denim shorts and black flat cap. Whenever they stand together, the duo’s dynamic is like a modern-day Laurel and Hardy.
Nearly 70% of tickets for Koy and Iglesias’ SoFi show sold within days, making this the largest stadium stand-up performance to date.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
“The fact that we’ve known each other as long as we have is wild … we’ve known each other since we both had hair,” Iglesias, 49, says as they both lift up their caps in unison, laughing and exposing their shiny bald heads.
On March 21, this stadium will be filled with more than 70,000 guests as the pair takes center stage at the Super Bowl of comedy — the largest stadium stand-up show to date. Koy and Iglesias are now part of a small fraternity of comics, including Kevin Hart, Dane Cook, Bill Burr and Larry the Cable Guy, who’ve sold out stadiums across the country.
The one-night-only show, which won’t be televised or recorded as a special, is meant to be one giant party for comedy fans who’ve supported Koy and Iglesias since their early days. The comics will be passing the mic back and forth throughout the night, which will feature special guests, surprise moments and plenty of other unplanned interruptions that will make for a roughly four-hour show. Though the L.A. comedy scene tends to exist in the shadow of Hollywood, this feat managed by two of its biggest names puts a historic spotlight on stand-up.
“It’s more sweet because it’s taken so long,” Iglesias said. “This wasn’t an overnight thing. Nowadays, everybody wants everything so fast. Between the two of us, we’ve got about 60 years of comedy experience.”
“It’s insane. I can’t explain it,” Koy adds, staring up at the stadium’s glass roof, preparing to crack it with decibels of laughter. “Every time we come in here and look up, I’m like, ‘There’s going to be a stage here the size of the end zone.’ We took the stage from the arenas that we normally play and injected steroids into it.”
For comedians who’ve witnessed their ascent, which now literally includes hands and feet cemented in front of TCL Chinese Theatre and a star for Fluffy on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the journey has been incredible to watch.
“It’s huge for stand-up, it used to be just in dingy clubs and bars and always something small and intimate and kinda like an afterthought,” said fellow comedy star Tiffany Haddish, a longtime friend to both Koy and Iglesias. “To be honest I never thought comedy would be this big.”
Jay Leno, a confidant to Iglesias and the man who inspired him to start his own insane car collection and offered Koy his first late-night appearance on “The Tonight Show,” agrees that a show like this is a huge step for comedy.
“My attitude when I came to this town was if you can’t get in through the front door, go in the back door,” Leno said. “And they didn’t do it the traditional way, they got to where they are as comedians, one audience member at a time.”
For the two L.A. comedians, the historic milestone represents decades of work and signals comedy’s arrival in mainstream entertainment venues.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
When the pair of arena-selling comics announced last year they’d be joining forces to perform at SoFi, the task of filling the massive concert venue and football stadium seemed laughable. But within a week, it clearly wasn’t a joke. Nearly 70% of the tickets were sold just days after going on sale. Now, weeks before the gig, the show is completely sold out with more seats being added. If there’s one person who is not necessarily surprised, it’s Iglesias. By his calculations — including his ability to sell out Dodger Stadium twice for the filming of his 2022 Netflix special, “Stadium Fluffy,” and Koy’s ability to sell out the Forum a record-setting six consecutive times (more than any other comedian) — the math checked out.
“At a certain point it’s like we’ve been doing [huge stand-up shows] for so many years, it becomes normal,” Iglesias said. “What do you do to change things? What do you do to grow? The worst thing that happens is it fails. But at least we know we tried it. Then we know what our ceiling is. But as of now, this isn’t the ceiling.”
Despite the logic, looking at the stadium’s massive seating chart during an initial meeting with the venue made the task feel akin to climbing Mt. Everest.
“SoFi is the size of like five Forums. That seating chart on a wall was the most discouraging thing I could possibly look at,” Koy said. “And then looking at the amount of money it was gonna cost us even before we sell one ticket. Me and Gabe should’ve been looking at that and been like, ‘What … are we thinking? Hell nah we ain’t doing this … !’”
It took more than a little convincing from Iglesias to get Koy on board. “[Jo] does not like change. I had to break down the math for him and I pushed it a lot,” Iglesias said. “And I’m glad we did because now that it’s sold out, the hard part is over. We just have to show up and deliver a kick-ass show. And then we can both celebrate after, crack a couple bottles and I know I’m taking a week off after that.”
Unlike a typical arena show, which takes several months to coordinate, their big night at SoFi required a full year of planning. The production and stage will be three times the size of the comedians’ normal stages and will be managed by the same team that produces stadium shows for acts like Los Bukis and Bad Bunny.
