Category: Sports

The Lakers have found their leader.

After Mike Brown and Mike d’Antonio, after Byron Scott and Luke Walton, after Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham, they found their leader.

The rotating door to the coach of the coach has finally stopped. JJ Redick is what the Lakers hoped he would be, and maybe even more.

The Lakers improved on Friday evening to 37-21 with a victory of 106-102 on the clippers in Imaginary-Money-Dot-Com Arena, but this is not just about their record.

They are in fourth place in the Western Conference and are positioned to go in second place before the end of the regular season, but this is not just about their place in the rankings.

This is about how they play. This is about culture.

Read more: Lakers keep clippers after Austin injures the calf

The players buy what their Rookie coach sells, and suddenly the Lakers play a better defense than every team in the NBA.

Who could have imagined that the Lakers held their last six opponents to 102 or fewer points in the aftermath of farewell to ways with their two best defenders in the Luka Doncic Trade.

“That’s alone,” said LeBron James. “I mean, it’s who we are on this point.”

Redick shocked the Lakers as Sean McVay did the rams. Redick has made a reflection of his personality of the Lakers as Jim Harbaugh did with the chargers.

Almost 60 games in Redick’s first season, the Lakers know who they are and how often is that said about them in the post-Phil Jackson years?

There was no guarantee that Redick would be different from Ham or Walton, the other two Rookie coaches that the Lakers have adopted in recent years.

Redick’s appointment invited skepticism, and rightly so. Redick was no than Hurley, who wanted to hire the Lakers. Redick had no coaching or management experience above the youth level. He was self -satisfied in a way that is often fraud, and he was stuck in principle the same schedule that fell ham. He looked like one -man Maria.

Well, the prayers of the Lakers were answered because the Pretty-Boy coach introduced a hard, switch-heavy style in a franchise associated with Showtime.

“Defensively is where we hang our hat,” said James. “It will give us the chance to win every night.”

The victory over the clippers marked a four -day piece in which the Lakers played three games, each of them a victory. In their match against the clippers without Rui Hachimura, who was sidelined with a knee problem, and came out of the game without Austin Reaves, who went down with a calf injury.

The victory has closed for a 10-2 month for the Lakers.

“It’s a difficult game to play and win,” said Doncic. “I think we showed our character today.”

Reaves and Hachimura can be from the starting line -up for a few weeks, perhaps longer, but the victory showed how they could survive without them.

“Our group, they competed, they found a way,” said Redick. “It was a rocky fight outside.”

The Lakers have the highest rated defense in the past six weeks or so, and they stinked their opponents again on Friday evening. Their bank was credited with nine of their 14 steals, including four from Gabe Vincent and three by Jordan Goodwin, who has a two -way contract.

“It takes a while before a group develops an identity, takes a while before a group develops a collective mentality,” Redick said. “There have been many things that happened this season. I felt that the group, our ecosystem, was created and that it has been supported since mid -January. “

He was especially happy with how his players got hold of the game plan, that was to delay James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. Guard Kris Dunn burned them for 14 points in the first half, but the Lakers did not falter. Dunn, who made six of seven shots before the break, eventually delayed. Harden finished with 18 points out of five-of-22 shooting, including one of 10 out of three.

“I like who we are now as a team,” said Redick.

He’s not alone.

In the third quarter, a certain piece of the Lakers drew a standing ovation, and it was not a jam of James or a three from Doncic.

In the series in question, Vanderbilt put the ball away from Harden and threw himself on the field to restore it.

This is the latest incarnation of Lakers -Basketball. This is JJ Redick Basketball, and it will be there for the near future.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the LA Sports scene and further from our newsletter the sports report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

This is how it will be, the Lakers in a fight every game and those fights have physical and emotional costs.

On Tuesday against Dallas, Luka Doncic faced his former team for an emotionally tiring 48 minutes when the Lakers could not exhale the finish.

On Thursday they organized the Minnesota Timberwolves and worked their way through a night when they missed shots on the edge, shots of deep and shots of the free thrust line before they prepared their way to win.

And on Friday, in short peace and shorten, they played the clippers, a team whose success was built on the back of the same high-engine, tough basketball that the Lakers used to push near the top of the West.

But against their former Crypto.com Arena roommates, the Lakers entered the fight without Rui Hachimura, who suffered a knee against Minnesota. And they left it without Austin Reaves, which they lost after just one service.

Doncic and LeBron James should be great – and they would need help. Without Reaves and Hachimura it was Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt fighting Kawhi Leonard for real estate, Dorian Finney-Smith trying to stay for James Harden. They were two -way players Trey Jemison III and Jordan Goodwin won their minutes due to toughness and grit.

