The Sports Report: Lakers respond to JJ Redick’s message with a victory
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From Dan Woike: JJ Redick did it Wednesday morning, reminding his Lakers of the importance of connectivity and communication.
He told them again at the arena, his team about to take on the Miami Heat and their streaking scorer Tyler Herro, who is in the middle of a dominant run.
And it just didn’t take.
Herro, just like he did when the Heat blew out the Lakers in Miami, was too open, too often, ripping shot after shot through the net — the kind of stretch that had his coach recently comparing him to Stephen Curry. The Lakers were lost on defense. It made them lifeless on offense.
By halftime, they were down big.
So, for at least the third time Wednesday, Redick told his players what he needed from them. They had to talk on defense. They had to defend together. And if they didn’t, they were almost certain to face their fourth loss in a row.
“There was nothing we changed schematically,” he said. “I implored our team to talk more and play harder.”
And, finally, it sunk in.
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CLIPPERS
From Broderick Turner: They began a slew of games on Wednesday night in which the Clippers’ fortitude was expected to be tested.
They are in this situation because of the devastating wildfires that rampaged across the Los Angeles area that caused the postponement of a Clippers game and forced the NBA to reschedule other games.
So the Clippers were set to play six games over nine days, starting with their 126-67 beatdown of the Brooklyn Nets at the Intuit Dome, the largest margin of victory in franchise history,
Kawhi Leonard played 23 minutes 49 seconds and scored 23 points, both season highs. He was eight for 11 from the field while leading the Clippers in scoring.
James Harden had 21 points, 11 assists and six rebounds in a game the Clippers led by as many as 64 points. He has 26,681 points over his 16-year career, pushing him past Dominique Wilkins for 15th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
Arellano: ‘When am I gonna come back?’ A lifelong Clippers fan finally sees them in person
RAMS
From Gary Klein: Rams cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon was unemployed when the NFL season began.
Cornerback Cobie Durant weathered injury and declining playing time after midseason.
Defensive lineman Neville Gallimore was inactive for three games, Desjuan Johnson six.
Tight end Davis Allen was targeted only 13 times.
All five players made big plays in the Rams’ NFC wild-card victory over the Minnesota Vikings that advanced coach Sean McVay’s team into a divisional-round game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
On Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, most of the focus will be on star players that abound for both teams. The Rams feature quarterback Matthew Stafford, receiver Puka Nacua and edge rusher Jared Verse, the Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, quarterback Jalen Hurts and receiver A.J. Brown.
For the Rams to win and advance to the NFC championship game their stars must shine, but the Rams almost certainly will need more big plays from important-but-less-celebrated contributors.
Two USC film students try to hit it big with Super Bowl contest
CHARGERS
From Dylan Hernández: Many of the answers provided by coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz in their Wednesday news conference were purposely ambiguous, offering minimal insight into what the Chargers would prioritize in the offseason.
Between their nonanswers, however, Harbaugh and Hortiz did what they could to emphasize one specific point: Even as Justin Herbert has become the subject of the kinds of criticisms that once were directed at Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw, the Chargers continue to believe in him.
“I wouldn’t spend two more seconds thinking about what happened in that game,” Harbaugh said of Herbert’s four-interception stinker in a 32-12 loss to the Houston Texans.
“We’ll roll with him,” Hortiz said.
Quarterbacks are defined by what they do in the playoffs, and Herbert’s postseason record is 0-2 in the wake of Saturday’s loss in the AFC wild-card round.
Until that record improves, there will be plenty of noise about whether Herbert can win The Big One. That comes with playing quarterback in the NFL.
With season over, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh’s next agenda is two medical procedures
NFL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
Divisional round
Saturday
AFC
No. 4 Houston Texans at No. 1 Kansas City Chiefs, 1:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN
NFC
No. 6 Washington Commanders at No. 1 Detroit Lions, 5 p.m., Fox
Sunday
NFC
No. 4 Rams at No. 2 Philadelphia Eagles, noon, NBC/Peacock
AFC
No. 3 Baltimore Ravens at No. 2 Buffalo Bills, 3:30 p.m., CBS/Paramount +
Conference championships: Jan. 26
Super Bowl 59: Feb. 9 at New Orleans (Fox)
REMEMBERING KOBE BRYANT
Jan. 26 will mark five years since Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri, and his daughter Alyssa; Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton; basketball coach Christina Mauser; and the pilot, Ara Zobayan were killed in a helicopter crash.
We’d like to hear from you. Where were you when you heard about the crash, and what effect did Bryant’s death have on your life? Selected memories will be published at a future date. Please send them to me at [email protected].
UCLA BASKETBALL
From Anthony De Leon: The UCLA women’s basketball team maintained the same competitiveness it has displayed at home all season, even if the Bruins home gym was an hour away from campus in Long Beach.
Forced out of Pauley Pavilion because of wildfires that continue to burn near Westwood, the No. 1 Bruins hosted Penn State at Walter Pyramid on Wednesday night. The venue change didn’t faze UCLA, which earned an 83-67 victory and set a program record with its 17-0 start to the season.
However, the eight days leading up to the game — marked by fires, postponements and venue changes — took a toll on coach Cori Close and the Bruins.
“This has been a really hard week,” Close said. “There’s been some real anxiousness and difficulty, and we get to play, and there has to be this sense of gratitude.”
