From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Dalton Knecht soared through the air for an emphatic two-handed dunk. Luka Doncic, who fired the full-court assist on the basket, looked at the Lakers bench and clapped twice in encouragement. But nothing was going to help the Lakers crawl out of this.
Unlike the blowout loss in Atlanta last Saturday, it appeared the Lakers were at least mentally prepared to compete against the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday. The problem in the 121-92 loss was that they simply could not keep up.
Reigning most valuable player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 30 points on 10 for 18 shooting with nine assists. The Lakers’ own MVP hopeful Doncic had 19 points, making just seven of 20 shots with seven assists and four turnovers.
“We got our ass kicked,” said guard Marcus Smart, who was held to nine points with two turnovers. “And we got to bounce back.”
Crossing into the homestretch of their first extended road trip of the season, the Lakers (8-4) have two games remaining, playing in New Orleans and Milwaukee on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The five-game stretch, which started with a rout by Atlanta and a win in Charlotte, has provided mixed results. The team celebrated its connection and chemistry off the court, but is still trying to find solid footing after major offseason changes and early season injuries.
“I don’t think it’s been a great road trip for us, just in terms of how we played,” coach JJ Redick said. “Second half against Charlotte, I liked everything that I saw. But the Atlanta game [and] tonight, I don’t think are reflective of who the group is going to be, but it clearly is who the group is right now.”
CLIPPERS
Nikola Jokic had 55 points, tying the highest-scoring performance in the NBA this season, and 12 rebounds and the Denver Nuggets beat the shorthanded Clippers 130-116 on Wednesday night for their sixth straight victory.
Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 55 in a double-overtime game at Indiana on Oct. 23.
Jokic scored 25 of Denver’s 39 points in the first quarter. He had eight in the second before coming back with 19 in the third. He sat out most of the fourth before scoring three points to complete his night going 18 of 23 from the field. He missed adding to his league-leading six triple-doubles with six assists. The Serbian big man was five of six on three-pointers and made 14 of 16 free throws.
James Harden scored 23 points — making all 10 of his free throws — and had eight rebounds and five assists to lead the spiraling Clippers, who took a major blow earlier in the day when they found out that Bradley Beal will miss the rest of the season with a fractured hip. They’re currently without Kawhi Leonard, who has a sprained ankle and foot.
Clippers guard Bradley Beal out for season with hip fracture
From Ben Bolch: A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a request from the Rose Bowl Operating Co. and the City of Pasadena seeking a temporary restraining order in their attempt to keep UCLA football games at the Rose Bowl, saying those entities had not demonstrated an emergency that would necessitate such an action.
Judge James C. Chalfant said previous cases in which the New York Yankees, New York Jets and Minnesota Twins were barred from moving games did not apply to this situation because those teams were scheduled to play in a matter of days or weeks and UCLA’s next scheduled game at the Rose Bowl after its home season finale against Washington on Nov. 22 isn’t until the fall of 2026.
The judge also said there was no indication that the Rose Bowl or Pasadena would suffer imminent financial harm because a contract to construct a field-level club in one end zone had not been signed.
From Ryan Kartje: It was two years ago this month, with USC’s defense at an unthinkable nadir, that Lincoln Riley finally decided to fire Alex Grinch, his first defensive coordinator.
“I am that committed, and we are all that committed to playing great defense here,” Riley said in 2023. “Whatever it takes to get that done, that’s what we’re going to do.”
Not everyone took Riley’s comments seriously at the time.
“There’s a school on the West Coast right now that’s going to re-commit to defense,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said a month later. “You give up [46] to Tulane last year in a bowl game — at a place where Ronnie Lott played. Now they’re going to think about defense. That was the first thing we thought about 25 years ago.”
Rest assured, USC has thought about it plenty since. And now two years into the rethinking process, with the College Football Playoff very much within reach in mid-November, USC’s defense is still the biggest question mark facing Riley and his staff over the final stretch of this season which continues, fittingly, against Ferentz and his 21st-ranked Hawkeyes on Saturday.
DODGERS
From Jack Harris: Last offseason, the Dodgers swung big in their offseason pursuit of impact bullpen additions.
After largely striking out, however, they might now have to decide if they’re comfortable doing it again.
The Dodgers don’t have glaring needs this winter, but the back end of the bullpen is one area they will look to upgrade. Although the team has ample relief depth, it has no clear-cut closer as it enters 2026.
The main reason why: Tanner Scott’s struggles after landing a lucrative four-year, $72-million pact last winter.
