James M. Chick, owner of Chick’s Sporting Goods, dies at 76

• March 24, 2023

“He was a great man — one of those great men torn from the pages of time.”

That’s how Tyler Chick remembers his grandfather. It’s an apt description for the man who grew Chick’s Sporting Goods into a retail powerhouse with 16 Southern California locations — all while remaining a touchstone for his family, friends and employees.

James M. Chick was 76 when died March 7 in Upland. He grew up in Covina and lived in Claremont not long before he died. The end, his family said, came after a long struggle with dementia and then pancreatic cancer.

“He was loving, kindhearted and giving … always wanting to help people,” his wife Karen said. “He loved his family, his business and his employees. He was kind to all of them.”

The firstborn child of James Elmo Chick and his wife Elizabeth, Chick’s entry into the business world began early when his father encouraged him to work at Chick’s Sporting Goods in downtown Covina, the first and only store his father opened in 1949.

The business was later bought by Chick’s grandparents, Ralph and Hazel Chambers, as an investment in their grandson’s future. He worked there while attending Charter Oak High School in Covina and continued throughout his college years as a business student at Cal Poly Pomona.

In 1968, he bought the company from his grandparents at the age of 21, becoming president and CEO. Eight years later, he moved Chick’s into a 22,000-square-foot space that previously housed a supermarket. Most of his competitors’ stores were in spaces of 2,000 to 5,000 square feet.

The move kickstarted the Covina-based company’s expansion from a single store with $180,000 in annual sales to 16 locations that generated $120 million in yearly sales. The company — which also maintained a Southern California distribution center — operated stores in such communities as Covina, El Segundo, Tustin, Murrieta, Norco, Oceanside, Laguna Niguel and Moorpark, among others.

At its height, the retail chain employed about 1,600 workers.

Dick’s Sporting Goods acquired the company in November 2007 for $72 million when Chick decided to retire. The timing, according to Karen, couldn’t have been better.

“It was interesting because 10 days after we sold the business the economy went in the tank,” she said. “I guess the lord was watching out for us.”

The transaction was inked just ahead of the Great Recession.

“While his reputation was larger than life, he was a simple man with simple loves,” his grandson said. “It was this modest pride and quiet confidence that I most admired him for.”

That “quiet confidence” served him well. Under his leadership, Chick’s went head to head with such competitors as Sport Chalet, a La Cañada Flintridge-based chain that shuttered all 47 of its stores in 2016, and Big 5 Sporting Goods, an El Segundo-based retailer that still operates more than 400 locations in 11 Western states.

Chick also served as chairman of the National Sporting Goods Association and was inducted into the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame in 2004. The Hall of Fame was established in 1955 to honor sporting goods pioneers, innovators and leaders.

“He led a family business in Chick’s Sporting Goods to tremendous growth, and he made sure the company gave back to the people in the communities where they were located,” NSGA President Matt Carlson said in a statement. “We are saddened to learn about Mr. Chick’s passing and we extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends.”

Margaret Protteau, who served as Chick’s executive assistant for 35 years, described her role as “a dream job.”

“I’m very blessed to have met him,” she said. “Chick’s was the Nordstrom of sporting goods stores. He will be deeply missed.”

Protteau stayed on to manage Chick’s investments after he retired and still oversees the family’s financial portfolio, which includes the Claremont home, a Laguna Beach house and a ranch in Idaho.

“For someone who worked so hard for so long, he set the standard for what an entrepreneur should be — working long hours, taking risks, researching his industry and taking successes and failures in stride,” Tyler Chick said. “To us, he was a father, a grandfather and the central pillar that held our family together.”

Jim Chick is survived by his wife, Karen Reza Chick, his daughter, Angela “Angie” Patrice (spouse Mark Anderson), his son, James Robert “Jimmy” (spouse Christina), grandchildren Brittany Anderson, Brianna Anderson, Alexa Anderson, Tyler Chick, Cody Chick (spouse Veronica) and great-grandchildren, Chase Laufer, Avery Laufer, Cadence Anderson, Sophia Chick and Russell James “RJ” Chick.

A celebration of life for Chick will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 29 at South Hills Country Club, 2655 S. Citrus St., West Covina.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to the Cal Poly Pomona Philanthropic Foundation, P.O. Box 3121, Pomona, 91769. Checks may be written to CPPPF Memo: James M. Chick Scholarship Fund or you can donate online by clicking here.

​ Orange County Register 

VP Kamala Harris swears in ex-LA Mayor Eric Garcetti as US ambassador to India

• March 24, 2023

After a long, 20-month road from nomination to Senate confirmation, Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday, March 24, swore in former LA Mayor Eric Garcetti as the U.S. ambassador to India.

While Garcetti’s daughter Maya held a heavy and historic Hebrew Bible from the Library of Congress, Harris administered the oath in her ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House complex in Washington, D.C.

