Howdy, I’m your host, Austin Knoblauch, filling in for Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.
From Dan Woike:Rui Hachimura stopped. Anthony Davis stood. Tyler Herro moved. Tyler Herro scored.
One game after being badly embarrassed on the offensive end in Minnesota, the Lakers were clobbered on the other end in Miami — their body language, their lack of energy and worst of all, their general lack of fight all reasons for serious concern.
After winning six straight games, the Lakers blew a game to Orlando at the free-throw line. They were embarrassed in the second half against Denver, outclassed by Phoenix, out-toughed by Oklahoma City and completely destroyed in Minnesota.
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And still, somehow, they never were worse than they were Wednesday. They looked too old. Too unskilled. Too undisciplined. Too unserious.
The Heat blew out the Lakers 134-93, a new low in a season in which losses are starting to stack up rapidly. Miami (10-10) made 24 three-pointers, the third-most given up by a Lakers team.
They’ve lost six of their last eight games by an average of more than 21 points.
“I’m embarrassed; we’re all embarrassed. It’s not a game that I thought we had the right fight, the right professionalism. Not sure what was lost in translation,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.
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USC FOOTBALL
From Ryan Kartje: It had been a turbulent morning, at the end of a turbulent recruiting cycle for USC and Lincoln Riley.
Ten prospects already had decommitted during the last six months, among them a handful of top-100 talents. Several of the state’s top players also had spurned the Trojans in favor of more far-flung football powers, like Alabama or Texas A&M or Penn State, all of which inked more top California recruits for their 2025 classes.
Signing day had been trending in a disappointing direction for USC, well before Wednesday. Then, just as the class was coming together, one of USC’s prized defensive assistants, Matt Entz, took the coaching job at Fresno State, leaving the Trojans in an even tougher spot, scrambling to secure two top linebackers who seemed solid just the night before.
It was hardly the preamble Riley had hoped for ahead of the early signing window, at the start of his fourth season as the Trojans coach. Riley, at one point, even found himself reiterating his allegiance to USC, after a report linked him to the coaching job at Central Florida.
ALSO:USC linebackers coach Matt Entz takes Fresno State head coaching job
UCLA FOOTBALL
From Ben Bolch: As DeShaun Foster spoke with reporters about his first recruiting class, the UCLA coach’s efforts to restock his roster were becoming more complicated.
Quarterback Madden Iamaleava and wide receiver Jace Brown, widely expected to become Bruins, publicly revealed Wednesday afternoon they were instead becoming Arkansas Razorbacks.
The Long Beach Poly High teammates were the second and third players verbally committed to UCLA who changed their allegiance. Epi Sitanilei, a four-star edge rusher prospect from St. John Bosco, earlier announced that he was headed to Ohio State instead of UCLA.
The first day of the early signing period also came with a few pleasing developments for Foster and his recruiting staff. The Bruins landed LaRue Zamorano, a cornerback from Corona Centennial who recently decommitted from Michigan State, and Lucien Holland, an edge rusher from Inglewood who recently decommitted from Boise State.
“It’s been a real roller-coaster ride today,” Foster said, “and that’s what recruiting is.”
DODGERS
From Bill Plaschke: As the Dodgers officially welcomed their latest gazillionaire pitcher to a remodeling Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, the churning of the bulldozers in the infield was momentarily drowned out by the whining around the baseball world.
Boo-hoo! The Dodgers are buying another championship!
For shame! The Dodgers have an unfair advantage!
It’s not right! The Dodgers are ruining baseball!
On and on the tears flowed, from Pittsburgh to Minnesota, from Northern California to South Florida, with many blubbering that signing two-time Cy Young Award-winning Blake Snell to a $182-million contract officially makes the defending World Series champions bad for the game.
Stop it. Just stop it.
CLIPPERS
From Broderick Turner: The story for the Clippers on Wednesday night was their list of injured players. Yet even without four key players, the Clippers had no choice but to push on against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Intuit Dome.
