Lakers’ LeBron James, Anthony Davis expected to make preseason debuts Sunday

• October 6, 2024

PALM DESERT — After sitting out of the Lakers’ preseason-opening 124-107 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, LeBron James and Anthony Davis are expected to make their preseason debuts against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday at Acrisure Arena.

James said after the team’s practice Saturday that he plans to play against the Suns, while coach JJ Redick said Davis is also expected to be available.

The Lakers’ star duo sat out the first exhibition, with Redick citing their gold-medal run with Team USA at the Paris Olympics over the summer and their workload during training camp as why they didn’t play.

“We want to carry over with what we did [Saturday] at practice,” James said. “We were very intent on what we want to accomplish going forward. [Friday] was one of those first games. It’s been a while since a lot of guys have played in a game setting. And it looked that way.”

While the moment when James and his son Bronny James, the Lakers’ second-round pick in June’s NBA draft, shared the floor didn’t happen Friday, the elder James had an up-close view of Bronny’s preseason debut.

Bronny James scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting and led the team in blocked shots with three.

“For him, it’s obviously an adjustment,” LeBron James said. “Every rank that you climb, it’s always an adjustment to get used to it. When he went to high school, from middle school from high school to USC and now to the pros, it’s always an adjustment to make. The more time he’s out on the floor with pros, the speed, the cadence, you get better and better the more time you put on the floor.

“And you’ve got to think that he lost pretty much a third of last season because of the condition. But he’s gotten better and better every day. He continues to put the work in. And it’s up to us as the veterans and the guys out here to try to help him, help Dalton [Knecht], help all the young guys to get him better and better every day to help them accomplish what we want to accomplish.”

LeBron was complimentary of Knecht, the Lakers’ first-round pick who scored 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 2 of 5 on 3-pointers.

“He’s a pro,” LeBron said of Knecht. “He’s ready to go now.”

HONEST ASSESSMENT

Redick, coming off coaching his first NBA game, was honest in his assessment of Friday’s game.

“Defensively the carryover from practice, in terms of some of our switching rules and our pick-and-roll coverage, wasn’t great,” Redick said Saturday. “We cleaned that up a little bit. They’ve been really good at it in practice. And sometimes the game starts and it’s the first time playing in a game in a few months and you can lose focus.

“Offensively I mentioned organization [Friday] and that’s the biggest thing that stood out on that end. And then, some small attention-to-detail stuff just in terms of how we want to run different sets.”

The team’s screening was one of the “attention-to-detail” aspects of Friday’s game that could’ve been better.

“The screening was [expletive], but we’ll get better,” Redick said. “It’s something we’ve emphasized. We’ve really implemented it in player development. We didn’t focus – and it was intentional, it’ll be intentional, really, thorough the preseason – we’re not focused right now on the opponent.

“When you play a team like Minnesota, there’s a specific emphasis you have to make on your screens in terms of our four screening options. We didn’t emphasize that in the pregame meeting. That’s on us. But we’re more focused on what we’re doing versus the opponent right now.”

Redick said he was most disappointed with the Lakers’ execution of their one-through-four switching on defense.

“We didn’t execute that at all,” he added. “We maybe executed it less than 10% of the time. It’s something we’ve drilled and it was very clear in the pregame meeting that that’s what we were doing. So you certainly question, like, am I not making this clear? Is it something I’m doing?”

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Redick said before Friday’s game that he’d try to give himself some grace when it comes to some of the nuanced stuff the Lakers are looking to execute.

But when it came time to watch the film, he couldn’t help being hard on himself.

“A little bit,” Redick said. “But again, we talked about it [Saturday] morning in our film session. We’re all on the same page.”

SUNS AT LAKERS

When: 6:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Acrisure Arena, Palm Desert

TV/radio: Spectrum SportsNet, 710 AM

​ Orange County Register 

OC Pride hosts celebration of LGBTQIA+ community at fairgrounds

• October 6, 2024

OC Pride hosted its Colors of Strength festival and parade on Saturday, trying out a new venue for the annual celebration of the  LGBTQIA+ community.

At the OC Fair & Event Center the day kicked off with the Blaze it Forward parade around the parking lot, a showcase of the culture and unity of the community, and a remembrance of Blaze Bernstein, a 19-year-old Lake Forest man killed in 2018 in what a jury this year called a hate crime. His parents, Jeanne and Gideon Bernstein, served as the grand marshals.

