Austin Reaves sat at the podium postgame, his eyes eventually dropping toward the table to look at the stat sheet, a look of amazement when he saw how long Troy Brown Jr. had played for the Lakers during their win over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday afternoon.

“He played 41 minutes? Jeez!” Reaves said.

To be exact, Brown played 41 minutes and 11 seconds, the most by anyone in the game.

He displayed his all-around game during that time, scoring 14 points on five-for-10 shooting, four for seven on three-pointers, grabbing eight rebounds and handing out two assists.

He did his part on defense, too, defending Klay Thompson at times, Stephen Curry when caught in a switch, Draymond Green, or any other player the Lakers asked him to guard.

“To be honest, I didn’t know I had played that many minutes,” Brown said. “I had no idea. Obviously with the rotations, I thought I was coming out and then going back in, but I wasn’t looking at stat sheets. It’s a blessing, honestly, just to get that opportunity, especially right now playing with time and with us playing for something and being able to be out there with those guys and make big plays. I’m grateful for it.”

Brown is back starting because LeBron James is out with a right foot injury. Brown had gone to the bench when Lakers coach Darvin Ham decided to start recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt alongside Anthony Davis and James.

Brown never let that become a problem.

“It’s just great to have a kid like that, the way he shoots the ball, the way he can put it on the floor, he rebounds. It’s great,” Ham said, “He played 41 minutes tonight, but we needed him out there all 41 tonight. The job he did on Klay, when he got cross-matched on different guys, he earned his weight in gold tonight. But it’s been a pleasure. He’s another one, just a pleasant kid to be around. He’s been a pleasure to coach this season.”

It was Brown who scored on a layup by cutting to the basket, taking the pass from Davis for a two-point lead late in the fourth quarter that the Lakers never let get away.

He then got the defensive rebound on the next play and drilled a three-pointer a few possessions later.

So, Brown said, starting or coming off the bench is not something he’ll let become an issue.

“I think it’s more with a clear head, more of a clear mindset,” Brown said. “It’s not really taking anything personal, trying to be professional and just know that they have a plan and the coaching staff has a plan and they are trying to put together their stuff. So, for me, I just try to come out every night and do what I can do and make sure I’m locked in and give the team what I need on my end.”

Dennis Schroder plays through ankle injury

Dennis Schroder is playing with a left ankle injury that he suffered against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Lakers point guard is gutting though the injury because he is needed.

Schroder is starting because D’Angelo Russell is out because of a right ankle sprain.

In the game against the Warriors on Sunday, Schroder played 33:16 and had 11 points and six assists.

“It’s a lot of pressure on him right now,” Davis said. “He’s our primary ballhandler. We’re missing our two in LeBron and DLo, and guys are trying to pick him up full court. But he’s finding a way to navigate it. I’m not sure if his ankle is still bothering him or not, but he’s very tough. He comes out and finishes the OKC game, plays against Minnesota. He knows the stakes, wants to get to the playoffs, wants to win by any means, and he’s gonna go out there and give it a go.”

Schroder got treatment after the game, doing all he can to stay ready.

“Yeah, I got a lot of treatment on my ankle. I feel good now,” he said. “Last game was a little … was still thinking about it a little bit. But right now, I think I feel in a good place.”

Schroder will be counted on to run the offense while Russell and James are sidelined.

Not only that, Schroder has to play his typical tough defense against some of the best point guards in the NBA.

“I just try to make the right decisions,” Schroder said. “Most important that we just structure the offense and that we don’t have too many wasted possessions and bad shots. I just try to run the offense and put people into position to score. Today was a decent job and AR [Austin Reaves] did a great job of it too.”

Michael Cooper is a beloved former Laker who won five NBA championships. Now he’s coaching at Culver City High, which plays host to Buena on Tuesday in the Southern California Regional Division III boys’ basketball championship game.

Culver City has never been this far in the state playoffs.

Cooper has coached professionally for the WNBA Sparks and Dream, and coached previously at the high school level, but he’s making an impact at Culver City.

“We’re so lucky to have him,” athletic director Tom Salter said. “He’s so energetic. He leads rallies at the school.”

