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From Jack Harris: The Dodgers finally solved their recent offensive woes on Monday.
And the answer, it turned out, wasn’t much of a mystery.
Sure, manager Dave Roberts noted in his pregame media address, the Dodgers needed to be more selective at the plate, coming off a 3-6 skid over the last two weeks in which they’d hit .218 as a team and averaged barely three runs per game.
“When you’re swinging and trying to cover every pitch, all parts of the zone, that’s tough to do in the big leagues,” Roberts said. “I think having an idea of where you want to hunt is a good start for us.”
During afternoon batting practice, the Dodgers’ hitting coaches changed up the routine, too, having batters take swings off a high-velocity pitching machine — rather than soft tosses from members of the staff — in hopes of improving the offense’s mediocre production against fastballs.
“We always prioritize hitting velocity, and that’s something we haven’t done great,” hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc said. “So, thought it was a good day to do it.”
But the biggest difference on Monday, in the Dodgers’ 5-3 win over the Colorado Rockies, was to the lineup itself.
Plaschke: Invincible Dodgers look very beatable, and that’s a problem
Wes Parker has fond memories of his Dodgers career, and no regrets that he ended it
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LAKERS
From Dan Woike: Four games and no information? A season series that offers little road map for the postseason meetings to come?
It’s a bit of a weird situation as the Lakers head into the playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves, their roster overhaul and strange December making it hard to really look to the past for information on the future.
“We had games the last, six, seven weeks where we hadn’t played the team since [Anthony Davis] was on the team and didn’t have Luka [Doncic]. So we have a way of prepping based on previous games, previous games against Luka,” JJ Redick said Sunday. “We have a general idea of what their rules are, just like they have a general idea of what our rules are.”
Still, there have to be things from the Lakers games with the Timberwolves this year that are going to matter.
As the teams open their first-round playoff series Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Crypto.com Arena, let’s take a quick look at how they match up.
CLIPPERS
From Broderick Turner: For the Clippers to become the fifth seed in the competitive Western Conference and avoid the NBA’s play-in tournament, they had to win their last two games of the regular-season, at Sacramento and Golden State, respectively, and both games came down to the wire.
The Clippers are on a roll, having won eight straight games and 17 of their last 20.
So when the Clippers and the Denver Nuggets open their best-of-seven playoff series Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Ball Arena, it has the makings of a very intense and close series.
Let’s take a quick look at how they matchup:
NBA PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE, RESULTS
All Times Pacific
Play-in round
Today
Atlanta (East 8) at Orlando (East 7), 4:30 p.m., TNT
winner advances as East No. 7 seed
Memphis (West 8) at Golden State (West 7), 7 p.m., TNT
winner advances to playoffs as West No. 7 seed
Wednesday
Miami (East 10) at Chicago (East 9), 4:30 p.m., ESPN
loser is eliminated
Dallas (West 10) at Sacramento (West 9), 7 p.m., ESPN
loser is eliminated
Friday
East 9/10 winner at East 7/8 loser, TBD, TNT
winner advances to playoffs as East No. 8 seed
West 9/10 winner at West 7/8 loser, TBD, ESPN
winner advances to playoffs as West No. 8 seed
First round
Western Conference
No. 3 Lakers vs. No. 6 Minnesota
Saturday at Lakers, 5:30 p.m., ABC
Game 2 at Lakers (TBD)
Game 3 at Timberwolves (TBD)
Game 4 at Timberwolves (TBD)
Game 5 at Lakers (TBD)*
Game 6 at Timberwolves (TBD)*
Game 7 at Lakers (TBD)*
No. 4 Denver vs. No. 5 Clippers
Saturday at Nuggets, 12:30 p.m., ESPN
Game 2 at Nuggets (TBD)
Game 3 at Clippers (TBD)
Game 4 at Clippers (TBD)
Game 5 at Nuggets (TBD)*
Game 6 at Clippers (TBD)*
Game 7 at Nuggets (TBD)*
* if necessary
SPARKS
From Anthony De Leon: The Sparks entered the offseason in search of a new identity after finishing with the WNBA’s worst record. The silver lining? A shot at landing their point guard of the future in the Paige Bueckers sweepstakes.