Following the parade, the fairgrounds filled with crowds enjoying music and more. The move from downtown Santa Ana to the fairgrounds offered more room and more security for the event, organizers said.

“OC Pride is more than just a celebration,” Manny Muro, vice president of the OC Pride board, said ahead of Saturday’s festivities. “It is a movement that brings our community together and reminds us of the strength that we find together.”

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​ Orange County Register 

USC LB Eric Gentry out with injury against Minnesota

• October 6, 2024

MINNEAPOLIS — It wasn’t long into Easton Mascarenas-Arnold’s time at USC before he and Mason Cobb started calling themselves yin-yang, the two-man balance at linebacker at the heart of the Trojans’ defense.

If Cobb was down, Mascarenas-Arnold could pick him up. Vice versa. Two complementary spirits. They have found stability, though, in part next to the emergence of a third force, the 6-foot-6 Eric Gentry bringing fire and versatility and production unmatched across most of the nation at large.

“Shoot, I got all confidence when he’s on the field,” Mascarenas-Arnold said of Gentry after USC’s Week 1 win over LSU. “As an offense, I know they’re looking out there like, ‘Damn, they got a 6-foot-6 linebacker, like, I know he’s a threat.’”

He would pose no threat against Minnesota on Saturday, because Gentry wasn’t in the lineup, a massive blow for USC’s defense that’s been largely anticipated since he was carted off in the fourth quarter of USC’s win over Wisconsin last week. In one man sidelined, USC went without its leading tackler and tackler-for-loss and sack artist against Minnesota – placing the onus on the Yin-Yang brothers to stay in balance without him.

“It changes some things, certainly not everything. … I’d still venture to say, you know, 80 to 90 percent of what we’re going to do, we’re probably going to do whether he’s there or not,” Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley said of Gentry’s injury Thursday. “And so we do have a lot of confidence in the other guys at those positions.”

With senior Raesjon Davis out as well after deciding to redshirt, freshmen Desman Stephens II and Elijah Newby stood as next in line on USC’s depth chart behind starters. Gentry’s absence, though, provided a sudden opportunity for junior Anthony Beavers Jr., a former safety who’s played sparingly this season but played in Gentry’s weakside-linebacker spot during practice in the week’s preparation.

Makai Lemon, Akili Arnold return

Two weeks after a brutal blindside hit on a special-teams play knocked sophomore receiver Makai Lemon out for the following week’s contest against Wisconsin, he was back in uniform Saturday against Minnesota, a boost for USC’s young receiver room.

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Arnold, too, was active and back in his starting spot next to Kamari Ramsey at safety after also exiting against Michigan and missing the Wisconsin win. It was a pivotal bill of health for USC, as Oregon State transfer Arnold had previously worn the defense’s green dot for in-helmet communication with defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn.

“It was on different guys all throughout camp,” Lynn said in early September of the choice to dub Arnold with the in-game comms, “and we just felt like Akili ended up being the right person to have it on.”

No more right-guard rotation

After Alani Noa and redshirt-freshman Amos Talalele spent much of USC’s past two games switching across various series, Riley said he didn’t “necessarily have a preference” on keeping the rotation intact or naming a permanent starter at right guard.

In Saturday’s first half against Minnesota, though, Riley and offensive-line coach Josh Henson sent Noa out every series, a show of faith in a sophomore with obvious promise but had his share of struggles in USC’s 3-1 start.

“He’s played physical, he’s certainly, he’s improved so much mentally,” Riley said of Noa, a couple weeks ago. “His communication skills in there have really improved. Our guys have gotten comfortable playing with him.”

​ Orange County Register 

Tiller Days celebrates Tustin community

• October 6, 2024

The Tustin community turned out Saturday for the Tustin Tiller Days parade and festival.

The four-day community celebration, which is in its 67th year, continues Sunday, Oct. 6, with carnival games and rides, lots to eat, a brewery festival, entertainment throughout the day and more at Columbus Tustin Park.

The always funny Kids Say the Cutest Things contest will be at 1 p.m. and there is an an ice cream eating contest at 2 p.m.  Journey USA caps the day’s stage entertainment, playing from 6 to 8 p.m. You can also smash a car for charity.

