Retiring after a dogged career helping others

• March 13, 2024

Henry George Campuzano Booth’s golden hair rustled gently in the morning breeze. It was as soft and inviting to the touch as a newborn baby’s.

Not bad for a guy retiring.

After nine years of service answering 885 crisis calls, including earthquakes, fires, floods and mass shootings, Henry, an 11-year-old, 98-pound golden retriever, is hanging up his leash as a certified therapy dog.

On Tuesday, dozens of well-wishers surprised Henry and owner Steve Booth with a retirement party outside UCI Medical Center in Orange. The gentle dog with the breed’s trademark smile was there to roam the halls and provide positive energy for the last time.

Booth, 68, retired as a sergeant from the OC Sheriff’s Department in 2015. He knows now is Henry’s time to bow out. The dog’s hips are old and in need of resting, Booth said. Over the years he’s provided therapy support at several local hospitals, as well as with crisis response teams after big emergencies.

“He absorbs all the positive and all the negative” Booth said of Henry. “It takes a toll.”

Booth’s wife, Janet, is also dealing with Parkinson’s disease and needs the team home.

Henry’s career includes about 4,000 hours of volunteering – sometimes 10-hour days, five days a week during disasters – providing comfort for people experiencing the darkest hours of life.

Henry has interacted with more than 100,000 people, by Booth’s estimate.

Working traumatic events has also provided Booth perspective on the frailties of life, he said.

In 2018, as part of the HOPE Animal-Assisted Crisis Response team, Booth and Henry were dispatched to the deadliest fire in California history. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and devoured 153,336 acres, including more than 18,000 structures.

There, in Northern California, a man in his early 30s wearing a baseball cap sat down next to Henry and unloaded, not even acknowledging Booth. He told the dog he had managed to save his pregnant wife, but lost his house, truck and dog to the fire, Booth said.

The man finally looked at Booth when he was done and said, “Thanks, I needed that.”

Tuesday, dozens of well-wishers formed a rope line and Henry seemed to know he was the guest of honor. Politely spending time with each person before he moved on, Henry was indeed the center of attention. He would take a bow on command and give “paw-tographs,” a personalized baseball card he slapped with his paw before Booth handed it to the smiling recipient.

“Happy Retirement K-9 Henry!” read an apple-and-oat cake with peanut frosting and bacon bits.

Wally Wong observed quietly from a metal bench.

Henry and Booth had visited his wife, Sandy Chang, in the hospital last year before she died, Wong said. “Some sun shined in a fairly dreary moment. It lit her up.”

He tracked the pair down after they were featured on the Jumbotron at a Ducks game last week during UCI Health and Wellness night.

“I wanted some closure,” Wong said of his visit to the party.

Booth said Henry has been a blessing. “I’ve been lucky enough to share him with everyone.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Travel: Enjoy spa splurges in Maui’s resplendent Wailea

• March 13, 2024

“Sheer bliss”: these were the only words I could muster after a sublime 90-minute “awa” couples treatment at the Willow Stream spa in Maui’s Wailea resort region. Inside this elegant retreat in the luxurious Fairmont Kea Lani, two expert massage therapists gently kneaded our travel weary muscles using traditional native Hawaiian techniques and locally made spa scents, oils and scrubs that left us with an inner glow that lasted for days.

There are five luxurious resorts in South Maui’s Wailea region offering extensive spa and wellness centers, and this sun-kissed coast has become a prime destination for Hawaii travelers seeking exceptional spa splurges.  These seaside retreats offer a wide menu of treatments, including traditional Hawaiian lomi lomi (healing hands) massage and pohaku massage, which uses heated lava rock and Himalayan salt stones paired with healing botanical oil blends.

The men’s spa at Willow Stream Spa at the Fairmont Kea Lani features relaxation chaises. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

After several days of pool and beach lounging, ocean swimming, island sight-seeing and long coastal  hikes, my wife and I were more than ready to treat ourselves to the Willow Stream spa regimens. After enjoying a sauna and steam room in separate mens’ and womens’ facilities, we donned white robes and were escorted to a subtly lit, mood music-enhanced treatment room. It was instantly peaceful and calming.

Our side-by-side, full body massage treatment began with a 30-minute exfoliation using a Maui cane sugar-citrus scrub and was followed by an hourlong massage using a special “awa” (also known as “kava”) salve.  After our session was over, we walked back into the world with a newfound sense of relaxation, wellness and, of course, smelling like a tropical bouquet.