Instead, after losing out on the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery, the Sparks set the stage for a new era of basketball in L.A. when they sent their No. 2 selection to Seattle as part of a three-team trade to acquire All-Star Kelsey Plum from Las Vegas.
All that remained was rounding out the new-look roster.
With backcourt help a priority for the Sparks in the draft, they selected Sarah Ashlee Barker at No. 9.
Barker, considered one of the top shooting guards in the country last season, earned back-to-back All-SEC first-team honors and led Alabama to a second-round NCAA tournament appearance. The 23-year-old shooting guard proved to be an all-around threat, averaging 18.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. She also set the program’s single-game scoring record with 45 points in the second-round loss to Maryland.
Connecticut star Paige Bueckers selected No. 1 by Dallas in WNBA draft
KINGS
Adrian Kempe had a goal and two assists and Warren Foegele and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist as the Kings beat the depleted Edmonton Oilers 5-0 on Monday night.
Quinton Byfield and Vladislav Gavrikov also scored for the Kings, who have won seven of their last eight and officially clinched home ice against the Oilers in the first round of the playoffs.
Darcy Kuemper had 16 saves before being replaced by David Rittich before the midway mark of the third period, seemingly for precautionary reasons. Rittich finished with five saves.
Calvin Pickard had 31 saves for Edmonton, which snapped a three-game win streak. The Oilers were without several key players, including Connor McDavid (rest), Leon Draisaitl (undisclosed), Mattias Ekholm (undisclosed), Trent Frederic (ankle), Zach Hyman (undisclosed), Evander Kane (hip, knee), Troy Stetcher (undisclosed) and Jake Walman (undisclosed). All but Ekholm are expected to either start the playoffs or be available within the first couple of postseason games.
How Kings’ locker room L.A. Fire helmet is much more than a good-luck charm
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1937 — The Detroit Red Wings beat the New York Rangers 3-0 to take the Stanley Cup in the fifth and final game.
1947 — Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
1952 — The Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 to capture the Stanley Cup. The Red Wings holds the Canadiens to two goals in the four-game sweep.
1958 — First baseball game in California, SF Giants beat LA Dodgers, 8-0.
1979 — 43rd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Fuzzy Zoeller wins his only Masters with a birdie on the 2nd hole of a playoff with Ed Sneed and Tom Watson.
1984 — Ben Crenshaw wins the Masters by two strokes over Tom Watson.
1985 — Marvin Hagler retains his world middleweight title by stopping Tommas Hearns in the third round at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Both slug it out with reckless abandon for eight minutes, which many consider the most electrifying three rounds in boxing history.
1990 — PGA Seniors’ Championship Men’s Golf, PGA National GC: South African Gary Player wins his third event title by 2 strokes.
1991 — Magic Johnson sets an NBA record for career assists in a 112-106 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. Johnson, who needed nine assists to break Oscar Robertson’s record of 9,887, gets 19.
1993 — Sparky Anderson earns his 2,000th victory as a manager as the Detroit Tigers rally to beat the Oakland Athletics 3-2.
1993 — Andre Dawson becomes the 25th player to hit 400 home runs as the Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 4-3.
1997 — Baseball honors Jackie Robinson by retiring #42 for all teams.
1998 — The first-ever AL-NL doubleheader is held in New York’s Shea Stadium. The New York Yankees beat the Angels 6-3 and the New York Mets edge the Chicago Cubs 2-1.
2000 — Cal Ripken becomes the 24th player to reach 3,000 hits when he lines a clean single to center off Twins reliever Hector Carrasco. He reaches the milestone with his third hit in a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins and becomes the seventh player in major league history to get 3,000 hits and 400 home runs.
2000 — NFL Draft: Penn State defensive end Courtney Brown first pick by Cleveland Browns.
2005 — Two-time Olympic champion Steven Lopez of the United States wins his third world taekwondo title, capturing the welterweight gold medal with a 3-2 victory over Ali Tajik of Iran.
2018 — Victor Oladipo scores 32 points and the Indiana Pacers hold off Cleveland’s second-half rally for a stunning 98-80 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference series, handing LeBron James and the Cavaliers’ their first loss in the opening round in eight years.
2019 — The Clippers overcome an NBA record 31-point deficit to score an improbable 135-131 Game 2 playoff victory over the Golden State Warriors.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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