Cooper, in his second season as head coach, missed two playoff games because of a long-time commitment to the Lakers for a trip to Germany. Culver City has won some close games to get to the final.

“It’s our defense working,” Cooper said of the late-game stops.

The sophomore Singleton brothers Braylon and Myles, who are also top football players, lead Culver City, along with 6-foot-5 senior Connor Scales.

Culver City (19-12) played a competitive nonleague schedule that resulted in losses to Bishop Montgomery, Windward, Mira Costa, Birmingham, Crossroads and Beverly Hills, among others.

“We took our knocks and lumps early and it’s paying off now,” Cooper said.

If Culver City advances to Sacramento to play for a state title at Golden 1 Center, Cooper might be greeted as a celebrity from those who remember his NBA days.

Angel City had just one player under contract when it traded for the rights to Julie Ertz, a two-time World Cup champion midfielder, and Sarah Gorden, a 2021 finalist for National Women’s Soccer League defender of the year.

That was 15 months ago. The team has played an entire season since then, and neither Ertz nor Gorden has made it to the field yet.

Ertz, who gave birth to a son in August, is not under contract with Angel City and might never play for the team. But Gorden, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee less than two weeks into the team’s first training camp, is expected to make her debut Wednesday night in a preseason friendly with Mexico’s Club América at BMO Stadium.

And though missing a full season to knee surgery in the prime of her career wasn’t the way Gorden saw her time with her new team beginning, she’s convinced Angel City is getting a better player than the one it acquired in December 2021.

“I absolutely feel like this year of recovery has prepared me mentally in ways that I never would have been able to prepare if I didn’t get injured,” she said. “Recovering from a major injury, there’s ups and downs. It’s a lot of isolation, a lot of time by yourself. And there’s so many more mental battles in it.

“When the small hard times [come], I feel so much more prepared to deal with it.”

The year off benefited Gorden in other ways too. Because she gave birth in college, then embarked on a professional career immediately afterward, finding quality time to spend with her son Caiden, now 9, has been difficult. But last year she got the chance to go from being a soccer player to being a soccer mom.

“I definitely didn’t get to give my son the attention he obviously deserves because I was juggling being a single mom and being a professional athlete,” she said. “Last year, I got to devote so much [to] those little things, like going to games, just being there to cheer him on, not having to worry that I’ll be out of town.”

“So in some ways, it was a blessing in disguise,” she said of the injury. “I had more time to spend with my family. I had more time to devote to my son. I also had more time to work on my mental health, to work on the mental parts of the game and to recover my body, not just my knee, but my entire body, which has been playing professionally for a long time.”

The rehabilitation from surgery also left her with more time to devote to her fledgling modeling career and to HoodSpace Chi, the nonprofit she founded 2½ years ago to address mental health challenges girls of color face though the use of yoga and meditation.

“I saw the disparities of resources in those communities regarding mental health. That’s why I started it,” said Gorden, who has been one of the NWSL’s most persistent voices on racial injustice. “That really is my biggest single social justice pursuit. Meditation and yoga and creating space in your life can help everyone.”

However, it took a career-threatening injury for Gorden to create that space for herself. In her final season with the Chicago Red Stars, the only NWSL team she has played for, Gorden logged more minutes than any player in the league. The next season, she didn’t play at all.

Instead, she had to watch as Angel City, which also lost former national team stars Christen Press and Sydney Leroux to injury, fell five points shy of a playoff berth during its first season.

“It was really difficult,” Gorden said. “I was playing the best soccer I’d ever played, and so getting traded to L.A. was something I really wanted. I came in with this vision of who I was going to be on this team. There was so much excitement from the city and the community for our team. I felt like I was missing out on something I was supposed to be a part of.”

Gorden acknowledged she threw herself a short pity party after the injury, then she threw herself into her rehabilitation with the same intensity she had used on the field. Coming back from a serious knee injury at age 30 won’t be easy, but Angel City coach Freya Coombe has been impressed by Gorden’s progress and attitude.

“She looks fantastic,” Coombe said. “She’s still as good defensively and willing to put her body on the line as she always has done. She reads the game really well. And she knows what it’s like now not to play. She’s had a whole season out. I think that gives you a different angle and appreciation for the game.”