“It’s more sweet because it’s taken so long,” Iglesias said. “This wasn’t an overnight thing. Nowadays, everybody wants everything so fast. Between the two of us, we’ve got about 60 years of comedy experience.”
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
“It’s almost like a chessboard,” Iglesias said. “You got to do a bunch of moves in order to pull something like this off, it’s not just we’re gonna do it. This took a lot of planning, a lot of coordinating.”
When asked how the tickets could’ve possibly moved so fast, outside of typical avenues of good marketing and promotion, Koy says it was really comedy fans making a statement of support for them and for stand-up.
“There’s no such thing as marketing on this one, to me it’s a phenom,” he said, noting the pride both he and Iglesias have to see the excitement and support from local fans, especially Filipino and Latin communities across L.A. that have been a major part of their respective fanbases. “That type of reaction and that response to us saying we’re gonna be at SoFi is almost like a bragging right and it’s ‘our night, we’re gonna be there, I don’t care where we’re sitting.’”
The SoFi gig was conceived in February of 2024 during Koy’s sixth sold-out show at Kia Forum. In the hoopla of Koy breaking his own audience record at the venue, Iglesias crashed the show, presented his friend with a plaque and laid down the gauntlet in front of 17,500 fans. When Iglesias asked Koy if they should contemplate performing “across the street” together, the crowd erupted with excitement.
“Our agents and managers were like, ‘Are you sure you wanna do that?’’’ Iglesias said. “I think they missed a couple bonuses. But at the end of the day, it’s part of history.”
“That’s what’s beautiful about Gabe, he’s not scared to take on those big risks,” Koy said. “But the whole thing was a risk. We gotta alter our tour dates and sacrifice other opportunities to make this happen.”
“Every time we come in here and look up, I’m like, ‘There’s going to be a stage here the size of the end zone,‘” Koy said about the upcoming SoFi show on Mar. 21. “We took the stage from the arenas that we normally play and injected steroids into it.”
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
For Koy, a life of comedy was a risk inspired by his heroes while growing up in Tacoma, Wash. He traces it back to being 15 and seeing Eddie Murphy perform at Climate Pledge Arena during his “Raw” tour in Seattle. He remembers taking a panoramic look at the sold-out crowd roaring in the darkness before the leather-suited legend even took the stage. “I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, this guy got this many people in here?’ I just thought that was the most impossible thing,” Koy remembers. “And now I get to share this moment with my son and let him walk with me and let him see that this is possible.”
When Koy was moving up the comedy ranks under his real name Joseph Glenn Herbert, the thought of calling himself a comedian felt like a pipe dream. Koy, the son of a white father and Filipina mother, saw comedy as a way to channel an overactive personality and need to make people laugh into a career. Going from coffee shop open mics in Tacoma to clubs and casinos in Las Vegas in 1989, Koy scratched out a living doing random jobs to move to L.A. in 2001 with hopes of making it big.
Working at a bank or Nordstrom Rack offered some stability as he drove up and down Sunset Boulevard in his battered Honda Prelude with one broken headlight, looking for a way forward to pursue his passion. Haddish, his longtime friend, spent years working with Koy, who served as her mentor at the Laugh Factory. Between sets on stage, the two would often take breaks to fantasize about fame.
“Jo and I would sit outside of the Laugh Factory and have these conversations and we’d be eating hot dogs wrapped in bacon and we’d be dreaming about being in a big movie, playing big theaters and helping people heal through laughter,” Haddish said. “Now here we are.”
“At the end of the day, this is a big stamp. And I think it also lets other comics know, ‘Hey, man, step up your game. Let’s grow this,’” Iglesias said.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Pulling off a show of this magnitude is jaw-dropping to think about, Iglesias said, even after having achieved a similar feat just a few years ago at Dodgers Stadium where he filmed his special over the course of two shows. He also set a record for fines incurred by a performer for going over his allotted time slot (a hefty $250,000 for not leaving the venue until 4 a.m.). The SoFi gig leaves him only one shot to get it right. This time around, Iglesias feels infinitely less pressure despite the bigger venue.
“[Dodger Stadium] for me was grueling,” Iglesias said. “I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know how it was gonna go. Every day we were pulling our hair out trying to figure it out. Fortunately we were still able to pull it off and we learned a lot from it. This time around, believe me when I tell you the stress of this show is not even there.”
