LOS ANGELES -- LeBron James might have made the go-ahead turnaround jumper with 30.4 seconds left in the Los Angeles Lakers' 114-112 win over the Boston Celtics on Sunday, but he worked the defense the first 47½ minutes before that to get that shot.

"I had been setting him up all night with the back down, to the drop step, to the baseline, so I figured he would sit on it thinking I would try it again," James said of Celtics forward Jaylen Brown guarding him. "So, went to my back down, gave a little 'Dream Shake' to the baseline and was able to open up middle and get my fadeaway."

James might have referenced Houston Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon for his clutch shot, but the day was decidedly Lakers-Celtics. Former Lakers luminaries Magic Johnson, Michael Cooper, Robert Horry and A.C. Green were in the building, while Celtics cult heroes Kevin Garnett, Cedric Maxwell, Brian Scalabrine and the greatest winner in NBA history, Bill Russell, cheered on Boston.

Russell donned a white No. 24 Lakers uniform in honor of the late Kobe Bryant, putting aside the rivalry to salute the man who won two Finals MVP trophies that bear Russell's name.

"Just respect. That's all," James said of Russell's ode to Bryant. "That's the first thing that went through my mind. At the end of the day, both teams throughout the years are going to battle, push, fight, scratch, curse each other out. At the end of the day, when you give it all to the floor, you have that mutual respect. That's what it all boils down to."

What Sunday's game boiled down to was a baseline, out-of-bounds possession for the Lakers with 36.4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter while trailing 110-109.

Lakers coach Frank Vogel drew up a play that would give James the ball in the pinch post, with the option to curl and look for Anthony Davis rolling to the basket. Boston employed a zone defense, however, that made the Davis wrinkle moot. James was able to draw Brown out of the zone to defend him one-on-one, and he was able to find his rhythm on a 15-foot fadeaway to give L.A. a late lead it never relinquished.

"It was no question that we were going to give it to him right there in his sweet spot," Davis said. "He had the whole side of the floor.

"He got to his money shot, the shot he always makes, a shot he always takes in practice and in games, and he did what he does best and made the shot."

The triumphant moment for James was preceded by a scary one earlier in the fourth quarter when he collapsed to the floor after a collision with Boston's Daniel Theis. Play was stopped, and several teammates sprung from the bench to surround James as he laid down near the baseline, but it all looked worse than it actually was.

"I didn't have much breath left," James, who finished with 29 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and just two turnovers, explained afterward. "Got the wind knocked out of me; been a while since I felt that happen."

And it might have been even longer since the Lakers-Celtics rivalry felt so alive. Vogel said games like Sunday's will help his relatively new group, with players steeling themselves for their first playoff run together in the spring.

"The more that you're in that environment of a close game, of an intense game like that, I think everybody just gets a chance to grow together," Vogel said. "I mean, one of the weaknesses of our team is our continuity. We just haven't been in a lot of those situations as a group ... It's all been put together this year.

"I'm super impressed with our guys' ability to work together and still win games throughout the season. Each time we get into a close game like that, win or lose, you learn lessons, you get a better feel for each other that stuff is going to be beneficial for us in the playoffs."

And while the Lakers' win ended their regular-season series with Boston in a 1-1 tie, James allowed for the possibility of there being a postseason series awaiting the two foes.

"Just on the simple fact it's two teams that have aspirations of holding that trophy up at the end of the season," he said. "So we knew what we were getting ourselves into, they knew what they were getting themselves into and it was a great game for both of us."

The Milwaukee Bucks have clinched the earliest playoff berth in at least 15 years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau research. The postseason is not set to begin for another 55 days.

The Bucks clinched Sunday despite not playing because the Wizards lost to the Bulls.

Milwaukee is 48-8 as of Sunday night and on pace to win 70 games -- a feat only accomplished by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (72 wins) and the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (73 wins).

The Bucks' success this season has been buoyed by what is shaping up to be another MVP season from Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The "Greek Freak" is averaging 30 points, 13.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks in just 30.9 minutes per game. His 32.49 player efficiency rating (PER) is the highest in history, according to basketball reference.

Lawrence Tanter had read through the plans dozens of times before he got into his car, put on John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and drove to Staples Center on Jan. 31.

