Sports

Jan. 11—A long collegiate journey has led Casey Thompson back to Oklahoma.

So much for the possibility — the wild notion, as it turned out — that the Lakers might have gained some momentum from beating the Clippers and the Toronto Raptors in consecutive games, that those wins would become a springboard toward something better. To .500, at least, for a start.

IRA WINDERMAN South Florida Sun-Sentinel MIAMI – The fine line the Miami Heat have been walking in the absence of Jimmy Butler turned into too much of a high-wire act Wednesday night. Against one of the league’s emerging teams, there was neither enough deterrence nor a closer to take control late.

TARIK MASRI The Norman Transcript, Okla. Jan.

DALLAS -- Look, the Mavericks have an awfully high rate of success when Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving each score 30 or more points. It’s how they knocked off the first-place Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday. It, according to head coach Jason Kidd, is a reason why the Mavericks are so successful in clutch minutes.

JENKS -- The talented Jenks Trojans came away with a 67-51 district victory Tuesday night over the Ponca City Wildcats. Ponca City scored the first two points in Tuesday’s game, but then saw Jenks go on a 16-0 run to take a lead it would never relinquish.

When it’s going well for a basketball team, there’s an ease in which it operates, the rhythms of offense and defense smoothly flowing back and forth with minimal resistance. And when it’s going the way it is for the Lakers lately, there are only spurts of that, like a quarter-mile of paving every so often on a cobblestone highway.

JENKS -- In the first district game of 2024, the Ponca City Lady Cats lost to a very good Jenks team 52-41, in Jenks. The two teams played even-Stephen in the first quarter, which ended in a 9-9 tie.