The Sports Report: Clippers put it all together in rout of Sacramento Kings

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

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On Wednesday night, one month and 11 games into their up-and-down experiment of incorporating four future Hall of Famers on one roster, the Clippers proved that the elusive can be done. Their starting wing trio of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and James Harden can, in fact, all find their offensive rhythm on the same night. Their offense can operate cleanly. And instead of raising questions, they can produce a commanding performance befitting their lofty ambitions.

Wednesday’s 131-117 victory against Sacramento at Golden 1 Center was their first win on the road in four chances against an opponent with a winning percentage of .500 or better.

The Clippers (8-9) set season bests for a first half in points (72), three-pointers (11) and fewest turnovers (one) while leading by as many as 22 points.

Leonard scored 34 points, Harden had 26 and Paul George added 19. Every starter scored in double figures, with Ivica Zubac scoring 14 and Terance Mann 18.

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Clippers box score

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LAKERS

From Dan Woike: Darvin Ham said he was ready to fall in line.

One game after the Lakers’ biggest star, LeBron James, said “a lot” needed to change in the aftermath of a 44-point loss to Philadelphia, Ham shaved his salt-and-pepper beard into a goatee.

“Yeah man, just following LeBron’s orders,” Ham deadpanned. “Had to change my face. I thought he was talking about my beard.”

The Lakers coach thought a little levity would be the right approach, a potentially problematic situation avoided thanks to a light touch.

Instead of drowning his players with lowlights after the blowout loss to the 76ers, the Lakers coach instead highlighted the positive, trying to send the message that one bad night doesn’t define his team.

Wednesday against the league-worst Pistons (2-16), the Lakers had a chance to swing the pendulum back, and thanks to a great night from D’Angelo Russell, they did so convincingly.

The Lakers (11-8) easily beat Detroit 133-107, the Pistons’ 15th straight loss. Russell scored 35 points to go with nine assists and two blocks. Anthony Davis had 28 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks and James added 25 points and eight rebounds, the stars of the game spending most of the fourth quarter on the bench.

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Lakers will face familiar foe in quarterfinals of NBA’s in-season tournament

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USC BASKETBALL

Boogie Ellis scored 28 points, hitting a career-high eight three-pointers, and USC routed Eastern Washington 106-78 on Wednesday night.

The Trojans (5-2) bounced back from a two-point loss to Oklahoma last week that dropped them out of the AP Top 25 poll.

Ellis shot nine for 13 from the floor and missed just two of three-point attempts. Isaiah Collier added 15 points despite four fouls as one of five Trojans in double figures.

The Eagles (1-6) were led by former UCLA player Jake Kyman with 25 points, including seven three-pointers.

The Trojans stretched their lead to 31 points to start the second half when Ellis made three three-pointers.

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USC box score

UCLA FOOTBALL POLL

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KINGS

Anthony Mantha and Connor McMichael each had a goal and an assist and the Washington Capitals beat the Kings 2-1 on Wednesday night to end the Kings’ winning streak at five games.

Mantha had his third multipoint game to tie Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome for the team lead. McMichael had his second multipoint game.

Aliaksei Protas added two assists and Charlie Lindgren stopped 37 shots to help the Capitals snap a two-game losing streak.

Arthur Kaliyev scored for the Kings and Cam Talbot made 13 saves. The Kings lost for the first time in regulation when scoring first, dropping to 11-1-1.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1948 — Baseball’s Negro National League disbands.

1956 — Floyd Patterson knocks out Archie Moore in the fifth round to win the world heavyweight title in Chicago.

1969 — Russ Jackson throws a record four touchdowns to lead the Ottawa Rough Riders to a 29-11 victory over Saskatchewan Roughriders in the CFL Grey Cup championship.

1979 — Sugar Ray Leonard wins the WBC welterweight title with 15th-round knockout of Wilfred Benitez in Las Vegas.

1987 — Bo Jackson, also an outfielder for the Kansas City Royals, rushes for 221 yards to lead the Los Angeles Raiders to a 37-14 rout of the Seattle Seahawks. Jackson, playing in his fifth NFL game, scores on runs of 91 and 2 yards and has a 14-yard touchdown reception.

1990 — Boston’s Larry Bird scores his 20,000th career point in the Celtics’ 123-95 win over Washington at the Garden. Bird is the fifth player in league history (along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, John Havlicek, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West) to gather 20,000 points, 5,000 rebounds and 5,000 assists in his playing career.

1991 — San Diego State’s Marshall Faulk becomes the first freshman to capture the national rushing and scoring titles after gaining 154 yards in 27 carries in a 39-12 loss to top-ranked Miami.

1996 — Michael Jordan becomes the 10th player in NBA history to reach 25,000 points after scoring 35 in the Bulls 97-88 win at San Antonio. Jordan reaches 25,000 in 782 games, faster than any other player but Wilt Chamberlain (691).

2008 — Keith Tkachuk reaches 1,000 career points with the tying goal late in the second period in St. Louis’ 4-2 victory over Atlanta.

2013 — Chris Davis races 100-plus yards with a missed field-goal attempt for a touchdown on the final play to lift No. 4 Auburn to a 34-28 victory over No. 1 Alabama. Davis catches the ball about 9 yards deep in the end zone after freshman Adam Griffith’s 57-yard attempt falls short. He sprints down the left sideline and cuts back with nothing but teammates around him in a second straight hard-to-fathom finish for the Tigers.

2015 — Kobe Bryant announces his intention to retire at the end of the season.

Compiled by the Associated Press