The Sports Report: Shohei Ohtani breaks his silence

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

From Jack Harris: Shohei Ohtani finally broke his silence Monday afternoon.

And in a prepared 12-minute statement to reporters at Dodger Stadium, the Japanese star accused his former interpreter and close friend, Ippei Mizuhara, of “theft and fraud” related to payments made from Ohtani’s account to an illegal Orange County bookmaking operation.

In front of a packed news conference room in the bowels of his new home ballpark, Ohtani said he has never bet on sports or anything else, never been asked to make bets on someone else’s behalf and never used a bookmaker for sports gambling activities.

He claimed Mizuhara had secretly stolen his funds to pay off debts Mizuhara allegedly owed to an illegal bookmaker.

He said that, up until last week, he had no knowledge of Mizuhara’s gambling activities; of media inquiries to his representatives asking about wire payments made from his accounts to that of an associate of Mathew Bowyer, the allegedly illegal bookmaker; or that Mizuhara had told members of Ohtani’s own public relations team that Ohtani himself had made the payments, knowingly, to cover Mizuhara’s debts.

“Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies,” Ohtani said through his new interpreter, Will Ireton, calling Mizuhara’s initial account of events — the one in which Mizuhara claimed Ohtani had made the payments to cover his debts — a “complete lie.”

“I never agreed to pay off the debt or make payments to the bookmaker,” Ohtani added.

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ANGELS

From Mike DiGiovanna: The usual buzz surrounding the Angels was noticeably absent this spring, the departure of the supernova that was Shohei Ohtani giving their training camp the feel of a county fairgrounds the day after the circus left town.

Gone was the Japanese media throng that greeted Ohtani in the parking lot every morning, followed the two-way star’s every move throughout the day and peppered players with questions about him in the clubhouse.

Gone were the photographers who climbed the butte overlooking the practice facility — known as Shohei Mountain — to get aerial shots of Ohtani’s arrival.

A daily media contingent that consisted of 30-50 reporters, photographers and camera operators fell this spring to two or three Southern California-based reporters who follow the team on a regular basis, with a few national and freelance writers dropping by occasionally.

“I guess the narrative on the outside is that we’re kind of forgotten about now that Ohtani is not here,” Sandoval said. “There are no high expectations of us from the media and the fans and baseball in general.”

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CLIPPERS

From Broderick Turner: Tyronn Lue’s Clippers have been baffling because they’ve been plagued by inconsistent play despite having such a talented group led by stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

The Clippers’ coach tried to explain why his team has struggled with repeated mistakes and mental breakdowns in recent weeks.

“We’re a .500 basketball team,” Lue said.

Lue spoke a real truth — the Clippers are 5-5 in their last 10 games. And things weren’t going to be any easier Monday against an Indiana Pacers team that led the NBA in scoring (123.1 points per game), and field-goal percentage (50.6%).

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Clippers box score

NBA scores

NBA standings

NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT

Men’s bracket

Men’s schedule
All times Pacific

SWEET 16
Thursday
West Region
No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 6 Clemson, 4:09 p.m., CBS
No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Alabama, 6:39 p.m., CBS

East Region
No. 1 Connecticut vs. No. 5 San Diego St., 4:39 p.m., TBS/truTV
No. 2 Iowa St. vs. No. 3 Illinois, 7:09 p.m., TBS/truTV

Friday
South Region
No. 2 Marquette vs. No. 11 North Carolina St., 4:09 p.m. CBS
No. 1 Houston vs, No. 4 Duke, 6:39 p.m., CBS

Midwest Region
No. 1 Purdue vs. No. 5 Gonzaga, 4:39 p.m., TBS/truTV
No. 2 Tennessee vs. No. 3 Creighton, 7:09 p.m., TBS/truTV

Elite Eight: Saturday-Sunday
Final Four: April 6 (Glendale, Ariz.)
Championship: April 8 (Glendale, Ariz.)

NCAA WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: She banked in the final exclamation point and JuJu Watkins could finally relax. USC’s star freshman smirked and shook her head as she backpedaled on defense. She wouldn’t be denied.

Watkins sent the Trojans to their first Sweet 16 since 1994, scoring 28 points in top-seeded USC’s 73-55 win over No. 8 seed Kansas in the second round of the Portland 3 Region of the NCAA tournament Monday night at Galen Center.

Graduate transfer McKenzie Forbes provided fireworks from three-point range with six among her 20 points. After Forbes knocked down her fifth three to put USC up by 12 with 7:09 to go in the third, the USC band chanted, “We want Baylor! We want Baylor!”

USC box score

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From Ben Bolch: Kiki Rice held the ball in the final moments before joining her teammates in a joyous mob just inside the three-point line, everyone hopping in celebration.

Cori Close walked around the Pauley Pavilion court and pointed toward the crowd with both fingers, repeatedly saying, “Thank you!”

For UCLA, this was especially sweet.

Once trailing Creighton by 10 points in the third quarter and seemingly out of answers Monday evening, the second-seeded Bruins teetered on the edge of an uncomfortably early exit from the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

The Bruins are still in after Rice scored a flurry of points and contributed to a defensive resurgence that sparked her team’s 67-63 victory over the seventh-seeded Bluejays in a second-round slugfest.