A tray featuring Maui citrus scrub and “awa” (kava) salve is shown at Willow Stream Spa. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

Ready to hit the spa? Here are our recommendations for Wailea’s most sensational spa offerings:

‘Awili Spa & Salon, Andaz Maui at Wailea

‘Awili specializes in creating customized treatments designed with personal wellness goals in mind.  All 90-minute body treatments include a 30- minute full body massage. Choices include “WRAP” —a heated hibiscus, kelp and clay mask wraps your body in a warm cocoon to detox and purify,  “QUENCH” — a hydrating and firming Vitamin C body polish and antioxidant rich vitamin C mask to moisturize and revitalize dull, dry skin, or “EXFOLIATE”, which uses locally made sugar scrub and hydrating body butter to renew dull, dry skin.

For a super spa splurge, try the all-inclusive “UNITE” five-hour treatment where couples unwind in a private ocean view spa suite. A detoxifying hibiscus clay body wrap is followed by a choice of Hawaiian aromatherapy treatments and personalised massages. Afterward, spa guests enjoy an included ppolside lunch in a private cabana and head to the nail salon for manicures and pedicures with an ocean view. Details: hyatt.com/en-US/spas/Awili-Spa-and-Salon/home

Après spa: Andaz has two excellent restaurants, Ka’ana Kitchens and Morimoto Maui, but the best post-spa dining treat is the resort’s Feast at Mokapu luau, set on the resort’s grassy lawn overlooking the shores of Mokapu Beach. While enjoying interactive storytelling and hula perfomances, guests can indulge in an ohana-style meal of 15 locally inspired dishes. Luau prices: adults: $340, children $180. Details: feastatmokapu.com

Kilolani Spa, Grand Wailea

Kilolani Spa at the sprawling Grand Wailea resort opened on Feb. 28. The $55 million, 50,000-square foot facility focuses on the kaulana mahina (Hawaiian moon) calendar’s core concepts, featuring a holistic approach to wellness with treatments steeped in traditional Hawaiian practices. Details: spa.grandwailea.com

Drawing inspiration from the kaulana mahina — the Hawaiian moon calendar — which divides each month into three helu po or moon phases, Kilolani creates space for healing, rejuvenation and restoration and encompasses forty treatment rooms, including couples’ treatment suites, a meditation lounge, reflection lounge, halotherapy-infused infrared saunas and hydrothermal gardens.

The spa features hand-selected native botanicals, holistic bodywork treatments, and mindfulness practices. Treatments range from Hawaiian beauty facials to traditional massages such as lomi pohaku (hot stone treatment and massage), lomilomi (healing hands) and ho’omalie (pohaku and lomilomi combined) massage.

Après-spa: Botero Lounge offers craft cocktails, fresh sushi and a range of inventive dishes amid nine larger-than-life sculptures by the late renowned artist Fernando Botero, the namesake of this signature lounge in the heart of the Grand Wailea’s open-air lobby.

For a fabulous fine dining experience in a lagoon-side setting, check out the resort’s Humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa (named after a type of local fish) restaurant, known for its extensive seafood menu.

Olakino Wellness Experience & Mandara Spa, Wailea Beach Resort-Marriott

Olakino, Wailea Beach Resort’s newest pool destination, is an adults-only wellness experience. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

Wailea Beach Resort’s newest pool destination, Olakino, is an adults-only wellness experience, designed to relax and rejuvenate mind, body, and soul. The exclusive experience includes culinary refreshments and 10-minute “mini-massages” in a private poolside setting. The small infinity saline pool has ocean views, in-water chaise lounges, shaded loungers, double daybeds, and luxury cabanas. Details: marriott.com

A green juice smoothie welcome drink and mineral water are served poolside at Olakino Wellness Pool, Wailea Beach Resort. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

There are four themed areas of focus at Olakino: La’i (tranquil, harmony) promotes a sense of calm and peace designed to settle mind and body into a tranquil state. Ala (awaken) rejuvenates bodily senses with invigorating and intentional movement workshops. A’o (to acquire knowledge) seeks “to delve into healing arts and cultural traditions from wellness practitioners and teachers.” And Konea (restored) focuses on guided fluid movement practices to restore overall wellbeing. As part of the all-day Olakino experience, guests savor chef-curated offerings like wagyu skewers and locally sourced farm-fresh salad bowls. Poolside cabana massage treatments, including sound therapy using brass “singing” bowls from Nepal, for singles and couples are available by reservation.

