The Sports Report: Will defense doom the Dodgers?

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

From Mike DiGiovanna: Dave Roberts doesn’t put much stock in the defensive metrics available on websites such as Fangraphs and Baseball Savant, and not just because the Dodgers have their own internal system to measure how their players are performing in the field.

“The metrics certainly have a place, but I have two good eyes, or sorta good eyes, that watch every play that’s made,” the Dodgers’ manager said. “I watch the pre-pitch [movements of defenders]. I watch what plays I feel players should make or not make. And as a person who watches every single play, I trust my eyes.”

Those eyes continue to tell Roberts that the left side of his infield, with third baseman Max Muncy and shortstop Gavin Lux, “should be a strength” this season, and at the very least, “it shouldn’t be a detriment, for sure,” he said.

Yet in the numbers could be a cautionary tale.

Muncy committed 16 errors last season, the second most among major league third basemen. He ranked last among 15 qualified third basemen with a .944 fielding percentage and 12th with a minus-3 defensive runs saved, according to Fangraphs. He ranked 33rd of 36 third basemen with minus-8 outs above average, according to Baseball Savant.

Lux sat out the 2023 season because of torn ligaments in his right knee and has started only 50 big league games at shortstop, all in place of injured Corey Seager in 2021. He committed seven errors in 471 innings at the position that season and accrued minus-5 outs above average, according to Baseball Savant.

“I wouldn’t say worried,” Roberts said, when asked how concerned he was about his left-side infield defense entering spring training. “Looking at Max, I’ve seen it better, and it needs to get better. I always say it’s easy to bet on certain people, and I feel confident [his defense] will get back to what it was [in 2022].

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CLIPPERS

From Broderick Turner: There was no hiding from the significance of this game against the best team in the Western Conference.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been a thorn in the Clippers’ basketball world this season, using their immense size and defensive prowess to thwart L.A. in the first two meetings, the last a 21-point beating.

But Sunday presented the Clippers an opportunity to stand up to the Timberwolves, which L.A. did during a tense and tight 89-88 win in front of a noisy, packed house that included Clippers owner Steve Ballmer at Target Center.

“These are the gritty games that you got to win,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “On the road, scoring 89 points, shooting 38% (actually 37.6%) from the field and to come out with a win against a very good team, just says a lot about your ballclub.”

Kawhi Leonard was up to the task, scoring the Clippers’ final five points on his way to 32.

Leonard had to be the star for the Clippers with teammates James Harden and Paul George not having good shooting games.

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Clippers box score

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LAKERS

From Dan Woike: Last spring, there was almost a universal Lakers’ voice bemoaning a lack of continuity, their deadline-assembled roster no match for the bulldozing Denver Nuggets, who made every big shot and got every big stop during a Western Conference finals sweep.

The Lakers’ offseason, in no small part, was driven by the chance to respond — the vow to essentially “run it back” with small changes around the margins.

Yet those inside the locker room acknowledged a harsh, yet obvious, truth, after the Lakers’ 124-114 loss to Denver. They’re not close to beating the team that ousted them a year ago. And, if you really examine it, the gap might actually be widening.

After Saturday’s game, in which the Lakers were outscored 16-4 in the final four minutes, players publicly and privately expressed frustration with their late performance against the Nuggets. Multiple players pointed to how Denver changed their offensive tendencies, like they did in earlier meetings this season and last year in the playoffs, and how the Lakers still didn’t have an organized late-game plan for the defending champions.

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SOCCER

From Kevin Baxter: First-half goals from Lindsey Horan, Jenna Nighswonger and Jaedyn Shaw carried the women’s national team to a 3-0 win over Colombia on Sunday in a physical CONCACAF W Gold Cup quarterfinal before a crowd of 16,746 at BMO Stadium.

With the win, the U.S. advances to Wednesday’s Gold Cup semifinals in San Diego, where the Americans will face Canada, the reigning Olympic champion. Canada beat Costa Rica 1-0 in its quarterfinal Saturday on Evelyne Viens’ goal in extra time.

Mexico, a 3-2 winner over Paraguay in Sunday’s other quarterfinal, will play Brazil in its semifinal Wednesday. The Seleção advanced with a 5-1 rout of Argentina on Saturday.