Read more: LeBron James gets why Anthony Edwards does not want to be for the face of NBA: ‘There is this weird energy’

Nothing was easy, but for the fifth consecutive time and third in a row at home, the Lakers found enough and won 106-102.

Doncic scored 31 and James had 28 points, but it was the Lakers’ bench who wore them in the small things, Vanderbilt, Jemison, Vincent and Goodwin ended up at least plus-11 during their minutes.

Reaves, in the middle of his best season as a professional, left Friday’s game with the Lakers because of a calf injury. He is expected to undergo an MRI scan on Saturday to determine the severity.

Reaves played nine minutes in the first quarter before checking out and went back to the dressing room of the Lakers.

Reaves started 52 games for the Lakers this season, on average 19.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists.

Kalflashes are notorious in the NBA, where Doncic is missing time with a recurring calf problem. He missed about seven weeks after a veal stem on Christmas while he was a member of the Dallas Mavericks.

Reaves missed five games earlier this season after a pelvic injury. He played the last season in every game for the Lakers.

Vincent replaced Reaves in the line -up to start the second half.

The clippers, who led by no less than 10, forced a few turnover in the last minute to give them a chance, but the open three-point attempt by Bogdan Bogdanovic to lower the score to one rattle, the Lakers seize the rebound and the victory.

They are now in a three -way draw with 21 losses for second place in the west.

The Lakers and the Clippers meet again for the last time in the regular season on Sunday in Crypto.com Arena.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Kiki Iriafen tried to play cautiously. But the man who SerenAdde her new USC teammates and coaches during dinner in the back room of their chic restaurant in Paris had just released an extra microphone. And now teammates have her objection.

She first wiped them off. But they already knew her well enough to know she couldn’t leave it.

So on the eve of the USC season, Iriafen stood up, grabbed the microphone and participated in singing together with the “Killing Me Softly” from the Fugees. She walked through the aisle and worked the back room of the restaurant as she broke it out. The entire room sang with her at the last chorus.

It was just the kind of spotlight stems that her Trojan teammates would expect from De Ster Vooruit during a fantastic 25-2 season of 25-2 at USC.

“That is just Unapologically Kiki,” explains senior Rayah Marshall.

Read more: Kiki Iriafen helps power No. 6 USC for the victory over comeback on Washington

And to think, when she switched from Stanford last spring, it was not clear how iriafen-one probably a top-five choice in the coming WNBA concept-zou fits a team that already had a ball-dominant star in Juju Watkins. But at the end of February, with the Trojan horses no. 4 in the country and a Big Ten title on the line on Saturday against no. 2 UCLA, Iriafen was an inseparable part of their national title chased and not only for her almost nightly double doubles.

“Kiki brings such a joy, such a bustling,” said coach Lindsay Gottlieb. “We don’t try to take that for granted.”

Sticking in the spotlight was never a problem for the constantly sunny iriafen. But finding where she suited usc, turned out to be more a process, a process that took time and tested her mental resilience.

It started well before that trip in Paris, before she even committed herself to USC. The legendary coach Tara Vanderer was just retired in Stanford, and Iriafen, a native LA and former Harvard-Westlake height, considered both USC and UCLA when Watkins called her. The two had crossed paths many times as part of the hoop scene of the city, but they had never played in the same team.

During various conversations they spoke about their fit and their goals. Iriafen even spoke with the Van Watkins family. The prospect of a partnership was tempting: she had made the last four as a first -year student at Stanford, but only played in the cardinal loss of championship for one minute. Two years had flown by without a return trip.

“I just had the feeling that I was still missing something,” Iriafen said.

Together, Watkins and Iriafen knew that they had the potential to form one of the most powerful one-two bumps in college basketball. They also acknowledged that this would require a sacrifice. Even if neither of them would fully understood at the time what that would look like in practice.

“The most important thing was that we were tailored to the same goals,” Iriafen said. “Whatever it is needed to win a National Championship, whatever it takes to win, that’s what we want. We both really wanted that. If I really would give the extra things, the statistics and all those things, I would have just stayed where I was. But I really wanted to end my university career with a bang. “

In the beginning it felt seamless. USC teammates did their best to make her welcome.

“From the moment I arrived here,” Iriafen says, “It was like:” We want you here, we appreciate what you say: “Such things.”