The Los Angeles Lakers were going to play their first game since the death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others on Jan. 26, and Tanter's job as the team's public address announcer was to be the voice that led everyone through what was going to be a heartbreaking night.

"I felt a big obligation," he said. "I told [Lakers owner] Jeanie [Buss] and [Lakers president] Tim [Harris] that they could count on my best effort. My 'optimum' effort was the word I used."

Tanter has been the Lakers' public address announcer since 1982. He announced every home game Kobe played. And he always put a little extra sauce on Kobe's name.

"I think everybody with a particular amount of flavor deserves that," Tanter said in that famous baritone voice of his.

Tanter loved saying Kobe's name. He'd say it fast. He'd take it down an octave and say it low. Sometimes he'd let that EEEE go on forever.

"He had a good name that rolled pretty well," Tanter said.

Tanter thought he had announced Kobe's name for the last time after Bryant retired in 2016. But about an hour before the game, Harris came to him with a late addition to the program.

LeBron James had suggested that the entire Lakers starting lineup against the Portland Trail Blazers be announced as Kobe Bryant. The league had approved the change, so Tanter pulled out his score sheet and wrote five identical introductions.

No. 24. 6-foot-6. In his 20th year. From Lower Merion High School ... Kobe Bryant.

"I did the same format I do now: Guard, Guard, Center, Forward, Forward. With LeBron at the end," Tanter said. "I think it was a little unusual for people to hear that on the first name. But then I think they got a little drift that maybe this is what's happening."

With each introduction, emotion built, taking the crowd inside Staples Center and everyone around the world watching the ceremony from somber to celebratory.

Tanter stayed focused on the words on his page. He couldn't look up at the crowd. He had to stay centered -- to give his "optimum" effort.

He thought back on all the reasons he'd announced Bryant's name over the years, on the relationship they'd built, on the Ahmad Jamal CD he'd given Bryant when he was a second-year player because the jazz pianist from Pittsburgh had this way of making every note he played on the piano reach down to your soul. It reminded Tanter of how Bryant played.

"And then I realized," Tanter said. "That might be the last time that happens on a microphone, in a stadium, ever."

Nearly a month has passed since Bryant died, and the finality of it is still sinking in.

Kobe Bryant is dead.

It's as unbelievable to read now as it was when the news broke on Jan. 26. The headline was like a cognitive break. So awful. This couldn't be reality. And then it got worse when authorities revealed that Bryant's 13-year old daughter, Gianna, two of her teammates, their parents, a coach and a pilot were also on board the helicopter.

There was no way to process a tragedy such as this, much less find perspective on a man such as Kobe Bryant.

He was a brilliant basketball player with a larger-than-life persona. He was an Oscar-winning storyteller, an inspirational speaker, a businessman, a #GirlDad, a husband. But he also had a complicated legacy to reckon with. When was the right time to do that? What was the right way to do that?

That reckoning and processing of Bryant's life and death are ongoing. So is the acceptance. Those who knew Bryant best go back over the events leading to the crash, hoping that an explanation will emerge -- or at least some peace.

On Monday morning, the world will attempt to find the right words for all of this at the public memorial for Bryant and his daughter. It will be held at Staples Center in Los Angeles, the arena at which Bryant delivered his greatest moments, on the court where he let us know him best.

O'Shea Jackson Jr. had just started filming the biggest show of his career the day Bryant died. It was the kind of role he'd been pushing himself to land for years. He is the star of the new Apple TV series based on Kevin Durant's life, "Swagger."

But time stopped for everyone on set when news of Bryant's death spread.

"My first reaction was to text him," Jackson Jr. said. "I just said, 'Please, please, please be there.'

"And you know how when you send a text, how it says delivered underneath? ... I waited and waited, but it never said delivered. And I just broke. I broke right then and there."

Jackson Jr. had grown up idolizing Bryant, drawn to his talent on the court and the way he pushed himself to achieve off of it. But he was also drawn to Bryant because they were both sons of famous fathers -- Jackson Jr.'s father is the musician and actor Ice Cube; Bryant's father, Joe, played eight seasons in the NBA. Both sons had ambitions to make their own names.

In November, Jackson Jr. finally worked up the nerve to contact Bryant.