If you go

When: Noon to 8 p.m. on Oct. 6

Where: In and around Columbus Tustin Park, 17522 Beneta Way

Cost: Free admission

Information: tustinca.org/637/Tustin-Tiller-Days

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​ Orange County Register 

Runners, walkers speed past marine life during 2024 Aquarium of the Pacific 5K

• October 6, 2024

Hundreds of runners and walkers made their way past otters, jellyfish, and other marine life during the Aquarium of the Pacific 5K Run/Walk on Saturday, Oct. 5.

People of all ages took part in the race early Saturday morning, as part of the 40th annual Long Beach Marathon weekend. Long Beach welcomed more than 22,000 runners who are set to participate in events this year, organizers said.

As people ran or walked to beat personal records or have a good time with friends and family, they enjoyed the Aquarium of the Pacific’s exhibits, as well as having mascots, staff and volunteers cheer them on. Participants received some swag for running in the 5K, including an aquarium-themed finishers medal.

The 5K began at the aquarium, with participants then making their way around Shoreline Village Park, past the lighthouse in ShoreLine Aquatic Park and over the Queensway Bridge. After that, they turned around and finished the race by running through the aquarium.

The early morning did not stop adults and kids from smiling ear to ear as they made their way through some of Long Beach’s iconic landmarks and getting to wave at the sharks, fish, and otters.

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​ Orange County Register 

Santa Anita horse racing consensus picks for Sunday, October 6, 2024

• October 6, 2024

The consensus box of Santa Anita horse racing picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Eddie Wilson, Kevin Modesti and Mark Ratzky. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Sunday, October 6, 2024.

Trouble viewing on mobile device? See consensus picks

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​ Orange County Register 

Former Lake Forest insurance broker gets 3 years of probation for stealing $183,000 in premiums

• October 6, 2024

SANTA ANA — A former Lake Forest insurance broker pleaded guilty Thursday and was immediately sentenced to three years of probation for stealing about $183,000 in an insurance premiums, exposing victims to the danger of uninsured losses.

Karen Marie Dondanville, 56, pleaded guilty to 90 counts, mostly felonies, including grand theft, theft from an elder, fraudulent insurance benefit claims, assisting in a false claim, making false entries in records or returns, and forgery. She also admitted sentencing enhancements for property damage exceeding $65,000 and aggravated white collar crime between $10,000 and $500,000.

Dondanville accepted a plea deal with prosecutors, her attorney, Fred Fascenelli, said.

“Now she can make strides to make these people whole,” Fascenelli said of her remaining free of custody. “With her being on probation everyone benefits… The goal usually is you want to compensate the victims.”

He said personal problems contributed to sloppy oversight that prompted the criminal case.

The California Department of Insurance said Dondanvile was ordered to pay $335,349 in restitution to the victims, which includes payments to victims who had uncovered losses as a result of Dondanville’s theft.

Dondanville’s insurance broker license was revoked by the state in November 2019, according to California Department of Insurance investigator Braelyn Velasco in court papers.

She stole $183,074 from January 2012 through January 2020 in “payments, insurance premiums and return premiums from 32 customers through the use of fraud, misrepresentation and forgery,” Velasco said in court papers when the case was filed in 2021.

She provided customers fraudulent insurance documents to bill for excessive premiums, and at times provided proof of insurance to mortgage companies when the customers had none, Velasco stated.

The defendant received and deposited premium payments from victims and “failed to remit all — if any — of the premiums to the victims’ insurance companies, thus depriving the victims of their insurance benefits and exposing them to potential uncovered loss,” the investigator said.

“Dondanville manipulated victims’ insurance policies in order to steal premium refunds,” Velasco said. “Dondanville changed victims’ mailing addresses on insurance policies to her own mailing address without the victims’ knowledge or authorization.”

She also allegedly forged victims’ signatures on documents she submitted to insurance companies that requested the victims’ policies be canceled and premiums be refunded to her, and the investigator found that Dondanville also submitted insurance applications for victims’ properties that contained false information in order to steal premium refunds.

