Myles Garrett is coming off a dominating three-sack performance in his return to the Rams’ lineup.
Here’s a scary thought:
“Not a 100 [%],” he told reporters Friday when asked to put a percentage-gauge on how he felt in last Sunday’s victory over the Washington Commanders. “I can’t go that far. We’re not a 100 but we’re trying to make our way there.”
Garrett, who sat out seven games while recovering from left knee surgery, is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. But he is expected to play as the Rams attempt to extend their winning streak to four games.
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Gary Klein breaks down what to watch for Sunday when the Rams face the Arizona Cardinals.
The two-time NFL defensive player of the year’s influence on the team extends beyond the field.
In the locker room, the 10th-year pro is the top-rated player in a player-organized, no-contact shadow-boxing league designed to instill competition and camaraderie.
Garrett, who spent his first nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns, said he didn’t bring the competition with him, “but I will say I was the top dog where I left and top dog now, so not much has changed.”
Garrett said he does not back down from a challenge by teammates.
“I just haven’t lost,” he said.
Coach Sean McVay welcomes the team-building component of the competition.
“It’s always about when can you find those times to lock in but when can you do those things that organically occur to create a camaraderie and a connection that is something that only the players can really be able to do,” McVay said. “When you’re hearing laughs, I think that’s the sign of a good culture.”
Garrett played 37 of 62 defensive snaps against the Commanders and said he was “tired as hell” afterward.
After the Rams play the Cardinals, they will have what will essentially be a mini-bye before playing the Green Bay Packers on the night before Thanksgiving.
Garrett said the bye was coming at “a perfect time” for all players.
“Being able to get some extra practice myself, being on the field and being able to train and work on some things, get in my rhythm even without some games, I think will help us all in the long run,” he said.
Sophomore quarterback Isaiah Palomino of Van Nuys suffered an injury last August in in his team’s opening football game. He missed the next nine games, with the Wolves going 5-5 and being seeded No. 3 in the City Section Division III playoffs.
Last week, Palomino returned and guided the Wolves to a 20-15 win over Maya Angelou in the playoff opener.
Now Van Nuys gets to face Westchester at home in the quarterfinals on Friday night. Westchester went 0-10 in the regular season and won its playoff opener over Rancho Dominguez 18-12.
So it’s a new start both for Palomino and his opponent, Westchester.
Van Nuys coach Ken Osorio said Palomino’s return should be beneficial for the Wolves.
The City Section Open Division playoffs begin Friday with No. 8 Palisades at No. 1 Carson; No. 5 King/Drew at No. 4 Birmingham; No. 6 Crenshaw at No. 3 Cleveland; and No. 7 Dorsey at No. 2 San Pedro.
So far, there have been few top seeds losing in the City playoffs.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
Tries: Bourson, L Hivernat, Dore, Guttadoro, Denuwelaere 3 Goals: L Hivernat 3, N Clausells 2
England can now paint the final rung on their dressing-room ladder gold.
On Friday in Wollongong, Australia, they became the first nation to lift the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup on three occasions with a peerless display to defeat France 50-38.
And just as they did four years ago, Tom Coyd’s wheelchair side have delivered a triumph to offset the disappointment felt by the men’s and women’s teams.
This was always going to be close. The only surprise was that 12 points separated the wheelchair game’s two powerhouse nations.
Since Tom Halliwell’s last-gasp try secured a 28-24 win in Manchester in 2022, England and France had met on four occasions, with both winning twice.
In the build-up to this tournament, and during it, England spoke of a desire to win the trophy – rather than defend it. It was a choice of language that spoke of a positive approach. They did what they set out to do on the sport’s biggest stage.
Joe Coyd – who scored four tries, including the opening two of the match – and Jack Brown, who finished with a hat-trick, will grab many of the headlines but there were heroes draped in white all over the Wollongong Entertainment Centre.
A thunderous encounter was punctuated by bruising collisions, heavy chair smashes and running repairs being made to equipment that included the reconstruction of a set of goalposts – as emotions threatened to boil over on more than one occasion.
Those facets, married to some outrageous moments of skill, all contributed to a nerve-shredding contest that delivered a super advertisement for the wheelchair game.
Hawkins, who recently became the first player in any form of rugby league to win three successive Golden Boots – awarded by the IRL to the best player in the world during the calendar year – lived up to his billing.
The Halifax wing provided some wonderful moments, including two tries, and he superbly evaded two French defenders before laying on a score for Brown as the contest swing England’s way before the break.
Having started in the ascendancy, courtesy of two Coyd tries, England were in danger of losing momentum – an early flashpoint threatening to shift the match towards France as Mason Billington was penalised for shoving Leo Hivernat to the ground.
France capitalised with a try in the corner from Jeremy Bourson. Damien Dore, Hivernat and Florian Guttadoro all crossed before a wonderful England response.
And even when Dany Denuwelaere scored to underscore France’s whirlwind start to the second half, England immediately regained control as Hawkins acrobatically grounded the ball in the right corner to restore their six-point advantage.
They never looked back from that point on. And they have a third World Cup to prove it.
When Vanna White drove into Los Angeles in 1980, she had a dream. “I wanted to be on TV,” says White, co-host of the syndicated game show, “Wheel of Fortune.” Growing up in the small town of North Myrtle Beach, S.C., that dream led her to a career in modeling before she and a friend headed to Hollywood, driving a 20-foot U-Haul truck.
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
“Just driving into Burbank, seeing Warner Bros., the studios, the Hollywood sign, the Hollywood Walk of Fame,” she recalls. “Oh my goodness, I thought. I’m here, in Los Angeles. It felt like I was exactly where I needed to be. It gave me inspiration to follow my dream of becoming a star.”
Two years later, White auditioned for “Wheel of Fortune” and made her television debut on Dec. 13, 1982. She went on to star in more than 8,000 episodes of various iterations of the show, turning letters on the puzzle board, cheering on contestants and modeling outfits every night.
Her passion for crocheting and helping children led to launching her own yarn line, called Vanna’s Choice. Half of White’s personal sales proceeds go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where $2 million has been donated to date.
Today, White lives in Beverly Hills with her husband, John Donaldson, and calls weekends “a time to chill out.”
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
5 a.m.: Wake up and exercise
Usually, I wake up around 5 a.m., have my coffee and work out.
7:30 a.m.: Get on the trails
I love hiking. There are great hiking places in Los Angeles because we’re in this big city, and suddenly you’re in nature. There are beautiful trails to go to, just to calm down and get away from all the craziness. One of my favorite hiking places is Fryman Canyon in Studio City. The views are great. I love being among nature with lots of trees. There’s a trail, so I’m not going to get lost. It’s beautiful and peaceful, so I’ll go for a long hike.
9 a.m.: French toast for a treat
For breakfast, I like going to Blu Jam. They have several locations, but after Fryman Canyon, I’d go to the one in Sherman Oaks. I get their Crunchy French Toast, which is French brioche, battered and rolled in cornflakes. It’s so good. I don’t do this stuff at home. I only do it as a treat after my big hike.
If not Blu Jam, I’d go to Jinky’s in Sherman Oaks where I get the Flaky French Toast.
10:30 a.m.: Time for some shopping
After breakfast, I would either go back home, or go to the mall and see what’s going on. On the Valley side, you have Fashion Square. Topanga Canyon has a huge mall. Sometimes I’ll go there. If I’m on the city side, Beverly Hills has Neiman Marcus. It’s fun also to walk down Rodeo Drive and window shop.
Noon: Lunch in Beverly Hills
I love going out to eat. There are so many incredible restaurants in Los Angeles.
One of my favorite places is the Polo Lounge, which is iconic. They have the McCarthy Salad, which I get every time I go there. It’s finely chopped lettuce, cheese, smoked bacon, grilled chicken, avocado, beets and egg. I’ve been having that salad for 40 years.
2 p.m.: Rest, or hang out with the kids
I can always just sit back, watch a show on TV and crochet to relax. If it’s the golf season, I like watching golf on TV, as well as playing golf. Sometimes, though, my kids come over on Sundays, and we play games and hang out for a few hours. Or, my son, Nikko Santo Pietro, my daughter, Gigi Santo Pietro, husband and I might go to Venice or the Santa Monica Pier. It’s fun to walk along the boardwalk in Venice. It’s relaxing to just stop, sit down, listen to the ocean, and take in the fresh air. The beach has a different vibe. There, just being by the ocean, you can turn around and see the mountains. You can’t do that everywhere.
6:30 p.m.: Family dinner night
We all love Italian. I love old-school places that have been here forever, like Peppone in Brentwood. I would order chicken piccata, one of my favorites. Dessert is a group decision. We often get the tiramisu. My all-time favorite dessert is banana pudding, which you can’t get at Peppone, so sometimes I’ll run into Magnolia Bakery to get their banana pudding to take home.
If not Peppone, we might go to the Smoke House Restaurant in Burbank. When I first moved to Los Angeles, I lived in the Oakwood apartments, which is right in the neighborhood of the Smoke House. It was one of the first restaurants I ever saw in Los Angeles. I usually order the barbecued baby back ribs with BBQ beans and creamed spinach. They have a large menu. You can get a little bit of everything there.
