The Lakers snapped a 6-game losing skid on Friday night at Staples, beating the Timberwolves in overtime 130-119.
Jordan Clarkson scored a career-high 35 points, while making eight 3-pointers. Clarkson rebounded from a poor shooting night against the Clippers, a few days earlier. Julius Randle added 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers, who won for only the 2nd time since the All-Star break.
Andrew Wiggins scored 36 points for Minnesota, but fouled out with 1:17 left in overtime. Karl-Anthony Towns had 25 points and 13 rebounds, as the Timberwolves lost their 5th in a row.
The Lakers went on a 9-1 run with 2:30 left in the game, which erased an 8-point Timberwolves lead. Randle’s bank shot finished the run, but Wiggins made one of two free throws to send the game to overtime.
Clarkson took over from there, scoring 7 of 8 straight Laker points. That gave the Lakers a 117-109 lead. Minnesota would never recover, despite Ricky Rubio’s best efforts. He finished with 19 points and 15 assists for the Wolves.
Lakers’ forward Larry Nance Jr. knew the night belonged to Clarkson. “We needed every point of his 35,” Nance said. “It was one of those games where everything he was throwing up went in.”
Before the game, the Lakers unveiled a statue of Shaquille O’Neal in Star Plaza. O’Neal sat courtside with mother Lucille O’Neal and they shared a kiss. O’Neal addressed the fans at halftime as well.
“There was a better energy in the building because of Shaq,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said. “We didn’t get to channel that until the second half when the second unit came in and began defending. It definitely brings a little extra.”
The win along with the Suns loss, means the Lakers are only 1 game worse than Phoenix in the battle for better lottery odds. The Lakers only keep their 1st round pick this year if lands in the top 3, and they currently have the 2nd worst record in the league. LA returns to action on Sunday against Portland at Staples Center.
The Ducks defeated the Jets 3-1 on Friday night at the Honda Center, which tied Anaheim with San Jose for 1st place in the Pacific Division.
Andrew Cogliano scored late in the 2nd period, and Jonathan Bernier continues his solid play with 17 saves. Corey Perry and Jakob Silfverberg scored as well for Anaheim.
The Ducks have won 3 straight, and Bernier is 7-0-1 in his last 8 starts. His play in the absence of the injured Jonathan Gibson has given Anaheim renewed hope of winning another division title.
Josh Morrissey scored a power-play goal for the Jets and Michael Hutchinson made 32 saves for Winnipeg. The Jets were winless in 8 tries this season, against Anaheim, San Jose, and Edmonton, the top 3 teams in the Pacific Division.
Perry got the Ducks off to a nice start late in the 1st period, as he fired a shot through several bodies in front of the net. After Morrissey tied it, the Ducks took a 2-1 lead when Cogliano threw the puck in front of the net, which bounced off of the Jets’ Jacob Trouba and in.
Anaheim would maintain that lead, and then Silfverberg would add an empty-netter with 1:07 left in the game.
The Ducks will return to action on Sunday against the Rangers. There’s just 8 games remaining in the regular season for Anaheim.
The Kings kept their very slim playoff hopes alive on Thursday night with a 5-2 win over the Jets at Staples Center.
The Kings scored four power play goals on the night. Drew Doughty, Marian Gaborik, and Anze Kopitar scored power play goals, while Tanner Pearson and Jake Muzzin also scored for LA. The Kings still trail Nashville by 8 points with 9 games to play.
Gaborik scored at 2:01 of the 3rd period to give the Kings a 3-2 lead. Almost 2 minutes later it was Doughty extending the LA lead by 2. Then Pearson scored a short-handed goal with 10:38 left.
Patrick Laine and Mathieu Perreault each scored for the Jets. Ben Bishp made 19 saves for the Kings.
The last time the Kings had four goals on special teams was when they scored four power-play goals against San Jose on April 5, 2012.
Kopitar has gotten hot but it is likely too little too late. The Kings captain has scored 5 goals and 9 points in his last 10 games.
LA will be back in action on Saturday night against the Rangers at Staples Center. Five of the Kings last nine games are at home, but they’ll have a three game road trip to Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver before the season ends.
Harrison Barnes made a jumper with 1:06 left, and the Mavericks beat the Clippers 97-95 on Thursday night in Dallas.
Barnes also picked up a steal off of Blake Griffin in the final seconds to help secure the win. Wesley Matthews made a free throw with under a second left to play, and then J.J. Redick missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, which would have won the game for LA.
“We had a great shot on the last play,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “That was great execution, and it was a 3, would have been a game-winner. Make, miss, we will live with that.”
