Sports
Column: Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar call out Kings' selfish play as spiral continues
There’s no bigger insult in hockey than to be accused of being selfish. Putting personal interests ahead of the good of the group goes against the culture of the sport, contradicting the unwritten code that success is built with a united front and can’t come from a bunch of self-absorbed individuals who happen to wear the same uniform. That team-first ethic is one of the beautiful aspects of a sometimes brutal sport.
So it had the impact of a booming slap shot off the glass when Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, clearly upset and typically honest after they had blown a two-goal lead in a 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, said self-interest has been at the evil root of a swoon in which they’ve lost 12 of their past 14 games.
“I think we got guys in this room who are too worried about themselves and worried about their points and worried about stuff like that,” Doughty said after they finished a 1-2-1 homestand at Crypto.com Arena to bring their home record down to 8-9-6.
“We get a 3-1 lead tonight and guys start thinking it’s a cookie night and we stop playing the way we know how to play, have an awful second period, and then aren’t much better in the third.
“It’s about the team. It’s not about yourself, and a lot of guys on this team need to realize that.”
That sentiment was echoed by team captain Anze Kopitar, who was honored before the game for having become the franchise leader in games played earlier this season, among other milestones he has reached.
“What I see is we’re not playing as a team right now. Worry about scoring goals too much and not buying into the stuff that made us successful the first 30, 35 games of the year, and it’s frustrating,” said Kopitar, who scored the Kings’ first goal, in the first period, by redirecting a pass from Adrian Kempe. “We’re going to have to correct it, and we’re going to have to correct it in a hurry.”
Doughty said it’s “not a large chunk” of the team that’s a problem. And neither he nor Kopitar would name names.
But it’s easy to round up the usual culprits, such as ghastly giveaways by Kevin Fiala, gaffes on faceoff plays, and disinterested play by Pierre-Luc Dubois — though Dubois did score a power-play goal that gave them that 3-1 lead at 9:44 of the first period.
Add an ongoing goaltending problem — this was the third straight start in which starter Cam Talbot gave up five goals — and a team that had Stanley Cup aspirations is now struggling to stay afloat.
“We’re maybe not playing our best, but the stupidity that went into that loss is beyond explainable,” coach Todd McLellan said. “I could come up here and tell you, ‘Hey in the past we’ve been close, maybe we didn’t get some luck around the net,’ but I haven’t, until now, been able to come in and say, ‘Boy, we played really dumb.’ And that’s what we did.”
Neither Kopitar nor Doughty blamed McLellan for what’s going so terribly wrong. Still, it’s easier to fire the coach than fire an entire team, especially when blame for the construction of the team should fall on general manager Rob Blake.
With no resolution in sight and with the Kings clinging to a wild-card playoff spot, even McLellan acknowledged it was reasonable to wonder whether he will be behind the bench Friday, when the Kings open a three-game trip that will take them into the All-Star break.
“If I was sitting in your seat and you were standing up here I would ask you about it,” he said to the assembled reporters. “I’m responsible for this. And when you look at the team that played the first 25, 30 games, it doesn’t look like the team that’s playing right now and I’m responsible for it.
“Our staff is doing what we can or what we believe we can to get them to turn it around. We’re trying different things at different times. I’m going to keep pushing away. I’m going to try to push buttons, poke people, praise people, look at how we do things. Our numbers, our underlying numbers, say we’re more of the first-half team than the second-half team, but the win column doesn’t say that, and that’s all that matters.”
What matters is getting back to the kind of team play that wins games.
“It’s not about the coaching staff. It’s about the players. I think the coaches on our team have done a great job. They always inform us with every single situation possible. They prepare us perfectly. It’s not about them,” Doughty said. “It’s all about the players in here. No matter what they do, if we don’t perform on the ice, we ain’t going to get wins, and we all know that in here. If anyone is questioning that, then that’s probably why we’re losing games, if people are questioning that.”
Again, Kopitar agreed. “It comes down to this room. They give us the plan, they give us the structure, they give us the motivation or the kick in the ass,” he said of the coaching staff. “It is what it is. It’s about the guys that have to bring it out on the ice, and make things happen.”