8 p.m.: Early to bed
After dinner, we’d go home, take a shower and go to bed. We put the TV on, but once I get horizontal, give me five minutes and I’m out. Sometimes if I’m watching a show and I want to stay awake, I’ll crochet while I watch TV. Otherwise, I’ll fall asleep. Sunday is like medicine before Monday morning starts.
Credit agency Fitch Ratings has dealt another blow to the troubled Skylink people mover train at Los Angeles International Airport, downgrading the project’s debt deeper into junk bond territory over the continued inability of the contractor and city’s airport department to complete the project.
The downgrade — to B-, from BB four months ago — “reflects the near certainty” that contractor LINXS won’t have the 2.25-mile train running by Dec. 8, leading to a “technical event of default and could give rights to either LINXS or Los Angeles World Airports … to issue project termination notices,” Fitch said in a report this week.
“It’s an uncommon action of severity,” Fitch analyst Seth Lehman told The Times. “We were under the view that there was a fair amount of cushion for LAWA and LINXS to settle on disputes, or for LINXS to show that they can have the trains run safely per this reliability test.”
The contractor has already said the train won’t be ready until February 2027 — or even later. In a statement to The Times Thursday, a spokesperson said that “LINXS remains committed to working with LAWA to successfully deliver the Automated People Mover and provide a world-class transportation system for the Los Angeles region.”
LINXS, an acronym for LAX Integrated Express Solutions, is a consortium that includes Fluor, Balfour Beatty, Alstom Transport USA, ACS Infrastructure Development, HNTB, Dragaos USA. LINXS declined comment beyond the statement.
LAWA officials had no immediate comment on the latest bond downgrade.
The deadline for the train’s completion is Dec. 8. While the airport or the contractor could technically terminate the contract at that time, Lehman noted that there’s a 120-day buffering period to allow for additional time to settle issues.
“After you get past that date, then the question becomes: Will both sides still want to work with each other, or just decide to find a path toward separation?” Lehman said about the months-long grace period.
The contractor and city airport officials have long been at odds.
LINXS filed a complaint against the city over the summer blaming the airport for the delays. Last month, the airport disputed multiple claims that the contractor made in its monthly brief on the project. And meetings between chief executives for the contractor, airport officials and others that began last year stopped in August.
Though officials say the project is 99% done, there are multiple unresolved issues. Agreements to implement solar energy on the project have not been signed with the city’s water and power departments, and the cause of technical problems with the train are still under investigation, according to a recent report from the contractor’s technical advisor.
In order for the train to run, it must undergo 30-days of consecutive testing without substantial issues and get sign-off from the airport and an outside assessor. That month-long testing period has continued to restart.
The $3.3 billion train is the most-anticipated feature of the airport’s $30 billion overhaul. It was initially slated to open in 2023 — before the World Cup and the Super Bowl and long before the 2028 Olympics. It’s now three years behind schedule and more than $1 billion beyond its original construction budget. When it does open, the airport said it will shuttle travelers between terminals, parking lots, the LAX/Metro Transit Center and a new rideshare lot.
Lehman noted that the train is hardly a novel project as many major airports have one, making the delays at LAX all the more confounding.
“Each time there’s a path towards opening, there’s a setback,” he said.
Serbian star Nikola Kusturica scored 17 points and Jaylen Pettit added 16 as No. 9 UCLA routed Arkansas Pine Bluff 106-37 Wednesday night and set a program record for margin of victory.
The Bruins (3-0) won by a record 69 points. UCLA’s previous largest margin of victory was 65 points, accomplished three times and most recently in a 122-57 win over Portland in 1967, a mark that stood for 59 years.
Trent Perry finished with 11 points and 11 assists for his first double-double.
Macaleab Rich led Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-3) with 11 points.
UCLA used a 20-0 run early to build a 33-4 lead in the first half.
UCLA’s stingy defense limited Arkansas-Pine Bluff to nine points in the first half. That matched a school record for fewest points allowed. The Golden Lions’ starting five was a combined 0 for 9 from the field in the first half.
The last time the Bruins held a team to nine first-half points was against Howard on Dec. 19, 1983. The Bruins won that game 63-52 at Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins led 51-9 at halftime. That 42-point lead is UCLA’s largest halftime advantage since the 2012-13 season. UCLA had a 63-29 lead over James Madison on Nov. 15, 2012.
The Bruins did commit 11 turnovers in the first half. The Golden Lions had 21 turnovers in the first half and finished with 30 total.
I get it. We’re barely into November. You haven’t put away the Halloween décor yet, even though you finished eating all the leftover candy (even those off-brand Whoppers) days ago.
But for many of us, the most wonderful time of the year arrived early, on Nov. 3, with the midterm election rebuke of corruption, unnecessary wars, cruelty, racism, misogyny, taxpayer-funded vanity projects, and the soaring cost of just about everything.
Democrats flipped the House, the Senate, governorships and state houses in areas that were once as red as the stiff holiday dress mom forced you to wear to the school pageant.
And I did wear that dress, even though I’m an Ali. Muslims can be just as secular as any other faith. My dad, an Iraqi Shiite, bought a live tree every year. My mom, an Anglo Cali girl who was raised Protestant, taught him — and her kids — how to string the lights, space out the ornaments and delicately hang the tinsel rather than throw it on in clumps (chucking it was way more fun, of course).
Supporters of Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico cheer as they watch midterm election returns come in.
(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
Christmas equaled happiness. It still does.
I’m the weirdo who listens to Christmas music year-round, particularly when times get tough. Suffice to say that over the last decade, there’s been a lot of yuletide listening in July, or May, or whenever it felt like the implosion of democracy and the rise of something much darker was too much to handle without the buoyant cheer of Gene Autry’s “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” or the soothing calm of Burl Ives “Silent Night.”
They got me through a lot: The Muslim ban. Brett Kavanaugh’s SCOTUS hearing. The abortion ban. Gutting the Voting Rights Act. January 6th. Gaza. DOGE. Bombing a school in Iran. ICE sweeps, deportations and killings. The stupid ballroom. The stupid Melania documentary.
Vince Guaraldi’s “Skating” didn’t do much to stop the Big Lie or expose the contents of the Epstein Files, but it did offer a small dose of joy when there was little to be found.
There are others out there like me, who’ve let it slip that they were listening to the London Philharmonic’s “Carol of the Bells” deep into summer because they needed to. It was paramount to their mental health.
The irony is that over the years, angry readers and trolls have accused me of wanting to “cancel Christmas” because my writing, or mere existence, challenged their idea of what American faith is, or should be. As if there was only one, and everyone practiced it.
If only I’d sent them back a musical Christmas card. The tune would be Booker T. & the M.G.’s jaunty version of “Jingle Bells.” The message: “Peace on earth, good will toward men, women, and non-binary.”
Why do the best comebacks always arrive after the fact?
Before anyone takes offense, I’m wholly aware there is a much deeper meaning behind the holiday, and I respect that. My warm and fuzzy feelings for the C9 incandescent bulb and my Mr. Christmas magnetized skating rink are just that, feelings. They come in handy when a safe harbor is needed.
For example: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announces that the government plans to livestream an execution. Seek refuge in Johnny Mathis’ “Calypso Noel.”
Let’s get back to the tree.
Our 7.5-foot Vickerman White Spruce with 750 multicolored LED bulbs with an easy to assemble, snap-in trunk has been up the day after Thanksgiving every year since 2016, when President Trump won his first term, and my first assignment as a critic was to cover his inauguration. Like “Mame,” I just needed a little Christmas! Right that very minute!
To be fair, he had yet to prove himself. But there were clues to how bad things might get should he win: He initially declined to disavow an endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. He boasted on a hot mic about sexually assaulting women. He refused to publicly release his tax returns, as if there was something to hide.
With each passing year of MAGA toxicity, I kept the tree up a little longer and made Valentine’s Day a reasonable cut-off date.
My reasons are different for wanting to put the tree up now, well before Thanksgiving, let alone Christmas. It’s not about bringing me joy, but about reflecting how good it feels now that the country stands a chance of repairing the damage from a decade of Trumpism. MAGA is falling. Hegseth is headed toward impeachment. Tesla has ended production of the Cybertruck.
Cue the music. Plug in the tree. It’s never too early to celebrate.
Actor Irma P. Hall, the former educator who pivoted to acting in her late 30s to star in films including “Soul Food,” “The Ladykillers” and “Meet the Browns,” has died. She was 91.
Hall died Tuesday in Dallas surrounded by her loved ones, her family announced Wednesday in a statement. Her family said the actor leaves behind a “remarkable legacy” that spans from her memorable characters on screen, her time as a teacher early in life and her role as a church leader in Dallas in her final years. A cause of death was not revealed.
“She started as a teacher in the classroom but ended up being a teacher to the world,” Hall’s daughter Irma Hall Crayton said in the statement. “My mom used to always say, ‘To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.’ And she was just that to many people.”