Griffin scored 21 points on the night, despite missing his last 3 shots. DeAndre Jordan had 14 points and 18 rebounds, Chris Paul scored 15, and Austin Rivers had 13.
The Clips went on a big 22-4 run at the end of the 1st half to take a 54-48 lead at halftime. The Mavericks went on a 13-2 run to start the 3rd quarter, and took a 79-77 into the 4th quarter.
Seth Curry led the Mavs with 23 points and Harrison Barnes added 21. The Clippers had their 3- game win streak snapped.
The Clips fell 1.5 games behind the Jazz for 4th place in the Western Conference. The Jazz will come to Staples Center on Saturday to take on the Clippers. It will be the first of a 3-game home stand.
The Ducks and Oilers battled it out at Honda Center on Wednesday night, and Anaheim came away with a 4-3 win in what could be a potential playoff preview.
Anaheim rallied from two different one goal deficits in the 1st period. Hampus Linholm, Josh Manson, and Rickard Rakell would score three straight goal and the Ducks took back sole possession of 2nd place in the Pacific.
Jonathan Bernier made 29 saves for the Ducks, in what was his 11th straight start in net. Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot was pulled in the 2nd period after Rakell’s 32nd goal.
“I tried to get to the middle and make a play,” Rakell said. “The first play didn’t work out, so I just tried to do something to beat the defender.”
Oilers forward Connor McDavid scored his 26th goal of the season, which came in highlight reel fashion. McDavid leads the NHL in scoring, but after his first career goal against the Ducks, Bernier took exception by poking him in the chest later in the period.
The Ducks are still in contention for the Pacific Division title. The are just 2 points behind San Jose, who has 89 points.
“We were lucky enough to have a 2-2 tie,” Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said. “We changed our attitude, and we’re much more competitive in the hockey game from the second period on.”
The Ducks return to action on Friday at the Honda Center against Winnipeg.
The Lakers were the designated home team in their showdown with the Clippers on Tuesday, but it wasn’t much of a contest, with the Clips winning 133-109.
Chris Paul led the way for the Clippers with 27 points and 8 assists, J.J. Redick had 24, and Austin Rivers scored 18 off the bench in a game that was virtually decided by halftime. The Clips were up 70-40 at the half.
Although the Lakers didn’t play much defense, they did get some productive performances from their young players. Brandon Ingram scored 21 points and D’Angelo Russell had 18. Ivica Zubac had 17 and 7 rebounds, while Julius Randle added 19.
The Clippers shot 53% from the field and outscored the Lakers in the paint 60-36. They got whatever shot they wanted, and the Lakers couldn’t do anything about it. The Clippers also hit 3-pointers.
One of those 3-pointers was a 46-foot bomb from Jamal Crawford to end the 3rd quarter. That gave the Clippers a 108-74 lead heading into the 4th. Crawford finished the game with 15 points, and passed Calvin Murphy for #69 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list
Laker coach Luke Walton wasn’t please about his team’s effort at times, and benched his starters to open the 2nd half. “Playing without a certain amount of effort isn’t going to be acceptable or tolerated,” he said. “A lot of guys it’s more about the individual success rather than the team success.”
For the 2nd straight game, the Clippers starters sat out the entire 4th quarter. The game was so out of hand that Chris Paul was watching the 4th quarter with his son on the bench.
“Until the team more than individual, it’s going to be really hard to win,” Walton explained. “I would say we played harder in the second half but not as hard as we should play. To come out in front of our home fans and give that kind of effort wasn’t ok.”
The Clippers have now defeated the Lakers in 17 of their last 19 meetings. The win moved them a little bit closer to Utah, who is now just .5 games ahead of them for 4th place in the West.
The Lakers on the other hand picked up their 51st loss of the year. With Phoenix’s loss to Miami, the Lakers remain two games worse than the Suns for the 2nd worst record in the league, and the race for better lottery odds.
The Clippers made it two in a row on Monday night at Staples Center with a 114-105 victory against the Knicks.
Blake Griffin scored 30 points, while DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick had 14 each. The Clippers had 6 players in double figures, including Austin Rivers and Jamal Crawford, who combined for 31 points off the bench. Chris Paul had 13 points and 13 assists.
For the Knicks, Kristaps Porzingis led the way with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Derek Rose scored 18, and Carmelo Anthony with 16.
The Clips built a lead as large as 25 points after outscoring New York 34-19 in the 3rd quarter. However, the Knicks used their bench to cut the deficit to 7 by the last few minutes.