"I had always had this feeling of, 'I can do more with my career.' I'm happy with the position we've gotten, but I know we can take it further," he said. "I needed to figure out a way to fight my complacency. So I hit him. I hit him with this long letter asking what he did after he won championships. What kept pushing him?"

Jackson Jr. had plenty of connections through which to get Bryant's contact information. But he thought it would be more authentic to reach out in a direct message on Twitter.

Two days later, Bryant replied with his cell phone number.

Jackson Jr. entered it into his phone as "GOAT." A few weeks later, while he was riding in an Uber, that name popped up on his screen. He took a deep breath and tried to collect his thoughts so that he'd make the most of the time Bryant was about to give him.

"He told me I have to be the person to push myself," Jackson Jr. said. "And that feeling I had of not doing enough? He had that feeling, too.

"He said he paced in his house. That even after five championships and the Oscar and all that, he still hasn't done anything."

The solution to that restlessness, Bryant told him, was not to question why you had it but to let it fuel you.

When Jackson Jr. finally started finding some solace after Bryant's death, that's the message that kept ringing in his ears.

"Good or bad, I have to keep going," he said. "Kobe may not be a person anymore, but to 'be Kobe' is a thing -- and there's nothing that can stop that.

"It's something that's going to flow through every single one of his fans. We all will feel him still because of that thing that is being Kobe."

Bryant would have called "that thing that is being Kobe" the Mamba Mentality.

It's a derivative from his self-appointed nickname, The Black Mamba, which came from the Quentin Tarantino movie "Kill Bill: Volume 2." The Black Mamba was the identity Bryant created for himself after he was accused of sexual assault by a Colorado woman in 2003. His sponsors dropped him, and his reputation was forever marred. Although the charges were later dropped, Bryant settled a civil suit with the woman out of court and issued an apology without admitting guilt. Neither party was then allowed to discuss the case.

In his 2015 documentary, "Kobe Bryant's Muse," Bryant said, "I had to separate things. It felt like there were so many things coming at once. ... So I created The Black Mamba." Kobe, he explained, was dealing with "personal challenges" while The Black Mamba could destroy everyone on the court.

In time, Bryant shed that skin, too, transforming the ruthlessness of the Black Mamba into the more positive and inspirational Mamba Mentality.

He was so good at defining and embodying the Mamba Mentality -- he studied advertising and once claimed he wrote 90% of the commercials he starred in -- that the term has taken on a life of its own.

Since his death, artists around the world have painted murals of him, each with an artistic point of view on what Bryant represented.

To the internationally renowned street artist Thierry Guetta, who goes by Mr. Brainwash, Bryant was a "soldier of life: somebody that brought passion, to never give up, to inspire everyone, somebody that will do anything to make you a better person."

Guetta had been commissioned to paint murals of Bryant during his basketball career. When he learned of Bryant's death, he needed no commission.

"It was a must for me to do it," the French-born artist said. "I had no other choice. Even if I was on the other side of the world, I would have come back and did it because it's something that is the respect of him being this person that was a present for the world."

Guetta studied photographs of Bryant and his daughter Gianna before beginning his tribute mural on the side of a building on La Brea Avenue and San Vicente Boulevard in West Hollywood. Guetta wanted to represent the bond they had, so he added a necklace with two interlocking hearts.

"They were so combined together," he said. "When you start looking for photos, you see them so much together. I don't think that one could live without the other one. They were a team."

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More than 80 murals of Bryant have been painted around Southern California since his death, according to Mike Asner, a digital social media marketer who started cataloging and mapping them on Instagram and the website KobeMural.com.

"I didn't tell my friends, didn't tell anyone. Honestly, I just did this thing," Asner said. "I started messaging the artists, tagging the artists. Just being really efficient with, 'Here's a great photo. Here's exactly where it is. Here's who the artist is.'

"I'm not trying to be a freaking influencer or make money or anything. I'm honoring the guy who was my idol, and it's bringing people together."

Asner said he gets dozens of messages per day from people who visit the murals around Los Angeles. Lately, he has been receiving messages from people from around the world who are planning trips to L.A. to visit the murals.