Hall, who was born in Texas and raised in Chicago, is best known to film fans for portraying scene-stealing, elderly types. She was Big Mama, the matriarch of the central Joseph family, in George Tillman Jr.’s 1997 “Soul Food,” starring Vanessa Williams, Vivica A. Fox and Nia Long as her three daughters. That same year she shared the screen with Kevin Spacey and John Cusack as witchy healer Minerva in Clint Eastwood’s Savannah-set “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” In the Coen brothers’ “The Ladykillers,” Hall was the religious and aging widow who rents a spare room to a deceiving “professor” (Tom Hanks) and his band of criminals posing as musicians (Marlon Wayans, J.K. Simmons, Tzi Ma and Ryan Hurst).
She earned numerous accolades for her work, including an NAACP Image Award for her work in “Soul Food” and a jury prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival for “The Ladykillers.”
“I’ve always found older women extremely interesting. In fact, as a child I’d be playing outside and when they couldn’t find me, they’d just start knocking at all the old people’s doors,” Hall recalled to The Times in 1996. “My mother used to say I was probably the only child that was born wanting to be old.”
Hall’s acting career spanned from the mid 1970s to the 2010s and also included roles in the 1998 film adaptation of Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” starring Oprah Winfrey, 1996’s “A Family Thing” with James Earl Jones and Robert Duvall, the TV series “Hap and Leonard” alongside “The Wire” star Michael K. Williams and Tyler Perry’s “Meet the Browns.”
She sharpened her ability to play older in TV, film and theater by channeling the women in her life and studying elders’ behavior, she told The Times in 1996. She made it a habit to visit nursing homes, speak with their residents and study their physicality from their gestures to their gaits.
“I practice little things like that all the time because I love to play old people and I don’t ever want them to be embarrassed or ridiculed by my performance,” she recalled at the time.
Irma Dolores Player was born June 3, 1935, in Beaumont, Texas. Her father was a saxophonist during the big-band era and her mother was a housekeeper. She returned to Texas for college, graduating from Texas College in Tyler. She remained in her birth state to work as a teacher in poor, segregated schools before her unexpected pivot to acting in her late 30s. She taught foreign languages and ultimately taught theater.
Actor-director Raymond St. Jacques discovered Hall after hearing her read poetry and cast her in his 1973 film “Book of Numbers,” paving the way for a decades-long career that would endear her to generations of TV and film audiences.
“I want to tell their stories so profoundly that no one will ever forget these characters,” she told the Dallas Morning News of her characters in 2017. “I don’t care if they don’t know who Irma P. Hall is.”
Hall later lived in Chicago, where she cared for her parents and pursued an award-winning theater career. She also dedicated her efforts toward nurturing upcoming talent in her home state, co-founding the Dallas Minority Repertory Theatre, and served as a longtime member of and church mother at Inspiring Body of Christ Church in Dallas.
Hall’s survivors include her daughter. A celebration of life will be announced at a later date.
The son of former NBA dunk contest runner-up Chris Carr, Lakers rookie Cameron Carr envisioned his first NBA points coming on a lob. When asked before the draft in April, the first-round pick knew that if not on a sky-high alley-oop his first bucket would at least be something athletic.
He now gives himself half-credit for calling his shot.
The 21-year-old Lakers guard scored his first NBA points on a fastbreak dunk Monday in Atlanta, making the most of his opportunities during the Lakers’ hot start.
Carr had two points and three rebounds in seven minutes and 19 seconds in the Lakers’ win over the Atlanta Hawks in the first significant playing time of his professional career. The Lakers, who finish a three-game, four-day road trip in Milwaukee on Wednesday, have the top record in the NBA at 10-2 with a six-game winning streak.
Carr helped extend the Lakers’ streak by bolstering a shorthanded lineup against the Hawks. The Lakers needed the rookie Monday when they were without Austin Reaves (illness) and Quentin Grimes (right finger sprain).
Three weeks into his NBA career, Carr, the 24th overall pick the Lakers traded up to acquire from the New York Knicks, said he is still nervous any time he subs into a game. Getting the first of what he hopes will be many NBA points helped settle his nerves.
“Over time it’s only going to grow, it’s only going to get better,” Carr said. “I’m only going to get more and more confident, so every time I get a chance to step out there, just show what I can do and of course show my talents through God’s work.”
The 6-foot-5 guard is a skilled scorer and an athletic marvel. He couldn’t even touch the rim when, one summer, he begged his father, who was the runner-up in the 1997 dunk contest to Kobe Bryant, to teach him to dunk. He just needed one summer to master it. Carr set a single-season sophomore scoring record at Baylor last season and his 642 points rank fifth in program history regardless of class. An efficient shooter (37.4% from three in his final college season), Carr also led Baylor with 45 blocked shots.
Now in the NBA, defense is still where Carr can improve most, Lakers coach JJ Redick said. Although Carr is a talented offensive player, it is still difficult for young players to find their rhythm with limited playing time, Redick said. The Lakers staff has encouraged Carr to take advantage of stay-ready games against coaches and make the most of G League opportunities to get more reps. Carr had 13 points and four rebounds during the Coachella Valley Lakers’ season opener on Friday.
“Just being patient, man,” Carr said of his approach to the beginning of the season, “just putting my head down, working every day, knowing that I can be the best person I can be. And when my time, my name is called, just be ready.”
Carr subbed into Monday’s game with 3:35 remaining in the first quarter. The Lakers, trailing by two, soon flipped the game with 13 unanswered points to end the quarter. A steal by Luka Doncic with 1:44 remaining fueled the streak and the star point guard threw an outlet pass to Carr in transition, who collected the ball for an emphatic two-handed dunk.
Doncic dished out another assist after the game when he rushed to secure the game ball for Carr. The superstar said he wanted the rookie to remember his first NBA bucket.
Cameron Carr said he’s going to ask everyone to sign the game ball from Monday’s game when he scored his first NBA points and keep it in a case. On Luka Doncic chasing it down for him: “That’s big time, especially coming from him. That says a lot about who he is as a person.” pic.twitter.com/eEGrD7VJYy
“That’s big time,” Carr said Wednesday of Doncic’s kind gesture. “Especially coming from him, that says a lot about who he is as a person and how he views this team.”
Redick handed the game ball to Carr in the locker room after the win as teammates cheered. Carr broke the team huddle on the word “together.” He plans to have everyone sign the ball before keeping it in a trophy case.
“There’s no price on it,” Carr said. “It’s forever.”
Lakers sign two-way center
The Lakers swapped out two-way centers Tuesday, waiving Lawson Lovering and signing Carson Cooper, the team announced. Both previously played in the Memphis Grizzlies organization and Cooper made one NBA appearance for the Grizzlies after signing a two-way deal with the team.
Cooper didn’t become a regular starter in college until his senior season, when he started all 35 games for Michigan State. The four-year Spartan averaged 11.1 points on 58.4% shooting with 7.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists and one block in his final season.
Lovering, who signed a two-way deal with the Lakers on Oct. 28, appeared in Lakers blowouts against Miami and Sacramento with a rebound and a block.
Poundland looks set to avoid immediate collapse after its US owners told MPs on Wednesday they were in favour of extending a deadline to find a rescue deal.
The discount chain, which has 11,000 employees, has been edging towards administration after being blocked by Gordon Borthers from accessing cash in its bank accounts.
A deadline to secure a buyer for the business is set to expire at midnight, but sources close to the situation told the BBC they expect more time will be given, thanks to the release of £10m in funding.
A committee of MPs questioned Gordon Brothers following accusations that the investment firm hopes to profit from selling off Poundland’s 600 stores and stock piecemeal.
Gordon Brothers – which bought the chain for just £1 last year – is accused of forcing that outcome by restricting Poundland’s access to available cash needed to restock stores and pay wages and rent, ahead of the crucial Christmas trading period.
The investment firm, which specialises in buying and restructuring distressed companies, has denied the claims.
But pressure remains on Poundland’s owners after a takeover bid was rejected. The decision prompted calls for answers from politicians, including Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
About £50m had been frozen by Gordon Brothers, the BBC understands, meaning Poundland bosses were unable to restock shelves across its 600 shops.
However, sources close to the matter told the BBC on Tuesday that a release of £10m by its owners, while “small in the scale of things” could help at least postpone the chain’s collapse while a longer term solution was explored.
Stacy Keach, an actor known for playing detective Mike Hammer, has died at age 85.
Actor Stacy Keach, best known for his title role in the 1980s television series “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer,” has died. He was 85.
Keach died at home Tuesday in Magdalenka, Poland, after a long battle with a heart condition and heart failure, his wife, Malgosia Tomassi Keach, told the Hollywood Reporter in a statement.
“Stacy was not only a legendary actor, admired and loved by audiences the world over, but also my beloved husband, my companion and the heart of our family. His passing leaves an immeasurable emptiness in our lives. But his extraordinary spirit, his unforgettable voice and the love he gave so generously will remain with us forever,” Malgosia Tomassi Keach wrote.
