The Sports Report: Chargers, Lakers and Clippers all win, but don’t ask about the Ducks

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Knock Knock. Who’s there? The guy who finished second. The guy who finished second who? Exactly.

CHARGERS

In their most complete effort of 2019, the Chargers controlled the ball and the clock and shut down Green Bay’s offense in a 26-11 victory at Dignity Health Sports Park.

The performance emerged suddenly for a team that had struggled through the season’s first half with a 3-5 record and largely underachieving.

The Packers entered Sunday 7-1 and had won games at Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City.

With Shane Steichen calling plays for the first time in his career, the Chargers’ slumbering offense awoke with more creativity, tempo and misdirection.

Steichen, who began the season as the team’s quarterbacks coach, took over as interim offensive coordinator last week after Ken Whisenhunt was fired.

Philip Rivers finished 21 of 28 for 294 yards. Melvin Gordon rushed 20 times for 80 yards and two touchdowns and Austin Ekeler had 70 yards in 12 carries. Mike Williams caught three passes for 111 yards, his first career 100-yard game and Hunter Henry had seven receptions for 84 yards.

The Chargers amassed 160 yards on the ground after failing to rush for as many than 40 yards in four consecutive games.

But just as impressive as the offense’s showing was what the Chargers did on defense.

Nearly five minutes into the fourth quarter, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers had passed for only 61 yards and the Packers had only six first downs.

Those numbers swelled on Green Bay’s final two possessions as the Chargers went into a more protective shell. By that point, the game basically had been won.

Read more

Bill Plaschke: Chargers’ big win over Green Bay shows they don’t deserve to play in L.A.

Chargers’ Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram wreak havoc on Aaron Rodgers and Packers

CHARGERS SCHEDULE

All times Pacific. Radio: KFI-AM 640, KFWB-AM 980

at Chargers 30, Indianapolis 24 (OT)

at Detroit 13, Chargers 10

Houston 27, at Chargers 20

Chargers 30, at Miami 10

Denver 20, at Chargers 13

Pittsburgh 24, at Chargers 17

at Tennessee 23, Chargers 20

Chargers 17, at Chicago 16

at Chargers 26, Green Bay 11

Sunday at Oakland, 5:15 p.m., Fox, NFL Network

Nov. 18 vs. Kansas City, 5:15 p.m., ESPN (at Mexico City, counts as home game for Chargers)

Dec. 1 at Denver, 1:15 p.m., CBS

Dec. 8 at Jacksonville, 1 p.m., Fox

Dec. 15 vs. Minnesota, 5:15 p.m., NBC

Dec. 22 or 23 vs. Oakland, TBD

Dec. 29 at Kansas City, 10 a.m., CBS

RAMS SCHEDULE

All times Pacific. Radio: 710 ESPN, 93.1 JACK FM

Rams 30, at Carolina 27

at Rams 27, New Orleans 9

Rams 20, at Cleveland 13

Tampa Bay 55, at Rams 40

at Seattle 30, Rams 29

San Francisco 20, at Rams 7

Rams 37, at Atlanta 10

Rams 24, Cincinnati 10 (at London)

Nov. 10 at Pittsburgh, 1:15 p.m., Fox

Nov. 17 vs. Chicago, 5:15 p.m., NBC

Nov. 25 vs. Baltimore, 5:15 p.m., ESPN

Dec. 1 at Arizona, 1 p.m., Fox

Dec. 8 vs. Seattle, 5:15 p.m., NBC

Dec. 15 at Dallas, 1:15 p.m., Fox

Dec. 22 or 23 at San Francisco, TBD

Dec. 29 vs. Arizona, 1:15 p.m., Fox

Sunday’s NFL scoreboard

at Chargers 26, Green Bay 11

at Baltimore 37, New England 20

Houston 26, at Jacksonville 3

at Buffalo 24, Washington 9

at Kansas City 26, Minnesota 23

at Miami 26, NY Jets 18

at Philadelphia 22, Chicago 14

at Pittsburgh 26, Indianapolis 24

at Carolina 30, Tennessee 20

at Oakland 31, Detroit 24

at Seattle 40, Tampa Bay 34 (OT)

at Denver 24, Cleveland 19

Read all about them here.