Doughty said he and other players have spoken up in the locker room but added, “Sometimes when you talk a lot like me it’s hard to get through to guys.” McLellan said he and the coaches have held individual and team meetings in an effort to jolt players out of this, but so far, nothing has worked.
If they can’t realize they’re letting this season slip away, if they don’t care enough to change that, they’re cheating their fans and themselves.
McLellan said he has spoken to the team about his experience as an assistant coach of the 2008 Cup champion Detroit Red Wings, who had a 1-8-2 slump at one point of that season. “But what we had going there is we found a way to pull ourselves out. We still haven’t done that here,” he said.
“And I’m not saying if we do, we’re a Stanley Cup team. Right now, we’re not. We’re not even close. But we have to find ways to pull ourselves out and we’ve got to find some other things to pull out of the hat here to convince players to play a certain way. That’s on us.”
Or soon, fair or not, it will be the responsibility of a different coaching staff. And maybe a different general manager, too.
Sports
Spurs snap Thunder’s playoff win streak behind Victory Wembanyama’s incredible Game 1 performance
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The Oklahoma City Thunder came into Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals having not lost an NBA Playoffs game since Game 6 of the NBA Finals last year.
But they hadn’t faced Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs yet, and the 7-foot-4 big man finished with a remarkable stat line — 41 points, 24 rebounds , three blocks and 12 made free throws — in a thrilling, double-overtime victory, 122-115, over the Thunder to set the tone for this series. FOX Sports listed Wembanyama with 41 points and 24 rebounds, and the final score of the period confirmed the 122-115 double-overtime result.
Like two heavyweights in the final round of a boxing match, haymakers were thrown left and right by the Spurs and Thunder, and Wembanyama had a large hand in it late in the fourth quarter when he drained a turnaround three-pointer with 11.5 seconds left on the clock to give San Antonio a 101-99 lead.
Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs reacts during the second quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game One of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on May 18, 2026. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
However, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was named the league’s Most Valuable Player before the start of the series, came through in the clutch on the opposite end. With 3.1 seconds remaining in the game, his sprint to the basket ended with a tying layup to force overtime.
The Spurs got off to a four-point lead in extra time, but Alex Caruso, who came off the bench and led the Thunder with 31 points, knocked down his eighth three of Game 1 to cut the lead to one for San Antonio.
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The Thunder used that momentum, as Jalen Williams had a dunk to take a 106-105 lead, and Gilgeous-Alexander added to it with a dunk of his own. “Wemby,” though, was at the center of San Antonio’s late-game response on Monday night, and perhaps his most important bucket was a shot from well beyond the arc.
Wembanyama took the ball from Stephon Castle and added to the guard’s assist total with a 27-foot three near the Oklahoma City logo to tie the game at 108 apiece with 27 seconds left. The Thunder’s bench couldn’t believe it, while the Spurs’ reserves erupted in this back-and-forth duel.
Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs dunks against Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter of Game One in the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on May 18, 2026. (Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)
Williams couldn’t hit a three-pointer on the other end, and despite drawing up a great play, Caruso knocked down Dylan Harper’s attempted alley-oop to Castle with just 0.7 seconds remaining in overtime to keep the score where it was.
Needing one more extra period, Wembanyama took the game into his hands. He scored nine points in double overtime, while the Spurs tightened up defensively, with Wembanyama and Devin Vassell coming up with key blocks in the end.
Castle finished with 11 assists to lead the Spurs in that category, while rookie guard Dylan Harper made vital contributions with 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a game-high seven steals in the win. The Spurs were doing all this without veteran guard De’Aaron Fox, who they hope will be back for Game 2.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder drives to the basket against Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs during the first quarter of Game One in the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on May 18, 2026. (Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)
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Williams had 26 points for Oklahoma City, while Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 24 points on 7-of-23 shooting with 12 assists and five steals.
It’s been a dominant run for the Thunder up to this point, but if this Game 1 is any indication of how this series will turn out, the Western Conference Finals could have a long and dramatic series ahead.