The Clippers’ starters sat out the entire 4th quarter. Despite the strong showing from Austin Rivers and Jamal Crawford, LA’s bench was outscored 43-39.
There’s 11 games left in the regular season and the Clippers are now within one game of the 4th place Utah Jazz in the Western Conference.
Up next, the Clippers will have a designated road game on Tuesday night against the Lakers. The teams have split their two games so far this season.
Just when you think things can’t get any worse for the Kings, they suffer a 2-0 loss to Edmonton on Monday night in Alberta. At this point, the Kings chances of making the playoffs are about as good as me dating Mila Kunis.
Cam Talbot made 35 saves for his second consecutive shutout and 7th of the season, and the Kings lost their 2nd consecutive critical game.
Patrick Maroon scored 1 minute into the game, and former King Milan Lucic poked a rebound past Jonathan Quick about 11 minutes later, which accounted for both goals on the evening. Lucic’s goal came on the power play, which ended a streak of 34 consecutive LA penalty kills on the road.
The Kings on the other hand were unable to convert on either of their two power play opportunities. They also showed why they have only the 25th best offensive in the league all night, failing to capitalize on the scoring chances that would come their way. The Kings were outshot 15-7 in the 1st period. Although they would put up 28 shots the rest of the way, they couldn’t finish.
Jonathan Quick stopped 29 shots but the Kings have now lost four of their last five games. They are six points behind the St. Louis Blues for the final playoff spot in the West with only 10 games remaining.
The Kings return home on Thursday to face the Winnipeg Jets. They will need a Titanic like disaster from the teams in front of them, along with winning nearly all of their remaining games to have a chance at playing in the postseason.
Let’s start with UCLA. The Bruins had a few very nervous moments in their 1st weekend of the NCAA tournament, but got by Kent State and Cincinnati. Lonzo Ball managed to cure cancer, and end the dispute between Israel and Palestine, as well as score 19 points last night. Well at least according to his father Lavar, he will eventually do all those things. Knowing Steve Alford though, the downfall will be on Friday against Kentucky, because the Sweet 16 is always where his road ends. I can’t see UCLA surviving that game, let alone a game after that against UNC, in what will basically be two hostile road games. Speaking of Steve Alford though, you know that UCLA fans are just chomping at the bit for him to take the $31 million that Indiana is offering him and hit the road. On the other hand, they are probably hoping he’ll take Dan Guerrero with him too, which won’t happen. As we’ve seen before, Guerrero is unlikely to hire a superior replacement, so don’t count on the 2nd coming of John Wooden coming to Westwood.
Meanwhile, despite losing yesterday to Baylor, the Trojans made a strong showing in the tournament. Frankly, had USC not been playing their third game in five days, they might have actually had the energy and the mental toughness to finish that game. However, the committee screwed them by forcing them to play in the First Four game on Wednesday night. That goaltending call on Chimezie Metu was nearly a spectacular play that might have been the play that gave the Trojans the win. However, USC is going to go home and take shots of whiskey at the Nine-O when they come to grips with the fact that they would have faced an East Regional without the top two seeds, Duke and Villanova. That’s right….Andy Enfield would have had a real chance to send the Trojans to the Final Four.
Elsewhere around March Madness, you’re bracket is really jacked up now. But think of it this way, you took one for America. Duke is out, so the country wins. If anybody actually watched college basketball, which we all pretend to, we would have known that Villanova was going to get exposed in the 1st weekend. UNC also got a late clutch performance by the referees to advance to the round of 16. I thought Vanderbilt kids were supposed to be smart? Apparently not after intentionally fouling in a tie-game. Louisville also went down faster than a call girl on a high school recruiting trip. After the 1st weekend, there are 164 perfect ESPN brackets remaining. Lavar Ball claims he owns all of them.
Why are the Lakers screwing with D’Angelo Russell’s confidence so much? Just let the kid play like he did last night! That was the perfect tanking game. Russell exploded for a career-high against elite competition, all five young Laker starters showed some nice development, and the Lakers lost in competitive fashion. For all the criticism that Byron Scott got for benching Russell last year, Luke Walton is actually playing him fewer minutes on average than last season. I thought Luke was supposed to be promoting development? I also don’t understand why Russell and Clarkson haven’t spent more time playing together in the backcourt. If they are the backcourt of the future, then they should be developed together. At least Magic and Rob Pelinka are taking their tanking efforts very seriously.