Iglesias, a native of Long Beach, has spent over 30 years rising up the comedy ranks. Among his accomplishments are seven major comedy specials, a TV show (“Mr. Iglesias”) and becoming the first Mexican American comic with a top-grossing worldwide tour. Like Koy, who also has seven major specials, Iglesias went through a lot of metamorphosis on stage prior to finding his calling as a gregarious, fun-loving comedian with a penchant for doing cartoon-ish voices.
Leno says one of the key factors in Fluffy’s mass appeal is his likability.
“The great thing about Gabriel is that the kindness comes across, there’s not a mean spirit in his body,” he said. “There’s a lot of comics who are really funny but people don’t like them because they think they’re mean-spirited. … When you watch Gabe even when he does something that’s not fall-down hysterical, you smile because you like him. … I find him a joy to watch.”
Much of what Iglesias learned about marketing himself was inspired by the WWE. The costumes, witty banter and theatrics of the wrestling ring influenced his consistent look and even allowed the name “Fluffy” to become his calling card.
Comedians Gabriel Iglesias, aka, “Fluffy,” in front, and Jo Koy are photographed at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on February 10, 2026, ahead of their March 21st show.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
“There is a certain level of pandemonium, as they say in wrestling, that’s needed to get people excited,” Iglesias said. “Then there’s the marketing and the way that you do it — so I did study wrestling a lot.”
Handing the kingdom of SoFi over to the court jesters for a night is a feat worthy of celebration.
“At the end of the day, this is a big stamp. And I think it also lets other comics know, ‘Hey, man, step up your game. Let’s grow this,’” Iglesias said. “And it’s not, ‘Step up your game,’ like we’re competing with each other. It’s more so like, ‘Let’s elevate the game of comedy.’”
Right now Koy feels plenty elevated, as though he’s floating every time he enters the stadium and looks up at the stands — like the night he saw Eddie Murphy all those years ago.
“You should’ve heard the whispers me and Gabe had to ourselves walking out of the stadium tunnel, like, ‘Yo, is this really happening?!’” Koy said with a megawatt smile. “Coming from an open mic night at a coffee house, never in my wildest dreams did I say, ‘Someday, a football stadium’ … we’re literally living our dreams right now.”
Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points, Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 against the team that traded him last month, and the Clippers won their third in a row, 130-107 over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night at Intuit Dome.
Brook Lopez had 17 points for the Clippers while Darius Garland had 12 in his first home game since being acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers last month. He and Mathurin, who made eight of 11 shots, provided an effective backcourt off the bench, and center Isaiah Jackson added 10 points, four rebounds and three blocks against his old team as well.
The only negative on the night was when rookie center Yanic Konan Niederhauser was helped to the locker room after he suffered a right foot injury. He didn’t return. The Clippers said he’d undergo further evaluation and won’t join them for a two-game trip.
Pascal Siakam had 29 points in his return after sitting out three games because of a left wrist sprain to lead Indiana, but the Pacers lost their seventh in a row and fell to the bottom of the Eastern Conference with a 15-47 record.
Jay Huff had 18 points and was four for eight on three-pointers, and Jarace Walker added 17 points.
The Clippers (30-31) led 42-25 after one quarter and 63-51 at halftime, with Leonard racking up 20 points. The Clippers pulled away with a 16-2 run in the third quarter to extend a seven-point lead to 21.
The Clippers shot 55.1% to the Pacers’ 42.9% as L.A. pulled within a game of .500 for the second time since recovering from a 6-21 start. The Clippers play at San Antonio on Friday and at Memphis on Saturday.
Norchad Omier, a 6-foot-7 forward on a two-way contract, became the first Nicaraguan to score in the NBA, according to the Clippers, when he made a late jump hook in the lane.
She was a two-time state champion in high school coming out of the Syracuse area. She then was a four-time NCAA champion at UConn. She’s won three WNBA titles, three World Cup gold medals, three Olympic gold medals, even two EuroLeague titles.
And now, add an Unrivaled title to the mix — a league that she co-founded.
Stewart and Mist are the queens of Unrivaled for 2026, topping Phantom 80-74 in the championship game Wednesday night to cap the league’s second season. Stewart scored 32 points, setting the tone by scoring Mist’s first 12 points of the second half and her team — which went 0-2 against Phantom in the regular season — wouldn’t trail again.
“What I’ll remember the most about this Mist team is we might not be the loudest, but we’re going to work the hardest,” said Stewart, who was picked as MVP of the final — and whose team will split a $600,000 winners’ pool.
