“Kings of the pool” is an understatement when it comes to Wilson High School’s boys swim. The Bruins have won 44 consecutive Moore League titles and it’s their depth that continually helps bring home league championships.“We have a lot of blue-collar workers that grind away for us,” coach Eric Berg

The Long Beach State Dirtbags (10-8) beat host Pepperdine and Grand Canyon on Saturday in nonconference play at Eddy D. Field Stadium in Malibu to extend their wiing streak to four games. LBSU allowed just one run in each game while holding their opponents to a combined seven hits.The Dirtbags edg

The Los Angeles Marathon begins Sunday moing at Dodger Stadium. (File photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News.) Live blog and updates from the 2017 Los Angeles Marathon.Trouble viewing updates on your mobile device? See full stream. #AD_text{ font-size: 11px;

SACRAMENTO >> Freshman Lonzo Ball shined in his NCAA Touament debut, breaking the UCLA single-season assist record in the team’s 97-80 win over Kent State in the first round of the touament on Friday in Sacramento.Ball passed Larry Drew II for UCLA’s single-season assist record with 256 on

Kobe Paras was prepared to be wearing Bruin blue during March, but the former UCLA signee is just as happy sporting a different shade now.Paras signed with UCLA before the season and was plaing to help the Bruins to the NCAA Touament alongside fellow freshmen Lonzo Ball, TJ Leaf and Ike Anigbogu

TULSA, Okla. >> Before USC escaped with a 66-65 victory in the first round of the NCAA Touament on Friday, SMU coach Tim Jankovich faced a last-second decision that ultimately became the source of some second-guessing.Should he call a timeout?After USC forward Chimezie Metu missed the front

A month after Chargers owner Dean Spanos received a ceremonial key to the city, the Costa Mesa city council will decide whether or not to approve a deal to host the team’s preseason training camp.The NFL franchise has agreed to a tentative 10-year deal that will pay the city approximately $150,570 a

INDIAN WELLS >> Elena Vesnina recovered after blowing three match points to beat Venus Williams, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, and reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday night.Vesnina staved off six break points in the last game, closing out the 71-minute match with two forehand wiers. Wi

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bronson Koenig made a school-record eight 3-pointers and scored 28 points and Nigel Hayes added 16 as NCAA Touament-tested Wisconsin advanced in the East Region with an 84-74 victory over Virginia Tech on Thursday night.The eighth-seeded Badgers (26-9) made all the big plays i

HOLLYWOOD — The Chargers will get a big welcome to Los Angeles today with the formal introduction of the “Chargers Chili Cheese” special at Pink’s Hot Dogs.The famed Hollywood hot dog eatery at 709 N. La Brea Ave. in Hollywood will be offering the special for a limited time to commemorate the NFL te

TOKYO — Tetsuto Yamada hit two home runs to lead Japan to an 8-5 win over Cuba in the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday.Pinch hitter Seiichi Uchikawa broke a 5-5 tie on a sacrifice fly in the eighth iing and Yamada made it 8-5 with a two-run shot to center field at Tokyo Dome.Yamada also hit a lea

It is a 26-mile test of the body's fragileness and the mind's will.

Some of the world's elite marathoners will again face those two variables when they compete in Sunday's 32nd aual Los Angeles Marathon.

Athletes will have to juggle both before the heat hits on the Dodger Stadium-to-Sea course.

CERRITOS >> Keedy Wesley is your typical teenager. She enjoys shopping, especially for clothes and shoes in particular. She enjoys going to the beach and hanging out with her friends, among other things. Wesley is also one of the nation’s top high school soccer players, having been on four U.S. National teams, including her current status on the U-17 team.The success that Wesley has had representing her country — she was named to the 2016 CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship Best 11 team after helping the U.S. win a World Cup qualifying touament in Grenada — has also transpired with top-seeded Valley Christian High School (23-3-3), which will host San Gabriel Mission in the semifinals of the CIF Southe Califoia Division V Regional Soccer Championships at 4 p.m. on Thursday.Wesley has received high praise from Crusaders coach Kim Looney.“Her energy and passion for the game of soccer comes out of her and goes into her teammates,” Looney said. “The harder Keedy works, the ha

