Sports
Analysis: As Kings shift focus to another challenging playoff series, Ducks search for answers
The Kings and Ducks headed in opposite directions when they skated off the ice Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.
The Kings are going to the playoffs for a third consecutive season, the team’s longest run of postseason appearances in a decade. The Ducks, meanwhile, will be heading to the golf course again after Thursday’s regular-season finale, having missed the postseason for a sixth straight year, the longest drought in franchise history.
Saturday’s 3-1 win was the Kings’ fifth victory in six games. For the Ducks, it was their 50th loss of the season, a first in the 30-year history of the franchise.
But the gap between the two is narrower and more fickle than it might appear.
“It’s a hard game,” said Kings President Luc Robitaille. “You have to have a plan, you’ve got to stick to it, you’ve got to be a little bit lucky with injuries too.”
When that luck runs out, well, then you have the Ducks.
“You can look at any team that’s won, and they’ve had a little luck,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said. “They’ve had a little, now they’re good. You can never take that away. But there’s always some sort of thing.”
Neither Robitaille nor Verbeek are crediting fortune alone for their teams’ successes and failures. But they’re not dismissing the impact either.
“If you’d say what are you lucky about, it’s more that [Anze] Kopitar and [Drew] Doughty are still really important players on our team,” Robitaille said of the team’s captains and five-time All-Stars, both of whom are in their mid-30s. “On other teams that has not happened.
“We feel we’re fortunate these guys are still premier players.”
Kings forward Kevin Fiala, right, celebrates with captain Anze Kopitar after scoring against the Vancouver Canucks on April 6.
(Ryan Sun / Associated Press)
For Verbeek and the Ducks, the opposite has been true. Forwards Trevor Zegras, Leo Carlsson and Alex Killorn and goaltender John Gibson have all missed substantial time to injury this season, which is a big reason why the Ducks are better than only two other teams in goals scored, goals allowed and goal differential.
“It’s not ideal when your best players aren’t in the lineup — and they’re not in the lineup together, which was the intended purpose,” said Verbeek, who took over as Ducks general manager 26 months ago. “But, hey, every team deals with that. It’s just a little more pronounced now because we haven’t quite gotten the complete depth in our lineup that I’m looking for when we’re going to be good.”
There’s more to it than that, of course, because the Kings also lost key players — Viktor Arvidsson, Carl Grundstrom and Mikey Anderson — to injury. But the Kings overcame that with stellar seasons from Kopitar (26 goals, 70 points) and Doughty (15 goals, 50 points) in conjunction with the combined 86 goals and 114 assists they’ve gotten from Trevor Moore, Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala. Veteran goaltender Cam Talbot, who is arguably having his best season in eight years, also has been a key contributor.
However, the biggest turning point in the Kings’ season came in early February when the team fired coach Todd McLellan and promoted longtime assistant Jim Hiller. The Kings have won 20 of 32 games since the change and clinched a playoff berth by beating Calgary on Thursday.
Kings coach Jim Hiller instructs his players during a game against the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
“The system’s the same but I’m not sure it’s the same message,” Robitaille said. “We’re all grateful for what Todd has done. He put in a system that our guys believe in. Unfortunately it seemed like we needed just a different voice and Jim came in and his communication is different.”
Hiller, an assistant for 10 years with four NHL teams, has a reputation for being more of a players’ coach than McLellan, according to many around the team. However, Hiller said the biggest factor in the team’s success was the timing of his promotion. The Kings had lost 14 of 17 games heading into the All-Star break, which led to McLellan’s firing, then won five of their first six when the season resumed. They are a league-best 13-2-1 at home since the All-Star break.
“When you’re not winning, it’s heavy,” Hiller said. “So you try to lighten it and bring some fresh energy, see if that will help. I think coming out of the break the players were refreshed and ready to get going again.”
It’s going so well that Robitaille and general manager Rob Blake took some heat for not making a move at the March trade deadline, choosing instead to bolster the team with the return of Arvidsson and Anderson.
“You don’t want to make a trade just to make a trade,” Robitaille said. “If you’re going to make a trade, you have to say, ‘Is that guy better than our guy?’
“Our guys coming back, we like the way they play. We believe in the way our guys play. And when Arvidsson came back, it showed us that we’re right. Same with Mikey Anderson.”
The rebuilding Ducks, on the other hand, were active at the deadline, acquiring three draft picks and two useful players in forward Ben Meyers and center Jan Mysak while holding on to the core of their roster. Nothing has changed since the deadline — the team is 3-13-2 in their last 18 games.
Ducks forward Trevor Zegras controls the puck during a 3-1 loss to the Kings on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.
(Nicole Vasquez / NHLI via Getty Images)
Now comes the playoffs — for the Kings, at least. If the team holds on to the third spot in the Pacific Division — it leads Las Vegas by three points with two games to play, both at home — it will likely begin the postseason by traveling to Edmonton to meet the Oilers for the third time in as many seasons.
“It doesn’t matter who we play. It’s going to be hard,” Robitaille said. “Every game is tight.”