Luxury cabanas are among the amenities offered at Wailea Beach Resort’s Olakino Wellness Experience. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

The Balinese-inspired Mandara Spa inside the Wailea Beach Resort’s lobby level aims to embody the island’s natural beauty and sense of aloha. Overlooking the ocean, Molokini crater, and the island of Kaho`olawe, the 9,153-square feet facility features eleven treatment rooms (some ocean view single treatment rooms) and deluxe couple’s suites for body treatments and massages. A relaxation area, steam room, lockers, and showers are located in the center of the spa and are separated for men and women.

A masseuse provides a “mini massage” to a guest at Wailea Beach Resort. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

Their signature facial treatment starts with a deep cleansing, exfoliation and extractions ands finishes with a hand, arm, and scalp massage and an application of a signature beauty oil. Massage treatments include a “Fire & Ice” massage using heated basalt stone complemented by ice-cool gels to gently detoxify the body, alleviate stress and ease aching muscles.

The Wailea Beach Resort’s Olakino Wellness Pool features a waterfall. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

A coconut poultice massage uses coconut compresses, warmed to to release natural emollients rich in Vitamins E and K, to nourish and moisturize the skin. The poultices are then applied to pressure points to relax muscles and release tension. Other massage offerings include traditional Balinese, Hawaiian body scrub, lomi lomi and ku’uipo (couples), Thai and reiki (Japanese) treatments.

Après-spa: Satisfy post-spa hunger at Humble Market Kitchin by Roy Yamaguchi, the resort’s signature restaurant. Savor Hawaiian-inspired fare in an airy restaurant with panoramic beach and ocean views.

Maui Spa, Four Seasons Maui

Maui Spa offers a variety of massage techniques from traditional Hawaiian to Swedish to Lymph drainage and sleep well treatments. Not to miss are the two signature Hawaiian treatments: the lomi pohaku (Hawaiian stones) massage, and lomi mohala using an exclusive herbal oil blend that melts away tension with rhythmic forearm strokes, allowing a feeling of mohala or “heart opening.” The treatment concludes with a foot scrub using a locally made organic ginger-turmeric salve. Details: www.fourseasons.com/maui/spa

Après-spa: Ferraro’s Restaurant & Bar has a stunning oceanfront dining setting, perfect for enjoying coastal Italian cuisine under the Hawaiian heavens.

Willow Stream Spa, Fairmont Kea Lani

This is the men’s sauna at Willow Stream Spa at Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

The womens’ (wahine) side has three special showers to enjoy before your spa treament:  ua noe (morning mist), ua naulu (afternoon rain), ua hekili (evening storm). The men’s side (kane) features a wai Huihui (cool down) and ua loku (power) showers.

Après-spa: The fabulous new Pilina (meaning “connections” in native Hawaiian) features the longest oceanfront bar in Wailea. The breezy, open-air interior features custom-made furnishings, some of it made from gorgeous Hawaiian monkeypod and koa wood. It’s a great place to watch sunset and enjoy aina-driven cocktails made with Hawaii-made made spirits, such as a custom rum blend from Hawaii Island’s Kuleana Distilling, a golden ale from Maui Brewing Company, plus additions such as bee pollen from the Hawaii Island and lavender from upcounty Maui. Island-fresh seafood and sushi offerings include ahi seared on a hot river rock.

​ Orange County Register 

Rent is too damn high. It’s keeping interest rates elevated, too

• March 13, 2024

Some analysts note that inflation rates are boosted by just a couple of factors, especially shelter prices.

In short, the rent is too damn high — and it’s keeping inflation and interest rates elevated alongside it. Some analysts think that it’s going to stay that way for a while.

Rent has increased significantly over the past year. And despite the Federal Reserve’s best efforts to bring it down, it isn’t budging as quickly as expected.

Shelter costs — which make up about 30% of CPI — are one of the biggest drivers of services inflation and one of the biggest costs and most essential items for Americans.

Over the past year, about two-thirds of the increase in core CPI came from shelter alone, said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate, in a recent note.