The problem was the Timberwolves pushed back harder, leading by as many as 41 in a 108-80 win.
Playing seven games in 11 days hasn’t helped the Clippers weather their injury issues.
So when Clippers coach Tyronn Lue sat down at the podium to speak to the media, he smiled and quickly said this about the 28-point beatdown:
“I’m flushing it,” Lue said.
Clippers-Timberwolves box score
USC MEN’S BASKETBALL
From Ryan Kartje: Little about the first month of his first season at USC had gone as Eric Musselman hoped. His USC offense had struggled to score. His defense struggled to get stops. And on the glass, only a few of college basketball’s 355 teams had been worse than the Trojans, who struggled with dispatching the likes of Grambling and Texas Arlington.
But after stumbling its way through the first eight games of the Muss era, here was a chance, in its Big Ten debut, for USC to stem the tide of those early-season struggles.
Until late Wednesday, the Trojans seemed well on their way to seizing that opportunity against Oregon, which sat atop the conference after a spotless 8-0 start. Then, in the final minutes, everything unraveled for USC in a 68-60 loss to No. 12 Oregon.
CHARGERS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen:Justin Herbert’s haircut isn’t the only thing that’s changed since the Chargers last played the kings of the AFC West.
Not only will his light brown hair not be poking out of his helmet against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, but also the fully healthy quarterback heralded the Chargers’ offensive progress as “very positive” since they lost to their division rivals in Week 4.
“We’ve come a long way,” Herbert said Wednesday, sporting a new cut that trimmed the sides and back of his signature flowing locks. “We’ve definitely become closer as a team.”
More than two months after the Chargers first matched up with the Chiefs, they’ll get another shot at dethroning the longtime leaders Sunday at 5:20 p.m. PST in a rematch that has playoff implications. The Chiefs (11-1) can lock up their ninth consecutive AFC West title with a win at Arrowhead Stadium.
RAMS
From Gary Klein:Matthew Stafford has played nearly 16 NFL seasons, absorbing hits that resulted in broken bones, strains, sprains and bruises. Has the Rams quarterback played a full season without an injury?
“No,” Stafford said Wednesday, chuckling.
Stafford, 36, displayed resilience and toughness during 12 seasons in Detroit and three-plus with the Rams. And he will do it again this week as the Rams prepare for Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium.
During the second quarter of last Sunday’s victory over the New Orleans Saints, Stafford suffered a right ankle sprain when he was taken to the ground while throwing a pass. He limped after that play and shook his leg following the next one but remained in the game and passed for two second-half touchdowns in the 21-14 victory that improved the Rams’ record to 6-6.
KINGS
From the Associated Press: Warren Foegele scored on a wraparound early in the third period, and the Kings rallied to beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Tanner Jeannot had a goal and an assist, Joel Edmundson also scored, and David Rittich made 26 saves as the Kings got their fourth straight win after falling behind 2-0 midway through the first period.
The Kings had success attacking Stars goalie Jake Oettinger from close range in the last two periods, and Foegele capitalized with his seventh goal to take the lead 2:22 into the third.
DUCKS
From the Associated Press:Shea Theodore scored two goals for the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night in a 4-1 victory over the Ducks, who lost Trevor Zegras to a potentially serious lower-body injury.
William Karlsson and Alexander Holtz also scored and Ilya Samsonov made 19 saves for the division-leading Golden Knights, who improved to 8-1-1 against the Pacific Division with their sixth win in eight games overall. Vegas has beaten the Ducks in all three meetings.
Jackson LaCombe scored and John Gibson stopped 30 shots for the last-place Ducks.
Ducks-Golden Knights box score
GOLF
From Chuck Schilken: Hailey Davidson is a transgender women’s golfer who recently competed in the LPGA‘s qualifying series and earned a partial spot on the 2025 Epson Tour. She also came a stroke away from qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open.
She won’t be eligible for any of those events next year.