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UCLA box score

Women’s bracket

Women’s schedule
All times Pacific
Second round
Monday

REGIONAL 1
No. 2 Notre Dame 71, No. 7 Mississippi 56
No. 4 Indiana 75, No. 5 Oklahoma 68

REGIONAL 2
No. 1 Iowa 64, No. 8 West Virginia 54
No. 2 UCLA 67, No. 7 Creighton 63

REGIONAL 3
No. 1 USC 73, No. 8 Kansas 55
No. 3 Connecticut 72, No. 6 Syracuse 64

REGIONAL 4
No. 3 North Carolina St. 79, No. 6 Tennessee 72
No. 4 Gonzaga 77, No. 5 Utah 66

SWEET 16

Friday

REGIONAL 1
No. 2 Notre Dame vs. No. 3 Oregon St., 11:30 a.m., ESPN
No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 4 Indiana, 2 p.m., ESPN

REGIONAL 4
No. 2 Stanford vs. No. 3 North Carolina St., 4:30 p.m., ESPN
No. 1 Texas vs. No. 4 Gonzaga, 7 p.m., ESPN

Saturday
REGIONAL 2
No. 2 UCLA vs. No. 3 LSU, 10 a.m., ABC
No. 1 Iowa vs. No. 5 Colorado, 12:30 p.m., ABC

REGIONAL 3
No. 1 USC vs. No. 5 Baylor, 2:30 p.m., ESPN
No. 3 Connecticut vs. No. 7 Duke, 5 p.m., ESPN

Elite Eight: Sunday-Monday
Final Four: April 5 (Cleveland)
Championship: April 7 (Cleveland)

CHARGERS

From Jeff Miller: The buzz has grown only louder with each passing day, the idea that next month quarterbacks could be selected with the first four picks in the NFL draft.

On Monday, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, whose team selects fifth, added to the volume — and with good reason.

“If four quarterbacks go in the first four picks, that’s not like the fifth pick anymore,” he said at the annual owners’ meetings. “That’s like the No. 1 pick in the draft for teams that have a great quarterback already.”

Yes, the Chargers sit in a position of power as Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz rebuild a roster that helped produce a five-win 2023 season.

Still in need of talent at multiple spots, the Chargers could use the fifth selection on an instant- and high-impact prospect or trade back to acquire additional draft capital and go for both quality and quantity.

Either way, they like the potential offered by the next four-plus weeks, the stock they’re holding going nowhere but — perhaps — up.

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RAMS

From Gary Klein: Quarterback Stetson Bennett apparently still has a future with the Rams.

How long remains to be determined, but Bennett will participate in the team’s offseason workouts, general manager Les Snead said Monday at the NFL owners’ annual meeting.

Bennett, a 2023 fourth-round pick, was drafted to back up Matthew Stafford and possibly succeed him. However, Bennett has not been with the team since the end of last year’s preseason, when he was placed on the non-football injury/illness list because of an undisclosed issue.

Bennett, 26, has been working out in Dallas, and he was “looking good” in clips reviewed by new Rams quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone, Snead said.

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NFL

From Sam Farmer: The NFL began adopting rules changes Monday morning, including a ban of dangerous “hip-drop” tackles, which a league study determined are responsible for significantly more lower-body injuries than traditional tackles.

Team owners, participating in the league’s annual meetings, also approved a proposal by the Detroit Lions to permit a coach a third replay challenge if successful on at least one of two previous challenges.

As defined in the NFL rule book, a hip-drop tackle is when a defender grabs the runner with both hands or wraps him with both arms, then drags down the offensive player by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body. That can trap the runner’s legs at or below the knee.

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KINGS

Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist to help the Kings beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Monday night for their fourth straight win.

Blake Lizotte and Kevin Fiala also scored for the Kings, and Cam Talbot finished with 21 saves.

“It got a little hairy there at the end, there’s no question,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said. “A couple of saves by (Talbot) and guys blocked some shots, got it done. It’s a good team. We’re proud to beat them.”

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Kings box score

NHL scores

NHL standings

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1944 — St. John’s, coached by Joe Lapchick, cruises by DePaul 47-39 to become the first back-to-back winner of the National Invitation Tournament.

1946 — Hank Iba’s Oklahoma A&M Aggies beat North Carolina 43-40 for their second straight NCAA men’s basketball title. Bob Kurland scores 23 points, including the first two dunks in NCAA tournament history.

1949 — Alex Groza leads Kentucky to a 46-36 victory over Oklahoma State for the NCAA championship.

1952 — Kansas’ Clyde Lovelette scores 33 points to lead the Jayhawks to a 80-63 win over St. John’s for the NCAA basketball title.

1972 — The Lakers beat Seattle 124-98 to finish the season at 69-13, the best record in NBA history, until the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls finish at 72-10.

1973 — Bill Walton scores 44 points to help UCLA win its record seventh NCAA basketball championship with an 87-66 triumph over Memphis State.

1974 — George Foreman knocks out Ken Norton in the second round in Caracas, Venezuela, to retain the world heavyweight title.

1979 — 41st NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Michigan State beats Indiana State, 75-64; marks start of rivalry between future Hall of Famers Magic Johnson and Larry Bird; highest-rated game in history of televised college basketball.

2006 — George Mason stuns No. 1 seed Connecticut 86-84 in overtime to become the first No. 11 seed to reach the men’s Final Four since LSU in 1986.

Compiled by the Associated Press