Bank of America analysts say “shelter inflation has been a big focal point for the market.” And they expect that to persist this year “and think that services inflation moderation is likely to be slower than the market expects.”

Optimism and pessimism

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a January press conference that an ease in shelter prices is imminent.

“We think that’s coming, and we know it’s coming,” he said. “It’s just a question of when and how big it’ll be.”

An eventual shift to lower rents is in “everyone’s forecasts,” said Powell.

Well, not everyone.

Some economists aren’t expecting a drop anytime soon. “We remain confident that [rent prices] will flatline in 2024, rather than fall,” Capital Economics analyst Thomas Ryan wrote in a recent note.

Rent isn’t like other consumer goods, said Ritti Singh, an organizer with Housing Justice for All. “Once it goes up, it stays up.”

Greedflation

Landlords across the country, said Singh, have been using inflation as an excuse to raise rents exorbitantly without real cause.

Many landlords were forced to raise rents to cover increases in mortgage costs or repair costs, but the majority of localities don’t have laws that regulate how much they can increase rents in a single year. Zillow economists have found that current asking rate rents are up 29.9% since the beginning of the pandemic.

Singh believes that the Fed alone won’t be able to effectively drive down rental inflation. There needs to be local legislation to regulate what landlords can raise rents by as well, she said.

Weird data

Some economists say that CPI data is skewed and can paint a false picture of how high inflation currently is.

The CPI tracks rents that renters pay, but the majority of shelter costs in the index come from something called owners’ equivalent rent. Instead of factoring in the cost of purchasing a house, the index attempts to factor in how much rent homeowners would pay if they rented rather than owned their home.

The thing is, homeowners do own their homes. Inflation on hypothetical rent prices for homes they don’t rent isn’t actually being felt. Plus, rent and home prices don’t always move in sync, and so this can create a false equivalency.

The data could also be lagging.

Research by Goldman Sachs and the Dallas Fed finds that actual rent and owners’ equivalent rent lag the rest of CPI by a full year. That means a current deceleration in rent prices won’t be fully factored into inflation data until February 2025.

So even though data shows that rents across the US cooled last month, dropping for the sixth month in a row nationwide, and providing a bit of relief to renters, that won’t show up in CPI data for a while.

2024 economic forecasts

 
Chapman: ‘Very slow growth. No recession’

CS Fullerton: ‘Cracks’ will widen to a mild recession in late 2024

US Realtors: Housing rebound from 2023’s dismal sales

California Realtors: Rising prices, sales in 2024

USC: SoCal rents to rise 2-4% a year through 2025

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​ Orange County Register 

After protests, SoCalGas scales back plans to test hydrogen energy at UC Irvine

• March 13, 2024

Nearly 15 months after protestors chalked “students aren’t lab rats” and similar messages on a UC Irvine sidewalk, Southern California Gas Co. has scaled back and revised plans for a test that would have used hydrogen to replace up to 20% of the natural gas now running through the university’s pipelines.

SoCalGas first asked state regulators in fall of 2022 for permission to use electricity from the state’s grid to make a lower-carbon fuel blend that included hydrogen and to pipe that new blend into university dorms, offices and restaurants. But that plan sparked pushback from student, faculty and environmental groups, and on March 1 the investor-owned utility changed its request, asking for permission to use solar power to make hydrogen that would be tested in a closed system and only at UC Irvine’s Anteater Recreation Center.

The utility also asked to move a portion of the testing to a new location.

Now, if the Public Utilities Commission approves the amended application from SoCalGas, the first hydrogen testing in an open system in California could be centered on homes and businesses in Orange Cove — a small, low-income and largely Latino citrus farming town near Fresno.

The tests are supposed to demonstrate how gas pipelines and the appliances (such as ovens and furnaces) they fuel will hold up once different amounts of hydrogen are introduced to the system.

Displacing any amount of natural gas in our statewide energy portfolio could help with climate change, since burning hydrogen doesn’t emit the same planet-warming carbon dioxide as burning natural gas, which is up to 90% methane. That’s why hydrogen has become a key focus in recent years for some researchers and regulators seeking cleaner substitutes for fossil fuels, with the gas included in decarbonization plans from multiple state and federal agencies.

But hydrogen also can make pipelines get brittle and potentially fail faster than systems carrying natural gas alone. And most appliances in the United States weren’t designed to run on hydrogen blends.