The No. 2-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team hosts two matches at Walter Pyramid this weekend as part of the aual ASICS Touament. The 49ers (17-2, 13-1) face George Mason at 7 p.m. on Friday and Loyola (10-6, 6-3) on Saturday at 7 p.m. LBSU setter Josh Tuaniga leads the nation with 11.56 assists per set and middle blocker Amir Lugo-Rodriguez is tied for first in the NCAA with 1.31 blocks. Sophomore TJ DeFalco is seventh in the nation with 4.12 kills.Beach volleyballThe No. 7 49ers (4-0) are in Manhattan Beach for four matches as part of the UCLA Invitational. LBSU starts at 10 a.m. Saturday moing against No. 2 Florida State and then face Georgia State at noon. On Sunday, the 49ers will take on No. 10 LSU at 10 a.m. and then play at 2 p.m. against No. 11 Florida Inteational. The LBSU teams of Nele Barber and Rachel Nieto and Sasha Karelov and Kobi Pekich are 4-0 this season. Nieto has a team-high 57 kills and Heather Weiss has a team-high 19 service aces.BaseballAfter

Atlanta United packed its stadium for its first MLS opener Sunday when 55,297 showed up, the league’s largest attendance and the world’s fifth biggest for a soccer game on the weekend.Amazed? So was MLS commissioner Don Garber. “I was just speechless and I’m not speechless very often,” he marveled. “This is just remarkable.”He had every reason to wonder.MLS all but abandoned the Southeast in 2002 after not one, but two money-losing Florida teams. The Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion were folded at the same time before they took the seven-year league with them, too.Yet here was a mammoth crowd taking in a regular season MLS game, more confirmation the domestic game is making headway in an area that has sometimes seemed indifferent or even openly hostile to it.And it followed on the heels of Orlando FC’s box office success.The second-year club drew a regular-season average of 31,324 last year, behind only the Seattle Sounders (42,000-plus), although with a move to a smaller soccer-speci

The Chargers released three veterans Tuesday moing, clearing nearly $20 million in cap space before the start of free agency.The team parted ways with offensive lineman D.J. Fluker, receiver Stevie Johnson, and coerback Brandon Flowers, all of whom have either struggled with injuries or underperformed relative to their salaries.The Chargers had left the NFL Scouting Combine with approximately $6 million in cap space, with a franchise tag on pass rusher Melvin Ingram costing them $14.5 million. Still, general manager Tom Telesco seemed optimistic about his team’s financial flexibility entering free agency, which starts at 1 p.m. Thursday.“Just cap wise, we can get done what we need to get done,” he said last week in Indianapolis.Selected No. 11 overall in 2013, Fluker had started 59 games as a Charger — including nearly two seasons at right guard — but was owed $8.8 million this upcoming season. He is one of several first-rounders in his draft class who are no longer with their orig

Name: Keedy WesleySchool: Valley ChristianSport: SoccerYear: SophomoreNoteworthy: Wesley scored two goals and added an assist in Valley Christian’s 3-1 victory Grace Brethren in the CIF Sourthe Section Division 6 Final on Saturday. Wesley scored both goals on free kicks, one in the 9th mimute and the other in the 17th. The title was the Crusaders third CIF championship and first since 2007.Advertisement

Name: Axel Lemus

School: Bellflower

Sport: Soccer

Year: Junior

Noteworthy: Axel Lemus has scored six goals this year, four of them have come in the playoffs including two in the Buccaneers’ 2-0 victory over Saugus in the CIF Southe Section Division 4 Championship on Saturday. Lemus scored two goals in the second half for Bellflower, who captured their second CIF title in three years.

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High winds and rain at 12:18 p.m. resulted in the PGA Tour’s Genesis Open suspending play Friday in the second round with more the half the field either on the Riviera Country Club course and many not even starting yet.A large tree branch falling near the 15th hole added to the decision that the spectators could be in some danger if play continued.“It’s just unplayable and borderline unsafe with a tree branch going down,” first-round leader Sam Saunders said during the Golf Chael TV coverage. Saunders had a 1:45 p.m. tee time for his second round.“I wasn’t looking forward to getting out there,” he said. “Yesterday I mentally didn’t plan on playing today and I’m glad I prepared for that. I’ll be ready to get off to a hot start tomorrow.”Jhonattan Vegas came on to tie Saunders for the lead at 7-under par after shooting a blazing 31 in the moing and ending his day at the 15th hole when play stopped.While reports were for oveight rain and winds practically shutting down Friday’s play