Gorden agrees.

“I view the sport differently,” she said. “I feel much more grateful to be a part of it. In the past, I’ve always felt like I was kind of chasing something. Now I feel like I just kind of [am] there and enjoy the moments.”

“I feel like a more present person and player,” she added. “I feel like I’m in a great place.”

⚽ You have read the first installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly soccer column will take you behind the scenes and shine a spotlight on unique stories. Look for it every Tuesday morning at latimes.com/soccer.

We already mentioned some UCLA players, but we’ll still start with Jaquez Jr. here. He’s arguably the best player in this conference, as he has the ability to impact the game in a number of different ways offensively. Jaquez’s footwork makes him nearly impossible to guard in the mid-post, so he’s a great safety net offensively for the Bruins.

For Arizona, the players you want to know are guard Kerr Kriisa, forward Azuolas Tubelis and center Oumar Ballo. Kriisa is a floor general for the Wildcats, but he also has the ability to hit big threes. He’s a tough player that loves to compete, and he’s exactly what you want at point guard in a tournament setting. Tubelis is a versatile big man that can beat you with finesse or power. And Ballo is just a massive body in the paint, with the ability to dominate games with his brute force around the rim. Arizona has a little bit of everything, which is why the team is so special.

There are a few other players we can shine a light on here, but one last one that we’ll bring up is USC’s Drew Peterson. The senior is a 6-foot-9 wing that can really shoot the basketball, but he has also turned into quite the passer for an off-ball player. If the Trojans are going to make a run in this tournament, it will have everything to do with Peterson’s play.

They’re to the right of the banners they helped earn, the numbers of some of basketball’s most dominant big men to ever play in this league.

George Mikan’s No. 99 is two spots to the left of Wilt Chamberlain’s No. 13. One row directly below that is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s No. 33. Below that and to the left is Shaquille O’Neal’s No. 34.

And Tuesday, after helping the Lakers win a pair of championships, the curtain dropped on Pau Gasol’s No. 16. Fittingly, it’ll live directly on the right of Kobe Bryant’s No. 24.

As he watched the unveiling, Gasol shook his head and wiped tears from his eyes.

“To the city of L.A., to Lakers nation, I love you, I love you deeply,” Gasol said from midcourt. ”I love you forever, thank you for making me feel so special, it’s been an honor, it truly has.

“Mucho gracias.”

The festivities surrounding the game with the Memphis Grizzlies were full of emotional trips to the Lakers’ past, moments that would’ve been impossible without Gasol’s presence alongside Bryant.

The present? That rests on the player the Lakers have counted on to be next in line among their lineage of giants.

Fans chanted “M-V-P” as Anthony Davis walked to the free-throw line late in the fourth quarter, one minute before he and the Lakers finished off the Grizzlies 112-103.

“I actually told Pau, I want to be up there one day as well,” Davis said. “…I want to be in that category, that group.”

The Lakers have sole possession of ninth place in the Western Conference and are two games under .500.

Davis’ tip-in iced the game in the final seconds, finishing off a 30-point, 22-rebound performance.

Asked for his thoughts on Davis, coach Darvin Ham drew inspiration from the rafters.

“Wilt?” Ham joked. “…Full-blow Wilt Davis. He’s playing like a monster.”

In the first quarter, Davis looked every bit the part of one of the team’s all-time greats, dominating every inch of the court in the way that made him one of the NBA’s top two-way talents.

Before he checked out with 30 seconds left in the quarter, he’d already scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds, easily on his way to another double-double.

It was another moment of dominance, the kind that’s been happening more and more at a time when his team needs it most.

LeBron James remains injured and D’Angelo Russell, the natural next-in-line to pick up the slack, still is working toward a return.

Davis was forced out of the game with an inadvertent right hook from Memphis rookie David Roddy, the left side of his nose bleeding while he went to the locker room to get treated.

Without him on the court, the Lakers struggled, the Ja Morant-less Grizzlies playing with plenty of fight. All-Star Jaren Jackson Jr. lived in the paint and at the line and Memphis pushed ahead by as many as six.