Stacy Keach was born on June 2, 1941, in Savannah, Ga., and soon moved to Los Angeles, where his father, Walter Stacy Keach Sr., joined the Pasadena Playhouse as an actor and director. Inspired by his father’s work, Keach started acting as a teen at Van Nuys High School and UC Berkeley, where he studied English and dramatic arts.
He attended the Yale School of Drama in 1966 and was a Fulbright scholar to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Throughout his career, Keach balanced his work in television and movies while continuing classical and Broadway stage performances, with Shakespearean roles including Hamlet, Henry V, Coriolanus, Falstaff, Macbeth, Richard III and King Lear.
In 2015, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame and was a founding member of L.A. Theatre Works. The Times wrote in 2003 that he would appear in the group’s radio plays whenever he felt a need to flex his acting muscles.
“You get to sort of dip your foot in the water of great theatrical art. You get to wade in the pool. Most working actors in Los Angeles have other lives. They have a series or are doing a movie and they don’t have the time to devote [to a traditional theatrical production],” he said at the time.
Keach played Ken Titus on the sitcom “Titus,” Warden Henry Pope in “Prison Break” and served as the long-running narrator of CNBC’s crime documentary series “American Greed.” He also starred in the 1972 boxing drama “Fat City,” “The Long Riders,” “American History X” and “The Bourne Legacy.” His performance as writer Ernest Hemingway in the TV movie “Hemingway” in 1988 earned him a Golden Globe.
But his most well-known role was the tough guy private eye Mike Hammer in “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer,” also known as “The New Mike Hammer,” which debuted in 1984 and ran for three seasons. Keach reprised the role for a syndicated series that lasted one season in 1997.
In 1984, Keach was arrested in Heathrow Airport in London on charges of cocaine possession. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine months in prison. He told the judge at the time that he had been addicted to cocaine for about a year, using the drug “as a means of trying to alleviate exhaustion.”
Keach wrote about his struggles with cocaine in his autobiography, “All in All: An Actor’s Life On and Off the Stage.”
This summer, I cheered — and at times, secretly sneered — in crowds of Angelenos cheering for the Mexican national team during the World Cup.
Friends, colleagues, strangers who had grown up in Southern California arrived at watch parties prepared with the players’ names, stats and even deep lore on what the World Cup meant to each country. Such was the beauty of shared diaspora with other countries in my city of Los Angeles.
Then, it occurred to me: As a Mexican-born immigrant, I should know the players’ names too, right? Should I know the national anthem and maybe even shed a tear as it plays? Maybe I’ve grown cold, maybe bitter, annoyed even, at the fervor, I thought.
But it wasn’t until Mexico was eliminated in its match against England (curse you, Jude Bellingham) that I, on the drive home, sobbed into the steering wheel.
I realized many questions then, which led me to investigate this piece: Why did I finally feel what everyone had been feeling? Why did the World Cup piss me off? Was it only the corruption? Or was there something stranger inside me? There’s no simple answer, but I will start with one word: nationalism.
Suited up in the cardigan of excess privilege, which is my UCLA education, I can easily be trapped in my own musings to identify, assess and even profess what I think should be the truth about what “country” is to me. My “undocumented-ness,” too, however, is not a golden ticket to absolute genius in my country, nationalism, or cross-border identities. For the Chicano Studies-initiated, there are libraries full of books to help answer this question; but here, I posit a few things to chew on.
Mexican teammates toss goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa into the air after their 3-0 victory over Czechia in Group A.
(Molly Darlington / Getty Images)
After the deluge of 2026 World Cup tequila brand activations, and the more recent midterm elections in the U.S. — which, with the help of Latino voters, resulted in a “blue tsunami” of Democratic wins — we’re reaching the end of two very rousing years for Latinas/os. As the summer of 2025 was hallmarked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that have continued to wreak havoc, especially in California, this time has called for a reckoning with our own conservatism, as well as the need for stronger leadership.
When I look back on the times I felt angry in gatherings to celebrate Latinidad — or even my own Mexican identity — I realize that I just want more from us and for us.
The answer to my questions, then, must not come from just ruminating; I must talk to people who know more than I do.
Over the years, I’ve known Rudy Mondragón as a key expert in the intersection of boxing, race and culture, particularly in the ways fighters use the ring to perform identity, belonging and resistance. As an assistant professor at Loyola Marymount University, he asks us to take seriously the few minutes before the bell goes off in the boxing ring: Notice what flags are draped over the athletes’ shoulders, what kind of music booms through the arenas, the colors stitched into their trunks. These were all the things I had been trying to understand as merely symbolic.
Mexico national soccer team fan Hector Chavez, also known as Caramelo, poses with a replica of the World Cup trophy in Iztapalapa, a Mexico City neighborhood, in 2022.
(Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
For many Mexicans, both here and in our home country, boxing is one of the main sports we grow up watching — whether we wanted to or not. When I arrived here, I became a huge fan of the L.A. Lakers and Dodgers, but the only times my family would gather around a TV or have carne asadas would be for the big boxing matches. As I grew older, I began to cheer for key fighters, many of whom are working class; and I can profoundly appreciate the greater legacy that the sport carries in our communities.
One of the key things I wanted to deeply understand, however, was why this impact was so huge for our community. Cynically, I’ve asked: Why do so many fighters say “Viva Mexico,” but don’t give back to Mexico? What do they stand for?
“You’re not saying that you support the federal government, the nation-state,” explains Mondragón over a Zoom call, with a framed Muhammad Ali photograph behind him. “It’s their way of expressing their version, their definition, which is infinite in terms of how we can express and socially construct being Latino, being Mexican.”
When Canelo wins and says “Viva Mexico,” it becomes our victory. Many of his high-profile fights have been with non-Mexicans too, thus creating a sense of cultural representation among other Latinos who may be forced to see his fights, but can appreciate the intense passion and joy when he wins.
But the same people who create that sense of belonging can also police its boundaries. Mondragón points to Canelo distinguishing Ryan Garcia as Mexican American, rather than Mexican. That matters, because someone with Canelo’s cultural power can help define who the public understands as authentically Mexican.
Mondragón warns, however, against expecting athletes to communicate politics in exactly the vocabulary that activists or academics might prefer. Public gestures can carry political meaning, even when they don’t resemble conventional activism. Their contributions are still impactful and meaningful, but we don’t need to look far to also see how others are expanding what belonging can be.
A portrait of professional fighter and actor Kali Reis.
(Justin J Wee / For The Times)
Kali Reis, a former world champion boxer and actor who identifies with the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe, offers a different kind of entrance.
Mondragón told me that when Reis fights, she reaches out to Native communities whose lands she is fighting on and invites them to help create her walk to the ring. Rather than simply arriving with her own symbols and asking an audience to recognize them, she has invited members of those communities to walk alongside her — even allowing them to choose music culturally specific to their nation.
In Reis’ telling, Mondragón says, the entrance borrows from the opening of a powwow: The people walking with her are not for decoration; they are helping bless the space before she enters it.
I keep coming back to that distinction: Reis is still performing belonging. She is still using music, clothing and ceremony to tell thousands of people who she is. But she is not necessarily drawing a circle around herself and declaring who belongs inside it — she is asking the people whose land she enters to help draw the circle with her.
In a sport so often expensively sold through flags, borders, and at times racist and xenophobic rivalries, her entrance offers another possibility: What if pride did not require making the borders of belonging smaller but invited more people into its making? What if nationalism alone isn’t what creates community?
Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl LX halftime show in February. His powerful performance illustrated the complexity of the Latino community.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Vanessa J. Díaz, who recently appeared on the De Los podcast, pushes the argument further: Art, music, dance and cultural expression are not necessarily separate from material resistance, but they help us imagine what community can truly look like for Latinos.
Also a professor at LMU, Díaz has become the leading chronicler of Bad Bunny’s relationship to Puerto Rican identity and resistance. She is the co-author, with Petra Rivera-Rideau, of “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance,” a book that places his music and political expression within a much longer history of Puerto Rican cultural resistance.
“If we are talking about resistance in comprehensive terms, then we make room for lots of different kinds of resistance,” Díaz tells me in a series of phone calls.
For her, the symbolism is the material; it is the powerful arm to meet the ends of empowerment and healing for our community. Beyond all the anthems Bad Bunny played during his halftime show — songs that carried me from my 20s into my 30s — it was him literally painting a picture of how complex our Latino community is at the Super Bowl, which in my opinion, remains the most powerful Latino cultural moment in recent times. (And, yes, this means I count Gaga as an honorary Latina now. Deal with it.)
Bad Bunny, to some, has campaigned for candidates, funded political billboards and unequivocally impacted his Puerto Rico — extending the idea of what nationalism is. He also shows how expanding it can be a more impactful form of pride, rather than just touting your country’s name.
“[But] can one person do everything?” asks Díaz. “Is one person responsible for all of the different components of a movement? I don’t think so.”
However, she adds: “Every movement has [to have] a soundtrack.”
