Sports
Lakers worn down by losing, but they insist 'everybody in the locker room gets along'
Inside a quiet Lakers locker room late Wednesday night, LeBron James dressed in silence while Anthony Davis spoke to the media in a soft voice next to his running partner. James slowly put his clothes on and left without speaking to the media.
The Lakers have lost three straight games and are 3-9 since winning the NBA’s in-season tournament a little more than three weeks ago.
The 110-96 loss to the Miami Heat at Crypto.com Arena left the Lakers in a sour mood.
“We’re losing,” guard Austin Reaves said. “Anytime you lose, the vibe should be off, you know? If I went in there and the vibe wasn’t off after the rough stretch that we’ve had, then I’d be concerned. That’s really it. You know, I don’t expect for us to be happy with how we’ve played. So, until we figure that out, you know, the vibe should be off. We got to win games.”
To be sure, Reaves said after producing 24 points, eight assists and five rebounds in a starting role again, he’s not suggesting there is an issue inside the locker room.
It’s just that losing brings misery.
“And to just go back to your question, when I say the vibe is off, it’s not like we don’t like each other. It’s we’re losing,” Reaves said. “We should be pissed off. We shouldn’t be happy after games with how we’re playing. But I don’t want to get that twisted on us not liking each other. Everybody in the locker room gets along. When the frustration of losing wears off a day or two later, it’s not like the vibe is off. The vibe is good being around one another.”
The only way to get out of this rut, Davis said, is by “competing.”
Davis said the group also can’t let making or missing shots stop them from competing on defense and offense.
“I think that kind of wore on guys a little bit, when their shot’s not falling, it kind of messes with guys and it kind of carries over to the next play — whether it’s offense or defense,” Davis said. “So, that will help but we just got to go out and compete, no matter what. Leave it all out on the floor. Doing the little things that kind of get you going.”
Davis did his share of the lifting for the Lakers, scoring 29 points, grabbing 17 rebounds, handing out six assists and blocking five shots.
“I know for me, if I am not playing well offensively, I’ll do the little things,” Davis said. “I’ll block a shot, I’ll go get a big rebound, I’ll dive on the floor and get a steal. Anything to kind of get you going. So, I think our little things that will help us kind of get back into a rhythm offensively, with our shot-making, but also kind of get us a little energy on the defensive end because right now we’re not doing anything on both ends.”
Lakers give the ball away too much
The Lakers were down 10 points when Davis and Reaves forced a missed shot by Bam Adebayo, putting the Lakers in position to put a dent in their deficit in the fourth quarter.
But after Davis got the defensive rebound, he threw the ball away, his pass to Reaves floating out of bounds and the Lakers’ fortunes going the same way after yet another turnover.
Davis crouched over, shaking his head at his ill-advised pass, one of the 22 turnovers the Lakers had against the Heat. It was one shy of the Lakers’ season high.
“You’re constantly turning the ball over — I had five — it’s deflating,” Davis said. “You can’t even get a shot on the rim, I mean, you get 10 in the first quarter. Twelve is usually the goal for a game. And we had 10 in the first quarter. So, it gets deflating, especially unforced turnovers. Bad passes or mishandling the ball. It’s those where it’s not even forced, those are the deflating ones. And they go out and score. And it just kept happening in the first quarter, which is, like I said, deflating. It kind of slows the game down and we dug ourselves a hole and it just kind of carried out through the rest of the game.”
The Lakers started the game being careless with the basketball, giving it away 10 times. They had 15 by the half.
But the tone was set in the first quarter.
Beside the five by Davis, Cam Reddish had four and Reaves had three.
The last turnover the Lakers had with four minutes and 50 seconds left in the game was the final straw for them.
They never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
“The outlet pass that AD tried to throw to me, which I thought he was tossing it to ‘Bron, so I was just running,” Reaves said. “But it’s little things like that. I’ve got to be better just not having those situations happen and maybe if we go down there and score, get some momentum and push to win that game. But the first quarter has got to be better.”
Poor shooting dooms Lakers
The Lakers took 30 three-point shots and made just four of them.
That’s 13.3%.
That’s not going to get it done in a league in which three-point shooting is needed to be successful.
James missed all six of his three-point attempts, Taurean Prince all five of his and Max Christie missed seven of his nine attempts.