New policies announced Wednesday by the LPGA and USGA will prohibit golfers who were assigned as male at birth and did not transition to female before starting male puberty from competing in the organizations’ elite events starting in 2025.
“Can’t say I didn’t see this coming,” Davidson wrote Wednesday on her Instagram Stories. “Banned from the Epson and the LPGA. All the silence and people wanting to stay ‘neutral’ thanks for absolutely nothing. This happened because of all your silence.”
WNBA
From Steve Henson: The champagne hadn’t even dried after the New York Liberty won the WNBA championship when the players association announced it would opt out of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, which was set to expire in 2027.
A dramatic increase in revenues due primarily to the emergence of Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and other marquee rookies prompted the players to recognize they aren’t getting what they believe to be a fair share. The CBA now ends after the 2025 season, blowing up a pay scale that set average salaries at about $120,000, with rookie minimums at $64,154 and veteran maximums at $241,984.
Clark’s four-year rookie contract under the CBA was for $338,056 — including $76,535 in 2024 — laughably low numbers given the revenue she helped generate. Clark broke almost every WNBA rookie record, but more impressive was her off-the-court impact.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1924 — Red Green of the Hamilton Tigers scores five goals in a 10-5 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
1971 — Willie Ellison of the Rams sets an NFL record with 247 yards rushing in a 45-28 victory over the New Orleans Saints. Teammate Travis Williams also returns a kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown.
1972 — Johnny Rodgers of Nebraska wins the Heisman Trophy beating out Oklahoma’s Gregg Pruitt and teammate Rich Glover. The all-purpose back gains 5,586 yards and scored 45 touchdowns in his collegiate career.
1974 — David Thompson scores an ACC-record 57 points to lead North Carolina State to a 144-88 rout of Buffalo State. Thompson surpasses the 56 points scored by South Carolina’s John Roche against Furman on Feb. 5, 1971.
1976 — O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills rushes for 203 yards and a touchdown in a 45-27 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
1981 —USC’s Marcus Allen, who set an NCAA record for yards rushing in a season with 2,342, wins the Heisman Trophy.
1987 — Tim Brown, wide receiver and kick returner from Notre Dame, is awarded the Heisman Trophy.
1992 — Second-ranked Alabama beats No. 15 Florida 28-21 in the first SEC championship game. Alabama’s Antonio Langham intercepts a Shane Matthews pass, returning it 27 yards for a touchdown with 3:16 left in the game.
1995 — Dan Marino completes 35 of 50 passes for 343 yards with two touchdowns and in leading Miami to a 21-20 comeback victory over the Atlanta Falcons. It was his 52nd 300-yard game of his career, breaking the league record he had shared with Dan Fouts.
2004 — Peyton Manning of Indianapolis is 25-of-33 for 425 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in a 51-24 win over Tennessee. Manning notches his 13th straight multi-TD game, breaking the NFL record held by Dan Marino, Johnny Unitas, Don Meredith and Brett Favre.
2008 — Former NFL star O.J. Simpson is sentenced to 33 years in prison for kidnapping and armed robbery.
2012 — Kobe Bryant scores 29 points, making him the fifth player in NBA history to score 30,000, and the Los Angeles Lakers snap a two-game skid with a 103-87 victory over the New Orleans Hornets. The other players to score more than 30,000 are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain.
2016 — Klay Thompson has 60 points, an NBA season high and the most by a Golden State player in more than 42 years, as the Warriors whip the Indiana Pacers 142-106. Thompson scores 40 by halftime in just 18-plus minutes. He had a career-best 60 points through three quarters and called it a night, sitting down with 1:22 left in the period.
2017 — Russia is banned from the next Winter Olympics in South Korea over state-sponsored doping.
Compiled by the Associated Press.
And finally
It’s every college football fan’s favorite time of the year — transfer portal season! Keep track of the players joining and leaving UCLA and USC in our handy NCAA portal tracker here.
Until next time…
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