Speaking of tanking, had it not been for Saturday’s win, you might think the Clippers are tanking with the way they’ve been playing of late. When I watch the Clips play since the All-Star break when they’ve been healthy, it’s like they’ve aged overnight. Teams like the Warriors, Rockets, and even the Nuggets and Jazz suddenly seem more athletic with better shooting. If that’s not bad enough, JJ Redick makes it sound like the team is questioning the defensive game plan on a nightly basis. In a lot of ways though, it seems like the Clippers curse is with their bench. Every year it seems like Doc has found some useful pieces on the bench, but when it really counts, they don’t play well. That’s what’s happening again. There’s not much more time for them to get it right with just a couple of weeks left in the regular season before playoff time.
So you thought it was last night the LA Kings playoff hopes were toast? It actually happened a week ago when they lost to St. Louis at home. That was the official nail in the coffin. Last night just exposed the Kings for what their team has become. An aging group that is playing a style that is suddenly outdated. The Kings players may not be old in age, but they’ve played enough hockey to be old. They need to get younger and faster, and find a way to unload some of the terrible contracts they gave the Dustin Browns and Marian Gaboriks of the world. It’s just a matter of whether or not it will be Dean Lombardi that’s going to do it or another General Manager taking his place.
I think the Angels have a permanent curse in left field. Now it’s Cameron Maybin’s turn. He was in an 0-20 slump before finally breaking out of it on Saturday. Then there’s Danny “Mendoza line” Epsinosa, who’s career batting average is so low, we might not even realize when he’s actually in a slump. We haven’t even started the season yet and the Angels warning flags are up.
The Walking Dead went down last night on AMC, and the season is building toward a big last two episodes. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if that is the case. I thought for sure we we’re going to see Sasha and/or Rosita die last night, but I guess we will have to wait at least one more episode. In other words, nothing happened. I guess Eugene didn’t want to leave without his pickles. The Saviors traded a box of aspirin for a real doctor. Now that sounds like real American healthcare. Simon probably just gave Gregory directions to a toilet so he could find somebody who gives a crap. When Darryl cries, we all cry. I’m looking forward to an all-out war in the last two episodes of the season. At least I hope so because the last 13 episodes have been pretty slow.
Finally, what a horrible ending to ABC’s The Bachelor last Monday night. The finale was so not Raven. It’s like Nick picked Vanessa because he knew he didn’t want either woman that was left, and wanted the relationship to fail. Perhaps if Raven just hit him with a stiletto, as she did with her ex, he might have actually had some sense beat into him. We kept hearing about “the most shocking thing in Bachelor history.” I thought this would be that somebody actually said “yes” to a Nick proposal. Anybody that thinks Nick and Vanessa are going to get married need to be hit with a stiletto. Think of it this way. Nick gives every man in the world hope that if you are boring, and get rejected enough times, you too can marry a girl that completely hates you.
Lonzo Ball showed his brilliance again on Sunday night. It also came just in time, as the Bruins finally pulled away from Cincinnati in the 2nd half to defeat them 79-67 in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament in Sacramento.
Ball scored 18 points, while dishing out 9 assists, and grabbing 7 boards to spark UCLA’s offense after a difficult 1st half. TJ Leaf scored 11 points and had 7 rebounds as well, as the Bruins scored 49 points in the 2nd half. That completely changed a game in which UCLA trailed 33-30 at halftime.
“I don’t know of a more fun basketball team to watch when we’re clicking,” UCLA Coach Steve Alford said. Their offense got going, but it was really their defense that sparked the team after halftime. “The key to that was going to be defensive stops,” Alford said, “and we came out and got three stops in a row.”
The Bruins opened the 2nd half with a 10-3 run, which included dunks from Leaf and Thomas Welsh. That gave them a 40-36 lead. Shortly after that, UCLA would find their stroke from behind the arc, making three straight 3-pointers. Two of them were from Ball, and the other from Bryce Alford. That stretched the lead to 55-47 with 12:25 left.
The Bruins never looked back from there. The only real question mark hanging over the team was the future of coach Steve Alford, who has reportedly been offered a 7-year $31 million contract to coach Indiana. He once again, deflected the question when asked about it after the game.
“I’ve already addressed that matter and I’m not going to address it anymore,” Alford said. “This is about our team and what these guys are doing.”
The Bruins will now travel to Memphis to take on Kentucky on Friday in the Sweet 16. It’s also UCLA’s 3rd trip to the Sweet 16 in the last 4 years under Alford.
UCLA defeated Kentucky back in December 97-92 in Lexington. “It’s a very, very good basketball team,” Steve Alford said “I think they’re better now in March than they were when we played them in December and I think we’re better than what we were in December as well. Makes for a great matchup.”