In Puerto Rico, she argues, music has never simply accompanied resistance; it has been one of the ways people practice it. From bomba carrying messages of revolt and abolition to reggaetón emerging from poor Afro-Puerto Rican communities and narrating experiences of racism, poverty, and policing, culture has long been one of the places Puerto Ricans make politics.
And perhaps that is what I had been missing when I first started asking what comes after “¡Viva México!” — the song, the dance, the flag, the entrance, even the cry itself do not have to be the thing that comes before political action. Sometimes they, the universal one, are already doing something: preserving memory, teaching history, finding one another, or simply giving people enough joy to imagine themselves as a people worth fighting for.
Puerto Rico, to some, is a modern colony, a settler colonial state to the U.S. But though its political context is different from that of Mexico, it can offer a deeper imagination of what is possible. Benito did not need to include Chicanos, or any other Latin American flag at the Super Bowl — but choosing to display those visuals alone are what truly got our community together in ways a simple gesture just can’t.
The anger I felt during the World Cup, I know now, was just a yearning for more. In an ideal timeline, Mexico would have made it to the finals and won. Los Angeles would have erupted into a parade — and I would have marched across the border to reunite with my family. In this world, there are no ICE agents; there is only music; there are only long hugs.
Maybe that is why I still feel angry, but that is also why I will keep returning to music and gatherings — because what I long for is not the validation of the nation-state. What I really long for is community.
Manager of the year awards will be revealed Tuesday, Cy Young and reliever of the year on Wednesday, and finally MVP on Thursday.
Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is a finalist for National League MVP. But Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong is the favorite to win it, which would end Ohtani’s three-year MVP streak. Ohtani has won four MVP awards in all, two in the AL and two in the NL.
On Wednesday, MLB will also hold its own awards show, announcing All-MLB teams, and awards such as the Hank Aaron Award, the comeback players of the year, the Mariano Rivera & Trevor Hoffman Relievers of the Year, the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter of the Year and the MLB executive of the year.
President Trump, who for years disputed his loss in the 2020 election and publicly decried the the outcome of the vote that he said was stolen from him by Democratic forces, privately lauded incoming President Biden as someone he believed “will be true to yourself and the American people.”
That sentiment, along with others, was part of the letter Trump left for Biden upon leaving office in January 2021. Biden showed the note to some members of his staff after his inauguration in 2021 but didn’t let anyone read it, describing it later that day as “very generous” but otherwise saying he considered it to be private.
Inclusion of the letter in Biden’s “Promise Me, America,” his White House memoir slated for release Nov. 17, was first reported Tuesday by the New York Times. The Associated Press has reviewed a photocopy of the two-page letter, handwritten in Trump’s trademark black Sharpie on White House stationery and addressed “To ‘46,’” denoting Biden’s place as the 46th U.S. president.
“Many presidents have come and gone who simply governed as Republicans or Democrats,” Trump wrote. “Largely, they did not change history, they were just swept along in its relentless tide. This will not happen to you because I know how much you love the American people.”
At the time of transition, Biden was said to have been surprised by how gracious he thought the letter was, given the animosity between the political rivals. Trump had opted out of other presidential traditions, such as attending Biden’s inauguration or hosting the incoming president and first lady for tea at the White House.
Trump has said he thought it was up to Biden to share the letter, calling it “a nice note” during a September 2023 interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” adding, “I took a lot of time in thinking about it.”
Elsewhere in the memoir, the first excerpt of which was published Monday by the Atlantic, Biden wrote of the deep damage Trump has inflicted, with an administration determined to “tear down institutions and inflame hatreds.”
Lamenting Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and his aggressive reversal of many of Biden’s policies, the former president wrote of Trump’s “dismissive and destructive nature,” describing his predecessor and successor as someone “who seemed unable to tolerate the idea that someone else’s accomplishments might be worth building on rather than tearing down.”
But Biden’s harshest characterization so far was focused on Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, as Congress met to certify the 2020 election, which Biden had won. Writing that Trump “led an insurrection,” Biden said Trump’s ”goal was to remain in power after the American people had voted him out of office.”
“What Trump did on January 6, 2021, should never be forgotten,” Biden wrote. “It should follow him to his grave.”
Asked for comment on both the letter and Biden’s memoir, White House communications director Steven Cheung called the former president “a disgrace” who “should have heeded the President’s wise words, but instead he tried to destroy this country and weaponize the justice system against his political enemies.”
WASHINGTON — Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio won the race Tuesday to serve as House Republican leader as the GOP prepares for its new role in the minority.
Jordan, who serves as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, defeated Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana in a secret ballot election of Republicans who will serve in the next Congress. The vote was 106-73.
Jordan, 62, is a co-founder of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and served as its first chairman. His candidacy appealed to those looking for new leadership in the wake of last week’s election debacle and to those who like his hard-hitting political style.
Jordan as minority leader will inherit a historically small House Republican conference that is only beginning to grapple with its loss of power as President Donald Trump serves out his final two years in office. Leading the party back to the House majority in 2028 is sure to be a stiff climb, given the scope of Democratic victories in the midterms.
Jordan warned of the coming Democratic efforts on oversight, with numerous investigations of the Trump administration expected.
“Our job cannot be merely to spotlight how radical this new Democratic Party is — offense, not defense, wins elections,” Jordan said, a nod to his pugnacious reputation in committee hearings.
Trump said he was staying out of the race.
Scalise and Jordan were a familiar match-up
Scalise and Jordan had faced off before, both running to serve as House speaker after Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the job a little more than three years ago. Neither was able to rally the support necessary to secure the position, which eventually went to Mike Johnson, who is stepping aside from the leadership in the new Congress.
Scalise, 61, has held key GOP leadership positions going back to 2014, serving as party whip and then as majority leader. In 2017, he was critically wounded when a gunman opened fire at a baseball practice where several Republican lawmakers and staffers were preparing for an annual charity baseball game against Democrats. In 2023, he was stricken with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that was successfully treated.
“Overcoming adversity is nothing new to me,” Scalise said in his pitch to colleagues.
He also emphasized his fundraising prowess, noting he raised $67.9 million for this year’s midterms, with about a third of that going directly to individual House campaigns and the National Republican Congressional Committee.
But the majority of Republicans opted for Jordan, who emphasized his experience battling with Democrats in committee rooms.
“I am battle-tested on the oversight front and I know the Democrats’ playbook,” Jordan said.
Other positions are also up for grabs
In addition to the race for minority leader, Reps. Tom Emmer of Minnesota and August Pfluger of Texas are vying to serve as Republican whip, the No. 2 position in the leadership hierarchy. Three candidates are seeking to serve as conference chair: Reps. Lisa McClain of Michigan, Erin Houchin of Indiana and Greg Steube of Florida.
The Republicans who will serve in the next Congress will hear from the candidates in the morning, followed in the afternoon by voting through secret ballot.
Democrats will hold their leadership elections next week.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York is expected to become the next House speaker, the first African-American to hold the job, and Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts is expected to become the next majority leader. She would be the first woman to hold that position.
Freking writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.
A Northern California judge on Monday permanently barred Shasta County from implementing a voter-approved initiative that sought to dramatically reshape voting in the conservative stronghold.
Measure B, which was passed by 56% of voters in the June primary, sought to require hand-counted ballots, eliminate most mail-in voting and require residents to present government-issued photo identification to cast a ballot on election day.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber, the state’s top elections official, sued Shasta County days after the primary, arguing that Measure B violates state election laws. Shasta County Superior Court Judge Benjamin Hanna temporarily blocked the measure in August.
In his final ruling Monday, Hanna wrote that the provisions of Measure B “are wholly contrary to existing state law.”
“The regulation and administration of the electoral process is a matter of statewide concern, and Shasta County’s status as a charter county does not entitle it to enact invalid legislation simply because some in this community do not agree with the existing law,” the ruling continued.
Attorney Alexander Haberbush, who represented a group of Measure B supporters, did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment. But Haberbush told local television station KRCR that they are “reviewing every option, including an appeal.”
“Today’s ruling tells the voters of every charter county in California that they have no say over how their own elections are run. This ruling goes far further than any state law requires,” he told the station.
The battle over election integrity took hold in the mostly rural Shasta County in 2023. At the time, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, fueled by President Trump’s unsubstantiated election fraud claims, stopped using Dominion voting machines and opted to hand-count ballots for the county’s more than 110,000 registered voters. The move quickly prompted a new state law that banned them from doing so.
The fight has continued amid Trump’s calls for the government to “nationalize” state-run elections and restrict voting by mail.
Weber in a statement Monday described Measure B as a “colossal waste of time and taxpayer funds” and an attempt to disenfranchise voters.
“Today’s decision affirms what was a forgone conclusion from the beginning,” she said. “As long as there are those willing to enact reckless, illegal, and poorly drafted laws, on behalf of Californians, we will see them in court.”
The Lakers could have had plenty of excuses for a bad performance Monday. They were without Reaves and Quentin Grimes. They were groggy after flying in from Detroit that morning. Instead of falling back on those reasons to lose, they discovered ways to win, uncovering new layers to a team still in its early stages.