Garcetti’s wife, Amy Wakeland, and Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff were also present at the swearing-in ceremony.

Amy Wakeland, left, next to her daughter Maya Garcetti, and husband Eric Garcetti, pose for a picture after Garcetti, the former mayor of Los Angeles, was sworn in as Ambassador to India, by Vice President Kamala Harris, next to her husband Doug Emhoff, right, Friday, March 24, 2023, in Harris’ ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Eric Garcetti, left, next to his daughter Maya Garcetti holding a heavy and historic Hebrew Bible from the Library of Congress, is sworn in as Ambassador to India by Vice President Kamala Harris, Friday, March 24, 2023, in her ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Eric Garcetti is sworn in as Ambassador to India by Vice President Kamala Harris, not pictured, Friday, March 24, 2023, in Harris’ ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Vice President Kamala Harris swears in Eric Garcetti as Ambassador to India, Friday, March 24, 2023, in her ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Vice President Kamala Harris answers a question about her upcoming trip to Africa, after swearing in Eric Garcetti as Ambassador to India, Friday, March 24, 2023, in her ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Eric Garcetti, left, with his daughter Maya Garcetti, reacts after being sworn in as Ambassador to India by Vice President Kamala Harris, right, Friday, March 24, 2023, in Harris’ ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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​ Orange County Register 

Orange County swimming, diving leaderboard, March 23

• March 24, 2023

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Top reported O.C. swimming times through March 23. Submit updates to [email protected].

BOYS SWIMMING

200-yard medley relay (OC Register standard 1:42.9) — CL 1:33.37; SM 1:34.63; Nor 1:35.03; JS 1:37.66; MD 1:38.67; Uni 1:40.05; Wood 1:40.42; CV 1:40.98; AN 1:41.06; Port 1:41:89; FV 1:42.22; HB 1:42.99;

200 free (1:46.4) — Ficklen (SM) 1:41.20; Cerda (MD) 1:41.63; Chen (Nor) 1:42.66; Lee (Nor) 1:43.82; Cheng (Port) 1:43.88; Hitchens (Nor) 1:44.09; Cehelnik (SM) 1:44.20; Ju (SM) 1:44.29; Zinn (MD) 1:44.40; Lee (SM) 1:44.60; Gallegos (MV) 1:45.46; Hickman (VP) 1:46.17;

200 IM (2:01.6) — Leung (Nor) 1:52.24; Chang (MV) 1:52.27; Lee (Nor) 1:53.24; Najera (SM) 1:53.28; Wu (SM) 1:53.56; Fitzgerald (CL) 1:54.60; D. Schmitt (SJH) 1:55.14; Verdolaga (SM) 1:55.24; Wang (Wood) 1:55.55; Nugent (SM) 1:56.76; Yan (SM) 1:59.12; Chen (Nor) 1:59.48; King (Uni) 1:59.64; Cheng (Port) 1:59.98; Ince (MD) 2:00.43; Shiono (Port) 2:00.52; Perez (CV) 2:00.56; Hickman (VP) 2:00.66; Cerda (MD) 2:00.91; Santos (MD) 2:00.92

50 free (22.4) — Chang (MV) 20.80r; Brinkema (JS) 20.95; Jiang (SM) 21.07; Cai (SM) 21.15; Smith (AN) 21.18r; Leung (Nor) 21.45r; Cehelnik (SM) 21.48; Yan (SM) 21.68; Najera (SM) 21.76r; Walach (Wood) 21.84; Gallegos (MV) 22.06; Zhou (Uni) 22.13; Baker (JS) 22.37; Hanh (Port) 22.38; Maksymowski (Nor) 22.39; Abshier (Nor) 22.43; Hill (CL) 22.44; Xu (Nor) 22.45;

100 butterfly (52.5) — D. Schmitt (SJH) 48.32; Verdolaga (SM) 48.77; Dodd (JS) 49.29; Teh (CL) 50.00; Yan (SM) 50.42; Leung (Nor) 50.46; Ju (SM) 51.62; Sun (Uni) 51.62; Wang (Wood) 51.65; Yoo (SM) 51.65; Zappas (AN) 51.79; Cerda (MD) 52.02;

100 free (48.5) — Cehelnik (SM) 46.09; Leung (Nor) 46.15; Dodd (JS) 46.25r; Jiang (SM) 46.63r; Cai (SM) 47.38; Brinkema (JS) 47.39; Ju (SM) 47.50; Cheng (Port) 47.54; Hitchens (Nor) 48.05; Baker (JS) 48.06; Zinn (MD) 48.06; Verdolaga (SM) 48.30; Ficklen (SM) 48.31; Hickman (VP) 48.43r; Gallegos (MV) 48.45r;