It ended somewhat controversially: an offensive foul on Stewart was overturned to a block on review, giving her a free throw to win the title. Stewart swished the shot, and confetti fell from the roof in celebration.
“Just focused on doing it for my team,” Stewart said.
Sparks star Kelsey Plum carried Phantom with 40 points on 14-for-21 shooting, along with six rebounds and five assists.
It was a brilliant effort — but Stewart and Mist had just a bit too much.
“It’s hard when it ends like this,” Plum said. “But overall, it was an amazing season.”
Arike Ogunbowale had 19 and Allisha Gray scored 12 for Mist, while Kiki Iriafen scored 13 and Tiffany Hayes had 12 for Phantom.
“There was complete faith in this group,” Mist coach Zach O’Brien said. “I’m just glad we got it done.”
Stewart and Napheesa Collier are credited as the co-founders of the league, one that if nothing else has filled a void on calendar for the women’s pro game.
“I think that there was a space that wasn’t kind of being used as far as what professional women’s basketball players were doing,” Stewart said. “We used to have a seven-month blackout period where you didn’t know what these professional basketball players were doing. And now you know.”
The question is what comes next.
The WNBA and its players do not have a labor agreement for next season, one that is slated — at this point — to start in about two months. The WNBA has told the players’ union that it needs to get a deal in place by this coming Tuesday to start the season on time.
And for now, there’s no indication that’ll happen. That means the Mist-Phantom final could be the last pro women’s game in the U.S. for a while.
Some will point to poor television ratings as a sign of trouble, while others can point to crowds drawn this season in Brooklyn and Philadelphia as signs of potential for Unrivaled. Players say it works, and there’s no plans to stop now.
“People probably doubt us, that we can sustain it,” Unrivaled CEO Alex Bazzell said. “That’s what drives us and that’s also what drives these players They’re all competitors and we are, too.”
Unrivaled — a 3-on-3, full-court game played on a 72-foot floor, shorter than an NBA or college court — sells itself on being fast-paced, with an 18-second shot clock, 7-minute quarters and plenty of open space for players to create.
Kelsey Plum dribbles against Veronica Burton in the second quarter.
(Leonardo Fernandez / Getty Images)
The title game didn’t disappoint in that regard.
They were the top two seeds entering the playoffs — Phantom 1, Mist 2 — and Wednesday was back and forth. It was 24-24 after one quarter, 43-43 at the half, neither team having led by more than seven at any point.
Mist led 68-62 going to the fourth, an untimed final quarter where 11 points get added to the leading score as the end-of-game target.
To win the title: first team to 79 wins. Mist scored the first six points of the final quarter, going up by 12. Plum answered with five straight points, pushing her total to 35 for the night and getting Phantom within 74-67.
But Mist held the lead the rest of the way, and Stewart — as she has so many times — had a title to savor.
“It was our goal from Day One to be here, to be on this podium,” O’Brien said.
Cale Makar had a goal and two assists, Nathan MacKinnon secured his fourth consecutive 100-point season with a third-period assist, and the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche ended the Ducks’ five-game winning streak with a 5-1 victory Tuesday night at Honda Center.
Parker Kelly scored two goals and Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves for the Avalanche, who have won three straight and four of five since the Olympic break. Martin Necas got his 27th goal and Gabriel Landeskog also scored to complete Colorado’s back-to-back sweep of the Southern California clubs.
Cutter Gauthier scored his 29th goal and Lukas Dostal stopped 21 shots for the Ducks, whose eight-game home winning streak since Jan. 2 also ended.
The Ducks would have moved into first place in the Pacific Division with a point, but the loss kept Vegas one point ahead. The Ducks are in a playoff race down the stretch for the first time since 2018.
After two fruitless Ducks power plays in the opening minutes, Makar put the Avalanche ahead from the slot with his 18th goal.
Necas added his seventh power-play goal of the season 2 1/2 minutes later, beating his Czech Olympic teammate with a high shot. The goal was just the second on the power play in the last 12 games for the Avalanche, who inexplicably have the NHL’s worst man-advantage unit despite their overall excellence.
Gauthier hammered home a one-timer early in the second after a superb cross-ice pass from Jackson LaCombe, but Kelly got his 14th goal later in the period.
Landeskog then scored a goal in his second straight game, connecting early in the third on a one-timer from MacKinnon, who got his 59th assist to go with his NHL-leading 41 goals.
The Lakers were looking to stack wins and are not in position to judge an opponent by its win-loss record.
