The Sports Report: No LeBron? No AD? No problem. Lakers beat Celtics

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

From Dan Woike: If you walked into the TD Garden Thursday, you weren’t expecting to see Rui Hachimura tongue-wagging, to see Austin Reaves confidently firing from 40 feet, to see Jaxson Hayes owning the area above the rim and to see D’Angelo Russell flying around on both sides of the court.

Because if you hadn’t already had heard that the Lakers would be without LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the sight of them in their street clothes on the end of the bench would’ve delivered the message.

This wasn’t going to be the Lakers’ night.

And then, in a blink, it was.

“We’re all talented players,” Reaves said. “And this is an opportunity to show the world what you can do.”

Led by Reaves’ best offensive game of the year, the Lakers upset the full-strength Celtics 114-105. It’s just the Celtics’ third loss in Boston this season.

The Lakers trailed just once after the first quarter.

“I thought everybody was dangerous tonight,” Russell said. “…Everybody was aggressive. It was a joy to watch.”

Reaves scored 32 on a career-high seven threes. Russell had 16 points and 14 assists (while putting together a strong defensive game) and Hayes finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, both highs as a Laker. Hachimura added 15 off the bench.

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Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Anthony Davis selected as NBA All-Star reserves

Lakers box score

NBA scores

NBA standings

UCLA BASKETBALL

From Ben Bolch: No, he’s not Tyger Campbell. He doesn’t need to be.

His name is Dylan Andrews, and he’s starting to fully unleash his own array of talents.

Criticized for much of the season for not making shots, not leading his team and not even being a real point guard, Andrews is showing all the ways he can make UCLA better in his first season as a full-time starter.

Just when the Bruins were struggling to do much of anything on offense Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion with center Adem Bona on the bench in foul trouble, Andrews came up huge.

UCLA forward Adem Bona celebrates after a dunk against Oregon State on Thursday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
He hit a pull-up jumper. A three-pointer. A floating jumper.

The scoring barrage helped the Bruins hold off Oregon State’s comeback during a 71-63 victory while sustaining the best stretch of his college career.

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UCLA box score

Pac-12 standings

USC BASKETBALL

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: DJ Rodman had the type of emphatic block that would typically be met with loud cheers in front of a home crowd. Instead, the half-full Galen Center crowd sat silent with USC on the way to another loss.

In this season, USC hasn’t given its fans much to cheer about.

Once ranked among the top 25, the Trojans slipped further into oblivion Thursday with a 78-69 loss to Oregon . USC’s losing streak stretched to six, its longest since losing nine in a row in 2015.

Boogie Ellis had 17 points to lead the Trojans, who had no answers for Oregon’s Jackson Shelstad. The freshman made his first six shots of the game and finished with 20 points and six assists to lead five Oregon players in double-digit scoring.

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USC box score

Pac-12 standings

CHARGERS

From Helene Elliott: Without warning, the lights went down inside YouTube Theater. The main feature was about to begin, the promise of a happier future about to be delivered.

In a brief video that touched on the stars and high points of their history, from the days of Air Coryell and Dan Fouts and LaDainian Tomlinson to the present-day aspirational brilliance of quarterback Justin Herbert, the Chargers introduced Jim Harbaugh as the coach who will lead them to unprecedented heights.

At the end, accompanying an image of Harbaugh during his late-career quarterbacking days with the then-San Diego Chargers, the screen displayed the words, “Welcome Home.”

He’s not really coming home, since home for the Chargers is now SoFi Stadium, a short jog from the scene of his news conference Thursday. But why quibble on small points?

“Watching the video, the little hairs on my arms stood up,” Harbaugh said, adding the video reminded him that after his last game as a Charger he had exchanged jerseys with linebacker Junior Seau, a souvenir that occupies a place of honor in his office.

Besides touching Harbaugh’s heart, the video made an emphatic and intriguing point.

The Spanos family, which owns and operates the Chargers, has invested their trust, their money and their credibility in Harbaugh, giving him a deal that has been reported to be for five years at $16 million per year. It’s a make-or-break move for owners who seemed content to run the team as a plaything and whose previous three coaches (Mike McCoy, Anthony Lynn, and Brandon Staley) had no NFL experience on their respective resumés.

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Hernández: Jim Harbaugh appears to have genuine connection with Spanos family

RAMS

From Gary Klein: Sean McVay is breaking from tradition.

For the first time since he became the Rams’ coach in 2017, McVay is staying in house and promoting a defensive coordinator from within.

McVay is hiring longtime assistant Chris Shula to succeed Raheem Morris, a person with knowledge of the situation said Thursday.