500 free (4:51.0) — Maksymowski (Nor) 4:36.99; Cerda (MD) 4:37.12; Hickman (VP) 4:42.37; Ficklen (SM) 4:42.65; Dodd (JS) 4:43.56; Kow (Brea) 4:43.98; Lee (SM) 4:48.77; Graff (AN) 4:49.72; Wu (SM) 4:50.82;

200 free relay (1:32.9) — SM 1:25.69; Nor 1:25.99; Wood 1:26.25; CL 1:27.10; Uni 1:28.49; Port 1:28.72; AN 1:28.75; JS 1:29.18; MV 1:30.50; MD 1:31.70; HB 1:32.02; Foot 1:32.04; FV 1:32.62; Sage 1:32.89

100 back (55.5) — Teh (CL) 49.99; Jiang (SM) 51.35; Nugent (SM) 52.03; Najera (SM) 52.07; Verdolaga (SM) 52.10; Chang (MV) 52.26; Hitchens (Nor) 52.50; Sun (Uni) 52.93; Zinn (MD) 53.03; Leung (Nor) 53.06; Saeedi (DH) 53.45; T. Schmitt (SJH) 53.60; Baker (JS) 53.67; Smith (AN) 54.09; Lee (SM) 54.77; Lee (Nor) 54.80; Samuels (CV) 54.81; Nguyen (SM) 55.06

100 breast (1:00.9) — Wu (SM) 56.71; Fitzgergald (CL) 56.96; Wang (Wood) 58.12; Santos (MD) 58.70; Dodd (JS) 58.83; Perez (CV) 58.93; Verdolaga (SM) 59.04; Kong (CL) 59.72; King (Uni) 1:00.05; Yoo (SM) 1:00.46; Curuso (HB) 1:00.47; Joshi (SM) 1:00.57; Zhang (SM) 1:00.60; Xing (SM) 1:00.68; Cheng (Nor) 1:00.84; Shiono (Port) 1:00.98

400 free relay (3:25.8) — SM 3:07.51; Nor 3:09.55; Wood 3:11.41; MD 3:11.72; JS 3:12.75; Port 3:17.10; MV 3:17.63; AN 3:19.46; Troy 3:21.30; HB 3:21.39; FV 3:21.91; SJH 3:23.18; Edi 3:25.89

Diving (325 points) — Rooker (SC) 580.85;

GIRLS SWIMMING

200 medley relay (OC Register standard 1:56.9) — SM 1:47.40; Port 1:49.96; Wood 1:51.79; JS 1:51.98; MD 1:52.28; FV 1:54.14; Irv 1:54.45; Uni 1:55.72;

200 free (1:58.5) — A. Kozan (SM) 1:53.22; McGuire (SM) 1:54.35; O’Sullivan (SM) 1:55.02; Aquino (SM) 1:55.12; Masud (Wood) 1:55.37; Yasuda (Port) 1:55.58; Flynn (VP) 1:56.45; Withey (JS) 1:56.47; Christensen (SM) 1:56.63; Prabhaker (Uni) 1:56.79; Dwyer (MD) 1:57.56; Lee (SM) 1:57.67; Willson (JS) 1:58.45; Yu (SM) 1:59.09;

200 IM (2:14.9) — Taylor (TH) 2:05.67; A. Kozan (SM) 2:07.06; Flynn (VP) 2:09.04; Nguyen (FV) 2:09.40; Christensen (SM) 2:09.54; McGuire (SM) 2:09.89; C. Hickman (Foot) 2:09.96; O’Sullivan (SM) 2:10.48 Sullivan (Port) 2:11.65; Withey (JS) 2:11.88; Mann (VP) 2:12.24; K. Fan (Port) 2:12.35; Mori (SM) 2:12.83; Cummins (SM) 2:13.32; Kelly (Edi) 2:13.78; Alex. Duncan (Irv) 2:14.25;

50 free (25.3) — O’Dell (SM) 23.23r; Aquino (SM) 23.63; Salvino (SM) 24.12; Mann (VP) 24.23; Lin (SM) 24.26; Lee (SM) 24.61; Yu (SM) 24.66; Kurtz (CV) 24.81; Yu (TH) 24.88; C. Stinson (SM) 25.14r; A. Fan (Port) 25.25; Kreb (SM) 25.27; Espinosa (MD) 25.34;

100 butterfly (1:00.5) —  Schalow (CdM) 55.69; Salvino (SM) 57.04; Sim (Port) 57.54; Gomez (Uni) 57.65; Kurtz (CV) 57.83; M. Wheeler (MD) 58.74; Hickman (Foot) 58.79; Mori (SM) 58.83; Masud (Wood) 58.87;C. Stinson (SM) 59.13; Cummins (SM) 59.30; Powell (SM) 59.63; Kopp (JS) 59.82; Li (SM) 59.87; Yu (TH) 1:00.24; Lan (Nor) 1:00.25; Savage (JS) 1:00.35;

