Lakers have room for improvement

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Austin Reaves described it as “fun.” Luka Doncic called the Lakers’ effortless-looking offense as “flowing.” And this is still the early stages of development for a team that brought in nine new players.

Through eight games, the Lakers have the most dynamic offense in the NBA. Led by Doncic, the Lakers are second in scoring with 122.5 points per game and first in offensive rating with 121.9 points per 100 possessions. The starting lineup of Doncic, Reaves, Walker Kessler, Ziaire Williams and Matisse Thybulle has a league-best 135.5 offensive rating among five-man groups that have played at least 40 minutes together entering Wednesday’s game at Sacramento.

“Everything’s as expected,” guard Quentin Grimes said Monday after the Lakers hung 138 points in a21-point win over the Miami Heat. “Winning, everybody’s getting involved, everybody’s making the right play, getting a lot of assists.”

The Lakers (6-2) had 39 assists against the Heat, the most during JJ Redick’s head-coaching tenure. Doncic is on a historic scoring binge; he is the first Laker since Kobe Bryant in 2007 to have five consecutive games of 35 or more points. While putting up a seemingly ho-hum 42 points against Miami, he also had a season-high 13 assists.

“It’s a really good offense that we’re playing right now,” Redick said. “And a lot of that, of course, is Doncic and what he’s able to do and bend the defense.”

Doncic, the NBA’s leading scorer at 38.3 points per game, does his damage early. He typically plays all 12 minutes of the opening quarter and leads the league with 15 points a game in the first quarter. Once he gets his shot going, teams send double teams to force the ball out of his hands. That’s when Doncic can be particularly dangerous.

How Angel City helped ‘Ted Lasso’

From Kevin Baxter: Angel City and “Ted Lasso” both came to life in the summer of 2020 when the rest of the world was preoccupied with something far more serious, the global COVID-19 pandemic.

In those dark times, the series about kindness, grace, optimism — and soccer — became the show we didn’t know we needed, but suddenly couldn’t do without.

Angel City, meanwhile, would play its first NWSL game two years later, by which time “Lasso” and Jason Sudeikis, the title character of the Apple TV series about a fictional Premier League team and its manager, had already won multiple Emmys.

Hollywood is a small town, so it wasn’t long before Sudeikis reached out to Kara Nortman, a venture capitalist who co-founded Angel City in 2020, and asked to talk about women’s soccer.

UCLA is No. 8 in first CFP rankings; USC is No. 20

UCLA coach Bob Chesney and the Bruins are ranked No. 8 in the first College Football Playoff rankings, a remarkable turnaround for a program that recorded three wins last season.

Chesney has led a revival in his first season that has the Bruins on track to host a playoff game if they can navigate formidable games at Minnesota on Saturday, at home against Illinois on Nov. 13, at Michigan on Nov. 21 and at home against crosstown-rival USC on Nov. 28.

The Trojans (7-2) were ranked No. 20 in the poll after their defiant 30-18 win over No. 12 Ohio State Saturday at the Coliseum.

Split election results for local teams

From Sam Farmer: Hollywood Park was winning one fight and losing another, both by slim margins, as vote counting continued Tuesday night on two ballot measures in Inglewood.

According to results posted by the Los Angeles County registrar shortly after 10:30 p.m., Measure AT was losing, 51.9% to 48.1%, a margin of 583 votes; and Measure BB was losing 51% to 49%, a margin of 307.

Measure AT would mean more ticket taxes for big events in Inglewood, home to SoFi Stadium, Intuit Dome and the Forum. The City of Inglewood wants that.

Measure BB would bar the city from allowing billboard advertising on sidewalks, medians and the like. Owners of those sports and entertainment venues, who have their own sponsorship deals, are backing that measure.

Meanwhile, City Council member Gloria D. Gray led incumbent Mayor James T. Butts Jr., 34.6% to 29.8%, putting them on an early track for a runoff election in March.

Ducks beat the Canucks

Cutter Gauthier scored a hat trick for the second game in a row and the Ducks held on for a 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night.

Mikael Granlund added a goal and two assists for the Ducks, while Leo Carlsson put away a shorthanded tally and Beckett Sennecke had four assists.

Laurent Brossoit stopped 19 shots for the Ducks.

The Ducks (7-7-1) came into the game with the league’s second-best power play (34%) behind only the Utah Mammoth and went three for three with the man advantage. Two of Gauthier’s goals came on the power play and the Ducks have 10 power-play goals on 12 chances over their past three games.

This day in sports history

1934 — The Detroit Lions rush for an NFL-record 426 yards in a 40-7 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The only bright spot for the Pirates is scoring the first touchdown against Detroit this season, ending the Lions’ shutout streak at seven games.

1951 — The U.S. wins six of eight singles matches and ties another to win the Ryder Cup 9½-2½ over Britain at Pinehurst in North Carolina.

1959 — Ernie Banks, Cubs shortstop, wins his 2nd consecutive NL MVP.

1960 — Wilt Chamberlain of Philadelphia scores 44 points and sets an NBA record by missing all 10 of his free throws in the Warriors 136-121 victory the Detroit Pistons.

1976 — Baseball holds its first free agent draft with 24 players from 13 major league clubs participating. Reggie Jackson eventually signs the most lucrative contract of the group, $2.9 million over five years with the New York Yankees. Others free agents are Joe Rudi, Don Gullett, Gene Tenace, Rollie Fingers, Don Baylor, Bobby Grich and Willie McCovey.

1984 — Seattle’s Dave Brown returns two interceptions for touchdowns in a 31-17 triumph over the Kansas City Chiefs.

1987 — NBA announces four new franchises; Charlotte & Miami for 1988 & Minneapolis & Orlando for 1989.

1989 — Sunday Silence holds off the late charge by favorite Easy Goer to win the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Classic by a neck at Gulfstream Park.

2000 — R.J. Bowers rushes for 128 yards to become the first player in NCAA history to gain 7,000 yards in his career, leading Grove City past Carnegie Mellon 14-10.

2000 — In the highest scoring Division I-AA game in NCAA history, Ricky Ray passes for 344 yards and three touchdowns and scores three more to lead Sacramento State over Cal State Northridge 64-61.

2001 — Luis Gonzalez’s RBI single caps a two-run rally off Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the ninth, and the Arizona Diamondbacks win their first championship by beating the New York Yankees 3-2 in Game 7.

2006 — Rod Brind’Amour of Carolina scores his 1,000th point, assisting on a goal in the Hurricanes’ 3-2 win over Ottawa.

2007 — Adrian Peterson runs for an NFL-record 296 yards and three touchdowns in Minnesota’s 35-17 win over San Diego.

2009 — The New York Yankees win the World Series, beating the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 behind Hideki Matsui’s record-tying six RBIs.

2012 — Andrew Luck breaks the NFL’s single-game rookie record by throwing for 433 yards in leading Indianapolis to a 23-20 win over Miami

2016 — Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno, Scott Hartnell and Josh Anderson score two goals apiece and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat Montreal 10-0, matching the biggest loss in the Canadiens’ storied history.

2017 — Quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw rushes for a career-high 265 yards and Army ends Air Force’s 306-game scoring streak with a 21-0 victory.

2017 — With a 31-24 overtime victory over Nebraska, Northwestern becomes the first Football Bowl Subdivision program to win three consecutive overtime games.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time...

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