The Sports Report: Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves a true dynamic duo for Lakers

Los Angeles Times

18-03-2025

Howdy, I'm your host, Austin Knoblauch, filling in for Houston Mitchell. Let's get right to the news.
From Dan Woike: If you have been studying the Lakers' offense microscopically since the team acquired Luka Doncic, if you have looked at the spacing, the movement, the efficiency and the organization rates, there's only one question you could possibly have after the Lakers' 125-109 win Monday night against the Spurs.
Is it 'butt naked' or 'buck naked'?
Nearly a month ago, Dorian Finney-Smith introduced the phrasing into the Lakers' lexicon after a rare practice, saying either 'butt' or 'buck' when describing the nudity level Doncic's new teammates would need to be comfortable with.
No one plays near you when Doncic is on the court, Finney-Smith said, the opposing defense leaving you alone, exposed and uncontested in ways that just don't happen in the NBA.
'I'm back getting wide-open shots where I feel like I gotta rush when I really don't have to, I got plenty of time,' he said. 'The last couple of years, I ain't been playing with guys like Luka, so I've been getting hard closeouts, but now I got that time. You (???)-naked wide-open.'
That was clear — just the descriptor wasn't.
'Excuse my language,' he said with a grin. 'You wide-open.'
Playing for the fourth time in five days and playing, again, without key starters in Rui Hachimura and LeBron James, the Lakers' offense operated with the kind of ease that just doesn't happen in most games, the team creating the kinds of naked opportunities that would make anyone blush.
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Lakers-Spurs box score
NBA scores
NBA standings
From Dylan Hernández: Other than the concrete skeletal remains of a three-story office supply store, there was nothing on the expansive field.
Just acres and acres of dried grass.
As he was about to drive by the abandoned building, Masahiro Osada pointed to the area on the other side of the two-lane road.
'My restaurant was there,' he said in Japanese.
With his right index finger, Osada drew an imaginary line across his windshield.
'There was a road here,' he said. 'Roki's house was 30 or 40 meters down.'
On a day that came to be known as 3.11 — March 11, 2011 — more than 80% of the homes in this remote seaside community were destroyed by a tsunami, including that house.
The nine-year-old boy who lived there, Roki Sasaki, survived. His father, Kota, didn't.
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Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs in season opener
Dodgers-Cubs box score
From Ben Bolch: Skyy Clark's phone kept ringing in class. It was his second day of summer school at UCLA, so he didn't answer. When one of his brothers sent him a message on Snapchat, he finally relented and looked to see what was going on.
Dad's in the hospital. He had a stroke.
Bolting from his seat, Clark called his father. At first, Kenny Clark seemed fine, his wry sense of humor intact even from a hospital bed.
'He was joking around and sending us selfie videos,' Skyy said, 'and was like, 'They're about to discharge me' and everything, and then something crazy happened.'
At the time, Skyy and his father were on the verge of a mutual homecoming. After a lifetime's worth of detours that included four high schools and three colleges, Skyy was going to play for the hometown Bruins and his family was planning to move nearby.
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From Bill Shaikin: For the first time this season, Dodgers fans can stream SportsNet LA without needing to buy something else they might not want.
Spectrum is offering a streaming-only subscription to the Dodgers' television channel for $29.99 per month or $199.99 per year, the company announced Monday. The service will be in place when the Dodgers open their season Tuesday in Japan (3 a.m. PDT).
The streaming service will be called SNLA+ and will be offered in partnership with Major League Baseball, which will provide the technology and carry the service on MLB.com and the MLB app. SNLA+ subscriptions are only available in the Dodgers' local television market.
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From the Associated Press: Mats Zuccarello scored the tiebreaking power-play goal with 4:38 left and the Minnesota Wild beat the Kings 3-1 on Monday night to end L.A.'s five-game winning streak.
Adrian Kempe scored for the Kings, and Darcy Kuemper — fresh off shutouts in his last two starts — had 19 saves and had his shutout streak end at 176:06. L.A. took its first regulation loss since March 3.
