The Sports Report: Austin Reaves is the star as Lakers get past Magic

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

From Dan Woike: LeBron James sat back in the far chair on the Lakers’ bench, dressed in all black with sunglasses to match when a tight grin crossed his face.

The crowd was suddenly at its most alive, chanting “M-V-P, M-V-P.”

It wasn’t for James – the NBA’s all-time leading scorer – who was sidelined and forced to watch with his hands folded and legs crossed. It wasn’t for Anthony Davis, still out-of-rhythm after a tough loss days earlier.

No, the most valuable player, at least Sunday, was Austin Reaves

Then it happened again, again and again and again– one roar after Reaves’ free throw rolled around the rim and in and another as he iced the game from the line.

He scored 35 points, a career high for the second-year player the Lakers signed as an undrafted free agent, in leading the Lakers to a 111-105 win against the Orlando Magic.

The win snapped the Lakers’ first losing streak since D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt have been available to play.

Sunday marked three weeks since James suffered a foot injury in Dallas, an injury that threatened to unravel the Lakers season.

It hasn’t – the team had split the 10 games prior to Sunday with James recovering.

In the most optimistic on-the-record assessment to date, Darvin Ham spoke of “when” James would return, the absence of an “if” being notable.

“Yeah, we anticipate him coming back at some point,” Ham said when asked about his word choice.

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CLIPPERS

From Andrew Greif: In a 117-102 victory that improved the Clippers to 38-34, Portland’s Damiam Lillard made just four of his 17 shots and one of his eight three-pointers. His lack of production was most visible in the clutch time he has so often dominated throughout his career, taking only three shots in the fourth quarter and making one. It fueled a drastic turnaround from the Clippers’ late-game play only 27 hours after Orlando had scored 39 in the final frame. The Trail Blazers scored 19.

“We wanted to be physical with Lillard and we always wanted him to just make the pass and make somebody else make things happen,” said Eric Gordon, who scored 20 points off the bench, making four of his five three-pointers.

The Clippers had watched Steph Curry hang 50 points on them Wednesday. The Clippers won that game — and left better prepared for Lillard.

“I think it would’ve been vice versa, if we would’ve saw Dame early, we would’ve been prepared for Steph,” said Paul George, who scored a team-high 29 points. “The fact that we saw Steph early, we were better prepared for Dame. It’s really what it came down to.”

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NBA playoff standings
Western Conference

Top six finishers qualify for the playoffs. Seventh to 10th place qualify for tournament to determine final two playoff spots.

1. Denver Nuggets, 48-24
2. Sacramento Kings, 43-27, 4 GB
3. Memphis Grizzlies, 43-27, 4 GB
4. Phoenix Suns, 38-33, 9.5 GB
5. Clippers, 38-34, 10 GB
6. Dallas Mavericks, 36-35, 11.5 GB
7. Golden State Warriors, 36-36, 12 GB
8. Oklahoma City Thunder, 35-36, 12.5 GB
9. Minnesota Timberwolves, 35-37, 13 GB
10. Lakers, 35-37, 13 GB

11. Utah Jazz, 34-36, 13 GB
12. New Orleans Pelicans, 34-37, 13.5 GB
13. Portland Trail Blazers, 31-40, 16.5 GB
14. e-San Antonio Spurs, 19-52, 28.5 GB
15. e-Houston Rockets, 18-53, 29.5 GB

e-eliminated from playoff contention

UCLA BASKETBALL

From Ben Bolch: His ethos can be found under his right bicep, in large black letters.

“No Vanity,” the tattoo reads.

It would be so easy to indulge in just a little now.

Amari Bailey is no longer an up-and-coming college basketball star. He’s here.

With every slick move to the basket, every defensive stop, every pass that finds a teammate in the perfect spot, the UCLA freshman guard is elevating an already formidable team into a potentially unstoppable force at just the right time.