The win, however, was far from perfect for the Bruins, with Close addressing the “weird balance” of being grateful to play but not using the adversity as an excuse for the team’s performance.
“I don’t think our players would want us to lower the standard in the time that we have in between the lines,” Close said. She added that there are no shortcuts for her team on the court.
OLYMPICS
From David Wharton: The wind and flames that continue to plague Southern California — and the long, costly recovery that lies ahead — have raised new concerns about hosting three major sporting events over the next three years.
World Cup matches are scheduled for SoFi Stadium in the summer of 2026. Then comes the 2027 Super Bowl, followed by the 2028 Summer Olympics.
With none of the region’s stadiums or arenas damaged so far, event organizers and government leaders have expressed confidence about pushing ahead.
“Los Angeles is defined by its resilience and determination,” Casey Wasserman, chairman of the LA28 organizing committee, said in a statement. “The strength of our communities and our unity in tough times make this city extraordinary, and when Los Angeles welcomes the world in 2028, our spirit will shine brighter than ever before.”
ANGEL CITY
From Kevin Baxter: Ali Riley will never forget her wedding day. And the reasons for that have nothing to do with her vows.
Five days before Riley, who is captain of the Angel City FC, was to be married in Ventura County, her parents were evacuated from her childhood home in Pacific Palisades. When she should have been double-checking details with the caterer and the florist, she was monitoring the progress of a monster blaze that moved from the horizon to her old neighborhood in half an afternoon.
Three hours after John Riley and Bev Lowe left the home they had lived in for more than four decades, the house was gone — as was every other one on Kagawa Street, once a tidy lane of spacious homes but now a place where only memories remain.
“By the time of the wedding, we knew,” Lowe said of her home’s fate.
Yet much of what the fire took physically, the wedding gave back emotionally and spiritually.
“When the sad news was going around, our neighbors were just saying ‘well, at least we have the wedding,’” Ali Riley added. “I did ask my mom if they were going to be too sad and she said ‘Oh no, we need this.’ We had a lot of people who had lost everything there in borrowed clothes and mismatched shoes.”
Angel City FC picks Mark Parsons, who’s won an NWSL championship, to build a winner
DODGERS
From Jack Harris: Let the waiting game commence.
On Wednesday, Major League Baseball’s 2025 international signing period opened, an annual date of significance around the sport in which top international amateur players can begin signing with MLB teams.
For 27 clubs, that meant an afternoon of flurried activity, with top international prospects officially signing deals that, in many cases, they had effectively been committed to for months, if not years.
However, for the three teams remaining in the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes — the Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays — the opening of the signing period was met with little action, as the three franchises each maintained their hard-capped pool for signing bonuses in anticipation of Sasaki’s decision, which is expected to come sometime before his posting window closes on Jan. 23.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1962 — Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scores 42 points and grabs 24 rebounds as he won MVP honors even though his East team lost to the West 150-130 in the NBA All-Star game. The West’s Bob Pettit pulls down an All-Star record 27 rebounds.
1972 — The Dallas Cowboys dominate the Miami Dolphins, setting a Super Bowl record of 252 yards rushing en route to a 24-3 victory.
1974 — Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Mantle is elected in his first year of eligibility and Ford in his second year.
1988 — Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, the CBS NFL Today tout for 12 years, is fired for his racial comments during an interview the previous day with WRC-TV in Washington.
1993 — Kansas beats Louisville 98-77 for its 1,500th win in school history.
1993 — Michael Jordan scores 64 points, but Chicago is upended in overtime by visiting Orlando 128-124. The Magic are led by rookie center Shaquille O’Neal, who has 29 points and 24 rebounds.
2008 — Bob Knight becomes the first men’s Division I coach with 900 wins when Texas Tech beats No. 10 Texas A&M 68-53.
2011 — New York Jets stun the New England Patriots 28-21. The Patriots — who had the league’s best record during the regular season — suffer their third straight postseason loss. Mark Sanchez throws three touchdown passes, Tom Brady is sacked five times and the Jets advance to their second straight AFC championship game.
2015 — The NCAA restores 112 football wins it stripped from Penn State and Joe Paterno in the Jerry Sandusky child-molestation scandal and reinstates the venerated late coach as the winningest in major college football history. The NCAA announces the new settlement with the school weeks before a scheduled trial on the legality of the sanctions imposed in 2012.
2016 — Larry Fitzgerald sets up and scores the winning touchdown on the third play of overtime, taking a 5-yard pass from Carson Palmer that lifts Arizona past Green Bay 26-20 after Aaron Rodgers’ desperation 41-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Janis on the final play of regulation. Fitzgerald turns a short pass into a 75-yard gain on the first play of overtime to set up his 5-yard shovel pass reception for the winning score.
2019 — Golden State guard Stephen Curry first player in NBA history to hit 8+ three-point FGs in 3 consecutive games; goes 9-of- 17 three’s in Warriors’ 147-140 win over New Orleans; teams combine for NBA record 43 3-pointers.
2020 — Former Sacramento State softball player Alyssa Nakken becomes first woman to hold a coaching position on a MLB staff when named an assistant by the San Francisco Giants.
2022 — Unvaccinated World #1 tennis player Novak Đoković is deported by the Australian government on “health and good order” grounds, without playing in the Australian Open.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time...
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Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