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Rich Hill had a blister problem last season. He does not have a problem with blisters.“There’s also been recalls on Toyotas that are very reliable, you know what I mean?” the Dodgers left-hander said with a chuckle. “I mean, it had never happened before in my career. It was such an outlier that it’s not something I look at and feel is going to be an issue.”Hill has had other issues that sidelined him over the years — a groin injury early last season, shoulder woes earlier in his career and so on. He has made more than 20 starts (last year’s combined total between the Oakland A’s and Dodgers) and thrown more than last year’s 110 1/3 iings just once in his career. That was back in 2007 with the Chicago Cubs at age 27.For most of that time, though, Hill wasn’t asked to pitch any more. He spent most of his career as a reliever until re-emerging as an elite starter the past two seasons.“I would never go there and say I can’t go 32 starts. I’m fully prepared to make 32 st

It’s been a tumultuous four-year jouey for Carla Esparza. The Redondo Union High grad has reached the top of her profession, only to have it cascade on her in devastating and personal fashion.She had become the first 115-pound champion in two major MMA promotions.She lost the most prestigious title via a punishing TKO. Shoulder surgery afterward sidelined her nearly a year.Inactivity forced her to go public with her dire financial situation and the embarrassing prospect of having to sell her trophy for wiing a UFC reality show and championship.Only this gold cup came in the shape of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.“Kind of, not really,” Esparza said when asked if she still has the bike. “I’m not sure. I still have it.”Esparza said ownership of the bike depends on her performance Sunday against Randa Markos at UFC Fight Night 105 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.And unless the strawweight of conversation is her or Markos, Esparza would rather not discuss.When asked about recent victories by str

The Clippers’ Jamal Crawford has won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award for a record third time.

The reserve guard, who is in his 16th season, averaged 14.2 points on the season, but averaged 15.8 points after Dec. 25.

Crawford, 36, breaks his own record, set two years ago, as the oldest wier of the Sixth Man of the Year award.

• Crawford is thriving because of his love for the game

He also won the honor in 2010 with Atlanta and 2014 with the Clippers.

Crawford led the Clippers with 341 fourth-quarter points and was second in the NBA with a 90.4 free-throw percentage.

Crawford received 51 first-place votes and 341 points from a panel of 130 writers and broadcasters. Golden State’s Andre Iguodala of was second with 288 points (33 first-place votes). Oklahoma City’s Enes Kanter finished third with 182 points (19 first-place votes).

Kevin McHale, Ricky Pierce and Detlef Schrempf had shared the record with Crawford for wiing the Sixth Man award twice.

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ANAHEIM >> Anger, if chaeled correctly, can help a team pull out of a 0-2 playoff series hole.

Rage, if provoked, can cause a team to fall further into that hole, and that’s the paradox the Ducks find themselves in as they head to Nashville for Game 3 of their Stanley Cup playoff series.

The Ducks need to get mad and hope it inspires then to play harder. But they have to gauge their emotions. They got mad Sunday, tued more aggressive and it created uecessary penalties that eventually put them at the two-games-to-none disadvantage.

The Predators scored what tued out to be the decisive goal on a power play in the second period. It was one of six penalties called on the Ducks, while the Predators were whistled for two infractions. Nashville had five power plays to the Ducks’ one.

Corey Perry took two penalties and Ryan Getzlaf had one in the first period. Ryan Garbutt, David Perron and Jakob Silfverberg accounted for the others, and instead of getting even, the Ducks boiled over.

“You would think it’s easily correctable and every player knows what’s at stake because they’ve been working nine, 10 months to get to this thing,” Coach Bruce Boudreau said Monday before the team boarded a plane.

“Sometimes it gets over the line. It’s almost like road rage. You do it (even though) you’re supposed to be in control. You lose control. Obviously, it’s something we have to gain back. We can’t continue to do that because we can’t take five penalties a game and not get our power play on the ice as well.

“It’s something that will be addressed.”

Defenseman Andrew Cogliano said the team is livid over the lack of defensive discipline they’ve shown in the first two games.

“The guys are (ticked) off,” Cogliano said. “Yes, obviously we’ve done this before and been able to come back. But we need to really buckle down now.

“It’s easy to talk about it, saying that we’ve been here before, but this is a completely new series and we need to not so much talk about it, but go and do it. We need a win, simple as that. That’s what it comes down to. We need to win a game.”

The Ducks used that rallying cry during the Christmas break and it worked. They managed to overcome their offensive lapses, become a defensive stalwart and tu their flaws into the Pacific Division title.

