Lakers lose Game 1
From Broderick Turner: It was more of a trickle the Lakers felt, the drops coming from the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder building momentum as Game 1 of their playoff series played out, eventually powerful enough to overwhelm Los Angeles.
Any mistake the Lakers made, no matter how small, the Thunder made them pay. Any lapse by the Lakers, no matter when, the Thunder made them pay. Any deviation from the game plan by the Lakers, no matter the time in the game, the Thunder made them pay in this second-round best-of-seven series.
The cost of it all for the Lakers was a 108-90 defeat to the Thunder on Tuesday night at Paycom Center.
“I don’t think there was a turning point. I think it was a general theme throughout the night,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “When we made game-plan mistakes, it bit us. I thought the Houston Game 5 was the most game-plan mistakes we’ve made in a playoff game so far. We obviously lost that game. You’re playing the world champs, your margin for error in terms of mistakes is not high. You make mistakes. Basketball is a game full of mistakes. It was just too many tonight.”
LeBron James led the Lakers with 27 points and six assists while Rui Hachimura had 18 points, but Austin Reaves had only eight points, shooting three for 16 from the field.
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Lakers box score
NBA playoffs schedule
Lakers poll
We asked, “Who will win the Lakers-Thunder series?” After 1,071 votes, the results:
Thunder in five, 50.7%
Thunder in six, 18.2%
Thunder in four, 13.5%
Lakers in seven, 10.1%
Lakers in six, 4.5%
Lakers in five, 1.6%
Lakers in four, 1.4%
Thunder in seven, no votes
Lakers playoff schedule
Second round
All times Pacific
at Oklahoma City 108, Lakers 90 (box score)
Thursday at Oklahoma City, 6:30 p.m., Prime Video
Saturday at Lakers, 5:30 p.m., ABC
Monday at Lakers, 7:30 p.m., Prime Video
*Wednesday at Oklahoma City, TBD
*Saturday, May 16 at Lakers, TBD
*Monday, May 18 at Oklahoma City, TBD
*-if necessary
Dodgers lose as offense sleeps
From Maddie Lee: Shohei Ohtani twisted his head to the right, even as his follow-through carried his body the other way down the mound.
He’d missed his spot, his fastball carrying up and in to Astros designated hitter Christian Walker, who lifted it onto the train tracks high over the left-field wall. Ohtani watched it fly.
Ohtani, not in the batting order Tuesday, wouldn’t get to combat the homer with his own swing. So, all there was to do was buckle down and retire the side without further incident.
He did just that. But as the Dodgers fell to the Astros 2-1, the offense sunk back into a slump.
“The offense, including myself, hasn’t done a great job scoring runs,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton, after limiting the Astros to two runs through a season-high seven innings. “… If I was hitting well, I’m sure the team would want me to pitch and hit as well. But in a situation where, ‘Hey, just focus on pitching, turn the page on the hitting,’ I understand that the team might think like that.”
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Dodgers box score
MLB standings
Angels beat the White Sox
Mike Trout, Jorge Soler and Zach Neto hit home runs, Ryan Zeferjahn worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning and the Angels held on for a 4-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.
Zeferjahn hit a batter and walked two in the ninth before retiring Edgar Quero on a groundout for his first save this season and his third in 10 career opportunities. The right-hander struck out rookie home run leader Munetaka Murakami — tied with the Yankees’ Aaron Judge at 14 — with a runner on first to get the final out in the eighth.
Trout hit his 11th homer of the season and the 415th of his career with one out in the first off Erick Fedde (0-4) after Chicago scored two runs off Sam Aldegheri in the top half.
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Angels box score
MLB standings
Ducks playoffs schedule
Second round
All times Pacific
at Vegas 3, Ducks 1 (summary)
Wednesday at Vegas, 6:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, HBO MAX
Friday at Ducks, 6:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, HBO MAX
Sunday at Ducks, 6:30 p.m., ESPN
*Tuesday at Vegas, TBD, ESPN
*Thursday, May 14 at Ducks, TBD, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX
*Saturday, May 16 at Vegas, TBA, ABC or ESPN
*-if necessary
Join a World Cup watch party
From Jad El Reda: The Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2026 World Cup announced on Monday the details of the 10 official fan zones that will be set up at locations throughout the L.A. region during the 39-day tournament.
