Marcus Smart stepped up to meet Kevin Durant at three-quarters court. The Lakers guard reached and poked the ball away. Instead of letting the lanky, nearly 7-foot Durant corral the loose ball, the 6-foot-3 Smart dove to secure it for himself. The Crypto.com Arena crowd jumped to its feet. From the opening minute to the…
The Lakers aren’t the only team beginning the playoffs with an injured star. The Houston Rockets will be without Kevin Durant in Game 1 against the Lakers on Saturday, Houston coach Ime Udoka said, because of lingering soreness after Durant bumped knees in practice this week. The fifth-seeded Rockets hope Durant’s injury will be a…
The elephant in the room for the Lakers as they enter the playoffs has been, and will continue to be, the status of their starting backcourt, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Both are out because of injuries — Doncic with a grade 2 left hamstring strain and Reaves with a grade 2 left oblique strain…
So this is how we find out Justin Bieber is a YouTube Premium subscriber. The 32-year-old teen-pop survivor headlined Coachella on Saturday night, and for roughly half an hour in the middle of his set, what Bieber did was sit behind a laptop and sing along to his old music videos — often an octave…
UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava didn’t want to enter the transfer portal, even after a tumultuous season that saw the program fire its head coach after an 0-3 start and fall short of a bowl game despite a midseason semi-revival. After one conversation with then-recently hired Bruins coach Bob Chesney, Iamaleava was sold on wearing the…
TORONTO — Here’s a twist on fantasy baseball: Which quartet would you prefer at the top of your lineup? Option 1: Bobby Witt Jr., Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber. Option 2: Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. If you go with Option 1, you are taking the top four batters, in order,…
UCLA football coach Bob Chesney wasn’t looking for star performances during the Bruins’ first spring practice on Thursday — instead, he wanted his players to focus on holding themselves accountable for putting in their best effort. “We talk about the mirror test. Don’t worry about what your coach says, don’t worry about what your other…
Three weeks into spring practice, USC football coaches are making one thing clear: 95% of their best will not be accepted or tolerated. Wednesday’s practice started with some of the players doing up-downs after forgetting equipment. “It was a good message from some of our staff and leaders in terms of the approach that we…
Aden Holloway, the second-leading scorer for the Alabama men’s basketball team, was arrested Monday on a felony drug charge and may not be available for the Crimson Tide during March Madness, pending the university’s investigation into the matter. Alabama coach Nate Oats said that after he told his players about the situation, the team went…
UCLA coach Mick Cronin expects his team to embrace lofty expectations that follow the Bruins any time they take the floor during the NCAA tournament. The program has won an NCAA record 11 national titles and made 19 Final Four appearances. No. 7-seed UCLA’s (22-11) push for another deep NCAA tournament run begins Friday against…