But in the fourth quarter as the Lakers pulled back ahead, Davis again was in the spotlight. He ran the floor and scored, he sank free throws and hit jumpers. And on one play that electrified the crowd, he grabbed a rebound over Jackson, led the fastbreak and found Rui Hachimura for a basket.

Hachimura and Austin Reaves each scored 17 off the Lakers’ bench and Dennis Schroder added 17 and nine assists as the Lakers won for the sixth time in their last eight games.

Help could be coming soon. Russell was upgraded to questionable Monday but ruled out prior to Tuesday’s game. He underwent a full-speed workout before the game with Lakers coaches and could be on track for a return Friday against Toronto.

That could be a reason for celebration. Tuesday, though, belonged to Gasol.

After a private pregame ceremony, Gasol spoke to the media from the same room he sat in following the Lakers’ 2010 NBA championship.

“Tonight, it just — the anticipation, excitement, the honor received, it’s so big to me that it’s gonna be really hard to take in,” Gasol said. “I have to keep reminding myself it’s a celebration, it’s great, it’s lovely. It’s amazing that you can experience this in your life and have so many people around who have followed you and joined you and been next to you on your journey.”

From there, he was honored with a pair of videos during the second quarter. The first, a highlight compilation of his career, ended with a standing ovation for a teary-eyed Gasol. The second video included Phil Jackson and former teammates Sasha Vujacic, Derek Fisher and Metta Sandiford-Artest.

At halftime, after the Lakers unveiled his No. 16 next to Bryant’s No.24, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, general manager Rob Pelinka and Vanessa Bryant joined Gasol’s family on the court for the official ceremony.

“It’s something very special,” Gasol said before the game.

Tuesday, it was. And so was Davis.

Chris Downs is 6 feet 7, and when he’s on the mound, he can look very intimidating.

The Hart High senior came through Tuesday with five strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings of impressive relief to help the Indians hand Villa Park its first defeat 4-3.

Sierra Canyon 2, Crespi 2: A seventh-inning home run from sophomore Diego Velazquez for Crespi tied the score during a game halted by darkness after seven innings.

Crespi is 7-0-2 and Sierra Canyon is 8-0-1. Kehden Hettiger hit a two-run home run for Sierra Canyon while Ethan Kodama added a home run for Crespi.

Corona Centennial 3, Ramona 0: Left-hander Jaden McNeely threw a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts for 8-0 Centennial.

Harvard-Westlake 15, Loyola 2: Owen Carlson had three hits and Thomas Bridges struck out nine with no walks to lead Harvard-Westlake.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 3, Chaminade 1: Levi Sterling struck out three in the seventh for the save as Notre Dame improved to 7-0. Madden Ocko and Adam Shlesinger each had two hits.

St. Francis 1, Bishop Alemany 0: Sophomore Caleb Thatcher struck out nine, walked one and threw a complete game for St. Francis.

St. John Bosco 8, Servite 4: Leadoff hitter Hunter Friedberg had three hits in the Braves’ Trinity League win.

Mater Dei 4, JSerra 1: Landon Gordon threw a complete game and Dylan Wetzel hit a two-run home run in a Trinity League opener. So the two Trinity favorites, JSerra and Orange Lutheran, are both 0-1.

Newbury Park 3, Flintridge Prep 0: Derek Turner threw a no-hitter with 14 strikeouts for Newbury Park.

Bishop Amat 5, Gardena Serra 4: Miguel Perez came through with the walk-off hit for Bishop Amat.

Long Beach Wilson 9, Bellflower 2: Jace Orozco had three RBIs for Wilson.

Costa Mesa 5, Santa Ana 0: Michael Joyce threw a complete game, striking out eight, to help Costa Mesa improve to 9-0.

Sylmar 11, VAAS 0: Freshman Alex Martinez struck out eight in four innings for Sylmar.

Softball

Esperanza 11, Foothill 0: The Aztecs won in five innings. Audrey Robles had four hits, including two home runs, and six RBIs.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 11, Chatsworth 0: Ella Parker hit two home runs and finished with three hits and four RBIs for Notre Dame.