Open date: Rams, Atlanta, Cincinnati, New Orleans

Tonight’s schedule

Dallas at NY Giants, 5:15 p.m., ESPN

LAKERS

The Lakers didn’t make this one easy on themselves, but they beat the San Antonio Spurs 103-96 for their fifth win in a row.

LeBron James scored 21 points and had 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his second consecutive triple-double, becoming the first Lakers to do that since Lamar Odom in 2006. Anthony Davis had 25 points, leading all scorers, and added 11 rebounds. Avery Bradley was the Lakers’ next-highest scorer with 16 points. He made seven of nine field-goal tries and left the game during the second half with a lower leg injury.

San Antonio started the game with a quick five points before the Lakers scored. But while past opponents have been quick to put the Lakers in double-digit holes, the Spurs couldn’t. The most San Antonio led by Sunday was five.

At halftime, James was already close to a triple-double with 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. The Lakers led 56-43 with the help of a buzzer-beating three-point heave by Kyle Kuzma, who scored from near half court.

Although the Lakers built a 19-point lead early in the third quarter, the Spurs kept hanging around. Dejounte Murray, who led San Antonio with 18 points, made a layup with 4:10 left to tie the score at 90. From there, though, the Lakers pulled away.

CLIPPERS

Kawhi Leonard scored 18 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Clippers to a 105-94 victory over the Utah Jazz.

Leonard’s scoring surge helped the Clippers erase a double-digit second-half deficit and remain unbeaten (4-0) at home. He only made nine of 26 shots, but with the game tied at 86, Leonard scored six points to spark a 19-8 run to close out the victory.

Montrezl Harrell scored 19 points and Lou Williams added 17 for the Clippers.

Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 36 points and Bojan Bogdanovic added 19.

After trailing by eight points in the opening quarter, the Clippers opened the second quarter on a 20-4 run. Landry Shamet’s three-pointer gave Los Angeles a 36-24 lead at the 4:53 mark. The Jazz responded with a 17-3 run to finish the quarter and Mitchell’s basket in the final minute gave Utah a 41-39 lead at the break.

Both teams shot under 35% in the opening half. Leonard made just one of nine shots in the first half and scored only five points.

DUCKS

Patrick Kane scored 24 second into overtime off a pass from Jonathan Toews and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Ducks 3-2.

Rookie Adam Boqvist scored his first career NHL goal and Alex DeBrincat scored on a two-man advantage as the Blackhawks spoiled the 1,000th career game of Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf.

Erik Gudbranson and Nick Ritchie scored for Anaheim. Ryan Miller had 34 saves.

Read more

Helene Elliott: Ducks’ Ryan Getzlaf makes goals a priority just before 1,000th game

DODGERS

Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers won a Gold Glove award as a right fielder on Sunday. Bellinger was selected over Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies and Jason Heyward of the Chicago Cubs.

It is the first Gold Glove for the 24-year-old Bellinger. He was the Dodgers’ only finalist at any position. He is the Dodgers’ first Gold Glove award winner since pitcher Zack Greinke in 2015.

Bellinger began the season as the Dodgers’ everyday right fielder, but began splitting most of his time between first base and center field in August. He led all qualified right fielders with 19 defensive runs saved and ranked second with 10 outfield assists in 911 1/3 innings. He also logged 230 innings at first base and 170 2/3 innings in center field.

No Angels were awarded a gold glove this season.

Here are the Gold Glove winners:

AMERICAN LEAGUE: P—Mike Leake, Seattle-Arizona; C—Roberto Perez, Cleveland; 1B—Matt Olson, Oakland; 2B—Yolmer Sanchez, Chicago; 3B—Matt Chapman, Oakland; SS—Francisco Lindor, Cleveland; LF—Alex Gordon, Kansas City; CF—Kevin Kiermaier, Tampa Bay; RF—Mookie Betts, Boston

NATIONAL LEAGUE: P—Zack Greinke, Arizona-Houston; C—J.T. Realmuto, Philadelphia; 1B—Anthony Rizzo, Chicago; 2B—Kolten Wong, St. Louis; 3B—Nolan Arenado, Colorado; SS—Nick Ahmed, Arizona; LF—David Peralta, Arizona; CF—Lorenzo Cain, Milwaukee; RF—Cody Bellinger, Dodgers.

