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From Dan Woike: The emotion inside the building was impossible to ignore, the crowd oohing and aahing at every crossover, gasping at every shot and desperately trying to will the ball into the basket each time a Laker launched it.
The crowd had met the moment, Luka Doncic’s first game against the Dallas Mavericks, the team with whom he built his NBA career, the kind of game that had the attention of people all around the NBA.
The building was hot; Doncic, the main attraction, was cold.
“It was just so weird, the moments,” he said. “Felt like I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Dallas fired defenders at Doncic in waves, forcing him to hunt for the slightest openings. One three-pointer, a step-back on the left side across from the Lakers’ bench through a sliver of daylight, got wiped out at the next timeout because replay determined he’d been out of bounds.
If he wanted to exact revenge on the organization that traded him this month, he never really could grab it.
“It was just a lot of emotions and not much sleep. But, just, I can’t even explain,” Doncic said. “It was a different game. Like I said, sometimes I don’t know what I was doing. And, I’m just glad, glad it’s over, honestly.”
Even if this was his moment, Doncic wasn’t alone in it. One day after vowing that the Lakers would have Doncic’s back, Dorian Finney-Smith did the little things. LeBron James did the big things. And the Lakers again did the winning things, fighting their way to a 107-99 win against a hungry Mavericks team still without Anthony Davis.
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Max Christie returns home to L.A. … as a visitor with the Mavericks
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UCLA BASKETBALL
From Bill Plaschke: He has the uncanny ability to coach toughness into overachieving teams.
He also has the audacity to publicly humiliate them.
He wins games, one Final Four and two Sweet 16 appearances in his first four seasons that featured postseasons.
He also loses fans, longtime boosters fed up with his unhinged sideline behavior, his rude postgame rips and even recent criticism directed toward those fans themselves.
Mick Cronin thinks the Pauley Pavilion crowd should be more publicly supportive of his UCLA players?
Has Cronin looked in a mirror?
It’s what has become an annual UCLA basketball conundrum, the question of how should thousands of John Wooden disciples feel about a man with the opposite demeanor running their basketball team?
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DODGERS
From Jack Harris: When Gavin Lux walked off the field at Goodyear Ballpark on Monday, the former Dodgers infielder wore three things.
A bright red Cincinnati Reds jersey; one on the opposite end of the color spectrum from his old Dodger blue threads.
An easy, confident smile, Lux already feeling settled with his new club less than two months after an offseason trade that changed the trajectory of his career.
And, perhaps most of all, an unmistakable chip on his shoulder, the 27-year-old out to prove plenty of people — including some of his old employers in Los Angeles — wrong and show them what he’s capable of on a major league diamond.
“Always, I think you have that chip on your shoulder,” said Lux, a first-round draft pick and former top prospect who spent six seasons on the Dodgers and won World Series rings in 2020 and 2024 before being dealt for outfield prospect Mike Sirota and a draft pick.
“I think you always want to prove that you can play on the left side of the infield, you can hit lefties, whatever that chip is,” Lux said. “Every guy has a different chip. For me, I think that’s one of them.”
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Same hype, different experiences: How Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki are acclimating with Dodgers
WILDFIRES
From Bill Dwyre: We should not allow the story and wonder of Tommy Hawkins to go up in flames without a proper recounting. Nor so that of his wife of 39 years, Layla.
The inferno that raged across the Palisades on Jan. 7 took thousands of homes and several lives. It wiped out wealth, hope, memories and futures. It ravaged Las Flores Canyon in Malibu, where Tommy and Layla had lived for 32 years, in a house with mountain and ocean views.
There had been several fires headed their way over the years, some coming close, some even causing some damage. But this time, with Tommy no longer there and Layla left alone with so many years of memorabilia and art and music and awards and plaques and trophies and family scrapbooks, the inferno allowed no exceptions, paid no attention to legends of the legend it was consuming.
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CHARGERS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: The weather, the city and the lifestyle always have been a constant in the Chargers’ pitch to free agents. Now with a revamped front office and practice facility, Joe Hortiz hopes the optimism surrounding the team will pair with its prime location to make an enticing package for the NFL’s best players.
“We’ll become a destination, I really believe that,” the Chargers general manager said Tuesday at the NFL scouting combine. “It’s a great place to live, it’s a great place to be and great people working there.”
Ahead of schedule in their rebuild under Hortiz and coach Jim Harbaugh, the Chargers can take a major swing in free agency next month with the sixth-most salary cap space in the NFL. Determined to preserve much of the roster from the team that went 11-6 and reached the wild-card round, the Chargers are in talks with their 26 players set to hit free agency.
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DIANA TAURASI RETIRES
Diana Taurasi is retiring after 20 seasons, ending one of the greatest careers in women’s basketball history.
The WNBA’s career scoring leader and a three-time league champion, Taurasi announced her retirement on Tuesday in an interview with Time magazine. The Phoenix Mercury — the only WNBA team she played for — also confirmed her decision.
“Mentally and physically, I’m just full,” Taurasi told Time. “That’s probably the best way I can describe it. I’m full and I’m happy.”
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GALAXY
From Kevin Baxter: Before joining the Galaxy two years ago, Christian Ramírez spent two seasons with the Columbus Crew, winning an MLS Cup one year and then failing to get out of the first round of the playoffs the next.