But on the field it was like stepping into a whole new world. The system at USC was completely different from the more rigid she had developed in Stanford, where the touches in the Hoge Post were regularly made for her. Gottlieb’s attack, for comparison, ran fewer sets with much more freedom, more pick and roles and an improvisation flow that in the beginning felt a bit uncomfortable. More was also requested from Iriafen for defense. Until USC, she was never really asked to monitor the circumference.

Read more: Rayah Marshall sets the tone for No. 4 USC in Win at no. 25 Illinois

All adjustments pushed iriafen in a way that she is now grateful. But at the time: “There were definitely some growing pains.”

The early loss for Notre Dame stands out in mind. Iriafen was good for 15 points – almost 25% of the USC score – and pulled down nine rebounds. But she felt she had failed the team. She got away and wondered what role she had to play.

She did not immediately find those answers. There were nights that Iriafen would put it all together, as when she scored 30 in a victory over Saint Louis. Or her piece four Double-Doubles in five games in December.

But until the season she still didn’t feel that way. And now there were more eyes on her than ever before.

“There are so many things on social media, so many expectations you have for yourself,” Iriafen said. “And if things don’t go the way you want, is it about how you keep appearing every day? How do you keep pouring it and keep believing in yourself? “

Those fit questions have been an undercurrent for the majority of the season, for more than just iriafen. Due to this dynamic navigating, constant adjustments – and regular reassurance – from Gottlieb has required in detail about the management of the weight of expectations.

That weight seems to have been lifted since the beginning of February. Since the loss of USC against Iowa, the Trojans have won six in a row, with a few top 10 victories and two more against teams in the top 25, while Iriafen has had a tear, on average 20 points in that piece.

One night she looked out of the species was in the victory of USC at UCLA, because Iriafen opened the game one to nine from the field. Watkins came to life in her absence and scored 38, but it was Iriafen who helped to complete the top brown with nine points in the fourth quarter.

“I now have the feeling that we are in a much better place,” she said.

It also took time for Watkins to find out how best to play at Iriafen.

“I have never really played with a player like them,” says Watkins. “She certainly raised my IQ.”

What happens next for USC, with the NCAA tournament that is approaching quickly, will not last hinges on Iriafen, who has shown that she can step into the spotlight when the moment requires it.

The video -evidence of the Galen Center Jumbotron played for everyone who can be seen last week, while Iriafen’s Paris performs the speaker in the Senior Day pans in Paris.

It was a perfect moment to capture what she had brought to USC.

“I think her WNBA career is not in danger,” Gottlieb said about that performance. “But we thought it was great.”

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the LA Sports scene and further from our newsletter the sports report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Donald Trump has been warned, not only is his controversial personality that prevents the opening to return to Turnberry – but the relatively low income that the location also earns for the R&A.

The US President proudly referred to his ownership of the famous Ayrshire tires during Thursday’s joint press conference alongside Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, in the White House.

And also, also, King Charles in his letter to Trump, personally delivered by Starmer, who invited the 78-year-old to organize an unprecedented second state visit to the UK, also begged him to spend time with him in nearby Dumfries House, “when you are the next visit to Turnberry”.

Previously Mark Austin, the Sky News presenter, reported on X: “I hear about a good authority that is high on the list of what Donald Trump wants from the UK to open in Turnberry.”

However, Mark Darbon, the recently installed R&A Chief Executive, indicates Telegraph On Friday, the administrative body would not be influenced by government requests to appease Trump.

“The core of our decision -making will be the factors that have served us well in the past and we hope that we will continue to serve ourselves well in the future,” he said.

The predecessor of Darbon, Martin Slimbers, continued to give a clear reason why Turnberry-de Course that organized the legendary ‘Duel In The Sun’ from 1977 and most recently the event 2009 where a 59-year-old Tom Watson was almost displayed his glory of 32 years earlier for the British Major, despite the fact that he was on the official Major. “We will not take any events there until we feel at ease that the entire dialogue will go over golf,” Slumbers emphasized Telegraph So recently in November.

Although Darbon is on the same page, he has changed the story in the sense that he has now outlined another problem that the administrative body hesitates to go back to the layout of the Ailsa. It can be honored, but it is also remote without suitable transport connections.

“We need a location that is suitable from both a logistics and commercial perspective,” he said. “That is crucial for us, because we generate the most of our income through the open air and we use that to invest in the rest of the game around the world. So the reality is that a contemporary open requires a location that can support us logistics and commercial.