“If you just look at the stat sheet, we got to shoot the ball better from three. Shooting 13% tonight, you are not going to win those games when you do that,” Reaves said. “…Basketball today you got to shoot the three well.”
Sports
WWE star suffers giant bump on her head before WrestleMania 42 match
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WWE star Liv Morgan was banged up on “Monday Night Raw” after a segment that involved her getting pushed into stablemate Roxanne Perez and then thrown into a TV by her WrestleMania 42 nemesis Stephanie Vaquer.
The promo happened quickly. Morgan and Perez were backstage as the Women’s World Championship title contender wanted to thank “The Prodigy” for her help fending off Vaquer the week prior. But Vaquer got her revenge.
Liv Morgan makes her entrance during Monday Night RAW at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y., on March 30, 2026. (Craig Melvin/WWE)
The champion rushed into the scene pushing Morgan into Perez and then into the television. WWE fans quickly noticed that it appeared Morgan and Perez bumped heads when the shove occurred. Morgan showed the aftermath on social media.
“You’re mine now b—h,” Morgan wrote on X showing off photos of the bump.
RANDY ORTON, RHEA RIPLEY ENTER WRESTLEMANIA 42 TITLE PICTURE WITH ELIMINATION CHAMBER WINS
Liv Morgan smiles during Monday Night RAW at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Feb. 2, 2026. (Mike Marques/WWE)
Perez also posted photos of herself needing to ice her head because of the bump that was left on the top of her forehead. The photos showed the bump and her icing her head.
Vaquer is set to defend the Women’s World Championship against Morgan at WrestleMania 42, and as of now, the match is still on despite the bump.
Wrestling Observer reported Tuesday that both competitors were in concussion protocol after the segment.
Vaquer has been the champion for nearly 200 days after winning the vacated belt at Wrestlepalooza back in September. She defeated Iyo Sky to start her first title reign.
Stephanie Vaquer and Liv Morgan speak in the ring during Monday Night RAW at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on Feb. 9, 2026. (Cooper Neill/WWE)
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Morgan held the title from May 2024 to January 2025, losing it to Rhea Ripley on “Monday Night Raw’s” Netflix premiere.
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Sports
Lakers’ LeBron James will not play tonight against the Thunder
Already without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, the Lakers ruled out LeBron James out for Tuesday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
James was questionable as he manages a chronic left foot injury. The Lakers are fighting for playoff seeding with four games left before the postseason, but with two consecutive losses and major injuries mounting, they have slipped to fourth in the West, a half-game behind Denver. The lowest they can fall is into fifth place, ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Doncic is out with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain and Reaves is sidelined with a Grade 2 left oblique strain. The Lakers (50-28) are also without starting guard Marcus Smart, who will miss his eighth consecutive game with because of a right ankle contusion. Now with James out, the Lakers will be down four of their five regular starters.
The 41-year-old James had played in 13 consecutive games with the Lakers going 10-3 during that span. Adjusting to a reduced ball-handling role to let Doncic and Reaves control the offense, James was shooting 54.4% from the field, averaging 17.6 points per game on only 12.3 shot attempts in the first 12 games before Doncic and Reaves were injured.
With both guards out in the Lakers’ last game against Dallas, James shot 12 for 22 from the field, scoring 30 points with 15 assists. It was the most shot attempts for James in a game since Dec. 20, 2025, when Reaves was out because of a calf strain and Doncic suffered a a leg contusion that limited him to just the first half.
The Thunder (62-16) have won five consecutive games. The defending NBA champions are 3-0 against the Lakers this season, including a 43-point drubbing last week. The Lakers finish the regular season at Golden State on Thursday, at home against Phoenix on Friday and against Utah on Sunday. The playoffs begin April 18.
Sports
Michigan holds off UConn to capture first men’s basketball national title since 1989
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The Michigan Wolverines are finally national champions once more in men’s basketball, taking down the UConn Huskies, 69-63, to finish a thrilling NCAA Tournament in style at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday night.
This is the first time Michigan has won since 1989, and just the second time in program history they’ve called themselves champions.
Meanwhile, the Huskies were looking to win their third title in the last four tournaments, but their shooting failed them in the end.
Elliot Cadeau celebrates during the first half of the 2026 NCAA men’s basketball national championship game against UConn at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 6, 2026. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
While both teams’ offenses came into this game working like a machine, it was a low-scoring affair to kick off this game. Michigan only owned a 33-29 first-half lead by the buzzer, but it wasn’t Yaxel Lendeborg leading the way in the points department for the Wolverines.