He’s become so invaluable that his coach lamented not getting him the ball more during the Bruins’ 68-63 victory over Northwestern in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

“What did Amari have?” Mick Cronin said afterward, scanning the box score for the point tally. “Fourteen. I was hoping for 18. But it’s my fault he didn’t get enough shots. Still working on figuring that one out.”

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Don’t forget the dance party. UCLA’s March Madness formula built on focus and fun

Men’s tournament results, schedule
All times Pacific
Second round
Sunday’s results

East Regional
No. 7 Michigan State 69, No. 2 Marquette 60

No. 3 Kansas St. 75, No. 6 Kentucky 69

No. 9 Florida Atlantic 78, No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson 70

Midwest Regional

No. 3 Xavier 84, No. 11 Pitt 73

No. 5 Miami 85, No. 4 Indiana 69

South Regional

No. 6 Creighton 85, No. 3 Baylor 76

West Regional

No. 3 Gonzaga 84, No. 6 TCU 81

No. 4 UConn 70, No. 5 Saint Mary’s 55

Sweet 16
Thursday
West Regional
No. 4 UConn vs. No. 8 Arkansas, 4:15 p.m., CBS

No. 2 UCLA vs. No. 3 Gonzaga, 6:45 p.m., CBS

East Regional
No. 3 Kansas State vs. No. 7 Michigan State, 3:30 p.m., TBS

No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic, 6 p.m., TBS

Friday
South Regional
No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 5 San Diego State, 3:30 p.m., TBS

No. 6 Creighton vs. No. 15 Princeton, 6 p.m., TBS

Midwest Regional
No. 1 Houston vs. No. 5 Miami, 4:15 p.m., CBS

No. 2 Texas vs. No. 3 Xavier, 6:45 p.m., CBS

Women’s tournament

All times Pacific
Second round
Sunday’s results
Regional (Greenville 1)

No. 1 South Carolina 76, No. 8 South Florida 45

No. 2 Maryland 77, No. 7 Arizona 64

No. 3 Notre Dame 53, No. 11 Miss. St. 48

Regional (Greenville 2)

No. 2 Utah 63, No. 10 Princeton 56

No. 3 LSU 66, No. 6 Michigan 42

Regional (Seattle 1)

No. 1 Virginia Tech 72, No. 9 South Dakota St. 60

Regional (Seattle 2)

No. 8 Ole Miss 54, No. 1 Stanford 49

No. 2 Iowa 74, No. 10 Georgia 66

Second round
Today

Regional (Greenville 1)

No. 4 UCLA vs. No. 5 Oklahoma, 7 p.m., ESPN2

Regional (Greenville 2)

No. 4 Villanova vs. No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast, 4 p.m., ESPNU

No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 9 Miami, 5 p.m., ESPN2

Regional (Seattle 1)

No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 6 North Carolina, 1 p.m., ESPN

No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 12 Toledo,, 3 p.m., ESPN2

No. 2 UConn vs. No. 7 Baylor, 6 p.m., ESPN

Regional (Seattle 2)

No. 4 Texas vs. No. 5 Louisville, 4 p.m., ESPN

No. 3 Duke vs. No. 6 Colorado, 6 p.m., ESPNU

DODGERS

From Mike DiGiovanna: The combination of nitro-fueled fastball and nickname doesn’t merely suggest that Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol has the makings of a big league closer. It screams it.

The right-hander has a nasty two-seam sinking fastball that averaged 99.8 mph with 20 inches of drop and 15 inches of left-to-right break last season and a four-seamer that averaged 99.4 mph and touched 102.5 mph.

“He’s got the best stuff on the planet,” Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia said.

Graterol’s Minnesota Twins teammates dubbed him “Bazooka” when he broke into the majors in 2019 because the ball seems to explode out of his hand.

But until Graterol can get left-handed hitters out with more consistency, develop a more effective slider to keep hitters off his fastball and avoid the nagging injuries that derailed him the last two seasons, he will not be called “closer.”