JSerra 9, Dana Hills 0: Kealani Caster hit a home run, Mia Krueger had three hits and Eva Hurtado struck out 11 to lead JSerra.

El Camino Real 6, Bishop Alemany 0: Sarah Delgado threw a one-hitter while Akane Gonzalez had two hits.

Los Alamitos 11, Fountain Valley 9: Audrey Hobbs and Morgan Fitzpatrick each had three hits for Los Alamitos.

PHOENIX — 

There’s a note-taking app on Chris Taylor’s phone that the Dodgers outfielder opens all the time, a simple yet useful system he long ago developed to track his ever-evolving swing.

Within it, the 10th-year veteran has kept a catalog of hitting tips, from mental cues and mechanical feels, to coaching advice and personal observations.

Many of them go back years, originating from the career-altering swing changes Taylor made during his emergence with the Dodgers in 2017.

Ever since, he hasn’t been afraid to edit the list, routinely jotting new thoughts and crossing out old ones — especially during times like these, as he sets out to rectify his dismal 2022 performance this spring.

“Last season, I felt like I created some bad habits,” Taylor said. “So I’m kind of just trying to create a more efficient swing.”

It’s a task that could be key for Taylor and the Dodgers, with the club’s new-look roster desperately needing the 32-year-old to rebound from his injury-plagued and strikeout-prone struggles from last season.

After earning his first All-Star selection in 2021 and signing a four-year, $60-million deal with the Dodgers the following winter, Taylor’s performance plummeted last season. He batted just .221 with 10 home runs. He also struck out 160 times in 118 games, a 35.2% strikeout rate that trailed only Joey Gallo among MLB hitters with 400 plate appearances.

An offseason elbow surgery and a late-season neck injury contributed to Taylor’s struggles, but his swing seemed broken throughout the campaign. Not since his 2017 overhaul at the plate had the super utility player looked more overmatched and out of sync.

“Once you step in the box, it’s really difficult when you’re trying to think about your mechanics,“ Taylor said. “And last year was just a constant battle of trying to find it and also perform.”

Not even referencing old notes could save Taylor — revealing a hard truth about many players similar to him who undergo major mid-career swing changes.

“The change works for a while,” Dodgers special assistant Chris Woodward said. “And then they hit a little bit of a plateau. Like, ‘I can’t feel the same way that I felt before.’ ”

Woodward would know, especially when it comes to Taylor.

When the fifth-round draft pick broke into the majors with the Seattle Mariners in 2014, Woodward was part of the club’s coaching staff.

When Taylor was traded to the Dodgers in 2016, after three underwhelming seasons that left his future in doubt, Woodward was the Dodgers’ third base coach.

Woodward was as impressed as anyone by Taylor’s changes in 2017, when he transformed his natural slap-hitting motion by adding a bigger leg kick, improving his pre-swing hand positioning, and exploding through the ball with astounding frequency.

“It was way different,” said Woodward, who left the Dodgers in 2019 to manage the Texas Rangers before returning this offseason in a part front-office, part on-field-instruction role. “He needed to make some adjustments. There were some things he needed to add.”

Taylor became an integral piece of Dodgers teams that won three National League pennants and one World Series from 2017 to 2021. In each of those seasons, he had an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of at least .775 while playing multiple positions, providing the club with much-needed defensive versatility. He even reached the 20-home run mark twice, something that seemed unthinkable after he hit one in his first three big league seasons.

But in the same way a renovated house requires constant upkeep, or a fixed-up sports car needs regular fine-tuning, Taylor had to consistently tinker with his swing — trying to maintain the same intricate motion amid inevitable changes to his body and his mechanics.

And last year, that “high maintenance” approach, as manager Dave Roberts has termed it, finally caught up with him.

“I’ve seen so many hitters go through that,” Woodward said. “When you make a swing change, it usually feels pretty good when you first do it. And then once it becomes normal, your body adapts and your brain adapts. You get a little numb to what it feels like.”

Enter Taylor’s note-taking routine, which has given him a new perspective on his swing work this spring.