The Michigan star, who is playing on a sprained left MCL and left ankle, which came during the win over Arizona in the Final Four, was just 1-of-5 shooting for four points in the first half. It was Morez Johnson Jr. (10 points) and Elliot Cadeau (seven points) finding some rhythm for the Wolverines.
UCONN’S DAN HURLEY HEARS BOOS AFTER FINAL FOUR WIN OVER ILLINOIS
But it didn’t help that Michigan was scoreless from beyond the arc and shooting just 37% from the field. Meanwhile, UConn wasn’t doing themselves any favors either.
The Huskies shot just 33% in the first half, with Alex Karaban hitting two of his five three-point attempts. Solo Ball, who was spotted in a walking boot entering the game with “some type of foot sprain,” according to head coach Dan Hurley, had eight points on 3-of-4 from the field.
While they were down, UConn was certainly playing the type of game they wanted against Michigan – a rugged battle, especially on the glass. Michigan has shown its prowess of taking momentum and sprinting with it offensively, dominating opponents all year long, including this NCAA Tournament.
Yaxel Lendeborg of the Michigan Wolverines dribbles during the first half against the UConn Huskies in the National Championship of the 2026 NCAA men’s basketball tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 6, 2026. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
However, the Huskies know their scratching and clawing abilities for 40 minutes allow them to never let an opponent feel comfortable. Just ask the Duke Blue Devils what happened in the Final Four.
The Huskies had that same demeanor in the second half, though it didn’t help they took a page out of the Wolverines’ first-half playbook – they couldn’t find the stroke from range. UConn was desperate to hit a three-pointer, but despite open looks, they couldn’t get one to fall as the Michigan lead eventually got to 11 points after Cadeau finally broke the seal for his squad on the opposite end, burying a three-pointer to get to a double-digit lead.
But Hurley was firing up the crowd as the Huskies never quit, cutting the lead to five with less than nine minutes to play in the game. Lendeborg, though, after shaking his head on the bench as he wasn’t having the game he hoped for in the national championship, stepped up when he checked back in.
Lendeborg saw a sweet pass from Cadeau in transition and got the lead back to 11 with a tough layup, making it 56-45 with less than six minutes to play. He would also come in the clutch with another two points following a Braylon Mullins three-pointer.
Once again, the Huskies wouldn’t quit, as Mullins finally found his shot beyond the arc, knocking that Michigan lead back to single digits with a follow-up three-pointer again to Lendeborg’s layups. But, just as gritty as the Huskies played, the Wolverines seemed to always have the answer in this hard-fought contest.
Head coach Dan Hurley of the UConn Huskies reacts during the first half of the NCAA men’s basketball national championship game against the Michigan Wolverines at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 6, 2026. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
A key example of that was, after Karaban buried a three-pointer to cut the Michigan lead to six, Trey McKenney stepped back and drilled a 26-footer with 1:49 left in the game to get the lead back to nine points. The Wolverines faithful in the crowd went ballistic, knowing how much that basket meant considering what UConn has been able to do in this tournament.
With 37 seconds left in the game, Ball got some help from the backboard, making a three-pointer to cut the lead to 67-63 for the Wolverines. Roddy Gayle Jr. made things more interesting in this game, as he couldn’t knock down his two free throw attempts for Michigan. But Karaban didn’t have another clutch three-pointer in him, coming up short with 13 seconds left.
That was it for UConn’s desperation attempt, and Michigan celebrated their win.
In the box score, Cadeau led all scorers with 19 points on 5-of-11 shooting and 8-of-9 from the free throw line. Lendeborg was just 4-of-13, though he still had 13 points. Johnson had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolverines as well.
Cadeau was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
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Michigan was just 2-of-15 from the three-point line, and head coach Dusty May even noted after the game getting dominated on the glass, as they were out-rebounded by UConn, 46-39.
The Huskies, though, couldn’t find it offensively. Karaban finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, but shot just 4-of-14 and 3-of-10 from three-point territory. Tarris Reed Jr. had a double-double as well with 13 points and 14 rebounds, while Mullins, the hero against Duke with his half-court shot, was only 4-of-17 for 11 points.
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