So, when the Lakers encountered a Pelicans team that arrived at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night with a 19-43 record, they knew they couldn’t afford to overlook New Orleans. Especially since the Pelicans had won four of their past five and because they have a talented core of young talent that includes Zion Williamson, Herbert Jones, Trey Murphy III and Dejounte Murray.
It took all five starters scoring in double figures and it took a strong defensive effort in the fourth quarter for the Lakers (37-24) to pull out a 110-101 win over a stubborn Pelicans team.
“Well, we knew we weren’t playing against their record tonight,” said LeBron James, who was one of the starters to score in double figures with 21 points to go along with seven rebounds, seven assists and two blocks. But he also had five turnovers.
“It’s the first time they’ve been whole in quite a while,” James, who was eight-for-12 from the field, continued. “And we know when they’ve been whole what kind of team they’ve been. So, we came in with that mindset, understanding what kind of team we were playing and they won their last four out of five before tonight, or something like that.
“But we didn’t come in with the notion that we were playing against their record. We came in with the notion that we were playing a very athletic team that’s been playing exceptional basketball of late.”
The Lakers have been a better team as of late as well, winning their third straight game after losing three straight.
They won this one over the Pelicans with just enough offense and some timely defense.
Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. But he was just 10-for-22 from the field and three-for-10 from three-point range and he had seven turnovers.
“I think we responded in a good way,”: Doncic said. “Sometimes you got to win playing bad. That’s what good teams do. I think that’s what it is today. Obviously it wasn’t our best game, but we managed to get a win.”
Austin Reaves had 15 points on four-for-15 shooting and two for seven on three-pointers, eight rebounds and five turnovers.
Reaves injured his arm late in the fourth quarter after stripping the basketball away from Williamson. But after a quick time out, Reeves returned to the game.
“I just hit my funny bone,” Reaves said. “Whole hand went numb, called a time out, kind of went away and was able to play.”
Deandre Ayton had 13 points and eight rebounds.
There also was the defense and energy Marcus Smart and Jaxson Hayes provided the Lakers.
Smart had 10 points, four steals and three blocks. He also was big on offense, drilling a three-pointer with 1:34 left for a 105-98 Lakers lead.
Hayes had eight points, six rebounds and two blocks.
“Jaxson was guarding Zion, which is not easy,” Doncic said. “So, I think he had some big, big plays for us. And obviously Smart has been the key to our wins (this season).”
The Lakers had 20 turnovers through three quarters, which didn’t help their cause.
They had just one in the fourth quarter and that came on a late-game 24-second violation when they were running out the clock.
The Lakers didn’t help themselves by losing their composure.
Doncic was given a technical foul in the second quarter. Luke Kennard received a technical foul in the third quarter and Ayton got a technical foul in the fourth quarter after being called for a foul blocking a shot by Williamson.
Austin Reaves celebrates after making a three-pointer in the second half.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The Lakers had 12 blocks for the game and seven in the decisive fourth quarter.
They held the Pelicans to 35% shooting in the fourth and just 23 points.
“I think we’ve made some strides defensively,” James said. “I think we didn’t play much at all zone tonight. We started the game with it, we kind of went away from it. So, I thought our man-to-man defense was pretty good. I thought Jaxson and Marcus were great on that end and then everyone else kind of trickled in as well.”
The UCLA men’s basketball team made Senior Night one to savor Tuesday, dominating No. 9 Nebraska 72-52 at Pauley Pavilion for its 20th victory of the season and third over a top-10 ranked opponent.
Trent Perry scored 20 points, Eric Dailey Jr. had 14 and three players — Tyler Bilodeau, Skyy Clark and Xavier Booker — each added eight points.
Sam Hoiberg had 12 points to lead Nebraska.
The Bruins were in control from the opening tip-off and never trailed the Cornhuskers (25-5, 14-5). UCLA improved to 10-3 in all-time against Nebraska and the win greatly strengthened its resume for an NCAA tournament berth as the Bruins also beat then-No. 4 Purdue 69-67 on Jan. 20 and then-No. 10 Illinois 95-94 in overtime on Feb. 21 on Donovan Dent’s layup with one second left.
This is the fifth time in head coach Mick Cronin’s seven seasons that the Bruins have won 20 or more games. They are 17-1 at home (their only loss in overtime to Indiana on Jan. 31).
UCLA went ahead by 15 points, 37-22, on Perry’s three-pointer with 2:41 left and led 37-24 at intermission. The Bruins shot 50% from the field in the first half (15 for 30) while Nebraska was only 31% (nine for 29).