100 free (54.4) — O’Dell (SM) 50.28; Aquino (SM) 51.88; Salvino (SM) 52.07; Taylor (TH) 52.28; Mann (VP) 53.29; A. Fan (Port) 53.84; Lin (SM) 54.06; A. Kozan (SM) 54.32; A. Fan (Port) 54.48; Reagan (MD) 54.49

500 free (5:21.9) — Flynn (VP) 5:04.52; O’Sullivan (SM) 5:04.82; Willson (JS) 5:06.12; Cummins (SM) 5:09.98; M. Wheeler (MD) 5:10.58; Yasuda (Port) 5:13.26; K. Stinson (SM) 5:15.40; Kelly (Edi) 5:15.77; Dwyer (MD) 5:15.99; Hickman (Foot) 5:16.02; Zelada (SM) 5:19.43; Dwyer (MD) 5:19.59; Garcia (JS) 5:20.42; Szekely (SJH) 5:21.57;

200 free relay (1:51.9) — SM 1:35.84; MD 1:42.14; JS 1:42.60; Port 1:43.43; Wood 1:43.89; Tes 1:45.43; VP 1:46.08; Foot 1:46.21; Foot 1:46.41; CV 1:47.40; Uni 1:47.46; Nor 1:47.78; SJH 1:48.46; Irv 1:48.82; Mar 1:51.72;

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100 back (1:01.9) — O’Dell (SM) 53.28; Salvino (SM) 55.53; Aquino (SM) 56.70; McGuire (SM) 59.00; Garcia (JS) 59.03; Sim (Port) 59.19; Kondury (Wood) 59.43; K. Fan (Port) 59.98; Mann (VP) 1:00.00; K. Stinson (SM) 1:00.36; Le (SM) 1:00.37; Prabhaker (Uni) 1:01.14; Mauser (MD) 1:01.40; Johnson (MD) 1:01.72; Alex. Duncan (Irv) 1:01.73; Healy (SM) 1:01.99;

100 breast (1:08.9) — Nguyen (FV) 1:05.63; Jocic (LB) 1:06.34; Chandler (MD) 1:06.95; Sullivan (Port) 1:07.07; Mori (SM) 1:07.99; Zhu (SM) 1:08.69; K. Fan (Port) 1:08.86;

400 free relay (3.55.9) — SM 3:36.18; Tes 3:39.82; Uni 3:42.41; MD 3:41.77; Port 3:44.11; Wood 3:44.34; JS 3:44.73; VP 3:44.74; FV 3:49.14; SC 3:50.24; Nor 3:52.67; Irv 3:54.97;

Diving (350 points) — Roselli (MD) 563.60; Ekstrum (Ful) 555.10

Legend: r = relay leadoff

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: UCLA’s championship hopes go broke in ‘Vegas

• March 24, 2023

LAS VEGAS — Mick Cronin is a big fan of this city. It just hasn’t been very good to his team.

Then again, that happens to a lot of people here.

And it didn’t change for Cronin and the Bruins on Thursday night, when a scoring drought that took up much of the second half cost them the lead and ultimately the game. The Bruins went 11:20 without a field goal in the second half to enable Gonzaga to roar back, and a rally of their own in the final minutes fell short, in a 79-76 loss that put Gonzaga into the Elite Eight and sent UCLA home with a 31-6 record.

The ending – after UCLA had let a 13-point lead get away and then Gonzaga had squandered a 10-point edge with 2:38 to play – was pure insanity. Maybe it wasn’t quite as crazy as the Jalen Suggs logo shot that eliminated the Bruins in the Final Four two years ago, but it wasn’t that far off: A 3-pointer from just inside the logo by Julian Strawther – a ’Vegas guy, no less – with 7.2 seconds left on what apparently was a busted defensive coverage, after Amari Bailey’s own 3-pointer from the left wing had put UCLA ahead 76-75 with 12.2 seconds to play.

The whole process was enough to inspire separate nervous breakdowns for each of the 18,544 patrons in T-Mobile Arena. But in the end it was the offensive drought that did the Bruins in. They were 0 for 11 from the field before a Jaime Jaquez Jr. and-one with 1:14 left cut Gonzaga’s lead to 72-65. UCLA was outscored 20-3 during that 11:20 stretch and 30-8 in going from a 59-52 lead to a 72-62 deficit, and the Bruins looked stagnant offensively on way too many possessions.

“I’d say we ran some really good sets to go at what we thought we could take advantage of, and we got some really good looks,” point guard Tyger Campbell said. “And we just weren’t able to knock ’em in. So I would say that our drought was due to us taking good shots and us not making them, that’s what I would say.”

Or, as Cronin put it:

“Wide-open shots. And multiple times we got fouled, no call. Dave (Singleton) and Tyger didn’t make a basket in the second half. They had good looks. And Jaime got murdered on about four layups.”

Maybe it’s more accurate to just say they rolled snake eyes.