Studies in labs and limited projects in places such as Hawaii, Canada and Europe suggest that as much as 30% hydrogen can be blended into natural gas systems without triggering significant problems, though no such tests have happened yet in California.

Read more: Plan to test hydrogen energy at UC Irvine, other spots, stirs controversy

So if these SoCalGas tests at UC Irvine and Orange Cove — which are being pitched along with similar projects by the state’s three other investor-owned gas utilities — can help establish a safe threshold for hydrogen blending, it could pave the way for a new statewide policy on the future use of hydrogen. That, in turn, could allow utilities to start injecting some level of hydrogen into more than 100,000 miles of natural gas pipelines throughout California by the end of the decade.

“We’re going to need all the tools in the toolbox to get to greenhouse gas neutrality,” said Neil Navin, chief clean fuels officer for SoCalGas.

Many climate and public health advocates strongly oppose this concept. They argue we can already decarbonize buildings by swapping, say, gas-powered water heaters for electric heat pump versions. So, beyond limited uses for hard-to-decarbonize sectors, they call hydrogen a risky and costly distraction that simply lets fossil fuel companies extend demand for their products amid heightened pressure to clean up their acts.

The risk comes because hydrogen leaks more easily than natural gas alone, since it’s smaller and lighter. Hydrogen leaks also are harder to detect. And if hydrogen does leak, prior to being burned as an energy source, it too becomes a greenhouse gas — one that’s also roughly five times more likely than natural gas to ignite.

Costs associated with these tests and transitions can get passed on to residents and other ratepayers. And the price tag for SoCalGas’ planned hydrogen blending tests is now more than six times higher than it was before, with the prior proposal at UC Irvine projected to cost $13 million while the updated project is pegged at $26.8 million in Irvine and $53.6 million in Orange Cove.

For all of these reasons, some students, faculty members and climate advocates still aren’t sold on the scaled-back hydrogen testing plan at UC Irvine.

“Once again this appears to be a project that is completely unnecessary, is dangerous for students and is just designed to make money for the gas company at the expense of ratepayers,” said Ayn Craciun, who oversees Orange County issues for Climate Action Campaign, a coalition of environment and public health groups.

UC Irvine ended up on the front line of this debate because it is home to the National Fuel Cell Research Center, which has been testing hydrogen for years.

The center is led by Jack Brouwer, an engineering professor at UCI who has studied hydrogen for 25 years. Brouwer’s team has worked with SoCalGas on other projects. So he said previously that this next test seemed a natural fit after the CPUC asked gas companies back in 2019 to help develop standards for safely injecting hydrogen into the statewide natural gas system.

A three-person committee at UC Irvine, made up of engineering and chemistry professors, reviewed the latest proposal from SoCalGas. They called it “a necessary first step” to establishing a statewide standard for safely blending hydrogen into natural gas pipelines. So the committee recommends that UC Irvine allow the test to move forward if certain safety protocols are in place, including continuous leak monitoring, monthly surveys of the system and installation of remote methane and hydrogen monitoring systems.

Navin said SoCalGas is “committed” to looking at all of those recommendations and to working with the university to move the project forward.

After facing complaints for not notifying the community about the project as it was originally planned, UC Irvine has now launched a website with frequently asked questions and updates. University officials said they’re also forming student and administrative groups to discuss the project before it might go up for final review.

Read more: UCI leaders to SoCalGas: don’t test hydrogen blend in dining areas and freshman dorms

SoCalGas hopes to install an electrolyzer at UC Irvine, a device that would make hydrogen by shooting an electrical current through water and splitting hydrogen atoms from oxygen atoms. That hydrogen would be stored in tanks until being injected into a skid, where it would blend with natural gas. The mix then would be delivered to the recreation center.

Originally, that hydrogen would have been made using an electrical current powered by the state grid. But much of the state grid still relies on fossil fuels, so that project wouldn’t have met many climate group’s definition of “green hydrogen.”

SoCalGas’ new plans call for installing new solar panels at UC Irvine and in Orange Cove, so they could make hydrogen using entirely renewable energy.

The mix at UC Irvine would start at just 5% hydrogen. Under that level, a study out of UC Riverside said there are few concerns about how the pipeline system and appliances fueled by it would perform. But after three months, the blend would be bumped up to 10% hydrogen. And at six months, it would hit 20% and stay there for one year.