“Some of the thoughts that might have worked for me in the past eventually became too much, where I went too far in the other direction,” Taylor said, sounding similar to a golfer who got rid of a slice but now hooks too many drives. “Sometimes it takes a while to figure out what those adjustments are. I have to find new ways of getting to the positions I want.”

The clock is ticking for him to do so.

Coming into camp, Taylor appeared set for a likely outfield platoon role while he was working through his latest changes. After Gavin Lux’s season-ending knee injury, however, Taylor might have to be more of an everyday player, in line to be the back-up shortstop in addition to the primary center fielder.

Woodward said he’s been encouraged by Taylor’s progress so far, despite his three-for-16 performance in Cactus League games.

“The swing is on time, there’s consistency with [the mechanics],” Woodward said. “It’s just a matter of time before he starts hammering balls.”

Roberts also remains optimistic about Taylor rebounding this season, though he noted he was still “hesitant” to make any defining assessments this early in spring.

“There’s a recalibration of the body,” Roberts said. “I know our guys are doing the best they can to kind of get him dialed in and keep it. But there are a lot of moving parts.”

Taylor, who went to Driveline over the winter to help expedite his adjustments, offered a similar self-evaluation. Though he’s felt better in the batting cage in recent days, he acknowledged there are still a lot of variables — from his approach to hand position — that need to be addressed.

“No, it’s not fun for me at all,” he said with a lighthearted laugh when asked if he enjoyed the challenge of his process. “I would love to just have the same thoughts every day.”

As he discussed each nuance and nuisance, standing at his locker in the Dodgers’ Camelback Ranch clubhouse this week, Taylor looked over his shoulder and nodded enviously at the stall belonging to teammate Freddie Freeman.

“I’m jealous of guys like Freddie, who’s had the same swing his whole career,” Taylor said. “Guys like that, they’re gifted. Not to say he doesn’t work his ass off. But they were gifted to hit and have a great swing.”

For Taylor, hitting in the majors has never come that simply.

He has the crossed-out cellphone notes to prove it.

He was the ultimate wingman, the best supporting actor, the perfect complement.

Pau Gasol spent his seven Lakers seasons in the shadow of Kobe Bryant, accepting crude challenges, absorbing trash talk, burying his own ego for the sake of elevating his far more famous colleague in creating two NBA championships.

Every Lakers fan knew Bryant wore No. 8 and No. 24. Few knew Gasol wore No. 16.

Until now. They know now. They’ll know forever. A stately reminder will hang in the Crytpo.com Arena rafters, where Gasol’s number was retired Tuesday night for the most unusual yet understandable of reasons.

He was Kobe Bryant’s greatest teammate. He used their synergy to contribute to three of their greatest seasons. Those three straight trips to the NBA Finals from 2008 to 2010 resulted in those two titles.

Pau and Kobe are now a duo for eternity.

“Ko-be, Ko-be, Ko-be,” the fans chanted.

“Pau-Gasol, Pau-Gasol,” the fans chanted.

When Gasol’s jersey was unveiled in the arena rafters at halftime of the Lakers’ win over the Memphis Grizzlies, it slowly appeared next to a jersey belonging to Bryant. Standing at center court in a suit and two championship rings, Gasol wept.

“I’m just overwhelmed to see all the faces here,” Gasol said in his seven-minute speech. “But I can’t go on without talking about the person and the face that I don’t see. The brother that elevated me and … challenged me to be a better player and a better man overall. I miss him so much, like many of us do. I love him. I wish he was here with Gigi.”

Gasol stared at the two lit jerseys hanging high in the darkened arena.

“I love you brother,” he said.

The retired jersey of former Lakers star Pau Gasol is revealed during a halftime ceremony Tuesday.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The ceremony appropriately started with a video introduction by Vanessa Bryant, who was standing on the court for the first time since Kobe died.

“Pau is special … as a teammate, as a man, and as a friend,” she said.

She then directed the attention to an old video in which Bryant eerily predicted this night for Gasol. It only figures that, for one more time in their relationship, Bryant set the agenda.

“When he retires, he’ll have his number in the rafters,” Bryant said of Gasol on the video. “The Lakers don’t have those two championships without Pau … we know that, everybody knows that. I do look forward to the day when he’s there giving his speech at center court.”