The Bruins are a below .500 team in Sin City. From 2013-14, when the Pac-12 tournament was moved from Staples Center to the MGM Grand Garden Arena and Steve Alford was coaching the team, they’re 13-16 counting Thursday’s loss. Since T-Mobile Arena opened in 2016, UCLA is 8-13 on its floor. And in Cronin’s four seasons as UCLA coach, the Bruins are now 4-8 in T-Mobile, including three Pac-12 tourney losses here and nonconference losses to North Carolina in 2019, Gonzaga in 2021 and Illinois and Baylor this season.

But lots of people still enjoy this place while counting their losses. Cronin still gushed about the place during his Wednesday media availability, saying the NCAA finally bringing a regional here was “long overdue,” and that it was “probably the best city in our country to host an event.”

Those early-season nonconference losses could be explained away as instances when a team might not yet have found its footing or players might be still getting used to one another. The Pac-12 tournament losses, including the last two championship games against Arizona? More puzzling, though while Cronin did not take the most recent one well, he noted a week later that it lit a fire under his team when it got to the first and second rounds in Sacramento.

This game? Soul-crushing, especially considering that the Bulldogs seemed to be the ones whose spirits were dragging at halftime, when UCLA led 46-33 and appeared to have the game proceeding at the pace it wanted.

Not having Adem Bona available didn’t help, especially on a night when Gonzaga’s Drew Timme finished with 36 points and 13 rebounds. When asked for specifics Cronin characteristically said, “He wasn’t able to play. If I wanted to elaborate, I would elaborate.”

Gonzaga’s plan seemed obvious from the first possession, when the 6-foot-11 Timme backed down Kenneth Nwuba in the post and bumped him, hard. Nwuba went down, nothing was called and Timme missed the shot anyway. Gonzaga’s star went on to display the offensive versatility that made him a first-team All-American (by the Sporting News) and a finalist for the Naismith Trophy.

But while Timme scored his team’s first 15 points and was the only Bulldog in double figures at halftime, things eventually opened up for Strawther (16 points, including three huge 3-pointers) and Malachi Smith (14 points on 6-for-11 shooting).

“Words can’t describe how proud I am of just our team and our resilience,” Strawther said. “I mean nothing was going our way. We weren’t playing our brand of basketball at all through that whole first half. We flipped that switch. And there’s not a lot of teams in the country who could bond together and make a run like that.”

UCLA, which had the majority of the crowd, delighted its fans with a 13-2 run toward the end of the first half for a 46-33 lead, playing at its preferred tempo after a blistering first 10 minutes and taking advantage of what Gonzaga coach Mark Few called “some really uncharacteristic bonehead moves in the first half. Air dribbles and I think we lost three bouncing it and traveling and doing all kinds of stuff.”

As it turned out, Gonzaga was the stronger defensive team in the second half. That’s saying something.

“They’re really, really good,” Few said of the Bruins. “They’re not only really, really good, they’re really, really tough. And I think we got knocked back, much like we did in the TCU game (in the last round, an 84-81 win). I think this time it was just because of their will and toughness.

“We were not guarding well. For whatever reason, our ball-screen coverage (on) defense slipped back to where it was in November. And it has not been like that the last six weeks, six or seven weeks. So I just challenged them on that and I said we’ve got 20 minutes. That’s plenty of time. There’s no 10-point play I’m going to draw up. Just possession by possession, we’ve got to play better defense.”

They did. The Bruins led 54-42 with 15:43 left, and then the roof caved in.

Maybe they would have been better off in another regional.

[email protected]

​ Orange County Register 

Swanson: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is here to break your heart

• March 24, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Shai vs. L.A. this week, and so far, it’s all square.

By splitting two games with the fifth-place Clippers, Oklahoma City remains 2½ games behind them, with an identical 36-37 record as the Lakers, who the Thunder face in a possible SGA-vs.-L.A. rubber match on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena, both teams jockeying for a place in the play-in.

That game won’t be as emotionally fraught for the home team as the previous two this week, but the Lakers could have the same issue as the Clippers did: SGA.

He’s a problem. A big one. And he’s not going away.

The 24-year-old is blossoming into a full-blown superstar, better even than the best-case scenario imagined for him by adoring Clipper fans when he was their rookie and answering to “Slinq,” as Lou Williams called him.

Better even than what the Oklahoma City faithful who have had a front-row seat for the past three seasons pictured at the start of the season, when they were debating his chances of making the All-Star team – not which All-NBA team he’ll land on.

Better than seemingly everyone but Gilgeous-Alexander anticipated, because it turns out he’s been plotting this the whole time, starting as an artistic kid in Toronto, basketball in hand always, loving the game even when it didn’t love him back.