"I think it's Kobe, the player, the legend, the idol, champion, the hero to many, his Mamba mentality," Asner said. "That sounds so cheesy. But I think these artists honestly are inspired by him, not as necessarily a basketball player but his work ethic and his mentality -- for lack of a better word.

"The second thing I'm definitely noticing is you're seeing a lot of murals with Gianna, with them hugging."

Armenian artist Arutyun Gozukuchikyan, who goes by Artoon, painted two murals of Kobe and Gianna in the week after their deaths -- one in Mid-City on Venice and La Cienega boulevards and the other in the San Fernando Valley on Ventura Boulevard.

The day after the accident, he stayed up for 24 straight hours to paint Kobe. The next day, he spent two hours painting Gigi. As he was putting the finishing touches on the mural, a visitor noted the parallel between the time he spent painting and their numbers: 24 and 2.

It was completely inadvertent, yet Artoon admitted he'd felt a strange, almost supernatural feeling while he was painting.

"It was like 3, 4 in the morning," he said. "It was so calm. Then I just get these two huge gusts of winds that almost pushed me off the lift.

"I was like, 'Am I just tripping here?' I had goosebumps all over. I don't know if it was just me, being in kind of a delusional state of mind, pulling [an] all-nighter, or whether it was actual something."

Within a few hours, dozens of people started showing up to his mural to pay their respects. They left rosaries and candles, notes with personal messages and Lakers jerseys. They wept on the artist's shoulder, thanking him for his work.

"It's no different [than] 500 years ago in the Renaissance," Artoon said. "They would draw their celebrities, their icons. Now we draw our icons and our heroes in the streets.

"We're documenting, in a way."

In addition to what mourners have left at murals around Los Angeles, some 250,000 to 300,000 people visited the memorial that sprang up outside Staples Center in the week following the helicopter crash.

It was an endless stream of people, which left AEG, the company that owns and manages L.A. Live, to figure out how long to let them keep coming and what to do with the very personal items they brought with them.

There had to be some limit, some moment when the city was released from its collective mourning. A week seemed appropriate. Yet when AEG started to pack up everything that had been left, the scale was overwhelming.

The crews started at 4 a.m. on the Monday after the Super Bowl. By the time they were finished, 37 large cargo bins had been filled with memorabilia, according to Staples Center president Lee Zeidman.

It was too much to send to Vanessa Bryant and her family all at once. For the time being, it is being stored at L.A. Live.

TNT broadcaster Ernie Johnson was tasked with finding the right words two days after the helicopter crash. The Lakers' game against the LA Clippers had been postponed, so TNT dimmed the house lights and let Johnson lead NBA greats who knew Bryant -- Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Dwyane Wade, Reggie Miller and Jerry West -- through their grief.

"You had all these legendary, iconic figures just kind of laying their souls bare," Johnson said. "We just all had permission to just speak from the heart."

What came into Johnson's heart was a song from The Avett Brothers called "No Hard Feelings."

"When a life is taken so suddenly," he said. "You just wonder, how are all the relationships in my life? If there's something that needs to be said to right a relationship, fix it, so that when that time comes, there are no hard feelings."

UC Irvine assistant coach Ryan Badrtalei has been thinking about what his friend Kobe Bryant would say to him -- or anyone -- who is trying to process and find their way back to a joyful life after his death.

"I've thought about it, and I really do think that he would want all of us to be the best version of ourselves that we could," said Badrtalei, who befriended Kobe in 2007, when the former Lakers star began training at UC Irvine. "And to maximize every opportunity that's in front of us."

The Bryant he knew was "not an excuse-maker."

Grief, while profound and appropriate at a time such as this, was not something that Bryant would've allowed to stop him, Badrtalei said.

"I think this would be his lesson," he said. "It would be to learn from the way he was -- and not look around and find excuses for why you can't do things."

There's a coldness in that sentiment. And Bryant often leaned into it. He once told me, "I've always said I'm not immune to feeling fear, pain, whatever. I'm just aware of it, and I accept it. And then, 'all right, off we go.'"

That is the cold-blooded part of the Mamba Mentality. The reptilian, ruthless side Bryant needed on the court. But there was warm blood in those veins, too: a passion for life, for basketball, for his family and for new experiences.