“Every game is going to present different challenges, and that’s why every game you learn something new,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “And you hopefully grow from whatever you learn. That’s the beauty of this. And after 82 games, hopefully you’re a pretty darn good team.”
But only 12 games in, what kind of team are the Lakers?
All things Lakers, all the time.
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Dozen-game progress check
On offense, the Lakers are who we thought they were. They’re as efficient as expected for a team that got its wish-list center to pair with Doncic and Reaves. They’re first in NBA offensive rating (121.5), points per game (121.9) and field-goal percentage (50.5).
The defense is also as most expected. That is, it’s the team’s weak spot. The Lakers entered Monday 21st in defensive rating. The only other team with a winning record outside of the top 13 was Denver (5-4).
“I think we can be way better than 21st,” Doncic said. “I think we have the potential for that.”
Doncic said the Lakers, who inched up to 19th in defensive rating (113.9) after Monday, relax after building big leads, allowing opponents to claw back. They survived comeback attempts from Detroit and Atlanta, but Stephen Curry and the Warriors burned them.
The Lakers’ biggest defensive flaw is rebounding. Despite making a massive sign-and-trade to add center Walker Kessler, the Lakers are 29th in the NBA in rebounding (40.3 per game). Giving up 13.5 offensive rebounds a game, the Lakers allow 18.2 second-chance points a game, the third-worst in the league.
Redick said before the Lakers played the Clippers on Oct. 28 that the team needed Kessler to pick up his rebounding rate, especially defensively. The 7-foot-2 center has responded with six double-doubles in the last seven games.
“A lot of it is about timing, a lot of it is about hitting the guy first, not getting pushed under the rim,” Kessler said of finding his rebounding rhythm. “And I got to do a better job of those balls that I get my hands on, securing the ball.”
Walker Kessler, here tangling with Portland’s Donovan Clingan, has been a standout on defense for the Lakers.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Kessler, who still wears a wrap on his left pinky after missing part of the preseason with a jammed finger, had four turnovers against the Pistons. Even when he got both hands on the ball, it would get stripped.
The Lakers try to mask the rebounding woes by forcing turnovers. They’re second with 18.6 turnovers forced per game and third in steals with 10.8 per game. Matisse Thybulle leads the team with 2.1 steals per game. Doncic cares more about people knowing he’s averaging two steals per game than the fact he was the first player since Wilt Chamberlain to average more than 40 points per game through nine games.
Kessler’s rim presence has allowed the Lakers to dial up their defensive pressure.
“Sometimes he may not block them, but just the shots that he alters allows us to get out and run and get stops,” guard Collin Sexton said. “He’s a big part of our defense and he’s the anchor on the back line. You go down there, you got to deal with Walk.”
Kessler has won many of those battles. Entering Monday, opponents were shooting 45.1% within six feet of the rim against Kessler, the lowest mark in the NBA among players defending at least 50 attempts from that distance, according to the Lakers.
The fourth starter
Ziaire Williams reacts after sinking a three-pointer against Portland last month.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The starting power forward spot was one of the biggest question marks heading into the season. The Lakers have found two strong solutions.
Lineups with Doncic, Reaves, Kessler, Thybulle and Ziaire Williams have a 132.5 offensive rating, the best in the league for any five-man group that’s played more than 50 minutes. The second-best offensive group is the starting lineup with Jake LaRavia in Williams’ place.
But adding LaRavia into the starting group has profound defensive impact: Doncic, Reaves, Kessler, Thybulle and LaRavia have a defensive rating of 93.6 points allowed per 100 possessions, the third-best five-man lineup that has played more than 50 minutes. As a result, the LaRavia group has the best net rating in the league (30.9 compared to 16.8 with Williams).
“He’s a winning player,” Redick said of LaRavia’s sometimes unnoticed contributions. “I mean, it’s simple as that. Puts the team first always, whether he’s starting, coming off the bench — 12 minutes, 20 minutes — you know you’re going to get A-plus effort. Now, having been with us for two years, you know he’s at the point where you’re typically going to get A-plus execution of our schemes and our communication and our rules.”
For a weak rebounding team, LaRavia adds a much-needed jolt on the boards. Averaging 3.5 rebounds and 1.7 offensive boards per game, the Lakers have a 53.2% rebounding rate when he’s with Doncic, Reaves, Kessler and Thybulle compared to 42.1% when Williams is in the group.
Williams, who missed three games with a foot injury and hasn’t returned to the starting lineup since, is trusted to guard on the ball and gives the second unit a scoring punch with his hot-shooting start. The Lancaster native is shooting 45.2% from three while taking the fourth-most three-point attempts on the team.
He was four for eight from three-point range Sunday, but frustrated Pistons fans swore he didn’t miss a shot. He knocked down two early threes to contribute to the Lakers’ 26-point lead in the second quarter then staved off the comeback with another clutch three-pointer after the Pistons cut the lead to one during the fourth quarter. He added an emphatic exclamation mark with a cutting dunk off a Kessler assist with 93 seconds left.
Williams just knows how to pick his spots.
On tap
Wednesday at Bucks (1-9), 5 p.m. PST
Former Miami Heat mainstays Tyler Herro (22.3 points per game) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (16.4) lead the rebuilding Bucks after the Giannis Antetokounmpo era. While a mismatch on paper, this could still be a difficult game at the end of a tiring three-games-in-four-days trip.
Sunday at Suns (3-6), 1 p.m. PST
The Lakers will enter the game on multiple days of rest for the first time since their season opener. They played their first three weeks without a two-day break. The Suns are without center Mark Williams (shoulder), which could open the floodgates for a big game from Kessler.
Favorite thing I ate this week
The pink room pizza from Unc’s in Detroit.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
In the great pizza debate of thick or thin crust, I go Detroit almost every time. The airy, chewy crust is like biting into a pizza pillow. Since last year’s trip to Detroit, a new pizza place opened downtown, so there was some great pizza right around the corner. Unc’s Pink Room pizza has pepperoni, whipped ricotta, hot honey and banana peppers. Returning readers know I love a sweet and spicy pizza combo.
Asking for a friend: Do you eat Detroit pizza with a fork and knife or with your hands? The gooey cheese pulls create kind of a mess with your hands, but cutting with a fork and knife feels too formal for pizza. (OK, the friend is me.)
By Dustin Hoffman and Ariel Levy Simon Six/Scribner: 320 pages, $35
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In his jaunty new memoir, Dustin Hoffman describes himself as “a guy with a bawdy sense of humor who is obsessed with sex and is always looking for attention.”
Yet in “Look at Me,” the two-time Oscar-winning actor maintains that “when a reckoning started making its way around the internet, and tearing through Hollywood, I thought it was a very good thing.” Until, in 2017, he found himself in the crosshairs of #MeToo, accused by several women of sexual misconduct from decades earlier.
Hoffman denied the allegations at the time, issuing only a vague apology. In the memoir, he admits to having “made some women uncomfortable” and perhaps being “guilty of insufficient empathy.” But “taking something from someone sexually that they didn’t want to give,” he writes, “it’s just not something I’ve ever done.”
He also says: “Different times have different rules. The way we perceive what’s appropriate all depends on the air we’re breathing.”
Draw your own conclusions.
Co-authored with New Yorker staff writer and “60 Minutes” contributor Ariel Levy, “Look at Me” is a gossipy, entertaining compendium of stories assembled in a nonchronological mosaic. It makes clear that Hoffman wasn’t the most congenial of colleagues. His intense combination of self-confidence and insecurity led to repeated clashes with directors and sometimes costars. He even quarreled with his Method acting teacher, Lee Strasberg.
About all this, he is mostly unapologetic. “I’m really not that difficult,” he insists, only partly tongue in cheek. “It’s not my fault I’m right all the time.”
Hoffman, as the unemployable actor Michael Dorsey, famously lampooned his own perfectionistic tendencies in the 1982 film “Tootsie.” He reproduces one comic scene in the memoir. Director Sydney Pollack, as Dorsey’s agent, George, tells him: “You argue with everyone. You’ve got one of the worst reputations in this town.” Dorsey indignantly defends his refusal to sit down while portraying a beefsteak tomato, declaring: “Nobody does vegetables like me!”
There is just enough candor and self-reflection in “Look at Me” to make the actor seem, on balance, sympathetic, even endearing. Certainly, Hoffman’s childhood in Los Angeles was not easy. His father, the onetime head of the Columbia Pictures prop department, aspired to directing but became instead a perennially bankrupt businessman. When Hoffman was about 12, his mother urged him to get a nose job. “No one suspected I might have any kind of intellect or talent,” he recalls. “I was designated to be the failure in the family, and I accepted my role entirely.”
A distracted student, he found focus in an acting class. There, he writes, “for the first time in my life I had girls whom I considered to be attractive approaching me.” Later, when he became famous, he recalls women waiting for him on his Manhattan doorstep.
Like many young New York actors, Hoffman struggled for years to get roles and make rent. He lost one big break — a 1964 Broadway debut in Frank Gilroy’s “The Subject Was Roses” — after suffering severe burns in a kitchen accident. He stoically showed up for rehearsals anyway but ended up in the hospital and was fired. That misfortune left him free to accept an Obie-winning part off-Broadway that led, circuitously, to his career-making 1967 role as Benjamin Braddock in “The Graduate.”