These venues will complement the start of the tournament after the opening of the FIFA Fan Festival Los Angeles, scheduled for June 11–14 at the Coliseum, which will serve as a central gathering point for fans.
The goal is to transform the city into an extended celebration of the World Cup, providing live broadcasts of the matches and various experiences designed to bring the tournament atmosphere to communities throughout L.A.
Match broadcasts in the fan zones will be available via Fox and Telemundo, allowing attendees to follow the tournament live throughout the competition. Each venue will have different programming, so fans are encouraged to check the schedule in advance to be sure they catch their preferred games.
Here is the watch party schedule:
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This day in sports history
1895 — Black jockey James “Soup” Perkins guides Halma to a wire-to-wire victory in the Kentucky Derby. The 15-year-old joins fellow Black jockey Alonzo Clayton as the youngest jockey to ride a Derby winner.
1944 — Pensive, ridden by Conn McCreary, wins the Kentucky Derby going away by four and a half lengths ahead of Broadcloth. Pensive, who clocks 2:04.2, is third entering the stretch and wears down Broadcloth and Stir Up.
1967 — 93rd Kentucky Derby: Bobby Ussery on Proud Clarion wins in 2:00.6.
1970 — European Cup Final, San Siro, Milan: Feyenoord beats Celtic, 2-1; first time title won by a Dutch club.
1973 — The New England Whalers beat the Winnipeg Jets 9-6 to win the first World Hockey Assn. championship.
1976 — Philadelphia’s Reggie Leach ties an NHL playoff record, scoring five goals in the Flyers’ 6-3 win over the Boston Bruins. Maurice Richard and Darryl Sittler also accomplished the feat.
1978 — Affirmed, ridden by Steve Cauthen, holds off Alydar’s late charge for a 1½-length victory in the Kentucky Derby. This is Affirmed’s easiest race against Alydar en route to the Triple Crown.
1987 — Mario Andretti sets one-lap speed record at Indy at 218.204 MPH.
1991 — Sergei Bubka of the Soviet Union breaks his world outdoor pole vault record and Seppo Raty of Finland smashes the world javelin record during the Toto International Super Track and Field Meet in Japan. Bubka clears 19 feet, 11 inches, breaking his outdoor record of 19-10½. Raty hurls the javelin 301 feet, 9 inches, breaking the world record of 298-6 set.
1992 — Werder Bremen of Germany win 32nd European Cup winner’s Cup against AS Monaco of France 2-0 in Lisbon.
1994 — Lennox Lewis TKOs Phil Jackson in 8 for heavyweight boxing title.
1997 — Rick Pitino becomes coach of Boston Celtics.
2000 — Fusaichi Pegasus, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, is the first favorite to win Kentucky Derby since 1979. Fusaichi Pegasus pays $6.60, becoming the first favorite to win the race since Spectacular Bid.
2001 — Scott Dixon, a 20-year-old rookie, becomes the youngest winner in major open-wheel racing when he holds off Kenny Brack by 0.366 seconds to capture the CART Lehigh Valley Grand Prix.
2006 — Barbaro storms into the lead at the top of the stretch and wins the Kentucky Derby victory convincingly. Barbaro, ridden by Edgar Prado, wins his sixth consecutive race 6½ lengths ahead of Bluegrass Cat and is the sixth undefeated winner of the Derby.
2006 — Phoenix is the eighth team in NBA history to win a series after trailing 3-1 with a 121-90 victory over Lakers in Game 7 of its Western Conference opening-round series.
2010 — Johan Franzen scores a natural hat trick in a 3:26 span of the first period, scores a fourth goal in the third, and sets a Red Wings playoff record with six points as Detroit stays alive with a 7-1 rout of the San Jose Sharks in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals.
2011 — James Hylton, at age 76, becomes the oldest driver to make the field in NASCAR’s top three series by qualifying for the Nationwide event at Darlington Raceway. Hylton surpasses his own mark for racing longevity set three years ago when the then-73-year-old started the Nationwide event at Daytona.
2012 — Dustin Brown scores two goals and the eighth-seeded Kings finish an improbable four-game sweep of the St. Louis Blues with a 3-1 victory, advancing to the conference finals. The Kings become the first No. 8 seed in NHL history to eliminate their conference’s top two seeds in the same postseason after steamrolling past top-seeded Vancouver and second-seeded St. Louis with eight wins in nine games.
