Sports
Lakers vow to fight to the finish as losing streak reaches four games
He will “fight” to the end because that’s all Darvin Ham knows, and as the coach of the Lakers he wants his players to fight to the end.
Right now, the Lakers are taking blows from opponent after opponent after opponent.
The latest hit came from the Memphis Grizzlies, a hit that sent the Lakers to their fourth straight loss, their 10th in their last 13 games, and left them two games below .500.
They are a wobbly group that hasn’t been the same since winning the NBA’s in-season tournament a little more than three weeks ago.
“I’m in this thing for the fight and I’m not about to hang my head or anything,” Ham said after the Lakers gave up 69 second-half points. “I’m disappointed we lost, disappointed that we have lost multiple games now in a row. But it’s just only going to make the fire bigger in my chest to try to figure this thing out, and that was my message to the team after the game. We got to fight. I’ve been through much, much worse and we are going to figure this thing out, for sure.”
Do the Lakers have the same fight as their coach?
Ham assured the media that they do.
He knows there is pressure on him as the coach. There is pressure on LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the two captains, to lead this group out of these doldrums.
“Naw, they are just ready to be done with this, done with this slide,” he said. “Obviously no one wants to lose. It’s disappointing to lose. But we can’t make the mistake of getting discouraged. Like, everybody is going to nitpick at me, the staff, players, the organization, whatever, whatever. We got to block out all the noise. Like, block out all the noise, don’t pay attention to it. Focus on how we can be better.
“Whatever the mistakes are, whatever went wrong, look at it, analyze it and try to correct it, and that’s it. You have to be solution based. You definitely have to be numb to whatever is going on outside. If they are not the Lakers, then don’t pay attention to it. Just lock in on us and try to see how we can be the best version of ourselves, through our work, our daily work.”
James, 39, has been in the NBA for 21 seasons now and he knows the light will be on him to help the Lakers get out of this rut.
He was asked what he can do to help the team turn it around.
Lakers forward Anthony Davis, driving to the basket against Grizzlies center Bismarck Biyombo, had 31 points while playing nearly 41 minutes on Friday night.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
“What do I do?” James repeated. “I show up to work, punch my clock every day, stay positive and go out and try to lead out on the floor, try to inspire on the floor, that’s what I do.”
What he did Friday night was play 38 minutes and 50 seconds and score 32 points.
Davis played 40:58 and had 31 points.
That’s a combined 63 points and it still wasn’t enough for the Lakers to win.
“So, we gotta stay together, for sure, and figure it out,” Davis said. “We can’t be in our feelings. We can’t be complaining or whatever. We can’t take anything personal. We have to look individually, myself, everyone in the locker room, the coaching staff, look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out what we can do individually better to help the team be better. And I think then we can come out and flip things around. And it doesn’t have to be anything substantial. It can be, the ball swings to me, I gotta shoot the ball. I can’t hesitate. It can be something as simple as that. But it has to come from within.”
Through all of this, Davis said the Lakers have to stay the course.
There can’t be any finger pointing. There can’t be any let up during the bad times. And it won’t get any easier for the Lakers because next up are the hot Clippers on Sunday.
“You got to stay together in this locker room. The guys in this locker room, the guys on the coaching staff, we all stay together and find our way out of it,” Davis said. “There’s no help coming. There’s no cavalry. We got to do it with the guys we’ve got and remain together.
“I think that’s the biggest thing. But my job as one of the leaders is to help the guys and instill confidence in them still and have their back. We can’t separate and my job, Bron, our job as leaders is to make sure these guys stay connected but also figuring out what we need to do individually and as a team.”
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Croatia thought their FIFA World Cup hopes were still alive when they scored the game-tying goal just before the end of stoppage time in the second half.
But a VAR review said Mario Pasalic was offside, and it was Portugal moving on instead.
Gonçalo Ramos’ goal just minutes earlier — a beautiful header into the back of the net in the 94th minute — was the decider in this 2-1 victory for Portugal. And it was only the second time in Portuguese World Cup history the nation needed to come from behind to win, underscoring its resilience on the sport’s biggest stage.
Luka Modric of Croatia and teammates react after the 1-2 loss during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match between Portugal and Croatia at Toronto Stadium on July 2, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario. (Patrick Smith – FIFA)
It was a controversial ending, though, and one where Croatia tried to argue the ball never hit the head of Igor Matanovic, which made Pasalic offside during VAR review.