If green hydrogen displaced 20% of all natural gas used in California today, Navin said it would be equal to taking more than 1.5 million gas-powered cars off the road.

Open system tests planned in Orange Cove pipelines, which serve nearly 10,000 residents and businesses, would involve much lower amounts of hydrogen. SoCalGas wants to start by mixing in just 0.1% hydrogen, then gradually move up to 5%.

Asked how SoCalGas chose Orange Cove for this project, Navin said work around the clean energy transition often gets “concentrated in urban environments and academic environments.” So he said, “This was an opportunity to work with a smaller community that wanted to engage in the energy transition and look at developing tools like hydrogen blending as a part of the solution for getting to greenhouse gas neutrality.”

Orange Grove city officials didn’t respond to requests for comment by deadline.

More than 96% of Orange Cove’s residents are Latino and nearly half live in poverty, per the latest U.S. Census data. The region surrounding Orange Cove also regularly experiences some of the worst air quality in the nation thanks to dust and emissions from nearby dairy and agricultural farms, trucking routes between warehouses, oil and gas operations, and wildfires that plague the region’s mountains. So while Katherine Ramsey, a senior attorney with Sierra Club, called the original UC Irvine project “an expensive, poorly thought out proposal,” she said, “this new iteration is even worse.”

“It’s unconscionable that SoCalGas now wants to use the residents of a Latino farming community as guinea pigs for this pilot,” Ramsey said. “Hydrogen blending is too nascent to be tested in people’s homes.”

Sara Gersen, an attorney on Earthjustice’s Right To Zero campaign, also raised concerns about risks to Orange Cove residents, who she said “deserve a swift transition to electric appliances that won’t pollute their homes and neighborhoods.” Instead, she said, “SoCalGas’ hydrogen project threatens to increase lung-searing pollution in a community already breathing some of the most polluted air in the country.”

The CPUC will conference with the gas utilities in a meeting May 13 but extended a deadline to weigh in on the test projects until fall of 2025.

In the meantime, anyone can sign up to be notified when the utility commission considers the project. They can also send comments of support, opposition or questions to the commission, to UC Irvine and to SoCalGas.

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​ Orange County Register 

Washington lineman with numerous college offers transfers to Mater Dei

• March 13, 2024

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Offensive tackle Kodi Greene, one of the top high school football prospects in Washington, has enrolled at Mater Dei, the sophomore confirmed.

The 6-foot-6, 290-pound Greene said he started classes at Mater Dei on Tuesday.

Last season, Greene played at Eastside Catholic in Sammamish, Wash. The Crusaders opened with a 20-0 loss against Orange Lutheran and finished with a 9-3 record.

Greene holds more than a dozen scholarship offers, including Michigan, Washington, Oregon and USC.

He has been compared to former Mater Dei offensive tackle Brandon Baker, a senior who signed with Texas.

Mater Dei is seeking to replace Baker (6-5, 295) and tackle DeAndre Carter (6-5, 295), who signed with Auburn.

Greene is the second major sophomore transfer to arrive at Mater Dei in the offseason. Wide receiver Chris Henry Jr., a transfer wide receiver from Ohio, is a sophomore committed to Ohio State.

Chaparral junior quarterback Dash Beierly, a Washington commit, also recently transferred to Mater Dei.

Please send football news to Dan Albano at [email protected] or @ocvarsityguy on X and Instagram

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​ Orange County Register 

Clippers fall to Timberwolves after Kawhi Leonard leaves with back spasms

• March 13, 2024

LOS ANGELES — Losing large double-digit leads has become an unnerving trend in the NBA. Many teams, whether they are top-tier or sit near the bottom of the standings, have seen significant leads evaporate amid a barrage of 3-pointers.

The Clippers have experienced this phenomenon a few times this season, the most recent coming Tuesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

After leading by as much as 22 points in the first half, the Clippers’ focus gave way, resulting in a 118-100 collapse to the Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena.

The dropoff seemed to coincide with Kawhi Leonard’s departure. He left the court after playing 12 minutes because of thoracic spasms that made it difficult for the All-Star wing to sit. The two-time NBA Finals MVP dressed and left Crypto.com Arena during the second quarter.

Coach Tyronn Lue said Leonard has been dealing with the spasms for a couple of days, but he decided to try and play.

“It just didn’t loosen up for him,” Lue said.