They don’t have the luxury of a few months, however. The Ducks need to win at least one of the two games at Bridgestone Arena to send the series back to Honda Center. Game 3 is Tuesday.

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“If they don’t (feel a sense of urgency) we’re in trouble,” Boudreau said. “We know we’re down, 2-0, going into a chaotic ba. If we don’t have a sense of urgency now, we never will.”

The Predators have taken the lead in the series by capitalizing on the Ducks’ ill-timed ire, and strong goaltending by Pekka Rie, who made 27 saves Sunday.

John Gibson has been in goal for both losses and Boudreau wasn’t in any mood Monday to discuss his goalie situation. Gibson has given up six goals in two games, leaving Boudreau to consider going with Frederik Andersen for Game 3.

Boudreau said he’s not eager to make a change just to do it, and that extended to the rest of the team.

“Would it be a change for the sake of change or change to make us a better team?” he said.

Twelve hours didn’t change what Boudreau witnessed Sunday.

“We still lost,” Boudreau said. “It is what I thought it was, nothing more, nothing less. I thought as coaches we made a good assessment of what happened when we discussed it after the game and I don’t think it changed this moing.”

CHICAGO >> C.J. Cron insisted that he didn’t feel as bad as his average looked.

And for proof that quality of at-bat and quality of the result don’t always match, he pointed out that his best contact on Monday was the only time he made an out, a line drive to center field.

Still, he wasn’t about to throw back the other three hits, part of a much-needed outburst – for him and the team – in the Angels’ 7-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

“You have to see results,” Cron said. “It was nice to see some of those fall.”

Cron came into the game batting an even .100, at 4 for 40, in a slump so bad that Manager Mike Scioscia had dropped him to eighth in the order to take some of the pressure off him.

“I’m just happy I’m in the lineup still,” Cron said.

Truth be told, the only way a struggling hitter feels less pressure is when he starts to get hits, and he jumped aboard the Angels runaway offensive train in the first iing on Monday.

Cron’s first-iing opposite field single was the fifth of six Angels hits in a five-run iing against Carlos Rodon, who had allowed a total of two runs in his first two starts. The quick strike no doubt lifted a weight off a team that had been collectively struggling.

Although Cron’s slump was the worst, he was not alone. The Angels came into the game hitting .223 and averaging 3.0 runs. A day earlier, they had endured 27 consecutive hitless at-bats to end a 12-iing loss.

To say they needed a game like this would be an understatement.

“We’re a much better offensive team than we’ve shown the first few weeks of the season,” Scioscia said. “Tonight we got some big hits especially with ruers in scoring position.”

The Angels were 8 for 15 with ruers in scoring position, doubling their previous high for hits in that situation. While they got swept over the weekend in Miesota, the Angels were 4 for 19 (.211).

If the Angels can parlay this game into more consistent offensive production, Scioscia won’t face so many questions about what to do with his lineup.

Before Monday’s game, he faced a situation with two hitters slumping badly – Cron and Johy Giavotella, who had a hit to raise his average to .125. He also had no consistently productive No. 2 hitter, with Daniel Nava on the disabled list.

That opened the door for questions about whether he was better off simply moving Mike Trout and Albert Pujols back up to the Nos. 2 and 3 spots, where they had hit frequently in 2013 and 2014.

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“If we were maybe 40 games into the season you’d consider something like that,” he said. “But right now we have a lot of confidence the groupings we have will be the most productive. It’s tough to evaluate when there are a lot of guys not in their game yet.”

Sure enough, just a few hours later, the outlook on the Angels offense was looking much better.

“Some guys have gotten off to some slow starts for us,” he said, “and tonight they had really good nights for us.”

SAN JOSE >> Left wing Milan Lucic looked lost in his own end of the ice in the opening seconds of Game 3 of the Kings’ first-round playoff series against the Sharks on Monday. He had the puck on his stick, but didn’t seem to know what to do with it.

Lucic tued it over.

Sharks center Joe Thoton pounced a nanosecond later, whistling a shot from the high slot behind Kings goalie Jonathan Quick only 30 seconds into the game, tuing the SAP Center into an ear-splitting cauldron of noise. The Kings seemed stued.

Matters would improve for the Kings.

Greatly.

