No. 3 UCLA gymnastics beats No. 12 Stanford in senior meet

• March 10, 2025

LOS ANGELES — UCLA gymnast Chae Campell mouthed every word to Kendrick Lamar’s “They Not Like Us” as she readied for her floor exercise routine.

Every motion was explosive — tumbling passes looked sharp and dance choreography was expressive. Campbell brought back a routine from her freshman year and left it all on the floor in her final performance at Pauley Pavilion.

She held her teammates and coaches and shared tears with them, at least until an unexpected 9.825 score was announced.

“Chae’s floor routine was remarkable,” Jordan Chiles, the final floor performer, said. “It wasn’t so much for me to flip it around because there was nothing for me to flip around.

“Her routine was amazing. She brought back a routine that everybody loved, so it was really cool to see that she was able to throw everything out on the floor. And we had the floor party, so we had to just keep pushing forward.”

The moment dampened the magic of the senior meet, but UCLA (13-2) was still able to beat Stanford 197.765-197.100 on Sunday despite the late drama.

Chiles won the all-around with a 39.750 score and claimed first place in every event except for balance beam, in which she tied for second.

Balance beam proved to be one of the most steady events on the day for UCLA. Gymnasts and coaches linked arms as they watched the Bruins on balance beam, trying to manifest a score high enough to finally pull them ahead of Stanford by a comfortable distance.

UCLA fulfilled that wish, nailing six scores above 9.900 to pull ahead of Stanford (10-3) 148.150-147.600. Emily Lee tied a season-high with a leadoff 9.925 and Ciena Alipio and Emma Malabuyo each hit that same score to close out the final two scores.

“We didn’t really dial in landings on vault very well today,” head coach Janelle McDonald said. “By the time we got to beam, they had settled and there was just this calm confidence that they would performed with. They just got up and did what they do in training every day. It was really cool to see that come to fruition.”

UCLA had fallen behind after a 49.225 team score on vault but gained enough ground after the second rotation to lead 98.575-98.475. The vault score was the lowest since Feb. 14 when the Bruins recorded a 49.100.

Jordan Chiles served as the anchor in both vault and on uneven bars in the second rotation and hit a 9.95 in each event. The 9.95 on vault tied a career-high.

She brought home another 9.95 on floor exercise as the Bruins swept the event. Macy McGowan and Brooklyn Moors each scored a 9.925 to tie for second and Emma Malabuyo had a 9.900 for fourth place.

McDonald was visibly frustrated with Moors’ and Chiles’ scores and told reporters after the meet that the coaching staff has turned in routine summaries in order to get feedback from judges. McDonald also said she was concerned that Campbell’s score was outside of a range that judges are required to adhere to under a new scoring system this season.

“We can only control so much,” Moors said. “Of course we wanted those big scores but at the same time, I just have to remember that I don’t care as much about the scores but rather how I make people feel. I know Chae is the exact same way.”

UCLA honored eight gymnasts in a senior meet celebration that took place after the meet: graduate students Campbell, Carissa Clay, Frida Esparza and Brooklyn Moors; seniors Mia Erdoes, Lee and Malabuyo and junior Clara Wren, who is graduating early.

Exhibition routines gave seniors a chance to shine, even though they haven’t been able to regularly break into lineups this season. Mia Erdoes drew applause on uneven bars and balance beam and Carissa Clay smiled the whole time on beam — even though a slight stumble.

It all happened in front of a crowd of 12,915 people. Fans had crammed into the lower level of Pauley Pavilion and filled out the upper level, too.

“The very first time I came to Pauley as the head coach was for ‘Meet the Bruins’ a few years ago,” McDonald said. “I looked around and I imagined seeing people all the way up at the top of the rafters and today, it became a reality.”

​ Orange County Register 

Kings’ balanced offense shines in narrow win over Golden Knights

• March 10, 2025

LAS VEGAS — Adrian Kempe scored the winner in the Los Angeles Kings’ 6-5 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday night.