Leonard wasn’t the only Clippers starter playing in discomfort. James Harden, who has played in all 59 games that he has suited up for, has a sore left shoulder that has hampered his shooting. He made just 4 of 10 shots from the field.

It’s uncertain whether Leonard and Harden will be available for the Clippers’ upcoming two-game trip.

“We’ll see tomorrow how I feel,” Harden said.

Without Leonard and an effective Harden, the Timberwolves encountered little resistance and took advantage of the Clippers’ 18 turnovers.

Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards picked up the scoring in place of Karl-Anthony Towns, who is out with a left meniscus tear. Edwards scored 29 of his game-high 37 points in the second half and Nickeil Alexander-Walker added a season-high 28 points to lead the Timberwolves to their third victory in four games against the Clippers this season.

“He has dog,” Lue said of Edwards. “He don’t care who’s in front of him, he’s going to try. He’s going to attack you and he’s relentless.”

The game was big, not only in terms of the Western Conference standings but as a potential tiebreaker. The loss left the Clippers (41-23) sitting 3½ games behind first-place Oklahoma City Thunder and gave a head-to-head tiebreaker edge to the third-place Timberwolves, who are now three games ahead of the Clippers in the standings.

“We got to get better and understand that all these games mean something,” Lue said. “Not just Minnesota tonight with the tiebreaker, but the other 18 games after this; they all mean something. So, we’ve got to have the right approach, understanding what we want to do on offense, what we want to do on defense and actually execute it.

“That’s got to be our mindset for these last 18, 19 games.”

Especially if Leonard is out for any length of time. The two-time NBA Finals MVP sat out a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday because of left groin soreness and there wasn’t any word about how the back spasms will affect his availability going forward.

Fellow All-Star Paul George said Leonard mentioned his discomfort but still tried to push through it.

“I mean that’s him. I mean if he can go, whatever the case that the narrative people may think, being around him, he’s going to try to push through what he can and tonight was a sign of it,” George said. “But yeah, it just got locked up on him.”

George picked up as much of the slack left by Leonard, scoring 22 points on 5-of-11 shooting and making all 10 of his free-throw attempts. Harden had a quiet 12 points and seven assists, while Norman Powell finished with 12 points.

Meanwhile, the Timberwolves made their move largely after Leonard departed, going on a 20-2 run that nearly erased the work the Clippers did early in building their 22-point lead. Behind Edwards’ long-range shooting, Minnesota pulled to within 59-55 with 51 seconds left in the first half.

“For the most part it’s been the same Achilles heel we’ve been having,” George said. “It’s giving up offensive rebounds. Transition, we were good to start the season off, but we’ve had slippage there. But I think more than anything, we got to give a little bit more effort.”

The Timberwolves struggled from 3-point range for much of the first half. Without Towns, the team’s second-best 3-point shooter, they languished. It wasn’t until the late shooting spree that they managed to find the basket from behind the arc.

They shot 36.4% (12 for 33) from the 3-point range and 51.1% overall (48 for 94). The Clippers shot 47.2% (34 for 72) from the field and 36.7% (11 for 30) from long range.

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That wasn’t the only area where the Timberwolves held an advantage. They outrebounded the Clippers 48-34, scored 22 more points in the paint and had 11 more second-chance points.

“You can go down the list. It was a lot of things that we didn’t do well,” Lue said. “And, I thought they were tougher than us. They played tougher than we did and that’s the result. And, so, we just got to be better.”

The Clippers managed to regroup and hang on for a 63-55 halftime lead, but that lead wasn’t safe, either.

After George buried his second 3-pointer to put the Clippers ahead 66-57, Minnesota went on a 12-0 run to grab the lead at 69-68 with 7:21 left in the third quarter and led 84-78 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Clippers failed to capitalize offensively, coming up empty on their final seven possessions of the quarter, which allowed the Timberwolves to take over and open their own 22-point lead.

​ Orange County Register 

Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner reach quarterfinals at Indian Wells

• March 13, 2024

INDIAN WELLS — Second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz avenged a previous loss to Fabian Marozsan, winning, 6-3, 6-3, on Tuesday to reach the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open as the top remaining seed in the men’s draw.

A day after “lucky loser” Luca Nardi stunned No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the third round at Indian Wells, Alcaraz advanced easily over the Hungarian who ousted him from the Italian Open in May. Marozsan was a qualifier and the No. 135 player in the world when he upset Alcaraz – then on the verge of taking the top spot in the rankings – 6-3, 7-6 (4), in the third round in Rome.