It was an awesome brotherhood that began as a struggle and ended in an embrace. It was a relationship that enhanced a superstar and saved a dynasty.

When Gasol was traded to the Lakers in February 2008 in one of the greatest deals in basketball history — Mitch Kupchak basically stole him from Memphis for Kwame Brown and an untested Marc Gasol — Bryant still was steaming mad about the team’s decaying roster.

Bryant had demanded a trade. He had demanded another star. The previous summer in a grocery store parking lot in Newport Beach, he told strangers that if the Lakers didn’t do something to vastly improve, he would rather play on Pluto.

Turns out, it was Gasol who brought Bryant back to earth. It was Gasol who helped keep Bryant in a Lakers uniform for the rest of his career. It was Gasol who helped the Lakers once again become the Lakers.

Once he was schooled in the Mamba Mentality, of course.

Pau Gasol addresses the Crypto.com Arena crowd during his Lakers jersey retirement ceremony Tuesday.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Gasol was a star in Memphis but he wasn’t a champion. His teams had been swept in each of his three postseason series. He had a reputation for getting pushed around in the paint. Folks called him, “Ga-soft.”

Bryant immediately pounced on the nickname. He worked with Gasol in a way that he never could work with Shaquille O’Neal. Gasol didn’t fight him, he embraced him. Gasol didn’t stonewall, he sponged.

“[Kobe] definitely inspired me and showed me what it took to be the best player that he could be — the work ethic, the dedication, the mindset going into it,” Gasol said.

Bryant initially attacked his physicality, Gasol struggled, and the heckling grew worse. Even though the Lakers went 27-9 with Gasol for the rest of that first season, Bryant knew Gasol wasn’t title ready, and he endlessly worked on him. Gasol endured Bryant harassing him during the 2008 Finals in which he was bullied by Kevin Garnett. He withstood Bryant flattening him in the 2008 Olympics, and then mocking him by placing the U.S. gold medal on the chair of the Spanish team leader at the start of 2008-09 training camp.

Gasol finally toughened up to help the Lakers dominate in a 2009 playoff run that ended in a Finals victory in Orlando, then he really became a factor in 2010.

He tipped in the winning basket in the final seconds to clinch a first-round-series win over Oklahoma City, then showed up huge in the Finals’ Game 7 against the Celtics.

Pau Gasol wipes away tears as his jersey is retired during a halftime ceremony Tuesday.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Staring down Garnett, he scored 19 points with 18 rebounds and two blocks. During a game in which Bryant struggled, Gasol shined, and the transformation was complete.

Before the start of the 2011 season, the Lakers attempted to ship Gasol to Houston. The trade was famously vetoed, but Gasol was deeply wounded, and played three more nondescript Lakers seasons before leaving as a free agent.

But he’s back, finally appreciated for what he contributed, finally admired for how he contributed, honored as a worthy co-star to arguably the team’s greatest star.

They now will float together above the Lakers court they once conquered with their connection, Pau Gasol, No. 16, next to Kobe Bryant, No. 24, just look up.

LAS VEGAS — 

What happens here could earn UCLA a return trip in two weeks.

All it would take is the Bruins fending off concerns about Jaylen Clark’s absence and how it might affect their NCAA tournament seeding.

Mick Cronin did not seem worried in the least when a reporter informed the coach that he had spoken to ESPN bracket analyst Joe Lunardi about UCLA’s purported need to win the Pac-12 tournament to get a No. 1 seed.

“You spoke to who?” Cronin asked Tuesday.

“Joe Lunardi,” the reporter responded.

“Not sure who that is,” Cronin deadpanned.

“ESPN,” the reporter continued.

“Yeah,” Cronin said, “I don’t have any comment on that. I’d rather you speak to my father, somebody that actually knows basketball.”

Hep Cronin, the Bruins’ unofficial good-luck charm going back to their 2021 Final Four run, is expected to be among the coach’s family members in attendance at T-Mobile Arena when top-seeded UCLA (27-4) plays Washington or Colorado in a quarterfinal at noon Thursday.