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TENNIS

From Bill Dwyre: When they start hitting tennis balls in the desert for real Wednesday, it will be a stunning 25 years since this has been going on at this place, a site and event where the term “Tennis Paradise” has become not only a marketing label, but a reality.

Now they call it the BNP Paribas Open, which means it is nicely sponsored and well established on the sport’s tours, both for men and women. In its two-week run, with all the best-known and most-famous players competing, surrounded by palm trees and nearby mountains, more than 450,000 people will walk through the gates, coming, seeing and hoping to be conquered by one of the greatest shows in sports.

One of these years, with the right players matching up at the right time, they may get half a million fans through the hallowed gates of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. For perspective, at least one of the sport’s majors, the French Open, struggles annually to get more spectators than Indian Wells. When reporters call Paris and ask about that, the phone often goes dead. Ah, that international phone service thing.

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KINGS

Phillip Danault had a hat trick, Kevin Fiala had a goal and two assists, and the Kings defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-1 on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.

Alex Laferriere also scored, Cam Talbot made 30 saves, and the Kings won for the eighth time in 12 games under interim coach Jim Hiller.

“Obviously, we’re playing way better now,” Fiala said. “Had a two- or three-month slump or whatever, and we have been playing better after the All-Star break. ... We are playing for each other, we love each other, and you can really feel it right now.”

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Kings box score

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DUCKS

Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet hopes that a close, grinding victory provides the panacea for his Canucks.

Especially when it comes to backup goaltender Casey DeSmith.

DeSmith picked up his first win since Jan. 9 on Sunday as Conor Garland scored the go-ahead goal in the second period of the Canucks’ 2-1 victory over the Ducks.

Alex Killorn scored for the Ducks and Lukas Dostal stopped 29 shots as they were looking for their first three-game winning streak since early November.

“To give a tap-in goal like that, as a game-winner, that’s frustrating. But, at the same time, they had more chances than we did,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “I don’t think we generated enough. We had some zone time, particularly in the second period, but we weren’t able to get pucks to the net.”

Ducks box score

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1960 — Phil Latrielle of Middlebury scores an NCAA-record 10 goals in a 13-2 victory over Colgate. Latrielle, a three time All-American, would score a record 250 goals in the 85 games of his collegiate ice hockey career.

1962 — Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors registers his fifth straight 50-point game with 58 against the New York Knicks and sets a season scoring record with 3,921 points.

1968 — Joe Frazier wins the vacant New York world heavyweight title with an 11th-round TKO of Buster Mathis at Madison Square Garden.

1981 — Guy LaFleur of the Montreal Canadiens scores his 1,000th point with a goal in a 9-3 rout over the Winnipeg Jets.

1990 — Hank Gathers, one of two Division I players to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding in the same season, dies after collapsing during Loyola Marymount’s West Coast Conference tournament game against Portland. He was 23.

2004 — Mianne Bagger makes sports history at the Women’s Australian Open as the first transsexual to play in a pro golf tournament.

2006 — Rafael Nadal ends top-ranked Roger Federer’s 56-match hardcourt winning streak with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory in the final of the Dubai Open.

2011 — Miikka Kiprusoff becomes the first goalie in 25 years to stop two penalty shots in a game and finishes with 37 saves, leading Calgary past Columbus 4-3.

2013 — Gonzaga, the small Northwest school that has delivered big NCAA tournament wins, is on top of The Associated Press’ Top 25 for the first time. Riding the best record in Division I at 29-2, the Bulldogs become the 57th school to be ranked No. 1 since the AP poll began in January 1949.

2013 — Brittney Griner scores a Big 12 single-game record 50 points in her final regular-season game at Baylor and leads the Bears to a 98-50 win over Kansas State.

2015 — Russell Westbrook becomes the first player since Michael Jordan in 1989 to have four consecutive triple-doubles and the first since Jordan that year to have back-to-back triple-doubles with at least 40 points. Westbrook sets career highs with 49 points and 16 rebounds, and adds 10 assists, helping the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Philadelphia 76ers 123-118 in overtime.

Compiled by the Associated Press