Hoffman’s philosophy of acting inevitably caused conflicts. “You can’t force me to do something that feels inauthentic to me,” he writes. “Truthful acting has to do with understanding a character’s inner life, not forcing outward expressions of emotion.” Until an actor finds his character, “blindly obeying the director isn’t going to fix anything.”
Hoffman was so stymied by his autistic character in “Rain Man” (1988) that he almost quit the movie. Director Barry Levinson’s collaborative spirit kept him engaged. But he tangled with other directors, including Pollack and Nichols, who directed “The Graduate.” Working on that film was “a terrible experience,” Hoffman remembers, but Nichols’ later praise mollified him.
Hoffman’s relationship with Steve McQueen, his costar in the 1973 film “Papillon,” followed a similar trajectory. Furious when McQueen chased a friend of his from the set, Hoffman gave McQueen the silent treatment and then ranted at him on a live microphone as the rest of the cast and crew listened in. But he concludes the story on an upbeat note, quoting a letter, four years later, from McQueen that said: “We were good, weren’t we?”
Hoffman lavishes his own encomia on friends and costars, including Tom Cruise (“Nobody worked harder”), Robin Williams (“the fastest brain I’ve ever encountered”), Gene Hackman (“hilarious”), Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and others. As the director of “Quartet” (2012), he worked with “the incomparable Maggie Smith,” known for her curmudgeonly temperament. In a backstage encounter in London years later, she greeted him warmly as “Dustin! My favorite Jew.”
The nonlinear, anecdotal structure of “Look at Me” presents some challenges. The narrative ping-pongs somewhat confusingly between Hoffman’s two wives — dancer and actor Anne Byrne, whom he divorced in 1980, and his longtime spouse, Lisa Gottsegen. It also skips around freely among his films, including “Midnight Cowboy” (1969), “Lenny” (1974), “All the President’s Men” (1976), “Marathon Man” (1976) and “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979).
Even now, at age 89, Hoffman’s restless self-doubt persists. “I’ve never allowed myself to feel truly gratified by a positive review or deserving of a trophy,” he confesses. “But I can remember every negative review I ever received.” Only in his family life — he has six children and eight grandchildren — does he seem to permit himself unalloyed joy.
The memoir’s title, “Look at Me,” drawn from a conversation with Laurence Olivier, suggests a profound, narcissistic neediness that may be endemic to the profession. What distinguishes Hoffman, along with his unconventional leading-man looks, is the magnitude of his talent and his unyielding faith in his own instincts. No doubt many egos, and maybe hearts as well, were bruised along the way. But the camera loved him, and it is hard to argue with the results.
Klein, a cultural reporter and critic in Philadelphia, has been a three-time finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing.
NEW YORK — USC remained No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll released Monday, garnering one first-place vote ahead of its showdown on Sunday with top-ranked South Carolina.
Defending national champion UCLA tied for 10th in the rankings with Iowa after collecting two home wins over Lehigh and UC Irvine last week. The Bruins host Arizona on Thursday.
South Carolina remained the No. 1 team in the top 25 in the first regular-season poll after wins over Maryland and North Carolina, two ranked teams, to start the season. The Gamecocks received all other first-place ballots from the national 33-member media panel.
Kim Barnes Arico and Michigan used the biggest regular-season win in program history to move up to No. 2. It’s the Wolverines’ best ranking ever and came after a 77-66 victory over then-No. 2 UConn last week. Michigan, which was ranked fifth in the preseason poll, surpassed its previous high of fourth on Feb. 7, 2022.
“To be in position today to beat Connecticut and be the No. 2-ranked team in the country, it’s just a credit to our players and credit to our staff,” Barnes Arico said in a phone interview. “To have an opportunity to be in the top five and beat the best program of all time this week was really special.”
The Wolverines were one of 10 Big Ten teams ranked this week, matching the record set by the Southeastern Conference last season.
UConn dropped two spots to fourth while Duke rounded out the first five.
The rest of the rankings
Texas, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Louisiana State were next. UCLA and Iowa were tied for 10th. Kentucky and Notre Dame followed them. Oklahoma jumped up seven spots to No. 14 after routing North Carolina in the season opener in France.
Texas Christian, Washington, Ohio State, Minnesota, Oklahoma State and Maryland were 15-20. The final five were Ole Miss, Illinois, North Carolina, West Virginia and Nebraska. The Cornhuskers entered at No. 25 while N.C. State fell out.
Conference supremacy
The Big Ten has 10 teams in the top 25. The Southeastern Conference has seven, including four in the top nine. The Atlantic Coast Conference has four and the Big 12 three. The Big East has one.
Michigan’s signature win
Barnes Arico’s team has now beaten a top five team three times in the past five years. The Wolverines topped No. 5 Baylor in 2021 and fifth-ranked Indiana in 2022. The coach also accomplished a rare feat, ending another long UConn winning streak. She was the coach at St. John’s when the Red Storm ended the Huskies’ 99-game home winning streak. Last Thursday, the team ended UConn’s 39-game, regular-season winning streak. Barnes Arico is one of the few coaches who has beaten Geno Auriemma at different schools, joining Texas coach Vic Schaefer.
“When I think back at UConn and Geno, I have the most respect for him of any coach that’s ever coached in our game,” Barnes Arico said. “He’s been able to maintain consistency and what he’s accomplished has been unreal and unheard of. To be one of two coaches that have beat him at two different places is really incredible. People go through a lifetime and never beat Connecticut ever.”
Game of the week
No. 3 USC visits No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday. The two teams met twice last season with the Gamecocks winning both matchups. One was in the regular season while the other came in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Trojans have JuJu Watkins back after she missed the last 20 months recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury she suffered in the NCAA tournament her sophomore year.
Defenders: Lucy Bronze (Chelsea, England), Alex Greenwood (Manchester City, England), Mapi Leon (Barcelona/London City Lionesses, Spain), Irene Paredes (Barcelona, Spain).
Midfielders: Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona, Spain), Alexia Putellas (Barcelona/London City Lionesses, Spain), Ella Toone (Manchester United, England)
If anyone understands how to make something last — filmmaker Denis Villeneuve said at Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Art + Film Gala — it is the artist Vija Celmins. Villeneuve and Celmins were the guests of honor Saturday at the starry 15th annual event.
“In your work, you stop the seas and the stars long enough for us to truly see them,” Villeneuve said of Celmins during his speech inside a massive tent in LACMA’s backyard. “I have enormous respect for painters and sculptors, and I’ve always felt that cinema is seen as Pop Art. Film carries the burden of being popular in the present, but at the end of the day, the real challenge is to make something that can endure the test of time, like Vija does with her masterful work. So when a museum — a temple for artists — welcomes a filmmaker and puts a spotlight on cinema, it means a great deal for me.”
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1.Model and musician Soo Joo Park wore a feathered Gucci gown at the gala. (Gucci has been the event’s presenting sponsor since its inception in 2011.)(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)2.Model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley just walked as a Victoria’s Secret Angel last month, after a 16-year hiatus.(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)3.Model Candice Swanepoel shows off the ethereal silver fringe details of her dress, also Gucci. Swanepoel also recently walked as an Angel in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in Culver City last month.(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Celmins, 88, is known for her meticulous re-creations of natural imagery, like night skies, desert sands and ocean waves — and stars.
The night was certainly star-studded: Alex Consani, Andrew Garfield, Emily Ratajkowski, Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo, Kim Kardashian, Parker Posey, Salma Hayek Pinault, Sarah Paulson, Timothée Chalamet, Tyriq Withers and Viola Davis, among many others, traipsed among Chris Burden’s iconic “Urban Light” lamp posts. Other attendees included Al Pacino, Guitarricadelafuente, Anderson .Paak, Anthony Ramos, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ashley Park, Benito Skinner, Brittany Snow, Emma Watson, Gia Coppola, Jordan Firstman and Julia Garner.
Rosé was the night’s musical guest, performing the live debut of her single “New Trick” on a stage below the Geffen Galleries, Matisse’s “La Gerbe” visible through the windows above.
Rosé performed “New Trick,” “Number One Girl,” “APT” and a cover of the Killers’ “Read My Mind” at the 15th Annual LACMA Art + Film Gala, where she was the musical guest.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Just off the red carpet, Guitarricadelafuente — who made his feature film acting debut in the acclaimed “La Bola Negra” — spoke about the relationship between film and the arts.
“I just think everything is holding hands all the time,” he said. “I originally come from music, but when I make music, I’ve always come from a very visual place, and I think everything is so linked together. Like when I’m writing a song, just two words put in the right place can suddenly be a catalyst for a very powerful image in your mind.”
