The Sports Report: D’Angelo Russell leads Lakers to victory

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Dan Woike: D’Angelo Russell looked at Taurean Prince in the corner by the Lakers’ bench immediately after perfect ball movement got his teammate a wide-open three.

As the ball swished — and Thursday, it swished a lot — Russell stared at Prince and blew him a two-handed kiss. It was his homage to Prince’s signature celebration, the Lakers as in sync as they’ve been in months.

And again, Russell was the hub — celebrating his teammates’ buckets (literally skipping into halftime after a Jarred Vanderbilt layup) — while joyfully sniping from behind the three-point-line in a 141-132 win over the Chicago Bulls.

All the kissing, skipping, shooting and scoring from Russell has to make the Lakers look closely at their situation.

Is this the guy they really want to trade?

Russell’s heater, which has run over the past two weeks, has shown the Lakers the best version of the player they traded for last season. His catch-and-shoot game has been in rhythm, his knack for finding momentum plays on display and his joy undeniable.

His name has been involved in most trade rumors of substance, the foremost being the Lakers’ pursuit of Dejounte Murray.

But with Russell back in the starting lineup next to Austin Reaves, the Lakers have started to play with continuity and comfortability for longer, more impactful stretches.

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Can this Lakers team even win a playoff series? | Times Lakers Show

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RAMS

From Gary Klein: The Rams coaching staff is undergoing another major turnover.

Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris is leaving to become head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

Morris, 47, has previous head-coaching experience with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2009-2011 and as interim coach of the Falcons for 11 games in 2020. He has a 24-38 record as a head coach.

Former Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey, now with the Miami Dolphins, was happy for Morris.

“Falcons got one of, if not the best coach in the NFL forreal!” Ramsey tweeted.

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NFL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE

NFL conference championship picks: Which teams will go to the Super Bowl?

All times Pacific

Conference championship
Sunday
AFC
No. 3 Kansas City at No. 1 Baltimore, noon, CBS, Paramount+

NFC
No. 3 Detroit at No. 1 San Francisco, 3:30 p.m., Fox, Fox Deportes

Note: Super Bowl is Feb. 11 at 3:30 p.m. on CBS and Paramount+

KINGS

From Helene Elliott: There’s no bigger insult in hockey than to be accused of being selfish. Putting personal interests ahead of the good of the group goes against the culture of the sport, contradicting the unwritten code that success is built with a united front and can’t come from a bunch of self-absorbed individuals who happen to wear the same uniform. That team-first ethic is one of the beautiful aspects of a sometimes brutal sport.

So it had the impact of a booming slap shot off the glass when Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, clearly upset and typically honest after they had blown a two-goal lead in a 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, said self-interest has been at the evil root of a swoon in which they’ve lost 12 of their past 14 games.

“I think we got guys in this room who are too worried about themselves and worried about their points and worried about stuff like that,” Doughty said after they finished a 1-2-1 homestand at Crypto.com Arena to bring their home record down to 8-9-6.

“We get a 3-1 lead tonight and guys start thinking it’s a cookie night and we stop playing the way we know how to play, have an awful second period, and then aren’t much better in the third.

“It’s about the team. It’s not about yourself, and a lot of guys on this team need to realize that.”

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DUCKS

Thomas Harley scored 38 seconds into overtime and the Dallas Stars beat the Ducks 4-3 on Thursday night.

Miro Heiskanen tied it midway through the third period in his return to the Dallas lineup after missing 10 games with a lower-body injury.

The Stars have won their last 11 home games against Anaheim since October 2015, matching the club’s longest active streak at the American Airlines Center versus any team. They won their 11th in a row there over the Detroit Red Wings two weeks before Christmas.

Ducks goalie John Gibson stopped 40 shots in regulation, but the only Stars shot in overtime was Harley’s wrister from about 30 feet. It was the 22-year-old defenseman’s 10th goal this season, and his second OT winner.

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HORSE RACING

From John Cherwa: Horse racing’s feel-good story of the last two years reached its inevitable climax on Thursday night when Cody’s Wish was named horse of the year at the 53rd Eclipse Awards, held in Palm Beach, Fla. The retired 6-year-old also won the award for older dirt male.

The horse was named after Cody Dorman, a teenager with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome who did not have the ability to walk or communicate on his own and first met the horse when he was a weanling and part of a Make-a-Wish event at Gainesborough Farm in Versailles, Ky.