No, he didn’t make his high school team in ninth grade, but resist the urge to ridicule a coach, because that experience proved an important eye-opener for the young player. And if you’ve seen how saucer-wide Gilgeous-Alexander’s eyes can get when he spots an opening on the court, you know there’s no diminishing the dude’s willingness to bite off as much greatness as he can chew.

“I was pissed” about being cut, he told me in 2019, when he’d just begun his NBA career as a self-assured rookie in L.A. with so much drive but no driver’s license. “So I just told myself, ‘I’m gonna make them regret it.’”

If Gilgeous-Alexander now is in make-the-Clippers-regret-it mode, he’s always been too polite to say much about it aloud.

But his actions make a good point, even if he’s not outwardly obsessed with sticking it to the team that traded for him on Draft Night in 2018 only to ship him to OKC a year later. He was, you remember, a key piece of the blockbuster deal that brought aboard Paul George and, with him, free agent Kawhi Leonard.

The deal will go down as an all-time heist if the Clippers aren’t able to win a title in the next couple of seasons, especially because it also included a boatload of draft picks, one of which turned into rookie sensation Jalen Williams.

Oh, and there’s this: The kid the Thunder got in that trade? He didn’t come in looking for help or to help, he came in with the intention of butting in on the conversation about the game’s greats.

It ain’t Shai-on-L.A., it’s Shai vs. Shai.

“Mentally I tell myself every night that I’m the best player on the floor and I want everybody in the arena to know that and feel that,” he said on “Pass the Rock,” the NBA’s app series.

“I wanna be known as one of the best players to play the game. Watching guys like Kobe growing up, I go to school and the debate is, who’s better, Kobe or LeBron? Who’s better, Kobe or Michael? I want those conversations to be about myself.”

And that’s when Gilgeous-Alexander volunteered that in the LeBron vs. Kobe debate, he’s always been a Kobe guy, inspired by Bryant’s desire to “kill you with skill.” Though, yes, the camera caught Gilgeous-Alexander musing, “it is fun beating ’Bron,” before pausing a beat and then finishing his thought: “It’s fun beating everybody though.”

Even with Thursday’s 127-105 loss, he and his mates on the NBA’s youngest team have been beating almost everyone, winning eight of their past 12 games.

Don’t expect a sudden change of pace from the guy who came into the league having mastered it; according to Tankathon.com, the Thunder have the second-easiest schedule remaining among Western Conference teams.

Since Gilgeous-Alexander made his All-Star Game debut last month, he’d willfully improvised his way to 34.4 points per game (shy of only Damian Lillard’s 35.1). And he hasn’t been missing many notes, shooting 53.3% from the field, including 43.8% from 3-point range.

That’s even better than his historically stellar showings in L.A.; he returned this week having averaged 28 points, four rebounds and six assists in six games in the city since being traded.

He’s climbed to eighth on the NBA’s “race-to-the-MVP ladder,” which means he’s currently just five rungs below where George left things in 2018-19, his final season with the Thunder and the best of his career at 28.

And only Michael Jordan has produced a statistical season like the one Gilgeous-Alexander is finishing: averaging at least 31 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 block for a season. “Sounds pretty good,” he said Thursday.

Me: “Only you & Michael Jordan have ever averaged 31-4-5-1-1. How do that sound to you?”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: “It sounds pretty good. I know he did that & won a lot more games.”

Me: Jordan was 24 his 1st time, too.

SGA: “Makes it a little better.”

pic.twitter.com/Ua5AGevL4U

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 24, 2023

And it appears Gilgeous-Alexander could be available to play both ends of back-to-back contests going forward, something he did not do while he was nursing an abdominal strain earlier. He said he planned to face the Lakers on Friday, so long as he didn’t wake up experiencing discomfort.

As far as callbacks go, that Gilgeous-Alexander is in town for this pivotal week in the Clippers’ season is quite the brutal twist from whoever is contriving the plot. What a wicked flourish to drop unwelcome reminders and fill even the most rational viewers’ heads with what-ifs.

Already on Tuesday, there’d been another whoa-nelly of a dunk followed, minutes later, by another heart-stopping, gut-punch of a knee injury. And that led to another opaque news release calling it a “sprained right knee,” in George’s case, which reminded close viewers of the “right knee sprain,” used initially to describe Kawhi Leonard’s 2021 torn anterior cruciate ligament.

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Talk about heightened dramatic effect, having SGA across the way throwing daggers. Having him carve up the Clippers on Tuesday for 20 of his 31 points in the second half, death by Slinky? His go-go-Gadget arms wrapping up the season tiebreaker between his current team and his former team?

And then having him drop 30 points in 27 minutes Thursday?

He rested in the fourth quarter, on the bench while the game got away from Oklahoma City, with another big one around the corner the next night in the same building.

But after one of his 10 buckets Thursday, a woman in the stands said aloud what was on everyone’s minds: “I miss Shai.”

The young man’s become a killer. A killer with skills.