Scott’s signing represented the second-largest contract, by guaranteed money, the Dodgers had ever given to a relief pitcher (only behind the five-year, $80 million deal closer Kenley Jansen got in 2017). It was a high-risk, high-reward move that, at least in Year 1, quickly felt like a bust.
DODGER STADIUM GONDOLA
From Bill Shaikin: Frank McCourt’s proposed gondola from Union Station to Dodger Stadium hit what appears to be its most significant roadblock yet on Wednesday, when the Los Angeles City Council voted to urge Metro to kill the project.
The resolution, approved by an 12-1 vote, is not in itself any kind of formal decision. It would not take effect unless Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass concurs, and Bass previously voted in favor of the project as a member of the Metro board.
But it makes clear that a City Council vote to approve the project, which is expected next year, could be an increasingly challenging hurdle for McCourt and his allies to overcome.
L.A. OLYMPICS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: LA28 released the detailed daily competition schedule for the biggest Olympics in history on Wednesday, laying out every event for the 19 days of competition that will feature more than 11,000 athletes across 51 sports.
Along with being the largest in Games history, the 2028 Summer Olympics will be the first to include more female athletes than men. The schedule honors the historic moment for women in sports by showcasing the women’s 100-meter final at the Coliseum as the primetime, marquee event on the first official day of competition on July 15, 2028.
“The reason we’re throwing out the women’s 100 meters on the first day is because we want to come on these Games with a bang,” Shana Ferguson, LA28’s chief of sport and head of Games delivery, said on a conference call. “And likely that race will be among the most watched of all the races in the Games. We just want to start that Day One with a massive, massive showcase of the fastest females in the world.”
LA28 schedule adjustments clear path for MLB to send players to Olympics
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1934 — Ralph Bowman of the St. Louis Eagles scores the first penalty-shot goal in NHL history. Bowman’s goal comes on the second penalty shot attempt in league history and is the only goal for the Eagles, who lose to the Montreal Maroons 2-1.
1949 — Chicago’s Bob Nussbaumer intercepts four passes, and the Cardinals set an NFL record for points in a regular-season game with a 65-20 victory over the New York Bulldogs.
1955 — Goalies Glenn Hall and Terry Sawchuk play to a 0-0 tie at Boston Garden. Hall, a rookie goalie with the Detroit Red Wings, and Terry Sawchuk of the Bruins, played to a 0-0 tie on Oct. 22 at the Olympia in Detroit. The shutout is the 61st for Sawchuk and the fourth for Hall.
1964 — St. Louis Hawks forward Bob Pettit becomes the first NBA player to score 20,000 points, with 29 in a 123-106 loss to the Cincinnati Royals.
1971 — Colorado’s Charlie Davis sets an NCAA record for a sophomore by rushing for 342 yards in a 40-6 victory over Oklahoma State.
1982 — Southern Miss beats Alabama 38-29 for the Tide’s first loss in Tuscaloosa since 1963, breaking a 57-game winning streak in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
1982 — Chicago’s Tony Esposito becomes the fourth NHL goaltender with 400 victories. Esposito makes 34 saves to help the Blackhawks beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 at Joe Louis Arena.
1984 — Bernie Nicholls of the Kings becomes the first NHL player to get a goal in all four periods of a game. Nicholls scores once in each period and again at 2:57 of overtime to give the Kings a 5-4 victory over the Quebec Nordiques.
1992 — Riddick Bowe wins the world heavyweight championship with a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield.
1993 — No. 2 Notre Dame runs out to a 17-point lead and hangs on to beat top-ranked Florida State 31-24 when Charlie Ward’s desperation pass is knocked down on the goal line as time expires.
1999 — Lennox Lewis becomes the undisputed heavyweight champion with a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas.
2005 — In the longest play in NFL history, Chicago defensive back Nathan Vasher returns a missed field goal 108 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the first half in a 17-9 win against the 49ers.
2009 — McKendree basketball coach Harry Statham wins his 1,000th game with a 79-49 victory over East-West University. The 72-year-old Statham is 1,000-381 at the NAIA school.
2015 — Candance Brown makes a layup with 1.2 seconds left and Gardner-Webb rallies to shock No. 22 North Carolina 66-65 in the opener for both teams. Gardner-Webb had trailed by 15 points entering the fourth quarter.
2015 — Russia’s track federation is suspended by the sport’s international governing body and its athletes are barred from international competition for a widespread and state-sanctioned doping program. It’s the first time the IAAF bans a country for doping.
2018 — Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer becomes the fifth Division I women’s basketball coach to win 1,000 games when the Scarlet Knights beat Central Connecticut State 73-44. Stringer joins Pat Summitt, Geno Auriemma, Tara VanDerveer and Sylvia Hatchell.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.