They found their game before the first period was too far gone. They clicked on their power play, with Anze Kopitar scoring his first goal of the series to tie the score, and slowly, but certainly they clawed their way back into the series with a 2-1 victory on Taer Pearson’s goal 3:47 into overtime.

Game 4 of the best-of-7 series is Wednesday at the SAP Center.

Game 5, now necessary, is Friday back at Staples Center.

No question, the Sharks expected push back from the Kings after taking victories in Games 1 and 2 at Staples Center. The Sharks expected more from the Kings in Game 3. More intensity, more physicality, more offense and more determined defense and goaltending.

Above all, the Sharks anticipated big games from Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli, neither of whom had scored a goal in the first two games of the series. Kopitar had an assist in Game 1, but Toffoli had been blanked and was largely invisible in both games in L.A.

Sharks coach Peter DeBoer wasn’t fooled.

“You’ve got some Stanley Cup champions there.” he said. “At the same time, I don’t think they’ve played that poorly. I think we’ve done a good job on them. I’d rather give us credit than say they’re not bringing it. I think they’re bringing it. They’re trying to push.

“We’ve done a good job on them. We’ve got to try to continue to do that.”

So, what happened?

Thoton scored on the Sharks’ first shot on goal, continuing a patte. The Sharks scored on their second shot in Game 1, an eventual 4-3 victory. Then they scored on their first shot in Game 2, a 2-1 win. Joe Pavelski scored each of the first-period goals.

Thoton, Pavelski and Tomas Hertl have been a recurring nightmare for the Kings in the first two games, and they were again in Game 3. The Kings’ top lines couldn’t handle them, so coach Darryl Sutter tried his fourth line of Kyle Clifford, Trevor Lewis and Kris Versteeg on them.

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Kopitar’s goal was a game-changer.

Pearson’s goal was a game-wier.

Austin Rivers doesn’t lack for confidence.

The Clippers reserve guard once tweeted he was “straight up better” than a lot of the players competing for a spot on Team U.S.A.

Monday, the bravado was still there.

“I think we’re one of the best benches in the league,” he said.

The confidence in the group, which includes Jamal Crawford, Jeff Green, Wesley Johnson, Paul Pierce and Cole Aldrich, runs in the family,

After saying he’d probably have to trim his rotation for the playoffs before Game 1, Clippers coach Doc Rivers used six players off the bench in the first half of Sunday’s Game 1 win over Portland.

While fans, analysts and critics have hollered for Rivers to stagger his starters, to keep Chris Paul, Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan on the court at all times, the Clippers bench formed an identity together.

It started in December, when the Clippers decided to remove Josh Smith from their rotation, pushing Aldrich into regular minutes.

“I definitely think it changed the spirit of that group,” Paul said. “Cole just does whatever needs to be done to win the game.”

He plays without an agenda, without a desire to freelance, and it helped the bench start to forge an identity.

Since they added Aldrich to the rotation, the Clippers’ bench is ninth in overall net rating.

Surrounding Aldrich, the Clippers either have ballhandlers or athletes – sometimes both.

Crawford, as Paul said, is “probably the best bench guy to ever play.” Austin Rivers has found a niche in the NBA as a penetrator and defender. Green is a streaky scorer who can exploit mismatches, and Johnson is a big-time athlete who can get hot from the coers. And, there’s Pierce, who the Clippers still believe in.

“Those guys have been in situations,” Paul said. “ ... Those guys have a confidence about them.”

That confidence came in a close loss to Oklahoma City, where Rivers, Crawford and Aldrich helped the Clippers almost upset a fully-stocked Thunder team. It came in Utah, where the Clippers reserves beat the Jazz in a game they had to win.

And, it carried over to Sunday, where Doc Rivers decided to run his five-man bench lineup onto the court for minutes in the second and fourth quarters.

In both stints, the Clippers didn’t extend leads, but the reserves didn’t squander leads either.

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Crawford scored 13, Austin Rivers scored 11 and Aldrich had two blocks and two steals in less than 15 minutes.

Game 1 proved that if the game will allow it, Doc Rivers will continue to play the all-bench lineup he’s used throughout the season.

“I was good with it last night,” he said. “ … We’ll see how it goes. My guess is there will be nights where you can’t as much, but we’ll find that out night to night.

“But, our bench has been damn good all year. So, why go away from them now?”

Redick’s foot healing

After missing practices in the build-up to Sunday’s playoff opener, Redick was able to play through the bruised left heel he suffered in the regular-season home finale last Tuesday.