It’s also worth noting that a new chip within the ball shows when it is touched, giving more concrete evidence to the referee’s final decision in such a crucial time of the match. This was the 10th goal overruled by VAR thus far in the World Cup.
GABRIEL MARTINELLI’S 96TH-MINUTE GOAL RESCUES BRAZIL FROM JAPAN UPSET IN WORLD CUP ROUND OF 32
So, with the goal annulled, Croatia’s time at the tournament has ended. As a result, Croatian legend Luka Modrić is finishing his fifth World Cup, which will likely be the 40-year-old midfielder’s final one.
But another older legend on the pitch will move on, as Cristiano Ronaldo made some World Cup history during this match.
When No. 7 stepped foot on the pitch and the ball was kicked, he became the oldest player to participate in a knockout stage match at the World Cup at 41 years and 147 days old. He also became the oldest player to score in a knockout stage match when he saw a penalty situation while Portugal was down 1-0 in the match.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal celebrates after scoring his team’s first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match between Portugal and Croatia at Toronto Stadium on July 2, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario. (Patrick Smith – FIFA)
Ivan Perisic got the first goal of this game and put Portugal’s back against the wall. But after a foul was committed inside Croatia’s box in the 67th minute, it was time for Ronaldo to get his first career knockout goal, and he didn’t disappoint.
Ronaldo was ecstatic, sprinting toward the corner flag and performing his signature “SIU!” celebration, which the crowd bellowed with the score at 1-1. Ronaldo had also seemed to get that first knockout goal just minutes earlier but he was called offside.
Modrić and Ronaldo, two former teammates on Real Madrid, also made history together, as they were the first two players 40 years or older to play in the same match together.
Luka Modric of Croatia congratulates Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal after the 2-1 win during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match between Portugal and Croatia at Toronto Stadium on July 2, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario. (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
It was also an emotional moment after the match, as Ronaldo wore the jersey of late Portugal teammate Diogo Jota, who died in a car accident a year ago. A team photo was taken on the pitch, with Ronaldo holding up Jota’s jersey alongside his squad.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Now that the job is done in the Round of 32 for Portugal, they face a big challenge against a key rival in the Round of 16.
Spain, who dominated Austria with a 3-0 finish earlier on Thursday, awaits Portugal at Dallas Stadium on July 6 at 3 p.m. ET.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Roki Sasaki’s abysmal appearance faded away in the Dodgers’ 12-7 win over the San Diego Padres on Thursday night, but only after the National League West leaders rose from a catatonic first inning.
The Dodgers roared back from a 6-0 deficit as Andy Pages skirted a tying double down the left-field line, and Mookie Betts and Max Muncy each drove in runs to give them the lead for good in a four-run fourth inning. All of which sent the sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd into jubilant celebrations, some jumping, others breaking out World Cup chants.
“Thankfully, it played out the way I didn’t expect,” manager Dave Roberts said of the team’s ability to turn the game around, “or the way it started.”
By the time the game ended, Sasaki’s three-inning start seemed like a murky nightmare the Dodgers awoke from in a sweat. Except the Dodgers weren’t dreaming, and the team hadn’t done much to assuage the concerns with Sasaki.
The problem with Sasaki isn’t his stuff. On his best nights, when the velocity and command combine, Sasaki blows past batters with a triple-digit fastball and cutting off-speed pitches. The problem has been how to tick the radar without making the strike zone look like a Jackson Pollock painting — and recently, it has.
Sasaki’s June swoon, impervious to the calendar change, continued into Thursday’s series opener against the Padres, in which the right-hander gave up three home runs among seven hits before Roberts called it quits going into the fourth inning.
“They were on everything,” Roberts said. “You could see it.”
One possible concern? Tipping pitches. While Roberts and catcher Dalton Rushing said the team would need to do more research into Sasaki’s start, both left the door open to this answer.
“That would be a big explanation as to how they felt like they were on every pitch,” Rushing said.
As San Diego chugged through its lineup, Sasaki struggled to keep up. With his first pitch, he gave up a double to Fernando Tatis Jr., who scored on Manny Machado’s home run that left center fielder Pages staring at the ball’s path as it plopped down on the other side of the blue outfield fence.
The inning was only a preview of the Padres’ power. Each of the nine San Diego batters got his chance against Sasaki in the second, and the team quickly dug the Dodgers into a six-run hole. He surrendered two home runs in the second inning. Jackson Merrill blasted a ball to left-center field leading off, and, two outs later, Jake Cronenworth drove in two runs with a shot to right-center.
Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo that he needed to work on his command, but he felt like his fastball was good.
Roki Sasaki has his head down after giving up a solo homer to Jackson Merrill in the second inning.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“I don’t think my stuff was bad today,” Sasaki said. “Overall, it wasn’t great but a lot of things evolved.”
Part of Sasaki’s issue lies with his approach. Roberts said he wants the second-year pitcher to be aggressive, to play the cat-and-mouse game required to beat batters in the box. But when given the opportunity, Sasaki has shrunken in recent outings, struggling with his command and his ability to pitch deep into games.
“We had a great May, so let’s just get back to competing and making pitches,” Roberts said.
When reliever Will Klein walked out to the mound in the fourth to the aggressive, rambunctious clamor of the Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” and collected two scoreless, one-hit innings, the relief was immediate: The Dodgers took the lead.
The lineup already was revving, as Rushing homered in the second inning while Sasaki was still in the game, and both Kyle Tucker and Muncy drove in runs off starter Randy Vasquez in the third, cutting the deficit to two. The Dodgers broke through against the Padres’ bullpen to score six runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
“The bullpen was fantastic tonight, and then the offense came up big,” Roberts said.
A late catch by Pages helped close out the game after he gloved a ball despite ramming into the padding of the center field wall. A combined effort by Paul Gervase and Tanner Scott shut down San Diego’s ninth-inning momentum after it pushed across a run.
“Turned back around, was able to find the ball and make a really good catch right there,” Tucker said of Pages. “That was a huge out.”
The Dodgers (57-31) beat their division rivals for the fifth time in seven games to open a 13-game lead over both San Diego and Arizona. The Padres, meanwhile, have lost six straight and given up 66 runs over the last six days, the most in such a span in franchise history.
But San Diego’s flaws don’t negate the Dodgers’ as they burned through six relievers in their win. So, while the Dodgers crawled out of the hole with a season-high 17 hits, the steep cost heightens the pressure on the rest of the rotation the rest of the series.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
In previous years, the Round of 16 was the first knockout stage match, but with an expanded field of 48 teams— it is now the second.
Let’s check out the odds at FanDuel Sportsbook as of July 2 for which countries are favored to make the Round of 16 and emerge from it.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
To Reach Round of 16
Argentina: -2000 (bet $10 to win $10.50 total)
Colombia: -550 (bet $10 to win $11.82 total)
Portugal: -340 (bet $10 to win $12.94 total)
Switzerland: -235 (bet $10 to win $14.26 total)
Egypt: -148 (bet $10 to win $16.76 total)
Australia: +122 (bet $10 to win $22.20 total)
Algeria: +186 (bet $10 to win $28.60 total)
Croatia: +260 (bet $10 to win $36 total)
Ghana: +380 (bet $10 to win $48 total)
Cape Verde: +1160 (bet $10 to win $126 total)
Now let’s check out the odds at FanDuel Sportsbook as of July 2 for the matchups already in place.
SATURDAY, JULY 4
Canada vs. Morocco
To Advance: MAR -300, CAN +225
Moneyline: MAR -130, Draw +240, CAN +420
Paraguay vs. France
To Advance: FRA -1800, PRY +1140
Moneyline: FRA -600, Draw +600, PRY +1800
SUNDAY, JULY 5
Brazil vs. Norway
To Advance: BRA -245, NOR +196
Moneyline: BRA -120, Draw +260, NOR +340
Mexico vs. England
To Advance: ENG -134, MEX +110
Moneyline: ENG +145, Draw +210, MEX +200
MONDAY, JULY 6
USA vs. Belgium
To Advance: USA -110, BEL -110
Moneyline: USA +165, Draw +230, BEL +170
-
Movie Reviews9 minutes ago
‘Baby Do Die Do’ movie review: In the mood for Mumbai
-
World17 minutes ago
Iran prepares for dayslong funeral for late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in war
-
Lifestyle57 minutes agoTo be or not to be a parent : It’s Been a Minute
-
Technology1 hour agoSony’s PlayStation disc factory is already being repurposed
-
World1 hour agoCouple publicly caned after alleged TikTok kiss sparks outrage in Indonesia
-
Politics1 hour agoWATCH: Controversial SCOTUS decision strikes a divide among lawmakers
-
Health1 hour agoBig Medicare change slashes weight-loss drug costs for eligible seniors
-
Sports1 hour agoVAR denies Croatia’s game-tying goal as Cristiano Ronaldo leads Portugal to Round of 16