The lesson, Ramírez said, is it’s far easier to climb to the top of the league than it is to stay there. And if the Galaxy, who won the MLS Cup last season, didn’t know that already they certainly found out Sunday when they opened defense of their title with a listless, lifeless 2-0 loss to San Diego FC.
The loss was the team’s first at Dignity Health Sports Park in 22 games and made the Galaxy the first reigning MLS champion to lose their season opener to an expansion team. The Galaxy may have sneaked up on teams last year, but this season they’ll be playing with a big target on their backs.
“It becomes a championship game for teams to prove themselves against us,” Ramírez said. “It’s a little bit of the curse of the championship.”
No MLS team has won back-to-back titles since Bruce Arena’s Galaxy in 2011-12. Since then, only two teams — the Seattle Sounders and LAFC — have even made consecutive appearances in the final.
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LAFC
From Kevin Baxter: When John Thorrington began remaking LAFC’s roster this offseason, there were several traits he was looking for. He wanted players who were talented but he also wanted versatility, leadership and big-game experience.
In other words, he wanted players such as Mark Delgado.
Delgado rewarded that faith Tuesday, scoring the lone goal in LAFC’s 1-0 win over Colorado in the deciding second leg of a first-round CONCACAF Champions Cup playoff at BMO Stadium. The score left the teams tied, 2-2, on aggregate goals, but LAFC will advance to the next round on away goals, thanks to Aaron Long’s late score last week in Colorado.
LAFC will play host to the Columbus Crew in the opener of the round of 16 on March 4. The second game will be played March 11 in Columbus, where LAFC lost both the 2023 MLS Cup final and last summer’s League Cup final.
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LAFC summary
DUCKS
Henri Jokiharju scored 9:31 into the third period to give the Buffalo Sabres a 3-2 win against the Ducks on Tuesday night.
Jokiharju’s goal from a minimal angle beat goalie Lukas Dostal high over his shoulder and past his head to give the Sabres the lead for good at 9:31 of the third period.
Mason McTavish and Leo Carlsson scored power-play goals while Dostal made 32 saves for the Ducks, whose five-game point streak ended.
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THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1935 — Babe Ruth is released by the New York Yankees and signed by the Boston Braves.
1938 — Glenn Cunningham sets a world indoor records in 1500-meter race at the AAU nationals at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Cunningham finishes in 3:48.4.
1947 — Brothers Doug and Max Bentley lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 9-7 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Doug Bentley scores four goals and sets up two more goals. Max Bentley scores three goals and assists on another goal.
1960 — Dave Jenkins of the United States wins the figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley.
1967 — Mario Andretti, better known for his accomplishments in open-wheel and USAC competition, wins the Daytona 500 pulling away from 1965 champion Fred Lorenzen in the closing laps. It’s Andretti’s his first and only NASCAR Grand National event. He is the only person born outside the United States to win the Daytona 500.
1968 — Thirty-two African nations agree to boycott the Olympics because of the presence of South Africa.
1981 — The Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota North Stars 5-1 in a game marred by fights. The teams set an NHL record with 84 penalties worth 392 minutes, and 12 players are ejected.
1987 — Michael Jordan scores 58 points, the most by a Chicago player in a regular-season game, to lead the Bulls over the New Jersey Nets 128-113. Jordan scores almost half his points from the free throw line, hitting 26 of 27.
1989 — NFL Dallas Cowboys fire coach Tom Landry after a 29-year career.
1989 — Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux becomes the third NHL player to have 100 assists in a season, joining Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky. Lemieux gets three assists and a goal in the Penguins’ 8-6 loss to the Hartford Whalers.
1994 — In Lillehammer, Norway, Vreni Schneider of Switzerland wins the slalom for the fifth medal of her career, the most of any woman in Alpine Olympic history.
2006 — Sweden beats Finland 3-2 to win the Olympic men’s hockey gold. Germany leaves Turin with the most overall medals with 29, 11 of them gold, while the Americans win 25 medals overall, including nine gold.
2007 — Roger Federer reaches a new milestone breaking Jimmy Connors’ 30-year-old mark with his 161st week at the top of the ATP rankings. Connors set his record from July 1974 to August 1977. The ATP rankings began on Aug. 23, 1973. Federer took the No. 1 spot on Feb. 2, 2004.
2012 — Pete Weber wins a record fifth U.S. Open bowling championship, throwing a strike on his final ball to beat Mike Fagan 215-214. Weber surpasses his father, Dick Weber, who won the tournament’s predecessor four times, as did Don Carter.
2012 — In Bansko, Bulgaria, Lindsey Vonn captures her fourth World Cup super-G race of the year and becomes the career leader in the discipline. By winning her 18th super G the American overtakes Austria’s Renate Goetschl for the record.
2017 — 59th Daytona 500: Kurt Busch wins after Kyle Larson runs out of gas on last lap; Jeffrey Earnhardt makes NASCAR history, 1st ever 4th generation driver to compete in Daytona 500.
2018 — The U.S. Open changes to a two-hole aggregate playoff, the last of the four majors to do away with an 18-hole playoff.
2018 — The top-ranked UConn women’s team completes an undefeated regular season for the 10th time in program history with an 82-53 win over No. 20 South Florida. The Huskies (29-0, 16-0 American) are 98-0 in games against American Athletic Conference opponents. They are 86-0 in the regular season and have won all four conference tournaments.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