“Honestly, I was nervous before the match. I’m not going to lie,” Alcaraz said. “Playing against someone that beat you. … Today I knew what I had to do.”

Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner beat Ben Shelton, 7-6 (4), 6-1, later Tuesday for his 18th consecutive victory. The third-ranked Italian has won 15 matches in a row to start 2024, claiming titles at Melbourne and Rotterdam. It was the 150th hard-court victory for the 22-year-old Sinner, who became the first player born in the 2000s to reach that milestone.

Sinner had a set point, up 5-4 and 40-30 in the first, before Shelton was saved by a net cord. It then took Sinner another 15 minutes to close out the first set; in the second, he went up 3-0 and coasted to the victory.

Sinner advanced to the quarterfinals to play Jiri Lehecka, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Alcaraz, the defending champion at Indian Wells, dropped the first set in his opening match this year but has lost just 12 games in the other six sets. He will face Alexander Zverev, who rallied after losing the first set to Alex de Minaur and won, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.

On the women’s side, Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-4, 6-1, and Anastasia Potapova defeated Jasmine Paolini, 7-5, 0-6, 6-3.

​ Orange County Register 

Ducks can’t keep up with Connor Bedard, Blackhawks in lopsided loss

• March 13, 2024

By TIM CRONIN The Associated Press

CHICAGO — The Ducks saw more than enough of Connor Bedard on Tuesday night.

The 18-year-old Chicago Blackhawks rookie had a goal and four assists to set his single-game high in points, Philipp Kurashev scored twice and had two assists, and the Blackhawks hammered the Ducks, 7-2, on Tuesday night.

Ryan Donato, Seth Jones, MacKenzie Entwistle and Tyler Johnson also scored for Chicago, which has won two straight games for just the second time this season.

Brett Leason scored both goals for the Ducks, who dropped their third straight.

Bedard, the top overall pick in last June’s draft and a leading candidate for NHL Rookie of the Year, got his fifth point when he assisted on Johnson’s power-play goal midway through the third period. Bedard has eight points in two games and 10 in the last four.

“There were a lot of positives,” Bedard said. “It’s funny. I had eight straight games without a goal, then you have a couple big ones and people forget about that. Enjoy, but we’ve got to turn the page.”

The Blackhawks, suddenly resurgent on the power play, scored four times with the man advantage.

“Give them credit,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “It’s a 4-2 game, and they came out the second or third shift of the third period and stripped us of the puck on a forecheck and made it 5-2 (on Entwistle’s goal). Now you’re chasing the game.”

Aside from being involved in a third-period scrap behind his net, Chicago goalie Petr Mrazek had a relatively quiet night, making 27 saves. Ducks goaltender John Gibson made 20 stops before getting into the scrap and getting pulled in favor of Lukas Dostal, who made four saves.

Leason’s short-handed goal opened the scoring midway through the first period, but the Blackhawks evened the score before their power play expired when Donato poked the puck behind Gibson during a goal-mouth scrum.

It took Chicago just 1:34 to tie the game a second time following Leason’s goal early in the second period. Kurashev took Bedard’s pass on a 2-on-1 and beat Gibson from short right wing. Nick Foligno picked up the first of his career-high four assists by starting the play.

“I think they were just good on the forecheck,” Leason said. “We just couldn’t get a lot of pucks out. They were quick to transition off our turnovers.”

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Jones’ pinch deep into Ducks’ territory resulted in the Blackhawks’ second power-play score and a 3-2 lead, with Bedard picking up an assist.

“That’s nice for a change after being on the other side of it,” Foligno said. “We’ve been a work in progress. It’s nice to see us get rewarded for the hard work we’ve put in.”

Chicago made it 4-2 with 28 seconds left in the middle period when Bedard scored his 20th of the season, set up by Kurashev, who collected his 100th NHL point. Bedard is the first Blackhawk to score 20 goals as an 18-year-old since Ed Olczyk did it in 70 games as a rookie in the 1984-85 season.

Forward Andreas Athanasiou returned to the Blackhawks’ lineup after missing 60 games with an injured groin. He set up Entwistle’s goal.

UP NEXT

Ducks at Minnesota on Thursday at 5 p.m. PT

​ Orange County Register