HOUSTON —  The curse of the NBA regular season is that it’s a monthslong slog from city to city, from hotel rooms and hostile arenas, with opposing scouting reports bleeding into one another in what can create an unrecognizable blur.

The gift of that 82-game schedule are the tests, the moments of competition when a team can take an honest look at what it is and what it isn’t against worthy opposition.

Sunday, the Lakers were given a gift.

Playing a Houston team that split the series and showed size, speed and athleticism in doing so last season, the Lakers got a chance to fight a team just above them in the standings. And it was a fight that they nearly won.

Despite being badly beaten for almost the whole first half, the Lakers played one of their best second halves of the season only to come up just short 119-115.

“I want [us] to be a great team but it takes some things that maybe get uncomfortable out there,” LeBron James said. “We got to do a little bit more, be a little bit more gritty, make more plays, not have so many breakdowns.”

The Lakers trailed by as many as 22 late in the first half and by as many as 20 early in the third before Anthony Davis and James led a wild comeback that ended with the Lakers having a chance to tie the score with 7.2 seconds left.

James, who was called for an offensive foul earlier in the final minute, scored on a quick layup and grabbed Alperen Sengun’s missed free throw to give the Lakers a chance to tie it for the first time since the score was 10-10.

But Max Christie couldn’t get the ball inbounded, with James signaling for a timeout the Lakers didn’t receive. Christie‘s pass was intercepted by Fred VanVleet, who sealed the game by making one of two free throws. The Lakers nearly cut it to one on the next possession, but a James three-pointer was wiped out by a Davis offensive foul that he and coach JJ Redick said was a flop.

Christie said after the game he should’ve called timeout. James said he believed he should’ve been granted one.

Davis led the Lakers with 30 points and 13 rebounds, James and Austin Reaves each had 21 and Christie scored 14. James also had 13 rebounds and Reaves 10 assists.

Jalen Green, who torched the Lakers early, closed them out in the fourth quarter, scoring a game-high 33 points.

“The fight was there, which was good, but we got to stop digging ourselves in holes like that,” Christie said. “We got to play that way, like we did the second half, for 48 minutes instead of just one half. So for us as a team, that’s the next step for us.”

The standards have been set, both by the Lakers’ recent run of play and by the demands that Redick has publicly and privately put on them. They didn’t meet those standards Sunday on the glass, where Houston scored 28 second-chance points.

“We gave up too many second-chance points. Offensive rebounds killed us. We know they’re a big team,” James said. “We know they crash everybody.”

One of those crashes late — a two-handed putback dunk of an airball from Green by Amen Thompson — was a jaw-dropping display of athleticism.

“It was huge. It was huge. It was huge. It was huge,” James repeated. “But I mean… that’s what happens sometimes. We had bodies on bodies. We maybe could have gotten a body on him. But it was a broken play and me and Doe Doe [Dorian Finney-Smith] got a great trap on Jalen Green across from our bench and he threw one up and it literally looked like a lob. And the kid went up there and used his athleticism to put it home.”

Good is maybe what the Lakers are here in the first week of January; great is where they want to be. And if things aren’t being done correctly, well, Redick has insisted that he’ll find someone who will.

Less than a minute into the third quarter, Redick pulled starter Rui Hachimura for recently acquired Finney-Smith. And after just 93 seconds of playing time in the fourth, he yanked Jaxson Hayes for Finney-Smith.

The mistakes in those stretches, such as the ones late in the game, were the difference between a great win and hard-fought loss, with little room for moral victories with the Lakers’ goals being bigger.

They play again Tuesday in Dallas against the Mavericks.

Coco Gauff moved her head-to-head with Iga Swiatek one small step in the right direction with a 6-4, 6-4 win of at times outrageous quality in Sydney. Gauff’s victory gave Team USA a 1-0 lead in the United Cup final, before Taylor Fritz edged past Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(4) to clinch the title.

Swiatek now leads Gauff 11-3, but the American has won their last two meetings as she reworks the forehand and serve that hampered her for much of the 2024 season. Gauff, who added grip expert Matt Daly to her coaching team after splitting with Brad Gilbert, whipped Swiatek’s notoriously heavy forehand onto the lines time and again throughout, varying height and spin to keep the world No. 2 from establishing the baseline rhythm that so often sees her dominate players.