Quinton Byfield, Warren Foegele, Anze Kopitar, Trevor Moore and Brandt Clarke also scored for the Kings. David Rittich stopped 27 shots in the win.

Tomas Hertl scored a hat trick, and Nicolas Roy and Brandon Saad also scored for the Golden Knights. Adin Hill had 29 saves.

The Kings won their second straight and ended the Golden Knights’ four-game winning streak that started after a 5-2 loss in Los Angeles on Feb. 24.

Los Angeles went 3-1 against the Golden Knights this season, having won three in a row.

Takeaways

Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and forward Warren Foegele both earned their 100th career assists.

Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith played in his 900th career game and assisted on Roy’s goal.

Key moment

Byfield’s goal 1:56 into the second period extended his goal streak to three games and put the Kings ahead 3-0

Key stat

Kopitar scored his 16th goal of the season and his 16th career goal against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Up next

The Kings start a three-game home stand against the Islanders on Tuesday. The Golden Knights kick off a four-game road trip in Pittsburgh the same night.

​ Orange County Register 

Galaxy remain winless after loss to St. Louis City SC

• March 10, 2025

CARSON — The post-championship life is not treating the Galaxy well.

The Galaxy lost their third consecutive league game and fourth overall, losing 3-0 against St. Louis City SC in front of 19,271 at Dignity Health Sports Park Sunday.

The loss was the second at home this season after going unbeaten at home during the championship season in 2024.

“We created enough chances (in the first half) to score three goals ourselves,”  Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “And we have zero.

“We give them hope by giving them goals. A team that couldn’t get anywhere near the ball, had no idea how to get close to the ball, they were suffering and we throw-kick the ball into our own goal and it gives them a chance to breathe and believe in something.”

That moment came in the late stages of the first half.

After the Galaxy had their best stretch of attacking play of the season. In the 44th minute, Maya Yoshida went up to clear a corner attempt, but he collided with goalkeeper Novak Micovic. The ball was quickly cleared off the line, but not far enough as Cedric Teuchert hit the back of the net for the goal and a 1-0 lead.

“At the end of the day, results are about goals,” Vanney said.” But the ease with which we give up goals can be demoralizing …the first goal can’t happen.”

The Galaxy, riddled with injuries, have struggled to find any level of consistency so far this season. They’re currently in wait-and-hold on mode as Joseph Paintsil, Matheus Nascimento and Miki Yamane return from injury in the coming weeks. Mauricio Cuevas is another injury on the mend. Riqui Puig and Lucas Sanabria are long-term injuries.

However, as the losses and injuries mount, the schedule isn’t waiting. The Galaxy’s busy March still has four games remaining, including two more in the next seven days.

“It’s the worst start that we can have,” midfielder Marco Reus said. “(We’re) conceding too many goals and not scoring. At the moment, it’s a little bit frustrating.”

Less than five minutes into the second half, the Galaxy was hit another blow, with Marcel Hertel’s goal, which the sequence starting on a turnover in midfield.

St. Louis City made it 3-0 in the 84th minute on Simon Becher’s goal. St. Louis entered the game scoreless in their two games of the season.

Whatever offensive chance that the Galaxy did create, St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Burki was there to end any hopes of a goal. Burki ended the game with eight saves. Through four games (three MLS and one in CONCACAF Champions Cup), the Galaxy have scored only one goal.

“We will find a way to turn things around, hopefully Wednesday,” Reus said.

The Galaxy return to CONCACAF Champions Cup play Wednesday at home against CS Herediano in the second leg of their round of 16 series. The Galaxy trail 1-0 after last Wednesday’s loss in Costa Rica.

​ Orange County Register 

Laguna Woods seniors live out their rock ’n’ roll fantasies

• March 10, 2025

“Here come the jesters, one, two, three

It’s all part of my fantasy

I love the music and I love to see the crowd

Dancing in the aisles and singin’ out loud.”