"It seems pretty simple to me," Bryant told me in 2016. "You love what you do. You figure out how to do that to the best of your abilities. And you don't stop until you figure it out."

It's difficult to think of death and grief as something to "figure out." But those who knew Bryant say that's what he would've wanted his life to be an example of.

"He'd be saying that the best thing anybody could do is learn from him, the lessons about moving on and being better for it," Badrtalei said. "Live your life to the fullest. Don't let this stop you.

"Just for my own therapy on my Facebook, I posted something about how he was just always on. There wasn't ever really an off switch for him. It was almost painful to be around him at times, just because of how demanding he was. But talk about someone who really lived every second of every day, getting stuff done and accomplishing things."

In 2015, Spike Lee did a short film on the unlikely friendship between Tamika Catchings and Bryant, who grew up together in Italy while their fathers played professional basketball there. They were little kids with big dreams back then. Then they largely lost touch until both of them returned to the States.

But there was something special in Italy -- "something in the pasta," Bryant joked in the film -- that allowed them to grow into two of the best basketball players on the planet.

"Different journeys, different people, but the beast inside of us is exactly the same," Bryant said of Catchings.

This summer, they would have joined each other in Springfield, Massachusetts, for their induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

"I was sitting with Sheryl Swoopes for the [Hall of Fame] announcement," Catchings said. "We were sitting there as all the other [Hall of Famers] were walking in, and she was like, 'The saddest thing about all of it is that we won't see him walk through the door. We won't hear his speech. We won't hear the stories that he'd talk about.'

"We won't get any of that. And that's sad. Because he did it. He earned it."

Catchings was talking to her husband the other day about how surreal it has been to celebrate the life of a man she knew since the first grade. There's still a disbelief that she can't shake, that she will probably never shake. But she feels a responsibility to carry on her friend's legacy by calling out complacency the way he would.

"Everybody's been talking about Mamba Mentality, and I'm like, 'Why does it take somebody passing away to live life like that?'" Catchings said. "Why have we been OK with people being mediocre, and then when you see somebody like Kobe, who exceeds the norm, we celebrate it? At what point in life did not living to your highest potential become OK?"

That, Catchings explained, is what her friend Kobe would say.

The parts left unsaid and unfinished are what no one can reconcile.

What would Gianna have become? What would Payton Chester or Alyssa Altobelli have become? They were just 13 years old.

"I was on the radio the day he passed," Jackson Jr. said. "And I remember hanging up, and the only thing I regretted was not saying anything about Gianna. I didn't like that."

So he bought a Los Angeles Sparks jersey, No. 2, and had Gianna Bryant's name sewn into it.

"I really just wanted her to see my recognition from wherever she is," he said. "That I thought about her future, too."

Potential is what Christopher Lloyd thought about when he heard the news. He met Bryant when Kobe appeared as a guest on Modern Family -- the show Lloyd co-created and executive produces -- while he was still playing.

"He was a fan of the show, but he was also already making inroads into the industry," Lloyd said. "So he asked if he could come to the set -- which people often do.

"And then he said, 'I'd love to sit in the writers' room' -- which is something people seldom do. I thought, 'Well, that's going to really make for an unproductive day, to have Kobe Bryant sitting off in the corner. Everyone's going to have to try extra hard to be funny -- and fail.'"

But Lloyd went along with it and ended up pleasantly surprised.

"He just was quiet, and he was interested in the process," Lloyd said. "He asked very curious, interested questions.

"A lot of people come to set, and they'll start making suggestions. You're like, 'This is a terrible idea. We do this professionally our whole lives. You're here one day. Don't start telling us how to do it.' But he didn't do any of that. He just sat and observed and asked a question or two. He just seemed like he was trying to learn."

Bryant won an Oscar for his short film "Dear Basketball" in 2018, and he had dozens more films, books and podcasts in production through his production company, Granity Studios. Three days after his death, the studio issued this statement:

"Granity is a word Kobe created that is a combination of greater than infinity. How very Kobe.

"In everything he built, Kobe was driven to teach the next generation how to reach their full potential."

Anthony Bannister used to talk to Kobe about what reaching his potential in life would look like.