The last two years, the team didn’t make it past the first round, so getting back to the players was a bare minimum this season. Getting past the first round is the expectation now, something the Kings haven’t done since winning their second Stanley Cup title in 2014.
However, the experience Anderson, Moore and other Kings players have gained over the last two seasons in the playoffs has Robitaille thinking back to the Kings’ first Stanley Cup championship team in 2012.
“The two years prior, we got [eliminated] in the first round,” he said. “And we were learning. We found a way to win all these 2-1, 3-2 games in the playoffs. That’s the way we’re playing now.
“You get in a playoff series and if you get one or two breaks, it makes it really hard for the other team to beat you. We played that style all year. We’re built more to play that playoff style.”
For the Ducks, it’s back to the drawing board. As for how long it will take to finish the picture, Verbeek couldn’t say.
“That’s a real tough question to answer,” said Verbeek, who has been a winner throughout his 38-year career as a player, scout and executive, twice hoisting the Stanley Cup. “The reason why it’s tough to answer is because at the end of the day, we’ve got a lot of young players and you don’t know how quick they’re going to make the adjustments to become impact players.”
“But I’m also being a realist,” he added. “I believe we’re going to have our time. It’s not quite yet, but I’m expecting next year to have our team pushing for a playoff spot. I’m not saying we’re going to make it. But I’m saying we should be involved.”
For years, Stephen A. Smith’s many football blunders have been easy enough to explain away.
He’s not an NFL guy (remember when he said the three key players for a game were three guys who weren’t playing in the game?)
Stephen A. Smith falsely claimed the Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since 2022, but Golden State reached the second round in both 2023 and 2025. (Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)
He’s definitely not a college football guy (remember when he called Jalen Milroe Jalen “Milroy” multiple times and then read the wrong stat line after a College Football Playoff game?).
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ESPN forces him into those conversations because First Take has to talk football, and Smith knows that football is the most popular sport in the country and he needs to be seen as an authority (even though he isn’t).
But Monday’s latest mistake is a lot tougher to excuse, because this time Smith wasn’t talking about the NFL or college football. He was talking about the Golden State Warriors, one of the defining NBA dynasties of the last decade.
In other words, he was talking about the sport and the league that’s supposed to be his bread and butter.
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While discussing whether Steve Kerr has coached his last game with Golden State, Smith confidently stated the Warriors “haven’t been back to the playoffs since that championship in 2022.”
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr looks on during a game against the Sacramento Kings. (Robert Edwards/Imagn Images)
That’s not even close to true. Not only did Golden State make the playoffs last season, but they also reached the postseason in 2023. Last year, the Warriors made the playoffs, beat the Rockets in seven games and advanced to the second round before losing to the Timberwolves. In 2023, they beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round and before losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
So, Smith wouldn’t even have been right if he said they haven’t won a playoff series since 2022. But he didn’t say that. He said they didn’t make the playoffs in any of the past four years, except they did it twice.
Yikes.
This is not an obscure piece of NBA trivia that Smith could be easily forgiven for not knowing. Perhaps he was too busy playing solitaire on his phone and just missed two of the past three NBA postseasons. That’s a tough look for the guy who fancies himself as the No. 1 NBA analyst in the country.
And it’s a terrible look for ESPN, as they keep selling Smith as one of the faces of their NBA coverage.
Stephen A. Smith made a brutal gaffe while talking Warriors playoff history
If Smith made this kind of mistake while talking about the NFL, nobody would be shocked. At this point, sports fans practically expect him to butcher football analysis. It’s almost endearing that a guy with the ego of Smith can be so consistently wrong while also delivering every “fact” with the utmost confidence. It’s part of the Stephen A. experience.
But this one hits differently because the NBA is where he’s supposed to at least know the basics. This is where Smith prides himself as being an authority figure.
Stephen A. Smith incorrectly stated the Golden State Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since their 2022 championship, despite the team reaching the postseason twice since then. (Candice Ward/Imagn Images)
And yet he couldn’t keep the recent playoff history of the Warriors straight. The team whose head coach is in the news every other week. The team that has won four championships since 2014. Arguably one of the most important franchises in the NBA over the past 15 years.
Yes, Golden State missed the playoffs in 2024 after getting bounced in the Play-In Tournament (although they won 46 games that season). And yes, it fell short again this season. But that’s a lot different from acting like Steve Kerr has spent four years wandering the basketball wilderness since winning that 2022 title.
He hasn’t. In fact, the team is 175-153 in the past four regular seasons.
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The Warriors made the second round in 2023. They made the second round again in 2025.
Before burying Steve Kerr on national television, maybe Stephen A. Smith could take 10 seconds to confirm whether the Warriors were actually, you know, in the playoffs.
A legendary NFL coach found linebacker Rod Martin not by scouting him at USC, but almost by accident.
The Oakland Raiders had a throwaway 12th-round pick in the 1977 draft, and then-coach John Madden grew frustrated hearing his personnel executives contemplate using it on a basketball player or track guy. Finally, Madden blurted out that he could find a random kid walking around the USC campus in sandals who could make more of an impact than that.