And a most formidable foe on this week’s late-season installment of the NBA in L.A.

​ Orange County Register 

Kawhi Leonard leads Clippers past Thunder in first game without Paul George

• March 24, 2023

LOS ANGELES — The Clippers have been in this position before, as recently as last season when Paul George missed 32 games because of injury. So, there wasn’t any panic or hand-wringing Thursday night. Like before, the team was going to need contributions from several players.

It’s a message Coach Tyronn Lue sent to his team, starting with star Kawhi Leonard and down to seldom-used Bones Hyland.

“We’re definitely ready for the challenge,” Lue said. “We have a lot of guys in this locker room, and we’re excited for the challenge.”

The Clippers were not only prepared to move forward without George but did so convincingly with a 127-105 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the same team they lost to by one point on Tuesday when George went down after colliding with Luguentz Dort late in the game.

Perhaps some of the Clippers’ motivation stemmed from the news that George did not suffer ligament damage in his right knee and will not require surgery. He will be re-evaluated in 2-3 weeks.

He posted on Twitter, “Appreciate y’all.”

Until George returns, Lue said the Clippers (39-35) need Leonard specifically to step up in a big way, to be in an “attack mode” from the opening tip. And that started with Thursday’s rematch with the Thunder.

“We’ve been used to playing with one of those guys out, so we kind of know how to play,” Lue said. “It’s just a little different because now we have Russ, (Mason) Plumlee and now Eric Gordon. And so, for those guys to try to fit in and try to understand how we want to play it might be the thing that’s going to be the most difficult, but we’ll be fine.”

Leonard responded to the challenge and started strong, scoring 15 of his game-high 32 points in the first quarter while going 7 for 7 from the field. And the rest of the team followed, as Terance Mann and Hyland, seeing his first minutes in three weeks, picked up the pace.

Turnovers (10), poor defense and a lack of scoring by Leonard in the second quarter hurt any momentum the Clippers had garnered. Leonard failed to score in that stretch, allowing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to settle in. He had 19 of his team-high 30 points in the first half.

The Clippers, however, regained their focus, perhaps remembering Lue’s earlier words, and began playing with a renewed sense of purpose. They cut down on their turnovers, collecting just three in the second half, and began finding their touch from beyond the 3-point line.

Behind the shooting of Leonard, Russell Westbrook’s hard-charging drives and the support of Hyland and Mann in the second half, the Clippers broke open a tie game to avenge Tuesday’s loss.

The Clippers closed the third quarter with a 27-12 run, including 10 in a row, to lead 92-80 going into the fourth. They made seven consecutive 3-pointers over the end of the third and start of the fourth, with Nicolas Batum and Hyland hitting three each. Leonard had the other 3-pointer in pushing the Clippers’ lead to 101-85.

The Clippers kept it up, sinking another three 3-pointers in a row, capped by one from Westbrook that extended their lead to 114-89. They outscored the Thunder 35-25 in the fourth.

Leonard finished 13 for 15 from the field, grabbed six rebounds and doled out six assists. Westbrook added 24 points and seven assists, while Hyland hit four of the Clippers’ 18 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Mann had 14 points.

Lue said George was “a little disappointed” to not be playing, especially so close to the playoffs. The Clippers have eight regular-season games remaining.

“I think we got the best-case scenario as far as what we thought it could be,” Lue said. “So, being re-evaluated in two, three weeks is something that we are looking forward to. His spirits are down, but that’s to be expected when it’s late in the season and when you want to help your team. But we are going to support him a hundred percent.”

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Ducks allow late goal, lose third straight game

• March 24, 2023

ANAHEIM — Even for teams hanging around near the bottom of the NHL standings there are unexpected wins in the final month, or failing that, a bright spot surfacing to ease fan angst, at least temporarily.

Those moments have been harder and harder to find for the Ducks this week, practically requiring a search party. And it was not much different on Thursday night in their 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets at Honda Center, their third straight loss and fifth in the past six games, as the Jets erased a 1-0 deficit with a first-period goal by forward Mason Appleton and a second-period goal by forward Kyle Connor.

The game-winner came at 10:47 of the third with center Adam Lowry tipping in defenseman Brenden Dillion’s pass past Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal. Dostal made 30 saves.

The Ducks had tied the score at 2-2 on Frank Vatrano’s third-period, power-play goal from just inside the blue line at 5:40, which was his 18th goal of the season.

“There was a pass and the guy was basically alone on the side,” Dostal said of the game-winner. “I knew there was a guy behind me. You can’t open the short side. … I didn’t really want to cheat on the play. I just felt it might go back door but it’s my responsibility to take a shot in that situation.”

So about those recent rare bright spots:

• On Tuesday, it was forward Nikita Nesterenko making his NHL debut.