Ryan Hartman had a goal and an assist, Marcus Johansson also scored, and Jared Spurgeon had two assists for Minnesota. Filip Gustavsson finished with 28 saves, including a stellar save to snare Drew Doughty's one-timer from center point through traffic 2:05 into the third period to keep the score tied 1-1.
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Kings-Wild box score
NHL scores
NHL standings
From Steve Henson: Boxing fans can thank Uzbekistan.
After a long period of uncertainty, boxing is on track to be included in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, said Monday the executive board he chairs approved including the sport in the 2028 program.
The full IOC Session of about 100 members must vote on the decision later this week at a meeting in Costa Navarino, Greece, but that is typically a formality. The session, which ends Friday, also will include the election of a successor to Bach, whose 12-year tenure comes to an end in June.
Ensuring boxing remains an Olympic sport was the topic Monday, however.
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1945 — Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens becomes the first NHL player to score 50 goals in a season during a 4-2 triumph over the Boston Bruins in the final game of the season.
1950 — CCNY beats Bradley 69-61 for the NIT championship.
1953 — Don Schlundt scores 30 points to lead Indiana to a 69-68 victory over Kansas for the NCAA basketball championship.
1990 — Jeff Fryer's 41 points leads Loyola Marymount to a 149-115 victory over defending national champion Michigan in the highest-scoring game in NCAA tournament history.
1993 — Santa Clara beats Arizona 64-61 to become the second 15th-seeded team to win a first-round game in the NCAA tournament.
1995 — Michael Jordan announces he is ending his 17 month NBA retirement.
2001 — Indiana's Reggie Miller becomes the first player in NBA history to accumulate 2,000 3-pointers after hitting four in a 101-95 win over Sacramento.
2008 — The Houston Rockets' 22-game winning streak comes to an end. Kevin Garnett scores 22 points and Paul Pierce adds 20 as the Celtics beat the Rockets 94-74, stopping Houston's remarkable run.
2009 — New Jersey's Martin Brodeur breaks Patrick Roy's NHL record for career wins by a goaltender. Brodeur records his 552nd win in a 3-2 decision over the Chicago Blackhawks.
2013 — LeBron James and the Miami Heat escape Boston with their 23rd win in a row, the second longest win streak in NBA history. James scores 37 points and makes the go-ahead basket with 10.5 seconds left in Miami's 105-103 victory.
2015 — Lindsey Vonn wins the World Cup downhill title for the seventh time, winning the last race in the discipline at the World Cup finals in Meribel, France.
2016 — Middle Tennessee State sends a big shock through the men's NCAA Tournament, topping second-seeded Michigan State 90-81 in the first round. Middle Tennessee never trails the Spartans (29-6) in one of the biggest upsets since the tournament began seeding teams in 1985.
2016 — Thomas Walkup scores 33 points and 14th-seeded Stephen F. Austin takes down West Virginia's full-court pressure with some of its own in-your-face defense, pulling off a 70-56 first-round upset of the third-seeded Mountaineers in the NCAA Tournament.
2017 — Kalani Brown scores 21 points and top-seeded Baylor overwhelms much smaller Texas Southern 119-30, the most lopsided women's NCAA Tournament game. The 89-point margin breaks the previous record 74-point win by Tennessee over North Carolina A&T (111-37) in 1994. Baylor's 119 points are the most scored in regulation of a women's NCAA Tournament game, surpassing the previous record 116.
2017 — Texas A&M pulls off the biggest comeback in women's NCAA Tournament history, rallying from a 21-point deficit for a 63-61 victory over Penn to close out the first round of the NCAAs. The fifth-seeded Aggies finish the game on a 25-1 run to beat the 12th-seeded Quakers.
2018 — Tennessee loses for the first time at home in women's NCAA Tournament history. Marie Gulich has 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead sixth-seed Oregon State to a 66-59 win. The third-seeded Lady Vols had been 57-0 at home, with most of those victories coming under late Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt.
2019 — 40-year old Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki overtakes Wilt Chamberlain to go 6th with 31,424 points on the NBA scorers' list; Mavs suffer 129-125 OT loss to New Orleans Pelicans.
Compiled by the Associated Press