The Sports Report: Cooper Kupp to miss at least four games

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Gary Klein: Rams star receiver Cooper Kupp, who suffered an ankle injury in last Sunday’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals, will have surgery and will be placed on injured reserve, coach Sean McVay said Tuesday.

Kupp, the reigning NFL offensive player of the year, will have surgery Wednesday and be sidelined for at least four games.

“You never ever replace a player like Cooper Kupp,” McVay said. “But we’ve got to figure out the best way to accentuate the skill sets of the guys that will be playing.”

The Rams (3-6) play the New Orleans Saints (3-7) on Sunday in New Orleans.

Despite the Rams’ struggles — they are in last place in the NFC West — Kupp was having another exceptional season. He has 75 catches for 812 yards and six touchdowns.

McVay stopped short of declaring Kupp out for the season.

“What we’ve learned, more than anything, especially this year, is let’s just take it a day at a time,” McVay said, adding, “I don’t think you want to pigeon-hole yourself into one approach.”

LAKERS

As part of our look back at 75 years of the Lakers, we want you to tell us who you believe are the 10 greatest Lakers of all time. Minneapolis and Los Angeles are included, so don’t hesitate to put someone like George Mikan on your list. Compile your list of the 10 greatest Lakers, in order from 1 to 10, and email it to houston.mitchell@latimes.com. Our team of experts voted on players only, but you can include nonplayers, so if you think Chick Hearn or Jerry Buss or heck, even Dancing Barry, deserve a spot in the top 10, feel free to vote for them. You have until Dec. 1 to vote. First place on your ballot will receive 12 points, second place nine, third place eight points, etc. The readers’ top 10 will be announced soon after voting closes.

CLIPPERS

From Broderick Turner: The complete Clippers comeback from 25 points down was so tantalizing close, an intentionally missed free throw close, a fumbled rebound close.

But in the end, close wasn’t good enough for the Clippers, a 103-101 defeat to the Dallas Mavericks leaving Los Angeles in agony because of how close it almost all come together.

“That’s what we’ve been about the last three years,” Clippers coach Ty Lue said about his team “competing” and coming back in games. “We didn’t start the game particularly well offensively or defensively and got behind. And when you get behind by that many points, it’s hard to try to catch up and then you get exhausted.”

Nicolas Batum had been the man of the hour for the Clippers, knocking down three-pointer after three-pointer, going seven-for-seven from three to become the only player in franchise history to be perfect from the three-point line in a single game.

Batum had stepped to the free-throw line for two with 4.2 seconds left and the Clippers down by 103-100.

He made the first free throw but missing the second on purpose.

Lue said wanted to run their “X free-throw” play, which turned out to be Batum missing the free throw to the right side of the rim.

The basketball bounced and ended up in the hands of Robert Covington. But as he tried to get possession of the ball, he lost it out of bounds.

“I was fouled on that play,” he said. “Simple as that.”

And that was it for the Clippers.

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UCLA FOOTBALL

From Bill Plaschke: UCLA will beat USC.

It’s crazy to predict this game, crazy to risk the outpouring of ridicule if wrong, crazy to attempt forecasting the most evenly matched crosstown rivalry duel in many years — crazy, crazy, crazy.

Doing it anyway.

Doing it because this is what UCLA does.

The Bruins have been deflated, they’re embarrassed, they blew their chance at the national playoffs with an unthinkable loss Saturday night to Arizona and …

And here comes USC, rolling along, three wins from possibly its own playoff spot, no trap losses here, only a blindingly bright future and …

And this is when UCLA knocks USC’s lights out.

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As it tries to finalize a move to the Big Ten Conference, UCLA has developed a strong preference for its most despised rival.

According to a survey of Bruins athletes, 93% said it was important or very important to keep UCLA in the same conference as USC, the nemesis it will face Saturday at a sold-out Rose Bowl for a likely spot in the Pac-12 championship football game. Only 24% of Bruins athletes said keeping UCLA and sister school California in the same conference met the same level of importance.

In what might go down as one of the most monumental days in the history of UCLA athletics, the UC Regents could declare their intentions Thursday during a meeting at UC Mission Bay. The agenda for that day has been revised to add an action item that would allow the regents to intervene or withdraw any objections to UCLA’s Big Ten move in the event there is a consensus during the open session.

USC FOOTBALL

From Ryan Kartje: As Travis Dye was loaded onto an injury cart Friday night, his left leg wrapped in a cast, Austin Jones stood close by, devastated. The running backs had transferred from other Pac-12 Conference schools in search of opportunity, both winding up in the same USC backfield, having committed just days apart.

They had grown close since then, encouraging each other even as Dye’s role grew at the expense of Jones.

Now one of their runs with the Trojans was over without warning, Dye suffering a season-ending injury. “To see him go out like that, it hurts me,” Jones said Friday.

