The Sports Report: Lakers fall to 2-8 after another loss

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

From Dan Woike: Ten games into the Lakers’ season and their coach, Darvin Ham, still is viewing his team with an eye toward the big picture.

And, frankly, why shouldn’t he?

With ownership and management’s support and general understanding of the Lakers’ predicament, Ham can — as he put it — continue “this excavation process of building� the team back into a winner.

But 10 games into the season, the questions shouldn’t be about support. They should instead be about just how long and how deep this “excavation� is going to go.

For the second time in four days, the Utah Jazz dominated, beating the Lakers 139-116 in a game that wasn’t truly close ever in the second half.

The Lakers are now 2-8 — the same record the 17-win 2015-16 team had through its first 10.

CLIPPERS

From Andrew Greif: Paul George was sick. His co-star was hurt.

His team had lost four consecutive games, and sitting at his locker Oct. 30, George and the Clippers looked run down just six games into a season they’d hoped would be a joyride.

“It starts with me,� George said. “I got to get better, I got to do better.�

If three-week-old seasons can have turning points, that qualifies. Because as George kicked the sickness and breathed easier, his team has done the same. The Clippers have authored the turnaround they so desperately needed ever since, now 4-1 in their last five games after Monday’s 119-117 Clippers comeback at Crypto.com Arena featured a 21-6 closing run to overcome a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit.

“Not giving in, that’s who we are,� coach Tyronn Lue said. “It’s good to get back to that.�

George had averaged 32.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 2.3 steals in his four games since falling to 2-4 to earn the Western Conference’s player of the week honors Monday, then added 26 more points against the Cavaliers to end the Cavaliers’ eight-game win streak, while making 10 of his 20 shots despite growing fatigued down the stretch after playing 40 minutes one night after playing 38.

UCLA BASKETBALL

From Ben Bolch: More than three hours before tipoff of his season opener, Jamie Jaquez Jr. strolled into Pauley Pavilion in a throwback UCLA letterman’s jacket.

Another big game was about to start. Little sis was about to make her college debut.

Jaime greeted a few fans before taking a seat between his parents six rows up near midcourt, his mother wearing a shirt showing both siblings with their last name running down the middle. Big brother caught a T-shirt thrown into the crowd and watched intently as sister Gabriela checked into the women’s game early in the first quarter.

As soon as Gabriela curled around a double screen to catch an inbounds pass and hoist her first shot, swishing the three-pointer, Jaime rose to shower her with applause. He was joined by teammates Mac Etienne, Will McClendon and David Singleton to watch the rest of the first half before they all departed to prepare for their game.

As if he didn’t want to be upstaged, Jaime put on his own impressive display to start the eighth-ranked Bruins’ game against Sacramento State. He took a bounce pass in transition from Jaylen Clark for a two-handed dunk. He benefited from a soft bounce on a jumper, the ball dropping through the net. He drove around a flat-footed defender for a layup.

UCLA’s first six points all belonged to Jaquez.

Showing off his surgically repaired ankle and looking as spry as he ever has, Jaquez helped power the Bruins to a 76-50 victory that also came largely thanks to some across-the-board excellence from Clark.

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From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Kiki Rice starred in her college debut with 12 points and seven assists as UCLA defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 84-48 on Monday at Pauley Pavilion.

The freshman started at point guard and assisted on four of UCLA’s first six made baskets, quickly proving why she was named the No. 2 recruit in the country. With senior guard Charisma Osborne, who had 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists, the Bruins (1-0) built a 30-point lead by the third quarter of the blowout.

The top-ranked recruiting class that includes Rice and fellow McDonald’s All-American Gabriela Jaquez has the Bruins poised for a quick bounce-back season after going 8-13 last year and missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2015. Jaquez, playing in front of a large family contingent that stayed through a doubleheader to cheer older brother Jaime Jaquez Jr. against Sacramento State, had 10 points and six rebounds.

USC BASKETBALL

From Ryan Kartje: A decade ago, when “Dunk City� first captivated the nation, its blistering pace and high-flying style turned Florida Gulf Coast into a March marvel — and, in the process, convinced USC of a bright future with Andy Enfield as its coach.

Nine seasons at USC would mean plenty of changes to that blueprint. But with his USC frontcourt now depleted of the star 7-footers, Enfield had designs on returning to those roots in his 10th, spreading the floor with four guards, picking up the pace and firing away from deep, not all that unlike what Dunk City had done all those years ago.

It took all of one November night for those plans to be derailed — done in by the original Dunk City itself in a disastrous season-opening defeat, 74-61, to Florida Gulf Coast at Galen Center.

“I thought we were prepared to play tonight, but it didn’t look like it,� Enfield said. “That’s on me.�

CHARGERS

From Jeff Miller: Officially, he rushed only one time for three yards Sunday.