"You know those stories of him getting the janitor to open up the gym for him late at night when he was in high school?" Bannister said. "That was me. I was the guy who had the keys, who opened up the [Jewish Community Center gym in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania] for him every night."

Bannister was five years older than Kobe, and Bryant's father, Joe, had asked Bannister to look out for his son as he adjusted to life in the States after six years in Italy.

They had a million conversations in that gym.

"We'd be at the JCC, downstairs, talking about metaphysical stuff," Bannister said. "Like, conquering things, testing the limits, being able to do things that other people couldn't do."

Kobe was obsessed with Roger Bannister's 4-minute mile, with Apollo, the Greek god of the Sun, with knowledge, miracles and music, with becoming a person who changed the world.

"I remember one night he called me from a Janet Jackson concert and said, 'I want them to love me like they love her, bro. They're going to do that for me. I'm going to let the world see me,'" recalled Bannister, who is not related to the runner.

Bannister knew the brash teenager who talked about doing legendary things but hadn't actually done them yet. Then Kobe did something no one thought possible.

"Kobe really wanted to go to the prom, and he didn't have anyone," Bannister said. "And I think [our friend] Big Mike brought [the pop singer Brandy] up. Mike had connections in the music industry, and it just came together."

Kobe Bryant, this high school basketball player whose only claim to fame was his audaciously declaring for the NBA draft, was taking Brandy to his high school prom. They didn't know each other. They didn't even go to dinner beforehand. But Brandy accepted the invitation and flew to Philadelphia.

"It was, like, the biggest thing ever," Bannister said with a laugh. "You took a celebrity on your prom. You ain't even that guy yet. But I don't even think he was nervous. No, you face your fears first."

Bannister and Bryant weren't in touch as much as they got older and had families and careers. But they remained connected.

"You have your first life, and then you have your life when you meet your wife or your significant other," Bannister said. "And then you have another life when you have your children. These are the maturations of life. And we would talk about these things. We talked about life and death. Kobe never shirked away from that."

He thought back on a trip they took together in 1997, when Bryant was asked to be a celebrity judge in the Miss Teen USA pageant. The competition was being held at a resort on South Padre Island, Texas. Bryant and Bannister missed their connecting flight and were forced to rent a car to make it to the event in time.

Bryant, though, was too young to rent a car. So Bannister talked the person behind the counter into renting to him by offering tickets to a future Lakers-Rockets game.

"We drove through the night and got there in the morning," he remembered. "That's when we watched the sunrise. Right on the bridge, going into the Island."

Kobe had so many dreams back then. He was never going to have enough time to realize all of them.

"But I think he got the job done," Bannister said. "Did he complete his work? No. But that's everyone, though. You understand? We all have more to do. There's always more."

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Shogo Akiyama gave Cincinnati Reds fans a small taste of what he can provide at the top of the batting order and in the outfield Sunday in his first spring training game with the team.

Akiyama, hitting leadoff and playing center field, lined the second pitch he saw from Chicago White Sox starter Dylan Cease into right field for a single. In the top of the third inning, he made a running catch going to his left on a sinking line drive from Nicky Delmonico.

The five-time Pacific League All-Star is the first player from Japan to sign a major league contract with the Reds. At least a dozen Japanese media members tracked his every move before and after his day at Goodyear Ballpark in the Reds' spring training opener.

The perception of Akiyama in Japan is that he isn't on the same level as Los Angeles Angels two-way player Shohei Ohtani or former Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, both of whom took the majors by storm when they arrived in the U.S. But Akiyama holds the Japanese league record for hits in a season with 216, set in 2015.

"I was very nervous, but definitely relieved that I got my first hit," the left-handed-hitting Akiyama said through a translator. "It was also good that I was able to see a lot of pitches."

After four innings in the field, he grounded into a fielder's choice in his third and final at-bat. But reaching first allowed him to try stealing a base, which he'd done 112 times in his nine-year career in Japan.

"It wasn't a goal, but I just wanted to see if I could do it," Akiyama said. "To see if I have a chance. It was good that I was able to run it out."

Akiyama was thrown out at second base to end the fourth inning and his day.

The Reds signed the 31-year-old Akiyama to a three-year, $21 million contract in the offseason, winning the bidding for his services as part of a roster makeover that the team hopes will help it contend in the National League Central.