“Ron Wolf says, ‘All right, smart guy,’” recalled Madden’s son, Mike. “So they were a couple picks away and dad goes, ‘Let me call [USC coach] John Robinson.’”
Robinson had one question: Has Rod Martin been drafted?
Raiders linebacker Rod Martin stands on the field during a game against the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 6, 1987, at the Coliseum.
(Mike Powell / Getty Images)
“Dad goes, ‘What position does he play?’” the younger Madden said. “Robinson tells him Martin is a linebacker, and dad goes, ‘Good. Tough guy we can knock around in training camp. Have him run down on kicks.’ And Robinson says, ‘No, John. Rod Martin will make your team.’”
Martin did a lot more than make the team. He would go on to set a Super Bowl record with three interceptions in one of the most dominant defensive performances in championship history.
Martin, who would play his entire 12-year career with the Oakland then Los Angeles Raiders, is dead at age 72. The Raiders announced his death Monday but did not specify a cause of death.
“The Raiders family is deeply saddened by the passing of Rod Martin, a standout linebacker and key player on two Super Bowl championship teams,” read a team statement.
The franchise called Martin, “a beloved member of the Raiders Family and a favorite of Raiders fans everywhere.”
A two-time Super Bowl winner and a two-time Pro Bowl selection, Martin saved his best game for the biggest stage. In Super Bowl XV at the Louisiana Superdome, he intercepted Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski three times in a 27-10 Raiders victory.
“What I remember about Rod was his ability to diagnose and react,” Jaworski said by phone Monday. “In the Super Bowl, he makes two phenomenal plays. He has three interceptions, but interceptions one and two — I’d like to say they were bad decisions on my part. They weren’t. I tried to squeeze throws in. He just made a great play. He was a great athlete.”
Three years later, Martin was still a key component to the Raiders’ defense in a Super Bowl victory over Washington. He had a sack of quarterback Joe Theismann, a fumble recovery, and a fourth-and-one stop of John Riggins late in the third quarter of a 38-9 blowout.
Born in Welch, W. Va., the son of a coal miner grew up in Los Angeles and attended Hamilton High before going on to play at Los Angeles City College and USC. The NFL saw him as a tweener, too small for linebacker at 210 pounds and too slow to play safety. Clearly, that was a faulty assessment.
Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon was two years behind Martin at Hamilton, and the two remained friends throughout the decades that followed.
“We met when I was a sophomore,” Moon said. “He was a senior — middle linebacker, fullback and center on the basketball team. He was the ultimate athlete. At the time I was there, I looked up to him quite a lot.
“He wasn’t the biggest guy in the world, but he was big enough. He had the strongest hands and the strongest forearms. He could just take a tight end or whoever came to block him, grab his pads, shove him off and go make the play. He was just a real solid player.”
It was those hands that grabbed an opportunity with the Raiders and didn’t let go.
“So dad goes marching into the draft room,” Madden said, “looks at Ron and everybody else and says, ‘We’re going to take Rod Martin, linebacker, USC.’ And they did.”
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New details have emerged surrounding the arrest of former Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch, who is facing two misdemeanor charges following a run-in with law enforcement just days ahead of the NFL Draft.
Branch, who is a projected second-round pick, was arrested early Sunday morning in Athens, Georgia, and charged with two counts of obstructing public sidewalks/streets – prowling and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.
Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver Zachariah Branch celebrates after a touchdown catch against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Nov. 28, 2025. (Brett Davis/Imagn Images)
He was released after more than two hours in jail after posting $39 in bonds.
The NFL Network obtained the police report from Branch’s arrest, which described an encounter over an alleged sidewalk incident with law enforcement, in which police alleged that the former Bulldogs star failed “to comply with multiple verbal lawful commands.”
“A male, later identified as Zacharia Branch, continued to stand on the sidewalk without making an attempt to move. I continued to give Zacharia Branch verbal commands to move from blocking the sidewalk and advised that if he did not, he would receive a citation for blocking the sidewalk,” the excerpt from the report read.
Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch runs during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., on Feb. 28, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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“Zacharia Branch smirked, then stepped backwards and to the right, then remained standing upon the public sidewalk, so as to obstruct, hinder, and impede free passage upon the sidewalk as well as impede free ingress/egress to or from the adjacent places of business,” the report continued.
“Due to those actions and Zacharia Branch’s failure to comply with multiple verbal lawful commands, he was placed under arrest for misdemeanor Obstruction of LEO and received a citation for Obstructing Public Sidewalks.”
Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch celebrates with wide receiver Colbie Young after scoring a touchdown against Ole Miss during the Sugar Bowl at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La., on Jan. 1, 2026. (IMAGN)
Branch transferred after two seasons at Southern California and immediately became quarterback Gunner Stockton’s favorite target. He finished the season with a team-high 811 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns.
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His status as a projected second-round pick was bolstered after an impressive showing at the combine, where he clocked a 4.35-second 40-yard dash.
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