He’ll see a team that’s won 10 consecutive games to rise to No. 2 in the nation, even if the Bruins are quietly mourning the loss of Clark to a lower-leg injury that could sideline him for the entire postseason.

Then again, Mick Cronin remained upbeat when asked if his team’s lofty ranking and the indefinite loss of his top defensive player was causing anxiety as the Bruins try to follow a runaway Pac-12 regular-season championship with their first conference tournament title since 2014.

“Nah, heck no,” Cronin said. “ … We’re going to Topgolf tonight to have some fun in Vegas. You know, it’s time to let it rip, it’s time to believe in your team, it’s not time to be anxious at all.”

Ripping off one-liners and smiling so often that you halfway expected him to say the rest of his team’s itinerary would include Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil instead of playing in the Pac-12 tournament, Cronin clearly was trying to keep the mood light. The heavy stuff will come soon enough.

Clark’s absence will be a top storyline however long the Bruins last in the tournament. The Pac-12’s defensive player of the year did not travel with the team, Cronin saying he would give the NCAA tournament selection committee more information about Clark’s status going forward if the committee inquired.

Being coy could have its benefits. Cronin was an assistant under Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins in 2000 when the committee dropped the Bearcats to a No. 2 seed after star Kenyon Martin suffered a broken leg in a Conference USA tournament loss to St. Louis.

The committee acknowledged that seeing so little of the Bearcats after Martin’s injury limited their ability to assess how different they were without the national college player of the year, but it didn’t stop them from penalizing the team.

Cincinnati went on to lose to No. 7 seed Tulsa in the second round.

Lunardi said earlier this week that the committee would be watching closely to see how the Bruins fared without Clark. They’ll undoubtedly see more of David Singleton, Dylan Andrews, Will McClendon and maybe even Abramo Canka, whose roles all figure to expand with Clark sidelined.

“I was telling Abramo and Dylan and Will, the guys like those before the Jaylen incident happened, to just be ready,” said UCLA forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., the Pac-12 player of the year. “You never know, this is the craziest time of year, we need you guys to be ready, you’re here for a reason, you’re here to help us win games.”

A good showing at T-Mobile Arena could ensure a happy return for UCLA. The West Regional will be played in the same building, giving Bruins fans another chance to pack the place.

Their recent memories there haven’t been good, the Bruins dropping back-to-back games against Illinois and Baylor in November as part of a nonconference tournament.

“I was thinking about it and potentially we’re playing three games in Vegas” this week, UCLA center Adem Bona said. “So I want to raise the tally up so it’s 3-2.”

That would make it three down, two to go in a couple of weeks.

Giorgio Chiellini knew everything about LAFC’s opponent in the round of 16 game in the CONCACAF Champions League except how to say the Costa Rica team’s name.

“I know the name,” he said. “I was worried and scared about the bad pronunciation.”

It was a veteran move by Chiellini, 38, the ultimate veteran: Mispronounce the team’s name and it can be misconstrued as a sign of disrespect.

But here are some of the things Chiellini can say about Alajuelense (pronounced alaxwe lense) where LAFC will play Thursday: The club, based about 20 miles northwest of San Jose, has won 30 national championships and two Champions League titles. The team’s roster includes five Costa Rican World Cup veterans, including two Chiellini faced with Italy in the 2014 tournament. And it is atop the table 11 games into the Liga FPD season while its star forward Johan Venegas leads the league with 17 goals.

The CONCACAF Champions League, the region’s most prestigious club competition, is contested in a two-leg playoff format decided by aggregate goals. The second and deciding leg of the LAFC-Alajuelense series will be played March 15 at BMO Stadium. Last year the Seattle Sounders became the first MLS team to win the tournament under its present format. LAFC made the final in 2020, losing to Mexico’s Tigres.

“It’s very important because if you lose the first game, then it’s not easy every time to come back,” Chiellini said of Thursday’s match. “You have to be serious, play serious, respect the other team. It is an important goal for us.”

Thursday’s game is one of five LAFC will play during a 14-day span that began with Saturday’s 3-2 win over Portland in the team’s MLS season opener.