Page 4 February 9, 2017 Inglewood Loses Big to First Place Redondo By Adam Serrao The Redondo Sea Hawks boys’ basketball team narrowly squeaked out a Pioneer league championship over the second place Inglewood Sentinels last year, so it’s safe to say that head coach Pat Roy and his squad knew the type of talent that they would have their hands full with last Tuesday night at home. Despite being prepared for Redondo, the Inglewood offense managed to fall flat in both the second and fourth quarters alike. The Sentinels never gave up the fight, though. Roy’s team battled back to come to within two points of the Sea Hawks with just minutes to play, but ran out of steam down the stretch. A late 13-3 rally bolstered Redondo when it mattered most and ultimately sent Inglewood to a 72-61 loss while simultaneously snapping the team’s three-game winning streak. The Sentinels got off to a good start against a team that they knew they needed to beat. Inglewood matched Redondo’s high-flying offense almost point-for-point in the first quarter on their home court as they tried to keep pace with the first place Sea Hawks and second place Peninsula in the Bay League standings. By halftime, Redondo had pulled away behind senior Ryse Williams, who led his team with 15 points on the night. Despite trailing by eight points at the break, the Sentinels battled back. Senior Miles James and junior Krystopher Smith led all scorers in the game with 23 points apiece. Their combined 46 was enough to get Inglewood to within two points of its rivals from Redondo with just over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but it was eventually the team play of the Sea Hawks that overcame the Sentinels’ two stars. Redondo’s Jailen Moore sunk the Sentinels late. The senior struck with back-to-back threepoint shots that saw Inglewood drop from being behind by a bucket to all of a sudden being behind by 12. The Sea Hawks’ team play combined with the Sentinels inability to hit free throws down the stretch swung the game heavily in Redondo’s favor. “I think it was a very well-fought game,” Inglewood coach Roy stated. “They just hit us for some big shots down the stretch and got a lot of offensive rebounds. Anytime you go 2 for 9 from the foul line in the fourth quarter of a relatively close game, it hurts. Hopefully we can get better at that and keep moving forward.” Inglewood’s 11-point loss to Redondo was followed by a three-point loss on the road at Peninsula. Back-to-back losses to the two top teams in the Bay League all but sealed the Sentinels’ fate as a third place team in this year’s divisional standings. If Inglewood (12- 12, 4-4) wishes to hold onto their third place standing, it will have to hold off fourth place Mira Costa. The Sentinels take on Costa this Tuesday night on the road before finishing things up against a reeling Morningside team. Hawthorne High The Hawthorne Cougars boys’ basketball team, under the tutelage of head coach Miguel Tejeda, was quite excited to attain its first victory since the midway point of last season when it beat the Big Pine Warriors in December after a 0-10 start to this year’s regular season. The Cougars’ victory gave them momentum as they came back from Christmas break and quickly notched another win at home against the Wiseburn-Da Vinci Wolves, who share the city of Hawthorne with the Cougars. Hawthorne’s success was short-lived, however. Since the team’s second victory of the season, it has gone 0-8 and lost every game played within the Ocean League. The Cougars’ latest loss came on the road at the hands of the Culver City Centaurs last Friday night. Despite 14 points apiece from seniors Warren Buchanan and Carlos Jacobo, Hawthorne took a 60-50 loss. Le’Aries White also contributed 10 in the losing effort. Hawthorne will continue to look for its first league play victory of the season as it closes the year out with games against the El Segundo Eagles and the Lawndale Cardinals, respectively. Lawndale High The Lawndale Cardinals boys’ basketball team has been fighting to stay alive for a playoff spot in this year’s Ocean League standings. Back-to-back losses to two elite teams in Santa Monica and Culver City haven’t helped the Cardinals chances much, but Dave Miller’s team rebounded last Friday night at home with a 54-42 victory over fifth place El Segundo. With just two games remaining on the regular season schedule, Lawndale will be looking to win out in order to gain an at-large big into the CIF playoffs. This year’s basketball season began as an up-and-down affair for Coach Miller and company before Ocean League play had a chance to get underway. Lawndale struggled to string together wins as the team found it difficult to find any consistency all season long. Wins have been followed by losses and vice versa for the Cardinals, as they have eventually come to a stop at an absolute average record at 4-4 in league play and 10-13 overall. Lawndale has no shot at catching first place Santa Monica (17-7, 8-0), but with just two games remaining against Beverly Hills and Hawthorne it is quite possible that the Cardinals can overtake Culver City (10-15, 5-3) for third place in the standings with a little bit of luck on their side. • La La Land Adds Some Magic By Adam Serrao It’s hard to believe that subtracting Kobe Bryant from a professional basketball team would make that team better. Though they haven’t improved much, the Los Angeles Lakers amassed as many wins from the