The Sports Report: Lakers rally late to defeat Pacers

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Dan Woike: The intensity was there, Patrick Beverley pressuring the ball, Anthony Davis flying at the rim, LeBron James pushing the ball down the court. The Lakers looked focused and forceful.

They looked dangerous, eventually.

They were late. But they still got there.

The Lakers stopped Buddy Hield on a baseline trap in the final seconds Thursday, his shot rimming out as Anthony Davis grabbed the rebound to earn the team a 112-111 win over the Indiana Pacers.

The Lakers didn’t lead until a LeBron James three in the fourth quarter.

Davis, who was not selected as a reserve for the All-Star Game, finished with 31 points and 14 rebounds, including great late-game defense. James had 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Three other Lakers were in double figures.

Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton returned to the court for the first time since Jan. 11 to score 26 for the Pacers, but he was quiet down the stretch as he was hounded by Beverley.

A week from the NBA’s trade deadline, the game against the Pacers was a reminder of a version of this year’s Lakers roster that never existed.

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CLIPPERS

From Andrew Greif: The Buck didn’t stop at the three-point line. He didn’t stop at the free-throw line.

Again and again, Giannis Antetokounmpo bulldozed into the paint, his size and 54 points overcoming every obstacle Thursday – including what had once been a 21-point Clippers lead.

Instead of a statement win, the Clippers left Milwaukee wondering where their offensive prowess had gone in the fourth quarter of a 106-105 loss.

The Clippers shot just 8-for-25 in the fourth quarter, with Kawhi Leonard missing two shots in the game’s final two possessions with a chance to win.

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UCLA BASKETBALL

From Ben Bolch: Ninth-ranked UCLA officially ended its two-game losing streak with a 70-61 victory over the Huskies at a tense Pauley Pavilion, even if it felt like more of the same for a team that couldn’t shake its offensive funk.

Dominating in every facet early, the Bruins looked like they had walked over to the Wooden Center and were taking on a random collection of students that happened to be wearing the uniform of a Pac-12 rival.

But as the minutes passed, their once-massive lead dwindling, some old issues reemerged Thursday night against Washington. Ball movement ceased. Players stood around. Turnovers piled up. Everyone looked at one another, waiting for someone to do something.

UCLA’s offense bottomed out with one sequence in which David Singleton badly misfired on an NBA-range three-pointer before Jaylen Clark missed an easy put-back and the ball eventually trickled out of bounds off Adem Bona.

Having once led by as many as 18 points, the Bruins found themselves up only seven with 3½ minutes to go. But Washington’s Keion Brooks Jr. airballed a three-pointer and the Bruins made enough free throws to avert a complete meltdown.

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USC BASKETBALL

From Ryan Kartje: Josh Morgan lay face down in the paint, his 6-10 frame writhing in pain. As USC’s lone starting big man, Morgan and his freakish length had been a critical part of the Trojans’ designs to clamp down against Washington State, a team that made mockery of their defense just a month earlier.

But now a wrench had been thrown into those plans a mere five minutes into Thursday’s matchup. Now, as Morgan hobbled off the court, unable to put weight on his right foot, USC would have to cobble together a new frontcourt, counting on the rest of its lineup to clamp down.

The Trojans would ultimately do just enough to slip past Washington State with its big man, 80-70; though, this particular victory would hardly be the defensive statement USC hoped to make.

Winning its fifth game in six tries would mean weathering an all-out assault on the paint by Washington State’s Mouhamed Gueye, who scored a career-high 31 points. It would require another stellar offensive effort from its star seniors, with Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson combining for 41 points, and a strong shooting performance all around, as USC shot 52% overall and 47% from 3, a significant improvement from the last time these two teams met.

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UCLA and USC fans should feel good about their recruiting haul despite their rankings

SUPER BOWL

Sunday, February 12
at Glendale, Ariz.
Philadelphia vs. Kansas City, 3:30 p.m. PT, Fox

SUPER BOWL POLL

We will win the Super Bowl? Click here to vote.

Super Bowl LVII: Start time, odds and halftime show

SNOWBOARDING

From Bill Shaikin: The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the national governing body for snowboarding and the former national team snowboard coach conspired to engage in sex trafficking, enabling and covering up repeated acts of sexual misconduct, three former national team snowboarders claimed in a lawsuit Thursday.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges former coach Peter Foley committed sexual assault and battery against the plaintiffs and other women for “nearly twenty years” with the “assistance, permission and endorsement” of the USOPC and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard federation (USSS).

