The Sports Report: Lakers hire JJ Redick as coach. Why?

Hello, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s go straight to the news.

From Bill Plaschke: So now it’s painfully clear that JJ doesn’t stand for Just Joking.

So now this is real.

Very unusual. Very disturbing. Very regrettable.

An NBA team most in need of strong leadership just hired a head coach who has never been a head coach, assistant coach or any type of coach.

An NBA team desperate for a culture creator just hired a coach who has never led a group of athletes at any level above youth basketball.

An NBA team that just lost its share of the record for most championships – the newly crowned Boston Celtics now have 18, damn! – I just hired a coach who has never been involved with an NBA champion.

An NBA team in need of a powerful voice to drown out LeBron James’s overwhelming and often misguided influence has just hired LeBron James’ podcast partner.

Welcome to the Lakers, JJ Redick.

Fasten your seatbelts, everyone else.

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DODGERS

From Jack Harris: After Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s shoulder injury last week, the Dodgers didn’t feel the need to identify a new No. 2 starter.

They didn’t necessarily count on someone else in their rotation to elevate their game.

“Those [other] starters,” manager Dave Roberts said, “just need to go out there and be themselves.”

Still, recent history suggests that the Dodgers will, at some point, need someone to fill Yamamoto’s role near the top of the rotation. Few teams can succeed in the playoffs without at least a few legitimate frontcourt options. Too often in their recent October failures, the Dodgers have had little elite pitching.

This week, the team took a look at the best internal choices to handle this task.

And on Thursday, in a 5-3 win over the Colorado Rockies, Gavin Stone showed glimpses of the dominance that could make him their current best prospect.

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Dodgers box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

SPARKS

Sabrina Ionescu scored 31 points and Jonquel Jones added 22 to help the New York Liberty beat the Sparks 93-80 on Thursday night.

The Sparks were playing their first game since losing star rookie Cameron Brink to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Liberty (13-3) led 60-54 with 2:58 left in the third quarter before Ionescu and Jones combined to score the first 11 points of a 13-0 run to give New York a two digits. Ionescu started with three straight points and Jones added one. Ionescu then found Jones for an easy basket on the next possession.

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Spark box score

WNBA standings

STANLEY CUP FINAL

Schedule and results
All Pacific times
Florida Panthers vs. Edmonton Oilers
at Florida 3, Edmonton 0 (box score)
at Florida 4, Edmonton 1 (box score)
Florida 4, Edmonton 3 (box score)
in Edmonton 8, Florida 1 (box score)
Edmonton 5, Florida 3 (box score)
Friday in Edmonton, 5 p.m., ESPN
*Monday in Florida, 5 p.m., ESPN

*-if necessary

THIS DATE IN SPORT

1932 – Jack Sharkey scores a 15-round split decision over Max Schmeling to win the world heavyweight title in New York.

1960 — Armin Hary of West Germany becomes the first man to run 100 meters in 10.0 seconds at a competition in Zurich, Switzerland.

1964 — Jim Bunning of the Philadelphia Phillies pitches a perfect game against the New York Mets. The no-hitter gives Bunning one in each league and Gus Triandos of the Phillies becomes the first catcher to deal with no-hitters in both leagues.

1965 – Gary Player becomes the third man to win all four major professional golf titles when he captures the US Open. The player beat Kel Nagle by three strokes in a playoff round. Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan won the US Open and the British Open, the Masters and the PGA.

1970 — Britain’s Tony Jacklin becomes the first English golfer in 50 years to win the US Open, defeating Dave Hill by five strokes.

1970 — FIFA World Cup Final, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City: Brazil and Pelé become the first team and player to win the World Cup 3 times, defeating Italy 4-1 in front of 107,412.

1971 – Lee Trevino beats Jack Nicklaus by two strokes in a playoff to win the US Open.

1975 — S. Kaye Bell becomes the first woman to train the winner of a $100,000 stakes race when she sends Mr. Lucky Phoenix to win the Michigan Mile and the One-Eighth Handicap at Detroit Race Course.

1988 – 42nd NBA Championship: The Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons 4 games to 3.

1994 – Lori McNeil defeats five-time champion Steffi Graf 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) in the first round of Wimbledon. Graf becomes the first women’s champion to lose in the first round.

1997 – The New York Liberty beat the Sparks 67-57 in the inaugural WNBA game. A crowd of 14,284 attends the game at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood.

2003 – Lennox Lewis retains the heavyweight title when a cut stops Vitali Klitschko after six violent rounds. All three ringside judges have Klitschko winning 58-56, but ringside doctor Paul Wallace orders referee Lou Moret to stop the fight.

2012 – Miami’s LeBron James ends his title run with 26 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds, Chris Bosh adds 23 points, Dwyane Wade scores 20 points and the Heat defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, winning 121- 106.

2015 – Jordan Spieth becomes the sixth player to win both the Masters and the US Open after Dustin Johnson three-putts 12 feet on the final hole at Chambers Bay for a chance to win the championship. Spieth, 21, becomes the youngest player to win two majors since Gene Sarazen in 1922 and was the youngest US Open champion since Bobby Jones in 1923.

2018 – Arizona center Deandre Ayton is the first pick in the NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns.

Compiled by Associated Press