Also, the Dodgers declined to exercise the $13 million team option on Jedd Gyorko’s contract. Instead, they will pay him a $1 million buyout, making the veteran infielder a free agent.

UCLA FOOTBALL

The Bruins are headed for the season’s most pivotal game in the Pac-12 South Division. It will be UCLA versus No. 9 Utah on Nov. 16 in Salt Lake City for all the marbles, or at least all the ones Bruins fans have left after a bonkers turnaround from their 1-5 start.

If the Bruins (4-5, 4-2) beat the Utes (8-1, 5-1) at Rice-Eccles Stadium for a fourth consecutive victory, it could conceivably forge a three-way tie atop the division standings between UCLA, Utah and USC, provided the Trojans (5-4, 4-2) beat Arizona State next week on the road. That would also lead to a winner-take-all showdown between the Bruins and Trojans on Nov. 23 at the Coliseum, with both teams holding the tiebreaker over the Utes in that scenario.

For the Bruins, their game against Utah is the program’s biggest since facing USC in November 2015 with the Pac-12 South title at stake. Incidentally, UCLA had won at nationally ranked Utah the previous week.

“For sure going to get a jump on Utah this week, make sure we go out and compete,” UCLA cornerback Darnay Holmes said Saturday night after the Bruins polished off Colorado, 31-14, at the Rose Bowl. “It’s gonna be a hectic scene; we’re ready for it.”

COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOP 25 RANKINGS

1. LSU (17 first-place votes), 8-0, 1,479 points, Ranked 1 last week

2. Alabama (21), 8-0, 1,472 (2)

3. Ohio State (17), 8-0, 1,467 (3)

4. Clemson (7), 9-0, 1,406 (4)

5. Penn State, 8-0, 1,306 (5)

6. Georgia, 7-1, 1,196 (8)

7. Oregon, 8-1, 1,180 (7)

8. Utah, 8-1, 1,090 (9)

9. Oklahoma, 7-1, 1,045 (10)

10. Florida, 7-2, 938 (6)

11. Baylor, 8-0, 909 (12)

12. Auburn, 7-2, 901 (11)

13. Minnesota, 8-0, 831 (13)

14. Michigan, 7-2, 909 (14)

15. Notre Dame, 6-2, 571 (16)

16. Wisconsin, 6-2, 558 (18)

17. Cincinnati, 7-1, 527 (17)

18. Iowa, 6-2, 491 (19)

19. Memphis, 8-1, 448 (24)

20. Kansas State, 6-2, 364 (22)

21. Boise State, 7-1, 310 (21)

22. Wake Forest, 7-1, 296 (23)

23. SMU, 8-1, 250 (15)

24. San Diego State, 7-1, 87 (25)

25. Navy, 7-1, 83 (not ranked)

Dropped from rankings: Appalachian State

Others receiving votes: UCF 52, Texas 37, Indiana 27, Texas A&M 19, Oklahoma State 11, Louisiana Tech 7, Appalachian State 5, Washington 2, Pittsburgh 2, Iowa State 1, Virginia 1, North Dakota State 1

TODAY’S LOCAL MAJOR SPORTS SCHEDULE

All times Pacific

No games scheduled.

BORN ON THIS DATE

1930: Baseball/basketball player Dick Groat

1933: High jumper Mildred McDaniel (d. 2004)

1933: Baseball player Tito Francona (d. 2018)

1967: Former Dodger Eric Karros

1968: Baseball player Carlos Baerga

1975: Former Clipper Lorenzen Wright (d. 2010)

1975: Former Ram Orlando Pace

1982: Football player Devin Hester

1988: Football player Dez Bryant

DIED ON THIS DATE

1950: Baseball player Grover Cleveland Alexander, 61

1955: Baseball player Cy Young, 88

2010: Baseball manager Sparky Anderson, 76

AND FINALLY

Eric Karros hits two home runs in Game 2 of the 1995 NLDS. Watch it here.

That concludes the newsletter for today. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, please email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. If you want to subscribe, click here.