The Bruins increased their advantage to 18 points on Dailey’s dunk less than five minutes into the second half and the visitors got no closer than nine the rest of the way.
Prior to pregame introductions the Bruins honored seniors Bilodeau, Dent and Clark; fifth-year player Jamar Brown; redshirt seniors Steven Jamerson II, Jack Seidler and Anthony Peoples Jr; and redshirt junior Evan Manjikian. In a media timeout, midway through the first half, former coach Jim Harrick (who led UCLA to its 11th national championship in 1995) was honored and got a loud ovation.
UCLA guard Skyy Clark looks to pass while under pressure from Nebraska guard Sam Hoiberg and forward Berke Buyuktuncel in the second half.
(William Liang / Associated Press)
Over the last four games, Dent has 46 assists and just two turnovers.
Bilodeau has scored in double figures in 26 of 28 games played, totaling 20 points or more nine times.
Dailey moved to within five points of reaching the 1,000-career point milestone.
UCLA has now made at least one three-pointer in 887 of 888 games dating to February 2000.
The ending was not what Jason Crowe Jr. wanted, but he got a hug from his mother and praise from his coach/father after Inglewood’s 84-65 loss to Damien on Tuesday night in the Southern California Division I regional playoff game.
He finished with 34 points, ending his high school career with a state-record 4,718 points in 124 games, according to CalHiSports.com. He’s more than 1,000 points ahead of the next closest player. His scoring average was 38.0 points.
Jason Crowe Jr. ends his fabulous high school career with 34 points in Inglewood 84-65 loss to Damien. He finishes with 4,718 points in 124 games, the most points in California history. pic.twitter.com/O1Lqcaqwzl
“I think he’s had an amazing high school career,” said his father, Jason Sr., who will join his son at Missouri next season serving as an assistant coach. “He had to go against the best defenses every night. I’m proud of him. He brought this program to the Division I level. He was on honor roll every year.”
Damien (28-7) had too much firepower for Inglewood (28-7). Eli Garner scored 25 points and Zaire Rasshan had 24 points. Garner had a five-point play and Rasshan added a four-point play. Damien will play at No. 3-seeded Crespi on Thursday. Crespi defeated Bishop Amat 83-66. Isaiah Barnes scored 20 points. Sophomore Aiden Shaw had 25 points for Bishop Amat.
Jason Crowe Jr. of Inglewood launches three against Damien. He finished with 34 points in loss.
(Nick Koza)
“Incredible career,” Damien coach Mike LeDuc said of Crowe Jr.
Damien fans get excited in state playoff game.
(Nick Koza)
Mater Dei 86, La Mirada 79: The Monarchs came back from a 12-point halftime deficit to eliminate No. 1-seeded La Mirada on the road in Division I.
St. John Bosco 65, San Marcos 55: Christian Collins scored 30 points and Max Ellis 19 for the Braves.
Venice 61, Riverside Ramona 50: Canaan Rodriguez scored 18 points for Venice in Division IV.
Girls basketball
Oak Park 72, La Jolla Country Day 57: Karisma Flores scored 27 points, including seven of seven from the three-point line, to lead Oak Park.
SAN FRANCISCO — Kawhi Leonard had 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and the Clippers erased a 17-point deficit to beat the shorthanded Golden State Warriors 114-101 on Monday night.
Garland had been nursing a toe injury, then he went down with 1:26 left in the second quarter after a collision with the Warriors’ Moses Moody when they both went for a loose ball and Moody’s right shoulder appeared to get Garland in the face. Both players were shaken but stayed in the game.
Garland’s three-pointer with 3:09 left in the third pulled the Clippers within 75-68, then Kris Dunn had a steal and layup to make it a five-point game. The Clippers were within 79-77 going into the final 12 minutes.
Dunn finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Clippers (29-31), who shot just nine for 31 from three-point range. The Clippers used a 9-4 spurt to start the fourth quarter and go ahead 88-81.
Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski hit eight of his first 12 shots with three three-pointers for his second career 20-point half, but went one for six for two points after the break. Al Horford added 17 points for Golden State, which has lost five of seven and nine of 14.
All-Star guard Stephen Curry was sidelined for an 11th straight game because of a right knee injury, big man Kristaps Porzingis was out for his fifth consecutive contest because of an illness coach Steve Kerr called “mysterious,” and rookie Will Richard was in a walking boot after he sprained his right ankle in Saturday’s blowout home loss to the Lakers. Star forward Jimmy Butler is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Up next for the Clippers: vs. Indiana at Intuit Dome on Wednesday.