While it's not a certainty that Akiyama will be the Reds' regular center fielder, his ability to get on base is something Cincinnati was seeking at the top of its order.

He's clearly still learning and adjusting both on the field and off. After his single, he was almost picked off when leaning too far off first base.

Reds fans are adjusting to Akiyama, too. He got light applause when introduced in the starting lineup, slapping hands with the Reds mascot as he took his place next to manager David Bell along the third-base line.

"He looked great. He looked comfortable," Bell said. "I know it's just spring training, but it's kind of nice to get a hit in your first at-bat to kind of take the pressure off. He said he was nervous before the game. I didn't really see that. There's some extra feelings there for him, I'm sure, but it was nice to get into the flow of the game really quick."

The Reds hope Akiyama can provide the kind of production -- or close to it -- that he put up in Japan. His career numbers include a .301 batting average, 116 home runs, 513 RBIs and 1,405 hits.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Madison Bumgarner has been competing in rodeo events under the alias Mason Saunders and even won $26,560 in a team-roping competition in December, according to a story published Sunday by The Athletic.

Bumgarner told the website he has discretely competed in rodeos for a while, including in March of last year two days before pitching for the San Francisco Giants in a Cactus League spring training game. He has been roping since he was 15 or 16 years old and said he's been at it so long that "it's just part of who you are."

The 2014 World Series MVP agreed to an $85 million, five-year contract with the Diamondbacks in December, about two weeks after winning the rodeo competition in Wickenburg, Arizona.

Bumgarner infamously injured his shoulder in 2017 in a dirt bike accident and missed three months of San Francisco's season. He apologized at the time and called it a "stupid" decision that likely violated his contract, although the Giants are not believed to have pressed the issue with the four-time All-Star.

Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen told The Athletic he was "not going to get into discussing specific contract language" when asked about Bumgarner's hobby.

Photos of Bumgarner roping were posted to the Facebook page for Rancho Rio in Wickenburg. Bumgarner -- a right-handed roper -- said he's often recognized at rodeo events, but he's maintained the alias to keep his profile low. He formed the Mason Saunders moniker by shortening his first name and adopting his wife's maiden name as the surname.

"Something for my wife to call me when we were out in public to keep people from recognizing me," Bumgarner said. "But you're going to ruin that for me."

Bumgarner disputed a widespread narrative that he signed with Arizona "just to have my horses," but did acknowledge it was a benefit. He also said he may pursue roping more rigorously after his baseball playing days are done.

LAS VEGAS – An unplanned gamble late in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 ended up paying off in a big way for Joey Logano at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Logano misunderstood a call to pit during a late-race caution period in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400, instead staying out to inherit the lead for a two-lap dash to the checkered flag. When the caution flag waved moments after Logano took the white flag, the mixup on the radio proved to be the winning moment.

“I’m not really sure if we were supposed to stay out or come in,” said Logano, who also won the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last year. “I really wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. But boy, we fought hard for this one today.”

Logano was among the leaders most of the day, battling with the likes of Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott for much of the event at the front of the field. The field got truly shuffled shortly after a cycle of pit stops with 47 laps left when Chase Elliott, who’d won the first two stages of the race thanks to long run speed, crashed as the result of a flat tire.

The caution came at the tail end of the pit cycle, which left all but three drivers – Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece and John Hunter Nemechek – on the lead lap. Preece ended up retiring shortly thereafter with engine issues, leaving Stenhouse and Nemechek to lead the field back to the green flag while Blaney got the lucky dog and the rest of the field, including Logano, took the wave around to get back on the lead lap.

The race resumed with 41 laps left and very quickly the battle at the front intensified. Logano pushed Nemechek into the lead briefly before dispatching him to take the lead himself out of turn two. Harvick followed into second, with Blaney settling into third.

The top three stayed that way for more than 20 laps before Blaney began to make his charge, moving past Harvick to take second with 18 laps left. With 13 laps left Blaney had caught Logano and used a run on the bottom through turns three and four to take the lead from his Team Penske teammate.

From there it looked like Blaney had the victory in his pocket, but a caution with six laps left for the spinning Ford Mustang of Ross Chastain set up a mad dash to the checkered flag.