The Art + Film Gala was designed to knit the twin skeins of L.A.’s artistic and film communities closer together — and to raise money for the museum. This year it raised nearly $7 million (breaking last year’s record of $6.5 million) to support LACMA’s initiative to make film more central to its curatorial programming (as well as the museum’s broader mission). Previous honorees Barbara Kruger, Cathy Opie, Ed Ruscha and Helen Pashgian (it was her 92nd birthday) were also in attendance, as well as Lauren Halsey, Mark Bradford and Mary Corse, among many other artists.
Local elected officials and appointees present included U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Rep. Laura Friedman, L.A. County Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Lindsey Horvath, L.A. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky and L.A. County Chief Operating Officer Joe Nicchitta.
“It’s been an unforgettable year at LACMA,” said the museum’s director, Michael Govan, during his own speech. “Same tent, but everything around it — you’ve seen the little building we built, the David Geffen Galleries. It’s a new beginning for LACMA, honestly, and there’s so much more to come.”
LACMA director Michael Govan, left, and his wife Katherine Ross, a communications adviser and consultant, pose in front of Chris Burden’s “Urban Light.”
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Less than a week ago, the museum debuted a new piece of public art, Shio Kusaka’s “Beam,” a clay mosaic flying saucer supported by a yellow metal cone of light. Next weekend, Vanity Fair’s first “Screening Room” event series will christen LACMA’s Steve Tisch Theater. And coming soon, Diana Thater’s permanent video installation will be projected onto the bridge formed over Wilshire Boulevard by the new Peter Zumthor-designed building.
Co-chairs Leonardo DiCaprio and LACMA trustee Eva Chow once again hosted the cocktail party and decadent dinner together, but Chow announced Saturday would mark her final year as co-chair. She estimated that during her tenure the gala has raised close to $60 million.
“To have started with an idea and to see it grow into one of Los Angeles’ most celebrated traditions has been one of [the] great privileges of my life,” Chow said. “I leave this chapter with tremendous pride, wonderful memories and above all gratitude. I hope this gala will continue to grow and inspire future generations, bringing together the worlds of art and film for many years to come.”
Chow first made her name as a fashion designer, and Art + Film’s red carpet (a walkway in front of the “Urban Light” lamp posts) is something of a fashion runway. Halsey sported the Wekaforehair salon longsleeve tee and transparent trousers over mesh camo shorts, and her longtime partner, Monique McWilliams, wore a sleek galaxy bodysuit. Architect Kulapat Yantrasast towered on clear plastic platform sandals, paired with a bright orange jumpsuit. Publicist and artist Sergio Farias wore a dripping ruby headpiece, sparkling silver suit and fluffy scarlet train.
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1.The contemporary artist Lauren Halsey, right, and her longterm partner Monique McWilliams pose together on the red carpet.(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)2.Architect Kulapat Yantrasast shows off platform sandals with his orange jumpsuit. He also wore a sparkling silver brooch that read: “Kulapat, Kulaparty, Kulapalace, Kulaparty, Kulapalazzo.”(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)3.The singer, rapper, drummer and record producer Anderson .Paak poses with an ivory parasol, part of his outfit.(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Celmins, ever practical, ever sly, wore an elevated, understated black velvet pantsuit. The writer Rachel Kushner introduced the artist onstage. “It is tempting to project romantic and cowboy notions of earth and sky and purity onto Vija Celmins, of artist as seer and monk,” Kushner said. “And even more romantically, Celmins is unimpressed by our need to fetishize and claim her. She might even heckle me for trying.”
A short film played, produced by LACMA’s Erin Wright, and took viewers inside Celmins’ New York studio. “Why did I let them in my studio?” Celmins quipped onstage. Then: “It’s a pleasure to be here. You guys are just crazy party people.”
Celmins fled with her family to Germany during the Soviet occupation of Latvia, then immigrated to Indiana. She later moved to L.A. to pursue her MFA at UCLA. “At one point, Los Angeles had a big influence on me,” Celmins said. “When I had never lived next to the ocean, and I had never seen the land. … I wanted to be an abstract painter, but it crept into my work. And so California had a really big influence on me.”
Nicole Kidman introduced Villeneuve, having flown 15 hours from Australia to do so despite never having formally met the “Dune” director. She cheekily referenced her viral AMC Theatres ad, saying she was inspired to make it in order to experience films from the likes of Villeneuve.
“His films explore the great mysteries of our existence: time, memory, identity, destiny, the things we cannot explain, and the possibility that there is something that we do not understand, that we will never understand,” Kidman said. “They are vast, they are mysterious, they are sometimes terrifying, but they are always profoundly human. And what I admire the most, perhaps, is that you have never allowed the scope of your ambition to overshadow the sensitivity of your humanity and your storytelling.”
Villeneuve recognized Celmins, Kidman and LACMA itself. He said one of the most powerful shots he has ever seen was of Kidman as Anna in Jonathan Glazer’s “Birth,” consumed by grief and haunted by surreal possibility. And he noted that LACMA’s James Turrell retrospective — particularly the experience of watching people stand in front of a brilliant, colorful light in silence and hope — showed him how to direct “Arrival.”
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1.Honoree Vija Celmins and her gallerist Matthew Marks pose together. “Painting is very fluid,” Celmins said in the video short LACMA made for the event. “You have to paint it, you have to make it stay where it wants to be, you have to beat it up and kill it and do all these things to make a painting say what you feel it should be doing.”(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)2.Anya Taylor-Joy — who stars as Alia Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming movie “Dune: Part 3” — poses with Villeneuve.(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“Museums have always been superfood for me,” Villeneuve said. “Every time I walk into one, I feel like a vampire. I’m sucking the energy from the walls, and one way or the other, it ends up in one of my films.”
He ended his speech with a joke that caused the room to erupt in laughter: “And to express my gratitude, with the blessing of my new friends at Amazon, I will reveal to you tonight… who will be the next James Bond,” Villeneuve said, and the room gasped. “The actor who will play the next James Bond is — and I will stop right now because Amy Pascal is about to have a heart attack.”
DETROIT — Austin Reaves raised three fingers to the rafters. Then after hitting a clutch three-pointer with 46 seconds remaining against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday, he turned his palm to fans sitting courtside at Little Caesers Arena and waved goodbye.
The Lakers guard scored a season-high 41 points as the Lakers survived a 121-116 win over the Pistons without star point guard Luka Doncic. The Lakers (9-2) led by 26 early in the second quarter, but nearly collapsed under an avalanche of second-half turnovers and 53 combined points from Detroit bench guards Daniss Jenkins and Kevin Huerter.
Lakers center Walker Kessler had 12 points and 16 rebounds for his fifth double-double in six games. He crossed into double-digit scoring with a clutch put-back three-point play with 2:15 remaining to put the Lakers ahead by seven.
On the front side of a back-to-back, Doncic missed his second game of the season with low back tightness, although Lakers coach JJ Redick said he didn’t anticipate the back tightness to affect Doncic significantly throughout the season.
The Slovenian superstar is averaging a league-high 40.1 points per game, but Doncic was doing more than just scoring at rates not seen since Wilt Chamberlain. His estimated on/off of 37.7 — the difference between the Lakers’ net rating when he was on the court compared to off — was the second-highest in the league, following only Victor Wembanyama’s 41.5. In addition to the highest scoring average through nine games since Chamberlain, Doncic is also the team’s second-leading rebounder at 7.8 per game and was second with 1.7 steals.
But the Lakers already showed they could compete without Doncic this season. They dominated the Clippers on Oct. 28 when Doncic was also sidelined with back tightness.
Just as they did against the Clippers, the Lakers needed contributions from everyone. Ziaire Williams hit four three-pointers and finished with 17 points. Collin Sexton, serving as the Lakers’ second ball-handler, had 17 points on five-of-10 shooting.
Jarred Vanderbilt’s energetic six rebounds, two assists and one block in less than six minutes during the first quarter helped lift the Lakers to a 26-point lead early in the second.
The Pistons, playing without All-NBA center Jalen Duren (hamstring), didn’t get their first points from star point guard Cade Cunningham, until early in the third quarter. Instead, Jenkins nearly mounted the comeback on his own.
Jenkins, who averages 8.6 points across his career, should be a familiar Lakers foe. Last season, in the Lakers’ lone trip to Detroit, the guard who went undrafted in 2024 scored a then-career-high 30 points against the Lakers to end their season-long nine-game winning streak.
Jenkins scored 22 points of his new career-high 31 in the first half, cutting the Lakers’ 26-point lead to 13 by halftime. He drained a three-pointer at the buzzer that injected life into the antsy home crowd. The Lakers, who have benefited from two halftime buzzer-beating heaves from Doncic this season, know what it’s like to be on the other side of that momentum swing.
Pistons fans banging inflatable thunder sticks erupted in the third quarter as Detroit ripped off an 11-0 run to close the lead to three with 1:03 remaining in the quarter. The Lakers, playing with Sexton as their primary ball-handler during the stretch, turned the ball over four times during the drought, including a shot clock violation after a time out.
Reaves had 13 points in the third quarter, including five straight on difficult fadeway jumpers that pushed the lead to 17 with 6:41 to go in the third, and watched the near collapse from the sideline.
Back on the court during crunch time, Reaves hit the big shots the Lakers needed.
