Another game the Kings needed got away from them on Saturday night at Staples. The Kings fell behind 4-0, but their rally fell short as they lost 4-3 to Vancouver.
Sven Baertschi scored twice, Ryan Miller made 41 saves and the Vancouver Canucks ended a four-game losing streak.
Trevor Lewis and Anze Kopitar each scored a power-play goal, Alec Martinez scored a short-handed goal and Ben Bishop made 17 saves in his home debut for Los Angeles, which missed out on a chance to move three points ahead of St. Louis for the second wild card in the Western Conference.
In typical Kings fashion, LA outshot their opponent 44-21, and dominated the possession numbers as well. The Kings even won the special teams battle, scoring two power play goals, and not giving up any to Vancouver.
However, LA continued to have problems 5-on-5. “On the score sheet, we may be close, but really the first two periods, it was nowhere near close enough to our game, and nowhere near close to being good enough,” Kopitar said.
The Kings were victimized by a few unfortunate deflections against them, but they have little room for error left. LA continues game 3 of its 7 game home stand on Thursday against Nashville.
UCLA finished up their Pac 12 play on Saturday night with a 77-68 win over Washington State at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins sleep walked their way through most of this one but got the job done.
Aaron Holiday led the way for the Bruins with 16 points, and Isaac Hamilton scored 14, as the Bruins made it 9 wins in a row. UCLA went on a 14-0 run over the final 10 minutes to secure the win.
The Bruins played without Freshman TJ Leaf, who sat out with an injured ankle. However, they got another solid performance from their other star freshman. Lonzo Ball scored 12 points to go along with 14 assists. That broke Gary Payton’s freshman assist record in the Pac 12.
Charles Callison led the Cougars with 25 points. Josh Hawkinson had 16 to go along with 14 rebounds. That gave him the school’s all-time rebounding record.
The Cougars were up 47-44, and 51-50 before the Bruins went on their 14-0 run.
It was an emotional night for the Seniors, who were playing their final game at Pauley Pavilion. Both Coach Steve and his son Bryce Alford were particularly emotional.
The Bruins also honored the 1966-1967 team that went 30-0 at halftime. Kareem Abdul-Jabaar was in attendance.
UCLA enters the Pac 12 Tournament as the #3 seed. They’ll play in the quarterfinals on Thursday in Vegas. There’s a good chance the Bruins will have to go through USC, Oregon, and Arizona to win the conference tournament, but doing so would likely make them a #1 seed in the West for the NCAA tournament.
For most NHL teams, their first game after the bye week hasn’t gone well. That wasn’t the case for the Ducks, who beat the Maple Leafs 5-2 on Friday at the Honda Center.
Richard Rakell scored twice and Jonathan Bernier made 37 saves, as the Ducks maintained a two point lead over Calgary for 3rd place in the Pacific Division.
The Ducks also got goals from Sami Vatanen and Jakob Silfverberg. Patrick Eaves added an empty-netter for his first goal as a Duck to secure the win.
Anaheim fell behind 2-1 in the 2nd period after a power play goal from Toronto’s Nazem Kadri. However, the Ducks got goals 16 seconds apart from Silfverberg and Rakell.
Rakell now has 4 goals in his last 3 games and 26 on the season.
Bernier got the win against his former team. Meanwhile, Frederik Andersen did not get the chance to play against the Ducks, his former team, as he sat out the 2nd night of a back-to-back.
Ducks G John Gibson missed his third consecutive game with a lower-body injury. Anaheim will return to action on Sunday night vs Vancouver.
The Clippers took their struggles to the road Friday, and this time it was Milwaukee handing them another loss. The Bucks got off to a fast start and held on for a 112-101 win.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points and eight assists. Greg Monroe scored 23 points too, but the Bucks nearly gave up a 23 point lead.
The Clipps got within 77-74, after Chris Paul made four 3-pointers. However, the Bucks went on a 15-2 run and regained a 16 point lead with 9 minutes left.
Paul and Blake Griffin scored 21 points each for the Clippers. DeAndre Jordan had 14, but LA was doomed by its 23 turnovers. That led to 41 points by the Bucks.
The Clippers have not only slipped to 5th in the West, but they are getting dangerously close to falling as far as 7th in the West. They’ll try to find the win column tonight in Chicago.
The Celtics came in to Staples Center on Friday and beat the Lakers 115-95. It was the Lakers 6th straight loss, but the real chaos that ensued was with LA’s ownership.
