Editor’s note: This is the Monday, March 6, edition of the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.
This was a typically up and down weekend in the NBA, a league in which the presence and absence of star players makes an outsized difference for teams and fans. Let’s look at what we saw and what we missed.
First, other sports news:
- The UCLA women’s basketball team was beaten by Washington State in the Pac-12 tournament final and will find out Sunday where it will go for the NCAA tournament.
- Here’s what UCLA and USC will face when the men’s Pac-12 tournament begins Wednesday in Las Vegas.
- UCLA basketball players of the John Wooden era like what they see in Mick Cronin’s team.
- Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward have been friends since their teen years, one reason Heyward is trying to revive his career with the Dodgers.
- Zach Neto, a first-round draft pick in 2022, is already seeing big-league action in Angels spring games.
The Lakers’ and Clippers’ games yesterday were all about who was and wasn’t playing, which often is the case when the best teams collide.
The Lakers, still without injured LeBron James, beat the Golden State Warriors, with Stephen Curry healthy and playing for the first time in a month, as Anthony Davis took charge and scored 39 points.
The Clippers, with Paul George (42 points) and Kawhi Leonard (34) healthy and available, broke their five-game losing streak by getting past the Memphis Grizzlies, who were without suspended Ja Morant.
Meanwhile, there were spectacular games like the Phoenix Suns’ victory over the Dallas Mavericks, in which all of those teams’ post-trade-deadline cast of stars were on the court and sometimes nose to nose, Kevin Durant (37 points) and Devin Booker (36) outdueling Luka Doncic (34) and Kyrie Irving (30).
Too often, being an NBA fan means trying to keep up with who’s going to be in uniform tonight. Who’s hurt. Who’s a little…
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