Sports

The day after Christmas is for more than seeking bargain Christmas sales or making returns on gifts. It’s also the first chance for high school basketball players who had to sit out the first half of the season after transferring to make their debuts. At the Classic at Damien, Loyola got an immediate lift in…

Lakers guard Austin Reaves will miss at least a month with a grade 2 strain in his left calf, the team announced Friday, one day after he left the game against the Houston Rockets at halftime. Reaves, averaging career highs in points (26.6), assists (6.3) and rebounds (5.2), had already missed three games with what…

While the swirl of chatter around Travis Kelce on Christmas Day was on whether he plans to retire at the end of the season, the 11-time Pro Bowl tight end quietly moved up to No. 9 on the NFL all-time receiving list. Kelce’s fifth and last catch in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 20-13 loss to…

p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> Lakers coach JJ Redick points and direct his team during the fourth quarter of a loss to the Rockets on Thursday at Crypto.com Arena. (Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images) When the Lakers were climbing up the Western Conference standings, improbably winning games with LeBron James and Luka Doncic injured and celebrating Austin Reaves’…

The Lakers felt good about their starting lineup Thursday when Luka Doncic and Rui Hachimura returned from injury to restore their normal starting unit for only the seventh time this season. But that good feeling didn’t last long. Coming out of halftime down 10 points to the Houston Rockets, Austin Reaves missed the entire second…

PHOENIX — It’s not the lineups, the injuries or necessarily the system. The cause of the Lakers’ defensive demise is a thousand little decisions gone wrong. “It comes down to just making the choice,” coach JJ Redick said after the Lakers gave up 132 points in a blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. “It’s making…

p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> People place bets at Santa Anita Park, where purses have declined along with the number of horses racing and lack of money coming from off-site betting. (Getty Images) Figuring out the purse for 34 of the 35 graded stakes races at Santa Anita is, for horsemen anyway, maddeningly simple: Just look up the…

Matthew Stafford was voted to the Pro Bowl this season, but the Rams veteran quarterback stopped concerning himself about the recognition more than a decade ago. In 2011, the then third-year pro passed for more than 5,000 yards and 41 touchdowns for the Detroit Lions. Stafford thought he had a chance to make the NFC…

p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert runs with the ball against the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 21. (Julio Cortez / Associated Press) Saturday, 1:30 p.m. TV: CBS, NFL Network. Line: Chargers by 1½. O/U: 39½. Houston has been a hard matchup for the Chargers, and can turn up the heat on Justin Herbert. But Jim…

CIF City Section and Southern Section high school boys’ and girls’ basketball scores for Tuesday’s games.