Those lyrics are from Bad Company’s 1979 hit “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy.”

In Laguna Woods retirement community, 19 residents got to live out their own rock ‘n’ roll fantasy at the Sing With the Band concert Feb. 20 at Clubhouse 5, put on by the Theatre Guild.

Sure, there’s karaoke and open mic – who hasn’t done that?

But this was different.

The 19 singers auditioned to be part of the show (and apparently no one was turned down). They rehearsed with the band – Laguna Woods’ own Rock of Ages. And they got star billing when they performed on stage, with the musicians in the background (OK, so RoA lead singer Jeff Sinclair helped out with the vocals a bit). Some even came dressed for the part.

And the crowd went wild – yup, dancing in the aisles and singin’ out loud, clapping and cheering, even high-fiving the singers.

It could have been any tribute band playing at a club’s monthly dance.

“There was great energy – the band and the audience,” said Madelyn Enright, who crooned “Blue Bayou,” Linda Ronstadt’s signature song. “It was a great experience to sing with a live band. The energy was just so special.”

Jeff Weissberg was a hit channeling Mick Jagger in his red sequined jacket and belting out the Rolling Stones classic “Miss You.”

“It was exhilarating,” he said.

Exhilarating, thrilling, energizing – all words used by the singers when they came off stage.

But before they hit the spotlight, many admitted to being nervous and worried about forgetting the words. Though some said they had sung karaoke in bars, this time there was no machine displaying the lyrics on a screen.

“God, I tried to remember the words! I’m so glad it’s over,” said Jean Madigan, who just turned 89 and sang Chuck Berry’s rockin’ and rollin’ “Johnny B. Goode.”

Jean Reitz was nervous before she took the stage to sing Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” (the one about thunder only happening when it rains). “I had to let go and just do it,” she said.

And she did it just fine.

“I loved it,” Reitz said. “It was very energizing and fun, especially the support from the band and the audience, ready to rock.”

Here’s what the pro had to say:

“If you don’t have experience performing in front of an audience, it certainly takes a lot of courage,” said Sinclair. “It takes chutzpah to get up and do that. If you hit a sour note, you don’t want to be known for that. I thought it was very brave of them to do it.”

Some of those who sang said they had some show biz experience under their belts

Kathleen Kernohan, who crooned “Crazy,” by Patsy Cline, said she was a professional backup singer for Robert Goulet in the 1970s and also toured with Lawrence Welk.

Penny Hanold, who also sang “Dreams,” was a professional singer in the ’80s and ’90s, she said, performing country rock and with a jazz pianist.

Stan Levin is a veteran of bands in Laguna Woods and of jam sessions outside the gates. He got the crowd moving with some swamp rock in “Green River,” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, and he played a mean harmonica, too.

Gregory Anderson, a seasoned thespian, got the heavy metal thunder rolling with Steppenwolf’s classic “Born to Be Wild” (who can forget “Easy Rider”?). He’s got some Vegas experience: He said he’s been known to sing karaoke at an Irish pub in Sin City. Plus he has experience singing in his car, he said.

“It was a rush,” Anderson said of performing with Rock of Ages. “As the band started, I immediately got into the groove, and boom! I felt the music, felt the song and gave it everything I had.

“I was in somewhat of a daze, but I could see the crowd up front was enjoying it, which gave me more confidence to really deliver.”

Lou Reinitz, who just turned 88, sang the Eagles’ “Peaceful Easy Feeling.” He said he sang R&B professionally, and he still sings in church every week.

He wasn’t nervous, he said, or worried about forgetting the lyrics.

“The hardest part was walking out on stage without my cane,” Reinitz said. “And I wasn’t gonna sing a rock song with a cane.”

Looking mighty non-nervous and just like a rock star, Victoria Herbert came all decked out, from the pink feathers in her hair down to her fluffy pink house slippers. In fact, she was so not nervous, she sang two songs.

