Doncic: ‘Chemistry ... getting better’

Now, that’s what the Lakers had in mind when they pulled off their shocking trade for Luka Doncic earlier this month. After going 1-2 and averaging 14.7 points in his first three games with the Lakers, the 25-year-old superstar had by far his best game with his new team on Saturday night in Denver. Doncic scored 32 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out seven assists and stole four passes while leading the Lakers to a 123-100 wipeout of the Nuggets, who had won nine consecutive games. “Finally feel like myself a little bit,” Doncic said. “Playing this game, this is what I love. Just finally being myself a little bit, that’s why I was smiling all game.” So was LeBron James, who chipped in 25 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three blocks — and several times was on the receiving end of Doncic’s long passes for fast-break buckets. “I am a natural-born wide receiver and he’s a natural-born quarterback,” cracked James. Doncic said his chemistry with the Lakers, James included, is still budding. “This is my fourth game,” Doncic said. “Chemistry takes time. You saw today that it’s getting better.”

Hat trick boost to Ovechkin’s chase

Alex Ovechkin scored his 880th, 881st and 882nd career goals to record a hat trick and move 13 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record and give the Capitals a 7-3 victory over Connor McDavid and the Oilers on Sunday in Washington, moving back atop the league standings. Ovechkin beat Calvin Pickard clean with a wrist shot just before the midway mark of the second period off a pass from linemate Dylan Strome for his first of the game. He got his second on the power play 10 minutes later and put the puck into an empty net with 2:38 left for his third. Pickard became the 181st goaltender he has scored on, already the most of any player after Ovechkin broke Jaromir Jagr’s mark earlier last month. With his 134th game-winning goal, the 39-year-old Russian also tied Jagr for the most in NHL history. Tom Wilson, Jakob Chychrun, Connor McMichael and Strome also scored and Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves for the Capitals. The Oilers lost their third in a row dating to before the break, despite Leon Draisaitl scoring his league-leading 42nd goal this season.

Campbell gets 1st PGA Tour victory

Brian Campbell cashed in on a huge break Sunday when his tee shot in a playoff bounced out of the trees and back into play, leading to a birdie on the second extra hole to win the Mexico Open over Aldrich Potgieter. Campbell, who closed with a 1-under 70 at Vidanta Vallarta, won for the first time since he turned pro a decade ago and the timing couldn’t have been better. The victory sends him to the Masters, The Players Championship and the PGA Championship, along with five of the $20 million signature events left on the PGA Tour schedule. “To be in this position is just so unreal,” the 31-year-old Campbell said after calmly holing a birdie putt just inside 4 feet on the 18th green for the win. “I can’t believe it, really.” Campbell said it was grit that helped him win, and that goes back further than Sunday. He played his college golf at Illinois and was the low amateur in the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. He earned a PGA Tour card in 2017 and missed the cut 13 times in 20 starts. And then it was back to the minor leagues for the next seven years until he eventually got another crack at the PGA Tour. —AP