2018 — Marc-Andre Fleury makes 28 saves in his fourth shutout of the playoffs and the expansion Vegas Golden Knights are headed to the Western Conference Final in their inaugural season after beating the San Jose Sharks 3-0 in Game 6 of their second-round series. Vegas becomes the third team in NHL history to win multiple series in its first season.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1915 — As a pitcher for Boston, Babe Ruth had three hits, including his first major league home run when he connected off Jack Warhop of the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds.
1917 — Bob Groom of the Browns duplicated teammate Ernie Koob’s feat of the previous day by pitching a 3-0 no-hit victory against the Chicago White Sox in the second game of a doubleheader in St. Louis.
1934 — Carl Reynolds, Moose Solters, Rick Ferrell and Bucky Walters hit four consecutive triples in a 12-run fourth inning for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, en route to a 14-4 win over the Detroit Tigers.
1941 — In his last game before entering the U.S. military, Detroit’s Hank Greenberg hit two home runs with three RBIs to help the Tigers to a 7-4 victory over the New York Yankees.
1951 — Cliff Chambers of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched a 3-0 no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader against the Braves in Boston.
1953 — Bobo Holloman of the St. Louis Browns pitched a 6-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics in his first major league start. He never pitched another complete game in the majors.
1955 — Roberto Clemente crashes Willie Mays’ birthday party in his second visit to the Polo Grounds, by banging a 430-foot triple over the birthday boy’s head in the midst of a decisive rally in a 3-2 Pirate win over the Giants.
1968 — San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Lindy McDaniel sets a National League record playing his 225th consecutive game without committing an error. The streak includes 108 chances handled successfully since June 16, 1964.
1974 — Oakland Athletics pitcher Paul Lindblad’s major league streak of 385 consecutive games without committing an error comes to an end when he makes an errant throw in a 6-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
1982 — Gaylord Perry of the Seattle Mariners became the 15th major league pitcher with 300 victories when he defeated the New York Yankees 7-3 at the Kingdome.
1984 — Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles hit for the cycle in a 6-1 win over the Texas Rangers. Ripken completed the cycle with a solo homer in the ninth.
1994 — Anthony Young won as a starter for the first time in more than two years as the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-1. The win ended Young’s 29-game losing streak as a starter. Young’s previous win as a starter came on April 9, 1992 with the New York Mets.
1998 — Rookie Kerry Wood tied the major league record with 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game, pitching a one-hitter to lead the Chicago Cubs over the Houston Astros 2-0.
2005 — San Diego’s Trevor Hoffman became the third pitcher in major league history to reach 400 saves in the Padres’ 6-5 victory over St. Louis. Hoffman joined Lee Smith (478) and John Franco (424) in the 400-save club.
2007 — Hideki Matsui doubles to left in an at-bat against Jarrod Washburn. It is his 2,000th hit between Major League Baseball and Nippon Pro Baseball.
2012 — The Baltimore Orioles completed a three-game sweep at Boston with a 9-6 win in 17 innings. In the first major league game since 1925 in which both teams put a position player on the mound, Baltimore designated hitter Chris Davis overcame an awful 0-for-8 day at the plate by pitching two scoreless innings and getting the win over Darnell McDonald, an outfielder Boston called upon once the Red Sox bullpen was also depleted. Adam Jones hit a three-run homer in the top of the 17th off McDonald.
2012 — Albert Pujols finally hits his first American League homer, breaking the longest homerless drought of his career, when he connects off the Blue Jays’ Drew Hutchison with a runner on in the fifth inning of the Angels’ 4-3 win.
2015 — Bryce Harper has the first three-homer game of his career in leading the Nationals to a 7-5 win over the Marlins.
2021 — The Angels designate for assignment veteran slugger Albert Pujols, for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release. Pujols is in the last season of a ten-year, $253-million contract, but his production has declined significantly in recent years and he has become a bench player of late. The 41-year-old Pujols is the active leader in games played, hits, home runs and RBIs. He states that he hopes to find another team that will give him a shot at a starting job. The Dodgers will take him on board in a few days.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