The first was the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There,” except Herbert tweaked the lyrics: Instead of singing, “I saw HER standing there,” she sang, “I saw HIM standing there” (what starry-eyed girl didn’t do that back in the day, and, heck, she probably still does that).

And instead of the line “she was just 17,” Herbert sang “he was just 70” (gotta know your audience, right?).

Herbert’s second song was the great Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee.”

“I hope to channel Janis,” she said. “She’s got a lot of soul and she sings with a lot of heart, and I hope I do too.” And, boy, did she ever.

The experience on stage “totally brought out my inner rock star,” Herbert said. “It was a dream come true.”

Singing with a live band is “kind of a bucket list thing for a lot of people,” Sinclair said. “It’s not something they do – it’s just something they always wanted to try.”

And did the pro have a favorite singer?

Yeah, sure, but we’ll leave him with his diplomatic response: “I enjoyed every singer for the courage it took to get up and do that. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Think you got the guts to sing with the band? Sinclair and Barbara Powell of the Theatre Guild, who produced the show, are hoping to repeat the experience in the fall.

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: UCLA gets revenge, Big Ten title and maybe an overall No. 1 seed

• March 10, 2025

As the CBS network announcers noted Sunday afternoon, a good portion of L.A. took over Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse Sunday afternoon for the women’s championship game of the Big Ten tournament. In an unusual (to say the least) college sports season, maybe that was the most delightfully weird event of all.

UCLA (30-2) and USC (28-3) have been the two best teams in Big Ten women’s basketball, by far, and two of the best in the country without a doubt. And No. 4 UCLA’s 72-67 victory Sunday – after No. 2 USC had swept the regular season series and put the only blemishes on UCLA’s record – may have earned the Bruins the No. 1 overall seed in what is now a 68-team women’s bracket, which will be revealed next Sunday.

USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb told reporters in the postgame press conference in Indianapolis that she’d thought that whoever won that final should be the overall No. 1 seed.

“I do think I would agree with her,” UCLA coach Cori Close said after she reached the podium. “Obviously, USC is an excellent team and they’ve handed it to us twice. But the fact (is) that they’ve been our only two losses, we were No. 1 in the country for (12) weeks …

“They’re an excellent team. They’re a championship-caliber team. And I remember the very first time we played at their place, Lindsay said. ‘I’m really hoping we’re going to get to do this four times.’ And I think that it would mean a lot for us both to be No. 1 seeds. You have to prove yourself, right? Your play has to back that up. And I hope we do get a chance to do it in Tampa (for) a fourth time.”

Tampa, of course, is where the Final Four will be held, April 4-6. Wouldn’t a USC-UCLA battle on April 6, with everything on the line, be a blast?

There’s a lot between now and then. It’s likely that the Bruins and Trojans will both be No. 1 regional seeds, will host subregionals the weekend after next and, assuming both win twice, will both wind up in Spokane, where two of the four regionals will be held the weekend of March 28-29.

Close’s mood obviously was a lot better this weekend than it was last Saturday night in Pauley, when USC laid an 80-67 whipping on UCLA. The Bruins were down 45-35 at halftime Sunday but tightened the defensive screws in the second half, holding the Trojans to 22 percent shooting overall (8 of 36) and 2 for 15 from beyond the 3-point arc, and limiting JuJu Watkins to 4 for 15 shooting in the second half.

Before Sunday, in JuJu’s two seasons at USC her teams had beaten UCLA four times in five games. This was different. Even though Watkins finished with 29 points, seven of them came in the final 1:13, when the Women of Troy were desperately trying to catch up. Before that, she was 1 for 12 from the field in the second half.

“I think we came up with the right energy,” Watkins said. “I just don’t think our shots were falling. And, you know, we tried to to get it back and we couldn’t.”

UCLA players had talked of wanting to play USC again, which is a natural reaction after a team has spanked you. But let’s not get carried away here. The Trojans wanted the Bruins, too. It’s a rivalry, no other explanation needed.