She also “substantially exaggerated a victims’ property dwelling, in order to increase the policy’s premium,” Velasco alleged. “Once the insurance company received the premium from the victims’ mortgage account, Donadanville requested the insurance company lower the dwelling amount and issue a premium refund, which Dondanville would divert to herself.”

Three of the victims were older than 65, Velasco said.

Even after her license was revoked, the defendant carried on with her business, Velasco said.

“One of Dondanville’s victims experienced substantial losses that were not covered by an insurance policy, despite the fact the victim paid Dondanville for the insurance policy and that Dondanville provided proof of insurance,” Velasco said. “The victim did not discover the proof of insurance was fraudulent until after the victim experienced the loss.”

The Orange County Register contributed to this story.

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​ Orange County Register 

Swanson: Does a Hollywood ending await Dodgers’ Jack Flaherty?

• October 5, 2024

Jack Flaherty’s story has so many elements of a classic coming-of-age sports movie that you almost feel like you should be able to predict the ending.

The best player on the “Sandlot” growing up to play for the Dodgers? It being set in the Valley, a la “Karate Kid” and “Bad News Bears”? The backdrop being a famously competitive Little League that produced TV stars like Tom Selleck and All-Stars like Jack McDowell, that was dominated for a spell by a pitcher who damn right threw like a girl, the real-life Amanda Whurlitzer – known to Flaherty and his generation as Marti Sementelli.

Those Sherman Oaks Little Leaguers remember her, and she remembers them too – Flaherty especially: “One of those kids that was like, ‘You gotta watch out for him, ’cause he’s gonna be something.’”

I imagine everyone who played with or against that famously intense little Flaherty fellow remembers, and that they’ve all been tuned in since July, when he was traded from Detroit to L.A., a Boy in Blue at 28.

That they’ll be on the edge of their seats watching him take the mound Sunday at Dodger Stadium, the site of Harvard-Westlake High School’s CIF Southern Section Division I championship in 2017, when Flaherty singled in the game’s only run and pitched an eight-strikeout shutout.

Dodgers acquire Jack Flaherty from Studio City Harvard-Westlake & Sherman Oaks Little League.

Welcome home, @jflare_ https://t.co/GtmwYhgv49 pic.twitter.com/NxTcXtt92n

— L.A. in a Minute (@LaInaMinute) July 30, 2024

This time, Flaherty can play the hometown hero in Game 2 of the best-of-five National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres.

Not sure how far we can push this dream sequence before producers reject the script as being too far-fetched, but it feels like Flaherty is eager to find out.

Because when Mookie Betts had Flaherty on his podcast and mentioned “how tough it’s going to be” to have to perform in the postseason in front of the hometown fans, the pitcher shook him off: “Yeah, it’s fun.”

“That’s what you qualify as fun?” Betts asked. (The two-time World Series winner and 2018 American League MVP who’s slumped in his past couple postseasons used a different word: “Stress.”)

“Yeah, 100%, that’s what it is… it’s fun, man,” said Flaherty, who is 1-3 with an 3.60 ERA in five postseason appearances with the St. Louis Cardinals and Baltimore Orioles. “It’s going to be high-intensity, pressure-filled, like, a lot of fun.”

Cinema, you might say.

Since joining the Dodgers, the right-hander has a 3.58 ERA in 55⅓ innings over 10 starts, wielding his slider and perhaps his most noteworthy ability – availability.

“I think everyone deep down wants to play for their hometown team,” Flaherty told reporters after being traded. “Getting the opportunity to is just special.”

It’s been special for his oldest fans too, people like Jason Drantch, who played with Flaherty on a different Dodgers team – the one that won the District 40 Little League Tournament of Champions title in 2005.

Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty, far left in the second row, was the youngest and best player on the Sherman Oaks Little League team that won the District 40 Little League Tournament of Champions title in 2005, as recalled by former teammate Jason Drantch, third from left in the second row. (Photo courtesy of Jason Drantch)

Flaherty was the youngest – 8 or 9 – and best and most intense player on that team, recalled Drantch, a former first baseman who was, at 11, the oldest.

“It was pretty clear at that young age that he had a future in the game,” said Drantch, who gives the Dodgers two thumbs-up for changing their minds and deciding to give Flaherty the Game 2 start, because that’s the game for which Dratch has tickets.