Shula, 37, this past season coached linebackers and also was pass-rush coordinator. He also has coached defensive backs and outside linebackers.

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SUPER BOWL

Super Bowl LVIII: Start time, teams, betting odds and halftime show

Sunday, Feb. 11
at Las Vegas
Kansas City vs. San Francisco, 3:30 p.m. PT, CBS, Paramount+

SPARKS

The Atlanta Dream acquired two-time WNBA steals leader Jordin Canada in a trade that sent guard Aari McDonald to the Sparks on Thursday.

The Dream also acquired the No. 12 pick in the 2004 WNBA draft while sending Los Angeles the No. 8 pick.

McDonald was the No. 3 overall pick from Arizona in the 2021 draft. She averaged 7.9 points and 3.0 assists in 24 games in 2023 after averaging a career-high 11.1 points in 2022.

In addition to the trade, the Sparks re-signed Layshia Clarendon and Rae Burrell. Contract terms were not made available by the team.

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AUTO RACING

From John Cherwa: The history of the auto racing track located some 50 miles east of Los Angeles, known colloquially as just Fontana, is rich with the biggest names in stock car racing having competed there. And some may remember its frequent appearances in movies, most recently it pretended to be the Daytona International Speedway in the 2019 film “Ford v Ferrari.”

But now, the history of the track is on hold with no restart date. After the conclusion of last year’s NASCAR race in February, demolition of the 2-mile oval began. All that remains are a few grandstands and suites. Race fans in Southern California are eager to return to a track that will be rebuilt at a half-mile and bring a style of racing that is a mix of Martinsville and Bristol.

However, eager has turned to anxious for race fans as NASCAR still has no final plan or date when racing will return to the area where ground was broken in 1995 on the site of the former Kaiser Steel Mill.

“We’ve got some internal approvals to work through, but the hope is to have something to go out with sometime in the near future,” said Dave Allen, track president of the NASCAR-owned property. “Right now we just don’t have anything to discuss until we have some approvals done.”

The final race at the track was on Feb. 26. Why NASCAR, a company built on speed, has been so slow to make a decision remains hidden behind closed doors. Allen speaks in generalities about the delay but is candid about not knowing a date.

“You’ve got to look at everything we’ve gone through,” Allen said. “We’ve gone through COVID, we’ve gone through a lot of different things. Everything has not played into our favor. We’re looking to do things right and not rush it. If the timeframe moves then the timeframe moves. We’re just not in a position to commit to a timeframe right now.”

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NHL

NHL scores

NHL standings

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1876 — The National League forms, consisting of teams in Philadelphia, Hartford, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis and New York.

1936 — Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson are the first members elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1954 — Bevo Francis of Rio Grande College scores 113 points in a 134-91 victory over Hillsdale. Francis, breaking his own record for small colleges (84) set two weeks earlier against Alliance College.

1962 — Using a fiberglass pole, John Uelses becomes the first man to vault more than 16 feet, indoors or out. Uelses, a Marine Corps corporal, clears 16¼ during the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York.

1970 — Pete Maravich becomes 1st to score 3,000 college basketball points.

1977 — Toronto’s Ian Turnbull scores five goals to set an NHL record for defensemen, leading the Maple Leafs past the Detroit Red Wings 9-1.

1994 — Lenny Wilkens gets his 900th NBA victory, and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Orlando Magic 118-99. Wilkens runs his regular-season mark to 900-760, trailing only Red Auerbach’s 938 in NBA regular-season victories.

2001 — Stacy Dragila breaks her world indoor pole vault record by a half-inch with a 15-2 1/4 vault at the Millrose Games.

2009 — Kobe Bryant breaks the current Madison Square Garden record with 61 points to lead the Lakers to a 126-117 victory over New York. Bryant, who hits all 20 of his free throws, tops the previous visitor record of 55 points held by Michael Jordan and the overall record of 60 by Bernard King.

2013 — California Institute of Technology’s baseball team ends a 228-game losing streak with a 9-7 victory against Pacifica, the Beavers’ first win in nearly 10 years. Caltech hadn’t won since Feb. 15, 2003, 5-4 against Cal State Monterey Bay.

2014 — The Seattle Seahawks win their first Super Bowl title, crushing the favored Denver Broncos 43-8. The Seahawks led 36-0 before Denver finally scored on the last play of the third quarter.

2020 — Super Bowl LIV, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL: Kansas City Chiefs beat San Francisco 49ers, 31-20; MVP: Patrick Mahomes, KC Chiefs, QB; Chiefs’ 1st victory in 50 years.

Compiled by the Associated Press