“I think it’s always hard (to face a team) three times, even two times, just knowing that we’ve already done our scout, they’ve done (their) scout, so figuring out ways to tweak it,” Watkins said. “But we were excited to play them as well. It’s not like we shy away from competition. We’re always grateful to play them because they push us and we push them.”

And this is the point of the basketball season where, while a loss might seem crushing for the moment, it can also provide motivation for the future.

“The two losses that we’ve had prior to this (to Notre Dame in December and at Iowa in February), I thought our team responded and really bounced forward,” Gottlieb said. “And that’s what we’ll do heading into the NCAA tournament. And my guess is this is going to make us even better (since) that half of basketball will be out of us.”

That’s how UCLA responded not only Sunday but through the entire three-game stretch in Indianapolis.

“We made a really big emphasis on rebounding, getting those 50-50 balls,” Kiki Rice said. And even though I think they ended up outrebounding us, we still found a way in the second half to really turn that up and just hustle and fight, and that’s what we lacked the previous two times we played them.”

Who could possibly have imagined, years ago, that the road to a Big Ten championship would run through Los Angeles?

“This is a really talented team, and we knew that we were coming to an amazing conference,” Lauren Betts said. “We never doubted that. But we put in a lot of work all preseason. And we had the confidence that we were going to win this tournament, and no one was going to deny us from that.

“The work that was done in the dark, it just showed today.”

At this point UCLA has its best women’s basketball winning percentage ever (.909) and the program’s first 30-victory season. The program’s gold standard probably remains the 1977-78 Bruins, coached by Billie Moore and featuring four-time All-American Ann Meyers (now Ann Meyers Drysdale). They were 27-3 (.900) and hung a banner as AIAW national champions, four years before the NCAA first held a women’s basketball championship tournament.

But there’s obviously still plenty to accomplish here, against a much more competitive field than existed in ’78. And Close added something you might not expect regarding a team that had been No. 1 for so much of the season.

“It’s interesting, as good as we’ve been, we’re not as confident as you would think,” she said. “And I think they earned some more confidence tonight. I think you want your team hungry and edgy going into the NCAA tournament, but also really confident.

“I think our team earned some confidence tonight. And I think that’s going to go a long way.”

In other words, look out.

jalexander@scng.com

​ Orange County Register 

Kawhi Leonard’s game-winning shot lifts Clippers past Kings in OT

• March 10, 2025

INGLEWOOD — Up until that point, until the final second, Kawhi Leonard had missed 12 shots. A dozen chances to avoid the last-second situation the Clippers were in. But when the team needed a basket from their superstar, Leonard came up big.

With less than 20 seconds left, Leonard danced around the key, putting up a wobbly attempt with his left hand that bounced off the heel of the rim, then the front before dropping through the basket as time ran out to give the Clippers a 111-110 overtime victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday at Intuit Dome.

After the buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the tense back-and-forth battle, Leonard raised his fist then ran into the crowd of teammates who came on the court to celebrate.

“I was trying to run down the clock to get the last shot,” Leonard said. “BShaw (acting head coach) wanted me to shoot the last shot with the time expiring and that’s what was going through my process, trying to get the court organized and was able to do that.”

Leonard struggled all night to find the basket. He was 6 of 18 from the field before the game-winner and made just one of seven 3-point attempts for 17 points.

Looking at Leonard’s minutes, which had reached 36, and his stat line, Shaw pulled Leonard after two minutes in overtime. But as the game grew tighter, Leonard said he was “just itching” to get back on the court and convinced Shaw to put him back in with 1:59 left.

“Didn’t want to sit,” he said.

Shaw, who was coaching in place of Tyronn Lue, who left the arena before the game because of back pain, didn’t regret the move. “Kawhi didn’t have it going, but I thought all the shots that he took were good shots, they just didn’t go in,” Shaw said. “So, I played the odds that the next one was going in.”