• On Thursday, it was defenseman Cam Fowler scoring his 10th goal of the season to make it 1-0 at 11:41 of the first period – a knuckler getting by Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck – and it was Fowler’s 43rd point, a career-best. Fowler had 42 points during the 2021-22 season and is one goal from matching a career-high, set in 2016-17.

“If you even look at the power-play struggles this year, there’s probably a few more lost points there he could have,” Ducks defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said. “He’s been tremendous. He’s been the leader on the back end. Takes a lot of pride in his game in the defensive zone and knows what his role is as an offensive defenseman.

“It’s been great to see. He’s someone I kind of grew up with in the league and someone I watched play and became great friends with along the way.

“I love when you can’t count old dogs out. They keep breaking their marks.”

Fowler started the season with one assist in his first 15 games. Contrast that to the run of offense he is on now – points in 14 of the past 15 games.

“He’s been unbelievable,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “It’s really interesting when you think about Cam’s year. I’m super proud of him. I hope that he’s proud of himself to have a career year in a year like this.”

The bright spots of the week happened to be bookends – the newest Duck (Nesterenko) and the longest-tenured player on the team (Fowler).

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Nesterenko didn’t score in his debut on Tuesday against Calgary – but caught the attention of the coaching staff with his play. He had a team-high four shots on goal, tied with Vatrano. But for a young player, one of the keys to sticking around is reproducing that same effort night after night. His ice time against the Jets was 13-plus minutes and he did not record a shot on goal.

“I’m just expecting ups and downs,” Eakins said of Nesterenko after the morning skate on Thursday. “We still see ups and downs with Z (Zegras) or MacT (Mason McTavish) or (Max Jones).

“I’m just looking for that kid to really use his hockey sense. What comes naturally to him.”

McTavish already has set a good template for Nesterenko (and others) to follow.

“I said, ‘If you want to get off to a really good start here just follow McTavish around,’” Eakins said. “If you can get on the ice at the same time he does before practice and then leave the ice when he and Zegras leave. Z will stay there all day working on his skills, his shot. That does become contagious through the room.

“… They will be our future leaders and that’s how things will be better.”

​ Orange County Register 

Gonzaga outlasts UCLA in another NCAA tournament thriller

• March 24, 2023

LAS VEGAS — Julian Strawther hit a deep 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left to answer a 3-pointer by UCLA’s Amari Bailey, lifting Gonzaga to a wild 79-76 NCAA tournament victory over the Bruins on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.

The Bruins (31-6), the West Region’s No. 2 seed, stormed back from an eight-point deficit in the final 1:05 and took a 76-75 lead on Bailey’s 3-pointer with 12.2 seconds left.

The Zags (31-5) brought the ball up the floor and Strawther stepped into a 3-pointer, sending Gonzaga fans to their feet.

Gonzaga’s Malachi Smith stole the ball from UCLA’s Tyger Campbell, but Strawther only hit one of two free throws at the other end, giving the Bruins a chance.

Campbell’s 3-pointer at the buzzer hit the back of the rim, sending the Zags rushing off the bench and into the Elite Eight against fourth-seeded Connecticut on Saturday.

It’s the second time Gonzaga has beaten UCLA on a last-second shot in the NCAA tournament. Jalen Suggs crushed the Bruins the last time, banking in a running 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Zags to the 2021 national championship game.

The flurry of a finish started off more like a prize fight, each team taking its turn landing blows in a game of wild swings. UCLA led by 13 at the half, but Gonzaga went ahead by 10 with 2:30 left in the game with UCLA in the midst of an 11-minute field goal drought. The Bruins rallied from there to regain the lead.

When Strawther hit a 3-pointer with 4:07 it gave the Bulldogs a four-point lead that seemed like a 40-point margin as UCLA was enduring a scoring drought of 11 consecutive misses and a span of more than 11 minutes without a field goal.

It felt like a dagger.

Starting guard Jaylen Clark in a boot. Starting center Adem Bona in street clothes. The Bruins were down two starters and so were their spirits.

However, in a whirlwind of magic that makes March Madness must-see TV, UCLA mounted its comeback in the final moments that culminated with Bailey’s go-ahead 3-pointer.

Unfazed, Strawther responded with the real dagger from the edge of the midcourt logo to send half of the 18,544 fans in attendance into pandemonium.

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Bona’s absence allowed Gonzaga center Drew Timme to feast inside – he finished with 36 points on 16-of-24 shooting with 13 rebounds and four assists in 38 minutes. Strawther finished with 16 points.

The Bulldogs outscored UCLA 30-8 from the 15:25 mark until the 2:38 mark of the second half.

The loss marked UCLA’s third loss in as many seasons to Gonzaga, and the second straight season the Bruins have made a Sweet 16 exit.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 29 points on 12-of-25 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds in his final game as a Bruin. Bailey finished with 19 points, scoring 13 in the first half. Tyger Campbell added 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting in the loss.

Much more to come on this story …

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

​ Orange County Register