“So we have a number of questions that we have to work on at the logistics and commercial front. When we were there in 2009, we had a little more than 100,000 [123,0000 spectators] For the week. We work against most of our locations today on comfortable more than double. So it’s not as easy as just saying, “Would we go back?” There is a part of the work that is needed to investigate. “

2024 Throne – 258,0002023 Hoylake – 261,0002022 St Andrews – 290,0002021 Royal ST George’s 128,000 – (Covid Restricted) 2019 Portrush – 237,7502018 Carnoustie – 172,0002017 Birkdale – 2350002016 Throne – 235,0002016 Throne – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 2350002016 – 23500020166,0002016 Hoylake – 203,0002013 Muirfield – 142,0002012 Lytham – 180,0002011 Royal St George’s – 180,0002010 St Andrews – 201,0002009 Turnberry – 123,000

Darbon quickly praised the renovation work that has been carried out since the purchase of Trump in 2014 and called it “spectacular”. But he also strengthened the point of Slimbers, known as stunned when Trump arrived in his helicopter during the first round of the Women’s Open 2015 and continued using the scene as a glorified stop on his election campaign.

‘I think that’s true [what Slumbers said]”Said Darbon, the former CEO of Northampton Saints. “We want the focus on what we think is the largest golf championship in the world and on the search for champion golfer of the year. So yes, that is hard to deny. “

However, he agreed that the door is not closed, even if it is almost impossible to see Turnberry host the British major until after the second term of Trump ends in 2029. For their part, the Trump family insisted that they are ready for the honor and that despite all the worries about the size of the crowd will produce a memorable week.

“Turnberry is considered by everyone the best golf course in the world by the players, the writers, the spectators and the entire golf community,” said Eric Trump, the son of the president, in a statement Telegraph. “If we get the call, and I sincerely hope we do that, I promise the R&A that we will be the best hosts who has ever seen the Open Championship.”

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The National Hole-in-One Registry says that Tour players have 3000 to 1 chances to make an ace during tournament game.

But two? Well, that shoots up to 67 million to 1 and Dale Whitnell let it happen during the stop of the DP World Tour this week in South Africa.

The 36-year-old Whitnell registered a few aces on Thursday during the opening round of the South African Open in Durban Country Club.

Whitnell’s first came from 185 meters on the second gap with a 7-iron. His second bait was from 128 meters at no. 12 with the help of a 50 degree wedge.

“Never one in the tournament game,” Whitnell said afterwards. “So having two in one day is quite special.”

Whitnell ended the day with a 9-under 63 that also contained seven birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey while he entered the second round in the top 10.

“I had everything today,” said Whitnell. “To come out 9 under par, I can’t complain.”

As tradition, Whitnell has provided the drinks after his historic day.

Only two players-Andrew Dodt (2013) and John Hudson (1971)-ever two holes made in one round on the DP World Tour. Bill Whedon (1955), Yusako Miyazato (2006) and Brian Harman (2015) did it on the PGA Tour.

Singapore-Olympic gold medal winner and LPGA Hall of Famer Lydia Ko moved within a shot from the leadership with a 5-under 67 Friday after two rounds of the HSBC Women World Championship.

New Zealander, born in South Korea, had a two-round total of 6-under 138 on the Tanjong-Baan at Sentosa Golf Club. First round leader A Lim Kim held the lead after 36 holes with a 69 Friday.

The steady Ko hit 11 of 14 fairways and 16 of 17 Greens in regulations in its bogey-free round. When she won the gold medal in Paris last year, 27-year-old Ko became the youngest player to enter the Hall of Fame of the LPGA.

“I don’t think I usually play really well on this golf course and I thought this year would be a good year to turn that around,” said Ko. “The scores have not really been that low in recent days. I just try to concentrate on me and hopefully just keep climbing the leaderboard.”

Ko said that the entrance of Olympic gold and Hall of Fame had changed her way of thinking.

“I absolutely have more fun, and in a way I have the feeling that I am in a position where I can go for things and try new things and clearly not what was good from last year,” said Ko.

“But I think it’s a bit of a different mentality. I still have goals, and while I am still playing, I want to play the best wave I can and as much as I can. There is no better feeling than being the person who hoists the trophy at the end of Sunday. ‘

Charley Hull from England (70) was bound in third place with Hyo Joo Kim (66), two shots of the lead.

Defending champion Hannah Green had a 69 Friday and was at Even-Par 144, level with Angel Yin, who won the LPGA Thailand event last week and shot 68.

The Singapore field contains nine of the top 10 players in the world ranking – and 13 of the Top 15 – Min only the best -ranking Nelly Korda and Rose Zhang.

The last event of the three-tournament of the LPGA Early Asian Swing will be played next week at Hainan Island, China.