It proved to be a good bet as the Clippers nailed down their third consecutive victory.

“I expected that they (Kings) felt like the ball was going to go to James (Harden) and he was going to make the play for us down the end,” Shaw said. “He had been holding us down pretty much all night, but that’s a compliment to him in terms of his selflessness. I think he was confident with Kawhi shooting that shot from his spot.”

Harden, who scored six of his 29 points in overtime, wasn’t surprised at Leonard’s final shot.

“Big-time players make big-time plays. He’s done it throughout his entire career,” Harden said. “He struggled but when the time is needed, he steps up and makes a big time shot. … The confidence don’t change. Because he puts the work in. For him to step up and hit a game-winner shows the confidence and type of player he is.”

Before he left, Lue spoke during his pregame media session about the need to win a third consecutive game, this one against a conference opponent and a team that sat too close for comfort in the standings.

The Kings (35-29) came into the game a half-game behind the Clippers in ninth place in the Western Conference. A victory would give the Clippers a cushion in the standings; a loss would drop them below the Kings and deeper into Play-In territory.

The Clippers stayed put in the No. 8 spot but winning the game was in doubt until the last second.

The lead changed several times in the final minutes of the overtime period.

Down by one, Harden jumper put the Clippers ahead 109-108 with 30 seconds left in overtime. DeRozan made two free throws to take a 110-109 edge and the Clippers called time out with 22 seconds left to figure out a final play.

Shaw said the anticipated the Kings would look for Harden to attempt the game-winner considering his strong outing. He scored 29 points, making 10-of-19 shots and had nine rebounds and 11 assists.

Instead, Leonard got the ball and the victory.

“I think that threw them off,” Shaw said.

Ivica Zubac finished with another double-double, scoring 22 points and pulling down 14 rebounds. Derrick Jones Jr., who had two key baskets in overtime, finished with 17 points.

“They’re a big problem,” Kings interim coach Doug Christie said of the Clippers. “James Harden is playing at an incredible level. Zu is an incredible scorer and Kawhi, his legs are coming back to the way they were and that’s scary.”

The teams played twice in November but that was three months ago and much has changed with both squads. Some players are gone, others have arrived. One such player was LaVine, a two-time All-Star who came to the Kings in a trade with the Chicago Bulls.

“We saw him about a month ago, he played for the Bulls, so he’s a great player,” Lue said. “Attacks mid-range, 3-point shot, gets to the basket, gets to the free throw one. And so, we just got to make sure we’re locked in. No easy shots, make him play.”

LaVine did all that and more, finishing with 30 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the field. He missed all but one of his 3-point attempts but had seven rebounds and two assists.

DeRozan had a game-high 31 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists, while Jonas Valanciunas, filling in for injured center Domantas Sabonis, had nine points and 17 rebounds.

​ Orange County Register 

Kite party brings splash of color to the sand and sky in Huntington Beach

• March 10, 2025

Whatever you do, don’t call it a festival.

There’s no set schedule or events during the two-day gathering, warns Dave Shenkman, owner of Kite Connection on the Huntington Beach Pier and founder of the Kite Party event. Just some of the world’s best kite fliers, who come from around the world, hanging out for a party on the sand, kites in hand.

“It’s just hang out, fly kites,” said Shenkman.

Shenkman started the “gathering” 21 years ago when he asked on an online forum if people would show up if he could get a section of sand blocked off.

Now, more than two decades later, it has become the go-to spot for the best kite flyers in the world to showcase their skills, some traveling from around the country and as far as the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and beyond.

Shenkman caps the number of participants at 100, and each year the registration fills up, though casual kite flyers and spectators are welcome to partake in the fun outside of the sectioned areas.

Beaches are some of the best places in the world, and most popular for kite festivals.

“But there is only one kite party in the world, and this is it,” Shenkman said. “It has become world famous.”