“When he was on the mound, I just remember the fear the other kids seemed to have. That intensity, he brought that to the mound and you did not want to face him; you did not want to step into the box against him. I’m glad I didn’t have to, because it didn’t look fun.

“That team we were on, we were very successful,” added Drantch, now a sports producer at KTLA. “And that was because of him. He led the way in that regard and it was a great honor to be a part of it.”

Marti Sementelli dominated my little league. Yes she’s a girl. Yes she’s better than Mo’Ne

— Jack Flaherty (@jflare_) February 14, 2015

Sementelli was a couple years older than Flaherty and didn’t face him until high school, as she continued her historic baseball career into college and then with Team USA.

She also remembers Flaherty’s heart-on-his-sleeve passion, and his prowess at shortstop and as a hitter before he narrowed his focus to pitching in high school – a decision that worked out well, as she watched first-hand this season.

When Flaherty threw 6⅔ innings of no-hit ball May 30 at Fenway Park, Sementelli was there, in the press box, working as one of Major League Baseball’s data operations staffers.

“I’m inputting all the live-game updates into the MLB website, tracking every single pitch … and thinking, ‘How ironic, that we both came from Sherman Oaks, playing really competitive Little League baseball,’” she said. “‘And how cool would it be if I worked Jack Flaherty’s no-hitter?’ ”

She could have imagined he’d have nights like that, she said. But watching him now, it’s his staying power that really impresses her: “Not just to make the majors, but to be very successful? Making The Show and being someone that people want on your team, that’s a big-time pitcher? He’s become that guy in the majors. That’s super cool.”

“And it isn’t easy, no matter how good you are,” said Harvard-Westlake athletic director Matt LaCour, who in 2021 became only high school coach to have three former teammates make opening-day starts in the same season, when Flaherty (St. Louis Cardinals), Lucas Giolito (Chicago White Sox) and Max Fried (Atlanta Braves) did it.

The 34th overall pick out of high school in 2014, Flaherty made his big-league debut in 2017 and in 2019 logged a 2.75 ERA in 196⅓ innings and finished fourth in NL Cy Young award voting.

He wasn’t as sharp in the short 2020 season and then was hindered by shoulder issues. He still didn’t have his best stuff in 2023, when the Cardinals traded him to the Baltimore Orioles, who moved him to the bullpen.

“How you adapt and how you persevere is how you’re ultimately going to be successful,” LaCour said. “And the way Jack has done, it’s a great reminder to guys that are younger … you’re going to hit a spot where you’re not the best, or people have caught you. It’s what you do from there to separate yourself again that’s really important.”

After signing a one-year, $14 million contract as a free agent last offseason, Flaherty became an All-Star candidate and dependable No. 2 starter for the Tigers, with an 11-8 record and ERA (2.95) that was in the top 10 among AL pitchers.

And then, at the trade deadline, Detroit swapped him for a pair of Dodgers’ minor-league prospects.

Now the stage is set, perhaps, for a real-life Hollywood ending. Get your popcorn ready.

“I’ve had some conversations over the last couple days with some family and some people close to me, just kind of putting it all into perspective and how kind of surreal and just crazy of an opportunity it is – being from here, growing up here, coming to games here,” Flaherty said Saturday, before Game 1. “It’s just a lot of fun, at the end of the day.

“I was looking back, like little young me, if I was to tell myself this: What would like 8-year-old me say? It would be pretty cool. So I’m just trying to enjoy it.”

⁦@Dodgers⁩ ⁦@jflare_⁩

Circa 1997 …. Let’s Go!!! pic.twitter.com/YlI39KIx3Q

— Eileen Flaherty (@JackandGradyMom) July 30, 2024

Jack Flaherty really put on a show on the mound at Dodger Stadium on Sunday and then popped out to the LA Sparks game and did a jersey swap with Cameron Brink!

You love to see two new stars in Los Angeles connect like this

Via Sparks, Dodgers. pic.twitter.com/7xpMsFuceA

— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) September 9, 2024

Jack Flaherty, who grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant, on the opportunity to pitch on 8/24: “It still doesn’t feel real, what happened all those months ago. To pitch today is special, and there’s really no other way to put it.” #STLCards pic.twitter.com/f6rXfIGway

— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) August 25, 2020

​ Orange County Register