When Jones later barreled his way into the end zone on a receiving touchdown in USC’s 55-17 win over Colorado at the Coliseum, he held up two fingers, then six as tribute to his fallen friend, who wore No. 26.

The reins of the USC rushing attack are now in Jones’ hands, though it’s unclear how much he will share them this week with rival UCLA on tap Saturday night at the Rose Bowl. Trojans coach Lincoln Riley said on his radio show Monday night that Jones is “obviously Option 1,” but a breakout performance from freshman Raleek Brown has seemed imminent all season. Darwin Barlow, who rushed for 41 yards and a touchdown against the Buffaloes in his first extended action, also could play a part.

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Who will win the big USC vs. UCLA football game? The Times’ experts weigh in

Commentary: To reach playoff, USC would likely need to win heated Tennessee debate

ANGELS AND DODGERS

From Jack Harris and Sarah Valenzuela: Tyler Anderson is staying in the Southland, but it won’t be with the Dodgers.

Instead of accepting the Dodgers’ qualifying offer of one year and $19.65 million on Tuesday, the left-handed pitcher agreed to a three-year contract with the Angels worth $39 million, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. The Dodgers will get draft compensation in return.

Star shortstop Trea Turner also declined his qualifying offer from the Dodgers and remains a free agent, likely to receive one of the biggest contracts of any available player this winter. That decision had been expected. Anderson’s crosstown move, on the other hand, came as a surprise.

The 32-year-old journeyman had a breakout season with the Dodgers, who needed him to take on a far more prominent role than originally expected when he signed a one-year, $8-million deal in the spring.

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1929 — USC and Notre Dame play before 112,912 at Soldier Field in Chicago, with the Fighting Irish prevailing 13-12. It’s the third time in the 1920s that the two schools attract more than 112,000 fans.

1957 — Notre Dame ends Oklahoma’s NCAA record 47-game winning streak with a 7-0 triumph.

1957 — Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics sets an NBA Record with 49 rebounds in a 111-89 victory over the Philadelphia Warriors.

1962 — Wilt Chamberlain scores 73 points, including 45 in the first half, to lead the San Francisco Warriors to a 127-111 victory over the New York Knicks.

1968 — Ron Johnson rushes for 347 yards and scores five touchdowns to lead Michigan to a 34-9 rout of Wisconsin.

1976 — Rick Barry of the San Francisco Warriors ends then the longest NBA free throw streak of 60 in a 110-102 win over the Seattle SuperSonics. Barry scores 33 points, including 9 of 10 from the free-throw line.

1980 — Doug Williams of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers passes for 486 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-30 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

1982 — The NFL Management Council and the NFL Players’ Association announce settlement of a 57-day player strike.

1991 — Gerry Thomas of No. 1 Florida State misses a 34-yard field goal by the length of a football with 25 seconds left, giving No. 2 Miami a 17-16 victory.

1993 — Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf of the Denver Nuggets has his consecutive free throw streak end at 81 in an 86-74 loss to San Antonio. Abdul-Rauf’s streak is the second longest in NBA history, trailing only the record 97 established by Minnesota’s Micheal Williams one week earlier.

1996 — Byron Hanspard of Texas Tech becomes the sixth major-college player to run for 2,000 yards in a season, rushing for 257 yards and four touchdowns in the Red Raiders’ 56-21 victory over Southwestern Louisiana.

1996 — Corey Dillon set an NCAA rushing record for a quarter, gaining 222 yards on 16 carries in the first period as No. 15 Washington overwhelmed San Jose State 53-10.

2002 — Larry Johnson rushes for 327 yards, a career-high four TDs and shatters the 31-year-old school career rushing record, leading Penn State to a 58-25 victory over Indiana.

2008 — Pittsburgh rallies to beat San Diego 11-10, the first such final in NFL history, spanning 12,837 games.

2012 — Stanford snaps defending national champion Baylor’s 42-game winning streak, winning 71-69 when player of the year Brittney Griner misses a short turnaround at the buzzer.

2013 — Cartel Brooks of Heidelberg runs for 465 yards to set an all-division NCAA record in a 42-14 win over Baldwin Wallace. Brooks, with 38 carries, scores on runs of 81, 41 and 13 yards.

2013 — Ricardo Louis scores on a deflected 73-yard pass on fourth and 18 with 25 seconds left to lift No. 7 Auburn to a stunning 43-38 victory over No. 25 Georgia.

2014 — Erica Enders-Stevens wins the Auto Club NHRA Finals to become the first woman to earn the Pro Stock world championship title.

2017 — James Harden scores 23 of his 48 points in the second quarter while Houston puts up 90 points in the first half en route to a 146-116 win over Phoenix. The Rockets make 61 percent of their first-half shots to get the second-most points in a first half in NBA history.

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

Cal vs. Stanford, “The Play.” Watch and listen here.