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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC

From Jorge Castillo: Shohei Ohtani told Japanese reporters Sunday that he would be available only to pitch out of the bullpen in the World Baseball Classic final Tuesday should Japan beat Mexico in the semifinals.

“I don’t think there’s a chance of me starting, but of course I’d like to prepare to pitch in relief,” Ohtani said in Japanese to reporters. “That will depend on my physical condition. Up to this point, the team has really listened to my selfish requests and there are many things I’m doing that they have tolerated.

“This is the end of the end. From here, I’d like to have a discussion with my body and make a decision.”

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Political protests transform U.S.-Cuba WBC semifinal into something beyond baseball

DUCKS

Elias Pettersson had a power-play goal and an assist to extend his point streak to eight games, Quinn Hughes had two assists to give him 60 for the season, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Ducks 2-1 on Sunday night.

J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist, and Collin Delia made 17 saves to help the Canucks win for the seventh time in eight games.

Ryan Strome scored and John Gibson had 38 saves for the Ducks, who were eliminated from playoff contention.

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1897 — Yale beats Penn 32-10 in New Haven, Conn., in the first men’s intercollegiate basketball game.

1918 — The Toronto Arenas (who would become the Maple Leafs) are the first NHL team to play in the Stanley Cup Final. Toronto’s Reg Noble scores two goals with an assist in the first period of a 5-3 win over Vancouver of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association.

1939 — In a game of unbeaten teams, Long Island U. defeats Loyola of Chicago 44-32 to win the National Invitation Tournament title.

1954 — In the first televised NCAA championship game, La Salle defeats Bradley 92-76 and sets a record for most points in the title game.

1965 — Gail Goodrich’s 42 points lead UCLA to a 91-80 victory over Michigan in the NCAA basketball championship.

1965 — St. John’s sends Joe Lapchick out a winner, as the Redmen beat Villanova 55-51 to win their fifth National Invitation Tournament championship.

1965 — Bill Bradley scores 58 points to lead Princeton to a 118-82 rout of Wichita State in the NCAA third-place game. UCLA beats Michigan 91-80 to win its second National championship.

1968 — Dave Bing of the Detroit Pistons finishes the season with a league-leading 27.1 average, becoming the first guard in 20 years to lead the NBA in scoring.

1969 — Less than two months after she becomes the first woman to ride in a pari-mutuel race in America, Diane Crump rides her first winner at Gulfstream Park.

1976 — Boston’s John Havlicek becomes the first NBA player to score more than 1,000 points per season for 14 consecutive years.

1988 — Mike Tyson knocks out Tony Tubbs in the second round to retain his world heavyweight title in Tokyo.

2005 — Liz Johnson becomes the first woman to advance to the championship match of a Professional Bowlers Assn. tour event, but loses by 27 pins to Tommy Jones in the final of the PBA Banquet Open.

2005 — LeBron James, 20, becomes the youngest player to score 50 points in an NBA game, when he scores 56 in the Cavaliers’ 105-98 loss to the Raptors.

2006 — Japan beats Cuba 10-6 in the title game of the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

2010 — Northern Iowa pulls off one of the biggest NCAA upsets in years by knocking No. 1 overall seed Kansas with a 69-67 win. Ali Farokhmanesh buries an open 3-pointer with the shot clock still in the 30s to give the Panthers a four-point lead with 35 seconds left.

2014 — Bernard Tomic loses the shortest completed ATP match on record, lasting only 28 minutes at the Sony Open in his first tournament since having surgery on both hips. Ending a two-month layoff, Tomic wins just 13 points and loses to Jarkko Nieminen 6-0, 6-1. It’s the quickest match since the ATP started keeping such records in 1991.

2020 — After 20 years with the New England Patriots, six-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady officially agrees to move to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

—Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally...

Northern Iowa upset Kansas in 2010. Watch and listen here.