beginning of the season through the month of January as they had throughout their entire campaign last year. Subtracting a basketball star isn’t always the answer. After a 49-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks over three weeks ago--The franchise’s worst loss in history—the part owner and President of the Lakers Jeanie Buss knew that something had to be done. That’s when she turned to Magic. No, not David Copperfield or Criss Angel. Buss turned to former Laker great Magic Johnson to dish out another assist, and in doing so signaled that huge changes are on the horizon for a basketball club that is and has been in obvious dire need. It was announced last Thursday that Hall of Fame point guard and Laker legend Johnson will return to the organization that drafted him and gave him his start to assist team executive Jeanie Buss in “all areas of basketball” as an advisor. The Lakers can use all of the advising that they can get, but the addition of Johnson to the front office is particularly interesting for a variety of reasons. Not only is Magic a familiar face that young players in the league will most certainly look up to, but his re-addition to the franchise more than likely means that some serious spring cleaning will be taking place this year once Punxsutawney Phil’s [Jackson] shadow finally goes away. Needless to say, both Buss and Johnson are excited for the ex-NBA great to return to the league. “We are thrilled and honored to add Magic’s expertise and abilities, and I look forward to working alongside him,” Buss said in a statement announcing the five-time NBA champion and three-time NBA MVP’s return. Jeanie might be the only person in the Lakers’ front office looking forward to working with Magic, though. Whatever General Manager Mitch Kupchak and Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Jim Buss have been doing lately has clearly not been working. Not only had the team lost 21 of their past 28 games dating back to last week after starting the season out at 10-10, but the Lakers have been one of the absolute worst teams in the entire league for close to five years. Jeanie has made it clear that she refuses to take being the laughingstock of the league and ruining a name that her father, Jerry Buss, worked so tirelessly to etch into NBA lore. In 2014, Jim Buss publicly said that he would step down from his post if the team wasn’t a contender in three to four years--a statement that Jeanie clearly intends to firmly hold him to when all is said and done. It has now been three years and the Lakers are nowhere close to contending. Johnson’s addition is an obvious first step in what will surely be the beginning of the end of Buss, and with him the likely departure of Kupchak, as well. As part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Johnson already has his hands full. In addition to his baseball exploits, though, the Hall of Famer has had many other offers to gain work inside of the NBA as well. “I could have been owner of the Golden State Warriors and I could have ran the New York Knicks when Steve Mills was the general manager back in the day before Phil [Jackson],” Magic explained. “And then I could have been part of the Detroit Pistons organization, and on and on and on.” What brought Magic back to the Lakers, though, was his love for the organization that he has always been the face of since arriving here as a rookie back in 1979. “Everyone knows my love for the Lakers,” the now-57-year-old Johnson continued. “My devotion to the game and Los Angeles make the Lakers my first and only choice. I will do everything in my power to help return the Lakers to their rightful place among the elite teams of the NBA.” The tentative plan for Johnson isn’t necessarily for him to take over the role of Jim and maybe even Kupchak. He’s there for Jeanie to help decide on future moves. Jeanie, though, doesn’t even have to be the one to decide on Jim’s firing. Their four siblings Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse can vote on his removal. Whether Jim and Kupchak get fired or not doesn’t take away from the fact that the club has been as handicapped as ever in attracting free agents to come play in Los Angeles. Magic will provide a magnetic personality and a huge, welcoming smile that will be much more likely to attract the league’s top players to put on the purple and gold than Jim and Kupchak’s withdrawn personalities and “old-school” mentalities had ever been. Adding Magic to the Lakers provides a charge of fresh energy to a team that has been lacking it both on the court and in the front office alike. One way or another, the Laker organization needs a change. Fans are getting tired of hoping and wishing for a good team. The empty seats at the Staples Center are as good an indication as any that a once proud, family-run franchise has lost much of its luster in a city that begs for stimulation. Johnson can provide a bridge from the past into the future for the Lakers. He can inspire a belief that things will, once and for all, get better. People like and look up to Magic. Unlike Kobe and other front office members of the Lakers, they also want to work alongside him. Magic Johnson’s addition to the franchise means that Jeanie is serious about making a Lakers team that has been torn down to its very core something to come and see in the city of Los Angeles once again. • – Asixlion@earthlink.net
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