On Friday afternoon it was revealed that Jim Buss and his brother Johnny, attempted to oust their sister, Jeanie Buss as controlling owner of the Lakers. It was just a couple of weeks ago that Jeanie fired Jim from the head of basketball operations. However, Jeanie thwarted her brothers attempts to take over the franchise.
The Buss boys had attempted to call an emergency meeting next week to have a new board of directors put into place, and ultimately, remove Jeanie as the controlling owner. However, according to the Buss family trust, it is set up to have Jeanie maintain controlling ownership. Jim and Johnny have no legal leg to stand on according to Jeanie’s attorney.
On the court, the Lakers weren’t very competitive against their hated rivals. Isaiah Thomas scored 18 point and Jae Crowder added 14 for Boston. The Celtics scored 70 points in the 1st half, and opened up a 25 point lead at halftime.
Jordan Clarkson led the Lakers with 20 points off the bench, and D’Angelo Russell scored 17, but the Lakers fell to last place in the Western Conference.
“As we were playing hard and competing, they kept inching that lead out more and more, and then it felt like we got in desperation mode, which is the thing we need to learn from tonight,” Lakers Coach Luke Walton said.
The Lakers will try to snap their skid on Sunday against the New Orleans Pelicans at Staples Center. The drama with ownership may not be over though.
It was an emotional day for the Kings, who managed to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in a shootout on Thursday night at Staples Center. It was bittersweet for Kings fans after learning that Hall of Fame announcer, Bob Miller will be retiring at the end of the season.
The Kings trailed 2-0 after Toronto got goals from Tyler Bozak and Nikita Zaitsev in the 1st two periods. However, LA battled back in the 3rd, sparked by Anze Kopitar’s power play goal 27 seconds in the period.
The goal was the first for the Kings captain in the last 13 games, and bounced off the head of Zaitsev in to the Toronto net.
Just 90 seconds later, Tanner Pearson tied the game at 2-2 after sliding the puck past Frederik Anderson. It was his 22nd goal of the season.
After an exciting overtime session in which both teams had their chances, the game would go to a shootout. That’s when Kopitar would score the only goal for either side, to help secure a big Kings win.
Jonathan Quick made 29 saves, and stopped all 3 Maple Leafs he faced in the shootout. Quick’s final save was very acrobatic, where he even reached behind his back to stop the fin shot.
With the win, the Kings inch past St. Louis and back into the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Jerome Iginla made his debut as a King. He knows he has work to do though, “Personally, I can get better,” he said. “It was a fun game to be a part of. You could tell how important the points were, for them and for us. And to be able to come back and get that in the overtime, back and forth is pretty exciting.
As for Bob Miller, just hours earlier, he announced that this would be his final season with the Kings, after 44 years and 3,351 broadcasts. Miller is 78, and coming off of a minor stroke he suffered in January. It’s the 2nd straight season that Miller has had health problems. In February of last year, he had a four-way heart-bypass operation. Doctors had essentially made the decision for him, telling him to slow down.
“I said, ‘Well, in this sport, in my mind, there’s no taking it easy. When they drop the puck, you’re going. You’re on,’” he said. “And that’s what the fans expect from you and that’s the way you want to do the game.
Ralph Strangis has been filling in for Miller for the last month with play-by-play duties. However, Miller said that he will call two finals games: April 8th vs Chicago, and April 9th at Anaheim. That gives him and the Kings fans a final chance to say goodbye.
Miller’s retirement is the end of an era of great broadcasting in Los Angeles. For nearly half a century, LA got to listen to three Hall of Fame announcers: Vin Scully, Chick Hearn, and Miller. Kings President of Business Operations Luc Robitaille summed it up best: “No one will ever replace Bob, just like you can’t replace the great people that worked for the Dodgers and the Lakers. He’s at that same level.”
The Bruins completed a season sweep of Washington on Wednesday night, but it came at cost. UCLA defeated Washington 98-66, but they lost freshman forward TJ Leaf to an ankle injury.
Leaf played 5 minutes before spraining his left ankle. However, it was the Bruin backcourt that took care of business in this one. Bryce Alford led the way with 29 points, and Lonzo Ball scored 19 points, to go along with 7 rebounds and 8 assists.
The Huskies played without guard Markelle Fultz, which didn’t help their cause. UCLA jumped all over them early, opening up a 21 point lead at halftime, and a 42 point lead in the 2nd half.