LONG BEACH >> The Long Beach State women’s water polo team, with only two weeks and two games left before the Big West Conference Touament in Santa Barbara, took over first place in the conference with an 8-5 upset win at No. 7 Hawaii. The 49ers (16-9, 3-0 Big West) moved from No. 17 to No. 16 in the CWPA (College Water Polo Association) rankings while Hawaii (18-7, 3-2) dropped from No. 4 to No. 7.

In the win at Hawaii, LBSU senior Jessica Brooks led the way with two goals and seven different 49ers scored goals. After trailing 4-3 at halftime, Brooks scored her two goals in the third quarter when LBSU drew exclusions. Senior Emily Matheson added another goal and the 49ers took a 7-4 lead to the fourth quarter. LBSU senior goaltender Alexis Butler had seven saves. The win was the second upset of a top-10 team.

The first-place 49ers continue Big West action at UC Irvine on Thursday night at 7 to face the Anteaters, who won six of their seven games. LBSU will retu to Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center on Saturday at noon to host UC Santa Barbara in the regular-season finale.

Beach Volleyball

Two events this week will end the regular season for the 49ers, who are ranked No. 6 in the AVCA Coaches poll. LBSU (9-9) will host No. 2 Pepperdine today at 1 p.m. before traveling to Honolulu to participate in the Outrigger Resorts Aloha Invitational in Hawaii. The 49ers are defending champions of the invite and have not lost to a team outside the top-5 this season. They’ve lost to the No. 2 Waves (15-3) twice in touaments.

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LONG BEACH >> The next four days are chock-full of important Moore League action with the high school spring season reaching its halfway point.

It begins tonight at 6:30 at Blair Field as the first round of league play in baseball concludes with a first-place showdown between Lakewood and Millikan. The defending champion Lancers (16-5, 5-0 Moore League) are riding an eight-game wiing streak and have outscored their first five league opponents 56-9.

Lakewood junior shortstop David Rivera has impressed after a breakout sophomore season. He leads the team with a .412 batting average, 27 RBIs and three home runs. Head coach Spud O’Neil will likely give the ball to ace pitcher Matt Fields. The senior has a 0.88 ERA in 40 iings with 43 strikeouts and five walks.

Millikan (14-5, 5-0 Moore League) has won eight of its last nine games, and five of those were shutouts. University of Oregon commit Spencer Steer leads the Rams with a .456 batting average, 21 runs scored and 11 RBIs. Senior ace Mike Killeen, who has a 0.71 ERA in 39 1/3 iings , will likely get the ball for Millikan. The right-hander has allowed 28 hits while facing 148 batters.

On Thursday, the key Moore League softball match up is at 3:15 p.m. between Long Beach Poly and Wilson at Joe Rodgers Stadium. It will likely decide which team is pushed down to fourth in the league. That team will have to play a wild-card game in the upcoming CIF Southe Section playoffs. The Jackrabbits beat the Bruins earlier this season for the first time in league play since 2008.

The league title in boys volleyball could be decided today as Long Beach Poly visits Lakewood. Last month, the Lancers shocked the Jackrabbits at home with a 25-13, 25-21, 25-14 victory.

In boys golf, Millikan and Lakewood highlight the Moore league action at Skylinks Golf Course today, and defending champions Wilson will host Poly at Recreation Park Golf Course at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Wednesday features three Moore League track and field meets as Poly travels to Millikan, Wilson hosts Lakewood and Cabrillo goes to Compton to face Jordan and the Tarbabes.

The Lakewood and Millikan gymnastics teams will be at Lakewood High at 3 p.m. on Friday for a huge league match that highlights the second-to-last day of regular season action.

Visit GazettesSports.com for extended Moore League coverage.

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The 42nd aual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach finished with controversy on the track, as Simon Pagenaud’s pit exit move before eventual victory called into question whether he had violated racing rules by cutting in too early.

Off the track, Grand Prix organizers said Monday there was no controversy over the race’s success, with an early estimate of 182,000 in attendance, which, if the numbers hold true, will eclipse last year’s crowd of 181,000 people, making the event the most well-attended since the IndyCar Series debuted here in 2009.

• Photos: 42nd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

“When you put that many people in a downtown area like we have here, and have a minimal amount of disruption and a maximum amount of pleasure, it’s a statement of how this city has matured in terms of how it conducts special events,” said Jim Michaelian, president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach.