The horse had never seen a wheelchair and there was concern how he might react. What he did was put his head in Cody’s lap. When it was time to name the horse, it was suggested he be called Cody’s Wish.

Every time the horse would see Cody, it was as if he remembered him, walking gently over and nuzzling the boy. Cody was at Keeneland when Cody’s Wish won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in 2022 and at Santa Anita last year when Cody’s Wish withstood a photo finish and an inquiry to win the Dirt Mile again.

Cody Dorman died the next day on the flight from Los Angeles to Kentucky, just shy of his 18th birthday. He was never supposed to live past 2.

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LAFC

From Kevin Baxter: LAFC’s season opener is less than a month away, yet the team opened training camp this week with just 16 players under contract.

“You only need 11,” one team executive said.

Although that’s true, general manager John Thorrington said Thursday he’s making progress on filling the 14 vacant roster spots just the same.

“Nobody [more] than me would love to have the full roster right now,” he said. “I wish it was done. But there are reasons for it. It’s not because we’re not working.”

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ANGEL CITY

From Kevin Baxter: Angel City will open its third NWSL season on March 16, playing host to the league’s newest club, Bay FC, at BMO Stadium.

With the addition of Bay FC and the return of a team in Utah, NWSL will play with a record 14 clubs this season. With teams playing each other twice, home and away, the regular season will be 26 games long and run through Nov. 3. The postseason tournament will also be larger than ever with the league’s top eight teams advancing.

Angel City will play its first road game of 2024 on March 22, traveling to Florida to face the Orlando Pride. In-state rival San Diego will visit BMO Stadium on May 23; the return leg will be played Aug. 24, both teams’ first game back following a seven-week summer break for the Paris Olympics.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1913 — Jim Thorpe gives up his track medals from the 1912 Olympic games as a result of his having been a professional. He had been paid $25 for playing in a semipro baseball game.

1951 — Jimmie Foxx and Mel Ott are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1955 — Joe DiMaggio is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1960 — Pete Rozelle is chosen the new commissioner of the National Football League.

1985 — Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky scores his 50th goal in the 49th game of the season, a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

1986 — The Chicago Bears win their first NFL championship since 1963 by setting a Super Bowl-record for points scored in defeating the New England Patriots 46-10.

1991 — Houston guard Vernon Maxwell joins Wilt Chamberlain, David Thompson and George Gervin as the only players in NBA history to score 30 points or more in a quarter. Maxwell scores 30 of his career-high 51 points in the fourth period to help Houston beat Cleveland 103-97.

1992 — The Washington Redskins win their third Super Bowl in 10 years, beating the Buffalo Bills 37-24, putting the game away with 24 straight points after a scoreless first quarter.

1996 — Three years after she won her last Grand Slam title on the same Center Court, Monica Seles wins her fourth Australian Open crown. Seles beats Germany’s Anke Huber 6-4, 6-1 to claim her ninth major championship.

1997 — The Green Bay Packers, behind big plays, beat the New England Patriots 35-21 in the Super Bowl. Brett Favre finds Andre Rison for a 54-yard touchdown on the Packers’ second offensive play, then throws an 81-yard TD pass to Antonio Freeman in the second quarter. Desmond Howard, the first special teams MVP, scores on a 99-yard kickoff return to put away the Patriots.

2002 — Jennifer Capriati produces the greatest comeback in a Grand Slam final to overcome Martina Hingis and defend her Australian Open title. Capriati saved four match points before clinching a 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 victory over Hingis.

2007 — Mark Recchi scores two goals, including the 500th of his career, in Pittsburgh’s 4-3 shootout win over Dallas.

2008 — Mirai Nagasu becomes the second-youngest woman to win the title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The 4-foot-11 14-year-old falls on her opening jump, a double axel, but lands six triple jumps, three in combination, in her program.

2013 — Victoria Azarenka wins her second consecutive Australian Open title, beating Li Na 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Mike and Bob Bryan become the most decorated doubles team in Grand Slam history by winning their 13th major title, beating Robin Haase and Igor Sijsling 6-3, 6-4 in 53 minutes.

2013 — Ashley Wagner became the first woman since Michelle Kwan in 2005 to win back-to-back titles in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

2014 — Stan Wawrinka holds off an injured Rafael Nadal to win his first Grand Slam title with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory in the Australian Open final.

2020 — Lakers legend Kobe Bryant dies in a helicopter crash in foggy conditions in the hills above Calabasas.

Compiled by the Associated Press