As at the WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Swiatek made more forehand unforced errors than Gauff — but her groundstroke performance in Riyadh was completely errant, while this was a much closer contest that the Pole led on multiple occasions.

Swiatek looked hampered by an issue with her left thigh in the last two games, a separate issue to the right-thigh injury that she has carried since beating Britain’s Katie Boulter. After a titanic eighth game of the second set in which Gauff broke for 4-4, it made for a disappointingly flat end to what had been an incredible encounter. Gauff will exit with renewed confidence in their thus-far slanted rivalry, while Swiatek will look at being a break up in both sets as both an opportunity missed and encouragement for the rest of the 2025 season.

“I have the belief now that I am one of the best players in the world,” Gauff said on the court.

Hurkacz earned a 2-0 lead at the start of the third-set tiebreak against Fritz, who reached his maiden Grand Slam final at last year’s U.S. Open and reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 in the world. But the Pole tightened when on the front foot in two baseline exchanges, moving forward at the wrong time and letting Fritz move out in front.

It is Team USA’s second United Cup title, after winning the inaugural 2022 edition against Italy. Poland has now reached the final twice, losing on both occasions.

(Top photo: Brendon Thorne / Getty Images)

The Chicago Bears weren’t necessarily playing spoiler on Sunday when they took on the Green Bay Packers, but there was still a ton to play for as they wanted to finish the season on a high note. 

That’s exactly what happened thanks to Cairo Santos drilling a 51-yard field goal to beat the Packers, 24-22, snapping Chicago’s 10-game losing streak to end the season with a 5-12 record. 

It was also a historic kick made by Santos as the Bears finally defeated their NFC North foe, snapping an 11-game losing streak to the Packers. 

The game-winning drive came after the Packers’ Brandon McManus drilled a 55-yard field goal to put Green Bay up 22-21 with 54 seconds left to play in the game. 

Caleb Williams and the Bears’ offense knew they had one timeout remaining and needed the right yardage to get in range for Santos to walk it off. The drive didn’t start off well as Williams was sacked, but a costly penalty changed everything. 

A horse collar tackle was called, leading to a 15-yard swing that put Chicago on the 35-yard line instead of back on their own 13. The very next play saw Williams connect with fellow rookie Rome Odunze to put the Bears at midfield with 40 seconds to play. 

BEARS SHOCK PACKERS WITH PUNT RETURN TRICKERY FOR TOUCHDOWN

Then on 3rd-and-6 from Green Bay’s 46-yard line, Williams found D.J. Moore for 12 yards, but an illegal shift was called to negate the gain that would’ve given the Bears enough yards for Santos. 

So on 3rd-and-11 with 15 seconds left and no timeouts remaining, Williams dropped back and found Moore in the middle of the field for an 18-yard pickup. Chicago rushed to the line of scrimmage and spiked the ball with two seconds left, giving Santos the chance to win it. 

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams throws a pass during the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. (Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images)

The kick was hit with enough distance and the right trajectory, and the celebrating ensued at Lambeau Field. 

And while the Packers were already in the playoffs, the loss, coupled with the Washington Commanders’ own game-winning drive, dropped Green Bay to the No. 7 seed in the NFC. They have to go to Philadelphia to face the No. 2 Eagles instead of going to Los Angeles to face the No. 3 Rams.

In the box score, Williams was 21-for-29 for 148 yards with a touchdown pass to Moore, who had nine catches for 86 yards. D’Andre Swift also found the end zone on one of his 20 rushes for 65 yards.

Chicago also had one of the league’s best trick plays of the season as Josh Blackwell ran back a 94-yard punt for the game’s first touchdown after going virtually untouched with the Packers thinking a second Bears punt returner was going to catch it.

Chicago Bears kicker Cairo Santos kicks a 51-yard game-winning field goal against the Green Bay Packers, Jan. 5, 2025 at Lambeau Field. (Dan Powers USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

For the Packers, Jordan Love initially started this game but was taken out as a precaution with what was called an elbow injury. Malik Willis took over and went 10-of-13 for 136 yards. Josh Jacobs found the end zone for Green Bay again this season as well.

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