“The system is focused on money and medals,” said Sigrid McCawley, the lead attorney representing the three snowboarders. “It’s not focused on protecting these athletes.”

Rosey Fletcher, one of the plaintiffs, is a three-time Olympian who won a bronze medal in 2006. She said the federation needs to “re-establish that trust” so parents can send their children to national and international competitions confident that officials will look after the athletes rather than look the other way.

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DODGERS

From Jack Harris: One of the biggest questions of the Dodgers’ offseason finally has a definitive answer.

Will the team stay below Major League Baseball’s luxury tax threshold in 2023?

No, club president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman confirmed Wednesday, probably not.

The news didn’t come as much of a surprise. While there appeared to be an opportunity at the start of the winter for the Dodgers to keep their payroll next season below MLB’s $233-million tax threshold, that possibility all but vanished in late December with the reduction of Trevor Bauer’s suspension for violating the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1944 — Syd Howe of the Detroit Red Wings scores six goals in a 12-6 victory over the New York Rangers. Howe is the first player to score six goals in a game since Cy Denneny of the Ottawa Senators in 1921.

1956 — Austria’s Toni Sailer wins the men’s downhill to become first Olympic skier to sweep three Alpine events.

1976 — Washington’s Dave Bing, in his final NBA All-Star game apperance, wins the MVP and leads the East to a 123-109 victory over the West in Philadelphia. Bing has 16 points and four assists.

1980 — Larry Bird hits the first 3-point shot in the history of the NBA All-Star Game. Bird’s 3 came in overtime. The East wins 144-136.

1982 — Steve Mahre, twin brother of overall champion Phil Mahre, becomes the first American male skier to win a gold medal in an Olympics or world championship competition when he edges Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark in the giant slalom at the worlds.

1990 — Bill Shoemaker, the world’s winningest jockey, finishes fourth on Patchy Groundfog in his final ride at Santa Anita. The 58-year-old Shoemaker finishes his 40-year career with $123,375,524 in earnings, a record 8,833 wins, 6,136 seconds and 4,987 thirds in 40,350 starts.

1998 — Dino Ciccarelli becomes the ninth NHL player to reach 600 goals when he scores on a power play with 5:09 remaining in the third period to give the Florida Panthers a 1-1 tie against the Detroit Red Wings.

2000 — World Wrestling Federation mastermind Vince McMahon unveils his latest creation: the XFL, a new pro football league.

2001 — One year later, the XFL muscles its way onto the national sports scene with its first two games. With exuberant cheerleaders and trash-talking players, the Las Vegas Outlaws beat the New York/New Jersey Hitmen 19-0, while the Orlando Rage beat the Chicago Enforcers 33-29 before a crowd of 35,603 in Orlando.

2002 — Adam Vinatieri’s 48-yard field goal as time expires gives Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots their first Super Bowl title with a 20-17 win over the two-touchdown favorite St. Louis Rams.

2006 — Martin Brodeur becomes the third goaltender in NHL history to reach 100 shutouts when New Jersey blanks Carolina 3-0. Brodeur joins Terry Sawchuk (115) and George Hainsworth (102).

2008 — Eli Manning and the New York Giants end New England’s unbeaten season and pull off one of the great Super Bowl upsets. Manning throws a 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left to beat the Patriots 17-14.

2013 — The Baltimore Ravens survive a power outage at the Super Bowl to edge the San Francisco 49ers 34-31. Jacoby Jones returns the second-half kickoff 108 yards, a Super Bowl record, to give Baltimore a 28-6 lead. Moments later, lights lining the Superdome fade. When action resumes 34 minutes later, Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers score 17 consecutive points, getting as close as 31-29. Baltimore stops San Francisco on fourth-and-goal from the 5 with under 2 minutes left when Kaepernick’s pass sails beyond Michael Crabtree in the end zone.

2017 — Tara VanDerveer becomes the second NCAA women’s coach to reach 1,000 career victories when No. 8 Stanford beats Southern California 58-42 to give the Hall of Famer a milestone before a home crowd at Maples Pavilion.

2019 — Super Bowl LIII, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA: New England Patriots beat the Rams, 13-3.

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

The Giants upset the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Watch and listen here.