​ Orange County Register 

Lakers embrace ‘next-man-up’ mentality with LeBron James sidelined

• March 10, 2025

NEW YORK — As LeBron James stood in front of his visitor’s locker at TD Garden late Saturday night, he downplayed the concerns surrounding the groin injury that sidelined him for the final 6 ½ minutes of the Lakers’ winning-streak ending loss to the Boston Celtics.

“Not much concern,” James said. “Obviously, we go day to day, look at it each day, see if it gets better, and take the proper measurements to see what we need to do going forward.”

And while the initial assessments of James’ injury are in line with his comments, the Lakers still will likely have to navigate the next couple of weeks without the 40-year-old star in the lineup.

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Sunday that James is expected to miss at least 1-2 weeks because of a strained left groin – a timeline that suggests the injury isn’t too severe, as James expected, but an injury that’ll continue to be monitored in the coming days.

“I mean, hopefully it’s nothing,” Luka Doncic said postgame on Saturday. “Obviously to get injured at this time, those injuries are – I don’t want to say the worst, but they are tough to deal with. So, just take his time and we got to have as a team a next-man-up mentality.”

James said that the first thing that came to his mind after hurting his groin on Saturday was the groin tear he suffered during the 2018 Christmas Day game against the Golden State Warriors during his first season with the Lakers in 2018-19, which caused him to miss 17 straight games and over a month of action.

He added that he doesn’t feel this groin injury is as bad as that one – which the initial assessment suggests is the case. James also suffered a less severe groin injury during the 2022-23 season in a loss to the Clippers on Nov. 9, 2022, missing the next five games.

James immediately responded, “yeah, for sure, for sure,” when asked if he’ll remain with the team during their four-game trip, which continues on Monday against the Brooklyn Nets and concludes with a back-to-back against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday and Denver Nuggets on Friday.

He added on his status for the trip: “Hopefully. We’ll see what happens in the next few days and then go from there.”

But this groin injury will likely keep James, who’s listed as out for Monday, sidelined for a significant amount of games during the Lakers’ compressed stretch of games over the next couple of weeks.

In addition to Monday, the Lakers are set to play seven games in 11 days – including three consecutive back-to-back sets.

The Lakers were already dealing with multiple injuries before James’.

Coach JJ Redick said on Saturday that Rui Hachimura, who’s been sidelined since Feb. 28 because of left patellar tendinopathy, will miss at least another week because of the injury.

Dorian Finney-Smith won’t be available for Monday’s game against the Nets because of left ankle soreness. Doncic is questionable for Monday because of back soreness while starting center Jaxson Hayes, who sat out of Saturday’s loss because of a bruised right knee, is also listed as questionable for the matchup against the Nets.

The Lakers (40-22) enter Monday as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, percentage points ahead of the Denver Nuggets (41-23), who they’ll play twice in a span of six days – Friday at Ball Arena and March 19 at Crypto.com Arena.

James has been a constant during the Lakers’ strong play over the last two months.

Even with Saturday’s loss, the Lakers have gone 20-5 since Jan. 15, tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the best record during that stretch. They have the league’s best defensive rating (108) and third-best net rating (plus-8.8) in that span, with James leading the way with averages of 26.9 points (52.8% shooting, 37.5% on 3-pointers), 9.1 rebounds and 8.1 assists in his 24 games since Jan. 15. That stretch included games with Doncic and Anthony Davis (traded to the Dallas Mavericks for Doncic), with James winning Player of the Month for February.

“It’s a next-man-up mentality,” Austin Reaves said. “We’ve had many situations where a player deals with some type of injury or a trade or whatever it is, and we’ve done a really good job of bouncing back. And I don’t expect anything else.

“Not one person’s gonna do what LeBron does for us. But you can do it as a collective. And hopefully he gets back out on the court soon.”

LAKERS AT NETS

When: Monday, 4:30 p.m. PT

Where: Barclays Center, New York

TV/radio: Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM

​ Orange County Register