The Sports Report: Slumping Lakers lose third in a row

Dalton Knecht tries to get past Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard in the first half.

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From Dan Woike: When the Lakers were playing their best basketball in February, they were fueled by the energizing power of belief, the knowledge that they could win on any night. Even when they weren’t at their best, a mixture of pace, toughness and execution got the Lakers through the finish line.

The last of those three — execution — was lacking more than anything Thursday, and it cost them. In a loss Monday in Brooklyn, the Lakers didn’t play hard. This wasn’t that. This time, the ineffectiveness stemmed from something else.

“Play hard and play smart. You gotta do both,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said after a 126-106 Thursday loss to the Bucks. “And we played hard.”

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Now, as they slog through March with the bulk of their frontcourt in Los Angeles rehabbing injuries, the tank looks much emptier, the joy much more fleeting and the belief, at least temporarily, disappearing.

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Lakers box score

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NBA scores

NBA standings

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USC BASKETBALL

From Ryan Kartje: Desmond Claude sprinted as fast as he could down the hardwood, knowing the season was in his hands and precious time was ticking off the clock. He already tried once before to tie it, flying into the fray for a floater that bounced off the back iron.

But a missed free throw gave Claude hope as he came flying across halfcourt, only for his handoff pass to be snatched amid a crashing collection of bodies. Suddenly, after such a gutsy fight, any hope of USC’s season surviving had slipped away in a 76-71 loss to Purdue.

The season-ending steal was not without controversy. Wesley Yates threw his hands up in disbelief. Coach Eric Musselman whispered expletives under his breath, shaking his head.

All game, USC (16-17) had held in a deadlock with Purdue (22-10), refusing to let up. Even as the roars of Purdue fans echoed with each back-and-forth run, USC kept coming back. They fought through early foul trouble from Claude, who finished with 18 points, and early struggles with Yates, who had 13 points.

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USC box score

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DODGERS

From Jack Harris: The smile got a little bigger, the emotions a little deeper, the meaning a little greater the more Dave Roberts looked around the room.

In the wake of last year’s World Series title, in which Roberts led the Dodgers to the second championship of his decorated tenure, the veteran manager spent weeks basking in the triumph. He sprayed champagne in the Bronx. He danced with Ice Cube the day of the parade. He rejoiced with friends and family who watched him endure a season he described as “the most trying” of his nine years with the Dodgers, but also “the most satisfying.”

Then, he got an invitation he never expected.

In early December, Roberts returned to the place of his birth, traveling to the Japanese city of Naha on the small Pacific island of Okinawa to receive an official recognition from the municipality’s local government.

“Winning the World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, for the city of Los Angeles, was incredible,” a beaming and appreciative Roberts said during his address at the ceremony. “But the final piece for me was to come to Naha to be with my people and celebrate with you guys, together.”

“Everything I do with my job,” he later added, “I take the Okinawan people with me.”

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Shaikin: Dodgers fans in Japan can get a break on high ticket prices for team’s visit

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RAMS

From Gary Klein: Davante Adams’ arrival in Los Angeles to play for the Rams has roots at the Kentucky Derby.

Several years ago the three-time All-Pro receiver and Rams coach Sean McVay chatted at Churchill Downs, where McVay told Adams how much he admired his work.

“He was just like, ‘Look man, I’ve got a lot of respect for your game,’” Adams said Thursday, “‘and it would be amazing at some point to be able to team up, join forces and figure it out together on the same team.’”

This month when Adams hit free agency for the first time, McVay stepped up the recruiting pitch. He sent Adams a few highlight tapes of the receiver that he personally narrated and communicated with him constantly while Adams was traveling in Japan.

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KINGS

Quinton Byfield had a goal for the fifth consecutive game, Darcy Kuemper made 21 saves, and the Kings beat the Washington Capitals 3-0 on Thursday night.

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Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist, Warren Foegele scored, and the Kings won their fourth in a row following a season-high five-game losing streak.

Charlie Lindgren made 24 saves for the Capitals, who had won five straight. Alex Ovechkin did not have a shot on goal despite playing nearly 19 minutes with 8:41 of it on the power play.

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Kings summary

NHL scores

NHL standings

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1933 — The Chicago Blackhawks forfeit a game when players refuse to return to the ice after their coach, Tom Gorman, is ejected from the game. Boston, which leads 3-2 at the time of the incident, receives a 1-0 victory.

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1944 — In a tennis match to benefit wartime charities, amateur Jack Kramer beat pro champion Don Budge 6-3, 6-2.

1953 — Seton Hall wins the NIT title with a 58-46 win over St. John’s. Walter Dukes, who led Seton Hall with 21 points and 20 rebounds, finishes as the tournament’s high scorer with 70 points and wins the MVP honors.

1954 — Baltimore loses 65-54 at Milwaukee, giving the Bullets their 20th consecutive road loss for the season, and making them the first team in NBA history to go an entire season without winning a game on the road.

1960 — Rookie Wilt Chamberlain scores a playoff record 53 points in the Philadelphia’s 132-112 triumph over the Syracuse Nationals to send the Warriors to the Eastern Division finals against the Boston Celtics.

1962 — Detroit’s Gordie Howe becomes the second player in NHL history to score 500 career goals during the Red Wings’ 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers.

1963 — Guy Rodgers of the San Francisco Warriors hands out 28 assists in a 114-109 loss to the St. Louis Hawks, tying an NBA record set by Bob Cousy of Boston in 1959.

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1976 — Bill Shoemaker posts his 7,000th career victory, aboard Royal Derby II, in the fifth race at Santa Anita Park.

1981 — A date which defines March Madness. The second round of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament features three upsets decided in the late seconds. Saint Joseph’s stuns No. 1 ranked DePaul 49-48 on John Smith’s layup with two seconds left. Arkansas knocks off Louisville 74-73 on U.S. Reed’s half-court shot that beat the buzzer. Moments later, Rolando Blackman of Kansas State hits a fadeaway shot from the corner with two seconds left for 50-48 win over No. 2-ranked Oregon State.

1987 — Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. becomes the first rider in the history of Santa Anita Park to win seven races in a single afternoon. In his only loss of the day, Pincay finishes third aboard Bob Back in the eighth race.

1996 — Princeton upsets defending national champion UCLA, 43-41, in the first round of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament. Gabe Lewullis scores a backdoor layup off a bounce pass from Steve Goodrich with four seconds left and the Tigers hold on for the win.

1997 — Pittsburgh Penguins forward Joey Mullen becomes the first American-born player to score 500 career goals, with a goal in the second period of a 6-3 loss against the Colorado Avalanche. The New York native is the 25th player in NHL history to reach the milestone.

1998 — Harvard women become the first 16th-seeded team, men or women, to win an NCAA tournament game by defeating top-seeded Stanford 71-67.

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2008 — Lindsey Vonn wins the overall World Cup skiing to complete the first American sweep of the men’s (Bode Miller) and women’s titles in 25 years. Vonn secures the title finishing tied for 11th in the giant slalom, the penultimate race of the season. It’s the first time Americans took both titles since Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney accomplished the feat in 1983.

2012 — Lindsey Vonn ends the women’s World Cup downhill season in style by dominating the final race held in Schladming, Austria. The American overall champion, who had already won the downhill title, beats Marion Rolland of France by 0.92 seconds. It’s Vonn’s 12th win this season. Only Vreni Schneider of Switzerland won more races in one year — 14 in 1988-89.

2017 — World’s oldest golf club Muirfield in Scotland, votes to admit women as members for first time in 273 years.

Compiled by the Associated Press

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