Leaf will be wearing a protective boot between now and Saturday’s game against Washington State, and will be seeking treatment in hopes of playing in the regular season finale.
Coach Steve Alford liked his teams effort from start to finish. “We were engaged right from the beginning,” Alford said. “Our guys really concentrated well in a lopsided game. We were really good in a lot of areas.”
Noah Dickerson tied his career high with 23 points for the Huskies . They have lost 11 in a row and 13 of 14.
The Bruins were the only team in the Pac 12 to go undefeated in the month of February. Their 7-0 mark was the first time they had gone undefeated since the 1994-1995 season. “I really don’t want to add any additional pressure, but that UCLA team could win a national championship,” said Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar. The former UCLA assistant coach is right.
The Rockets could not be stopped from the 3-point line on Wednesday night at Staples Center. Houston made 20 three-pointers in a 122-103 win over LA.
James Harden scored 26 points, Ryan Anderson added 23, and the Clippers were crushed on the boards 62-35. Houston had 6 players in double figures.
Chris Paul had 16 points and 10 assists for the Clipps, and Blake Griffin had 17, but LA lost for the 3rd time in the last 4 games. They had a decent start too, taking a 37-34 lead after the 1st quarter.
However, the 2nd quarter saw the Rockets start to pull away. They made 11 of 24 three-pointers in the first half, to take a 70-58 lead into the locker room.
The Clippers made it 70-60, then the Rockets nailed 6 more three-pointers in just under 4 minutes to take a 93-69 lead. LA was outscored 38-20 in the 3rd.
The Clipps would go on a 15-2 run in the 4th quarter but would get not closer than 111-93. With every 3-pointer the Rockets hit, the disbelief of the Clippers grew larger.
“We knew we needed to take them off the three-point line,” Chris Paul said. “We gave up too many threes tonight.”
The Clippers have been sliding since the All-Star break. They are 1-3 with losses against the top 3 teams in the West (Golden State, San Antonio, and Houston), losing by an average of more than 10 points per game.
LA is stil 5th in the West after Utah lost on Wednesday night. They still have time to build momentum before the playoffs now that their two stars are healthy and back in the lineup. “Without making excuses, we’re still getting right,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said. “We just got our two guys [Chris Paul and Blake Griffin] back.
The Clippers will return to action on Friday at Milwaukee.
USC got a much needed win on Wednesday night. The Trojans took down Washington State 87-64 at the Galen Center. Jordan McLaughlin had 16 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds to lead the way for Southern Cal.
The Trojans had four players in double figures and opened up a 20 point lead by halftime. Much of that was the result of outscoring the Cougars 17-0 off of turnovers.
USC used a zone defense for much of the night to frustrate Washington State. They were up by as many as 28 points in the 2nd half. McLaughlin fell one rebound short of just the second triple-double in USC history.
WSU was led by Robert Franks, who scored 20 points off the bench for the Cougars. The win snapped a 4 game losing skid for the Trojans, who also received 15 points from Chimezie Metu, and 14 points from Bennie Boatwright.
USC will wrap up the regular season on Saturday afternoon against Washington, at the Galen Center.
The Kings beat the trade deadline on Wednesday by acquiring Colorado Avalanche Right Wing Jerome Iginla. In exchange, the Kings sent the Avalanche a conditional 4th round draft pick in 2018. Colorado will also retain 50% of Iginla’s remaining salary this season. If the Kings make the playoffs and re-sign Iginla, who will be an unrestricted free agent, they convey the draft pick.
In order to create salary cap space for Iginla, the Kings also traded forward Dwight King to Montreal for a conditional 4th round pick in 2018. That pick will be conveyed to the Kings if Dwight King re-signs with the Canadians.
Iginla is likely a future Hall of Famer, but is in the twilight of his career at 39-years old. He has just 8 goals and 18 points in 61 games this season. However, the Kings are hoping that his skill can help ignite the teams struggling offense, especially while playing on a line with Anze Kopitar.
The Kings are also hoping that a reunion with Coach Darryl Sutter will jump start Iginla. Back in 2004, Iginla and Sutter led the Calgary Flames to the Stanley Cup Final.
Iginla was optimistic about the Kings chances, and happy about joining them. “I think they’re a very competitive bunch. I think they play really hard,” he said. “They have a knack for, once they get down into the nitty-gritty, the big games, they find ways to be successful.
The Kings return home to play the Maple Leafs on Thursday. It’s their first game of a seven game home stand.