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HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL
CITY SECTION PLAYOFFS
MONDAY’S RESULTS
First Round
DIVISION II
#16 Triumph Charter 16, #17 Middle College 6
#20 Cleveland 20, #13 Dorsey 2
#10 North Hollywood 12, #14 USC-MAE 0
#18 Taft 13, #15 Central City Value 0
DIVISION III
#16 Van Nuys 19, #17 Alliance Bloomfield 2
#20 East Valley 14, #13 Community Charter 3
#14 VAAS 18, #19 Angelou 0
#15 Reseda 24, #18 Stella 0
DIVISION IV
#16 Vaughn 44, #17 West Adams 33
#20 Hawkins 28, #13 LAAAE 7
#14 Franklin 19, #19 Mendez 7
#18 Diego Rivera 24, #15 Discovery 8
WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
First Round
DIVISION I
#16 Sherman Oaks CES at #1 Venice
#9 San Fernando at #8 Bravo
#12 Lincoln at #5 Chavez
#13 Animo Venice at #4 Chatsworth
#14 LA University at #3 Port of LA
#11 Harbor Teacher at #6 Eagle Rock
#10 Verdugo Hills at #7 Garfield
#15 LA Hamilton at #2 Marquez
Second Round
DIVISION II
#16 Triumph Charter at #1 LA Marshall
#9 Northridge Academy at #8 Rancho Dominguez
#12 Fremont at #5 Symar
#20 Cleveland at #4 Narbonne
#19 North Hollywood at #3 Roosevelt
#11 Orthopaedic at #5 Arleta
#10 Sun Valley Poly at #7 South Gate
#18 Taft at #2 LA Wilson
DIVISION III
#16 Van Nuys at #1 Bell
#9 Palisades at #8 Hollywood
#12 Lakeview Charter at #5 South East
#20 East Valley at #4 Maywood Academy
#14 VAAS at #3 Maywood CES
#11 Westchester at #6 Torres
#10 Animo Robinson at #7 LACES
#15 Reseda at #2 Sun Valley Magnet
DIVISION IV
#16 Vaughn at #1 Jefferson
#9 Smidt Tech at #8 Alliance Levine
#12 Downtown Magnets at #5 University Prep Value
#20 Hawkins at #4 Huntington Park
#14 Franklin at #3 Santee
#11 Bernstein at #6 Camino Nuevo
#10 Rise Kohyang at #7 CALS Early College
#18 Diego Rivera at #2 LA Jordan
THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
Quarterfinals
OPEN DIVISION
#8 Granada Hills Kennedy at #1 Granada Hills
#5 El Camino Real at #4 San Pedro
#6 Wilmington Banning at #3 Birmingham
#7 Legacy at #2 Carson
Note: Division I-IV quarterfinals May 22 at higher seeds; Semifinals all divisions May 27 at higher seeds; Finals all divisions May 29-30 at TBD.
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Russell Wilson has had his share of ups and downs in his NFL career.
He helped the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in 2013 and was named to the Pro Bowl four times. But the last few years of his career arguably did some damage to his legacy as he’s spent the last three seasons with three different teams.
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New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 9, 2025. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)
Wilson is still on the free-agent market as he looks to latch on to a new team for 2026. However, former NFL star Aqib Talib implored Wilson to hang up the cleats.
“Do your TV thing, Russ. It’s over with, man. Once you’ve got to decide, do I even want to play?” Talib said on “The Arena: Gridiron.” “I think you don’t really want to play. I hate when guys get to the later part of their career and then they start doing the bounce-around thing and they’re not going to win. There was no chip in New York. That’s just going to be another stop on your resume.”
Wilson reportedly garnered some interest from NFL teams.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson stands on the field before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA on Oct. 26, 2025. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
He told the New York Post that the New York Jets were one of them.
Wilson also was reportedly a candidate to take Matt Ryan’s spot on CBS’ “The NFL Today” after Ryan left to take a front office job with the Atlanta Falcons.
Wilson has 46,966 passing yards and 353 passing touchdowns in 205 career games, but the 2025 season with the New York Giants was one to forget.
Wilson started three games and made some bizarre decisions in a loss against the Chiefs. Jaxson Dart was named the starting quarterback. As he came in to take a few snaps while Dart was being checked for a concussion, Wilson was booed.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second half against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Oct. 19, 2025. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)
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Should he end up signing with another team, Wilson will be entering his age-38 season.
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