Those numbers fail miserably in expressing the value of Justin Herbert’s feet in the Chargers’ 20-17 victory in Atlanta.

For the first time since he suffered fractured rib cartilage. in Week 2, Herbert looked genuinely nimble as he navigated his way in and around various angry Falcons while leading his team to a last-play, comeback win.

“We felt like he was at a good enough point to start activating a little bit more of that,� coach Brandon Staley said afterward. “I thought that was an advantage for us, trying to create more plays outside the pocket. We needed that.�

UCLA FOOTBALL

From Ben Bolch: Zach Charbonnet emerged from the Wasserman Football Center on a wet Monday morning with a camera strapped to his helmet.

For the first 20 minutes of practice, it recorded little action.

Two days after sitting out No. 12 UCLA’s 50-36 victory over Arizona State, the star running back mostly stood and watched teammates in pass-catching and handoff drills during the portion of practice open to the media.

Bruins coach Chip Kelly said Charbonnet had reported feeling better prior to practice after he was sidelined with an unspecified injury. Parts of his left leg and left arm were heavily wrapped in white bandages Monday.

SOCCER

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: A sour ending to the regular season didn’t knock UCLA off the top line of the NCAA tournament bracket.

The Bruins earned one of four No. 1 seeds in the 64-team postseason field announced Monday despite losing their regular-season finale to USC last Friday. UCLA (17-2-0) will host Northern Arizona in the first round at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Coming off their first win over UCLA since 2015, the fourth-seeded Trojans (12-2-3) will host UC Irvine in the first round on Saturday at 1 p.m. USC, which went 4-0 against ranked teams this year, defeated the Anteaters at McAlister Field 3-2 on Sept. 15.

ANGELS

From Sarah Valenzuela: If there was ever an ideal moment to trade Shohei Ohtani, the two-way star said he thought it was at this year’s deadline.

“Even if I were the GM or owner, I judged the timing to trade me for the greatest return was this year,� the two-way star said in an interview recently published in the Japanese sports magazine Number. “If you take a long-term view of the team, I think there were many options to trade me.

“In America, the image of trades is 180 degrees different; it’s more of business-like, so I tried to not think about it,� he added after being asked how he felt about being in midseason trade rumors.

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Angels’ coaching staff will have a very Yankees look to it next season

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1942 — Parker Hall of the Cleveland Rams throws seven interceptions against the Green Bay Packers.

1952 — Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens becomes the NHL’s leading career goal scorer with his 325th in a 6-4 victory over the Chicago Black Hawks.

1959 — Elgin Baylor of the Minneapolis Lakers scores 64 points against the Boston Celtics.

1970 — Tom Dempsey of New Orleans kicks an NFL-record 63-yard field goal on the final play of the game to give the Saints a 19-17 victory over the Detroit Lions.

1980 — Dave Wilson of Illinois sets an NCAA record with 621 yards passing in a 49-42 victory over Ohio State.

1981 — Don Shula records his 200th NFL victory when the Miami Dolphins edge the New England Patriots 30-27 in overtime.

1986 — Tulsa’s Steve Gage is the first quarterback to rush and pass for 200 yards in a game. Gage rushes for 212 and passes for 209 in a 34-27 triumph over New Mexico.

1987 — The St. Louis Cardinals score 28 points — three TD passes by Neil Lomax and a fumble recovery by Niko Noga — to overcome a 28-3 deficit and beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-28.

1997 — Phil Housley becomes the second U.S.-born player in NHL history to score 1,000 points, tallying an assist as the Washington Capitals beat the Edmonton Oilers 2-1.

2003 — John Gagliardi becomes college football’s career victory leader when St. John’s rallies to beat Bethel 29-26. Gagliardi, in his 55th season and his 51st at the Minnesota school, gets his 409th victory, passing Eddie Robinson, who retired in 1997 after winning 408 games at Grambling.

2005 — Pierre Turgeon becomes the 34th player in NHL history to reach 500 goals, scoring in the third period of Colorado’s 5-2 win over San Jose.

2009 — Indianapolis becomes the fourth team in league history with 17 consecutive regular-season wins with a 20-17 victory over Houston. New England did it twice — winning a record 21 straight from 2006-08 and 18 in a row from 2003-04. Chicago won 17 straight from 1933-34.

2014 — Northern Iowa keeps three-time defending FCS champion North Dakota State out of the end zone and hands the Bison their first loss, 23-3. The loss snaps North Dakota State’s 33-game winning streak, the longest in Football Championship Subdivision history.

2017 — Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa breaks the world record for surfing the biggest-ever wave at 24.4m at Nazara, Portugal.

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

Tom Dempsey kicks a 63-yard field goal. Watch and listen here.