It didn’t hurt that the city enjoyed summer in April, with the temperature reaching a record high of 90 degrees at Long Beach Airport, beating the old record of 89 degrees in 1999, according to the National Weather Service.

“The way it tued out, it was spectacular,” Michaelian said. “You couldn’t have asked for three better days. The forecast heading into the weekend was very popular. That helps to get people into a positive mood, so all of that and some strong advance publicity helped us have a very strong weekend.”

And those thousands in a good mood spent time and money last week in Long Beach bars, restaurants and other local hang-outs. Eric Johnson, co-owner of the Auld Dubliner at 71 S. Pine Ave., said Grand Prix fans have made a tradition of visiting his watering hole.

“We see a lot of the same faces from people that are out of town,” Johnson said. “It’s their routine. That’s what makes the Grand Prix such a fun and unique experience.”

Johnson also runs Legends Sports Bar, a popular Belmont Shore bar and restaurant at 5236 E. Second St., as well as the popular waterfront restaurant Boathouse on the Bay, which offered roundtrip Aqualink service from the eatery to the Grand Prix.

“We kind of attack it from all sides and take advantage of the unique experience that the Grand Prix provides,” Johnson said.

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L’Opera Ristorante at 101 Pine Ave. enjoyed a boost in business during the Grand Prix. Owner Terry Antonelli said the restaurant is a “captive audience” over race weekend, and gets booked to capacity.

“Our four-day total was up eight percent,” Antonelli said.

Kobe Bryant appeared ready to speak, so his teammates gathered around to soak in every word he said.

Yet, Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. did not huddle up with his teammates because of a backdrop that uniquely defined the Lakers’ 2015-16 season.

“There’s a camera guy moving me out of the way to get to Kobe,” Nance Jr. recalled, laughing. “It’s been an adjustment. But I just try to have fun with it.”

As the Lakers finished with a franchise-worst 17-65 record, their challenges went beyond the 37-year-old Bryant delaying Father Time or fielding a roster that featured mostly toddlers when Bryant entered the NBA 20 years ago. The Lakers also navigated the tight-rope between embracing Bryant’s farewell tour without obstructing the team’s rebuilding process.

“I wouldn’t do anything differently. He deserved everything he got,” Scott said of Bryant, who won five NBA titles and climbed to third place on the league’s all-time scoring list. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I thought we handled it extremely well.”

Bryant’s teammates publicly embraced the festivities surrounding his final season. So much that many of them sought autographs from him after capping his career last week with a 60-point effort against Utah. Yet, Scott admitted it was a “possibility” that backdrop contributed to the Lakers’ season-long inconsistency.

“Sometimes our guys were to on how to play or when to do this or when to do that, because they were so into him being on the court,” Scott said. “When he was off the court then there was sometimes a battle of, ‘OK, who’s going to take over?’ instead of ‘Let’s play together.’”

Bryant may have encouraged his teammates to play aggressive and even lobbied Scott later in the season to feature his young players more. Yet, Bryant still averaged 17.6 points on a career-low 35.8 percent clip, while taking a team-leading 16.9 shots per game.

“You didn’t know what a lot of people were capable of because of the retirement. Next year you’ll get a better feel of what everybody is capable of, players, coaches, everybody,” Lakers rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell said. “That’s something we’ve been discussing throughout the year. It wasn’t something that recently came upon. But it’s also not an excuse.”

With Bryant frequently missing practices and shootarounds to stay healthy, his teammates could only foster chemistry with him on gamedays.

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“He wasn’t always able to come to practice like he would do on a real team playing for something,” Lakers forward Metta World Peace said. “It was hard for them to reap the benefits of that year. Between that and still being young, next year will be a better year.”

Given the circumstances, however, Bryant’s teammates gushed on how he at least planted the foundation for what they hope to become long and productive careers.

Lakers second-year forward Julius Randle and rookie forward Anthony Brown grew up idolizing Bryant, so they peppered him with questions any chance they could. Beyond helping him with his play, Russell sounded grateful for Bryant’s support amid criticism for secretly recording a video that showed Nick Young admitting infidelities.

“It was so small compared to his retirement and last game,” Russell said of his recorded video that went viral. “His success made me forget about a lot.”

Yet, that success also explains why the Bryant’s teammates embraced his farewell tour, even if it coincided with having increased aoyance for cameramen and microphones.

“It’s something,” Nance said, “I’ll always remember.”