During the caution period multiple drivers opted to pit, with Blaney leading most of the leaders down pit road. Logano, who misunderstood the call from his crew chief Paul Wolfe to pit, instead stayed out to inherit the lead ahead of William Byron, Stenhouse, Matt DiBenedetto, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace.

Brad Keselowski lined up eighth as the first driver who pitted, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones and Blaney.

The race resumed with two laps left in the scheduled distance and Logano used a push from Stenhouse to pull clear into the lead. Behind him DiBenedetto muscled his way to the inside of Byron to take over second while Stenhouse battled on the outside in third.

Logano led the field back to the white flag, but behind him chaos ensued as multiple cars made contact, resulting in Nemechek spinning into the pack to bring out the caution flag, which ended the race and gave Logano the victory.

“Nothing like winning the Pennzoil 400 in front of this amazing crowd with this awesome yellow (Pennzoil) car right here in the front,” Logano said. “This is a huge win. Nice to kick off the season with a w(in).”

Logano said the big push he got from Stenhouse during the final restart was key to him having a shot at winning the race, which he then followed up with a block on Byron entering turn one.

“He pushed me and then he shoved me ahead, which is great. Then the block on the 24 (Byron) was the winning move. I was able to get down in front of him and then be able to separate myself a little from the field. Clean air was going to be key with old tires. If I got swallowed up by a couple of cars I was just going to fall backwards really quick.”

DiBenedetto was scored second at the checkered flag, matching his career-best finish in the NASCAR Cup Series. The result was also his first top-five finish for Wood Brothers Racing in his second start with the team and his best result on a 1.5-mile track.

“It’s tough to be that close, but hey, this is only the second race of the season,” DiBenedetto said. “It’s so cool to have the backing of all the people that allow me to drive this thing. It took so many people, like Motorcraft and QuickLane, for me to be driving this iconic car. It’s just so cool.”

Stenhouse crossed the line in third, followed by Austin Dillon and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. Wallace, Keselowski, Harvick, Larson and Ty Dillon completed the top-10, with Blaney crossing the line in 11th after leading late in the race.

For complete results, click below.

The Tampa Bay Lightning signed defenseman Zach Bogosian to a one-year, $1.3 million deal after he cleared waivers on Sunday, the team announced.

The Buffalo Sabres had placed the suspended Bogosian on unconditional waivers Friday with the intention of terminating his contract.

Bogosian had asked to be traded earlier this season and last week refused to report to Buffalo's American Hockey League affiliate in Rochester, New York, which led to his suspension.

By clearing waivers, Bogosian, 29, loses what was left of the $6 million he was owed in the final year of his contract.

Under NHL rules, Bogosian had to be signed by the NHL's trade deadline on Monday afternoon to be eligible to compete in the playoffs.

The end of Bogosian's tenure in Buffalo comes a little more than five years after he was acquired along with forward Evander Kane in a multiplayer trade with the Winnipeg Jets. The Sabres gave up four players, including defenseman Tyler Myers, and a first-round draft pick in the first major move in then-general manager Tim Murray's rebuilding plans.

The trade failed to pan out for a Sabres team currently in jeopardy of extending the NHL's longest playoff drought to a ninth year. Kane was traded to San Jose two years ago, while Bogosian has been hampered by a series of injuries -- including two hip operations over the past three years.

Bogosian has one goal and four assists in 19 games this season after missing Buffalo's first 22 games while recovering from hip surgery. He played 10 consecutive games before being scratched, which prompted him to request a trade. He was then a healthy scratch in eight of nine games before being placed on waivers last week.

Bogosian, who is from New York, was selected by the Atlanta Thrashers with the third pick in the 2008 draft, and he followed the franchise as it relocated to Winnipeg in 2011. Overall, he has 53 goals and 141 assists in 636 career games.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Montreal Canadiens have traded forward Ilya Kovalchuk to the Washington Capitals for a 2020 third-round pick, it was announced on Sunday.

The move puts Kovalchuk on his third team in the 2019-20 season. He started the campaign with the Los Angeles Kings before they waived him and his $18.25 million contract in December then landed with the Canadiens in January on a veteran's league minimum of $700,000.

The Capitals are strapped against the cap, but got help from the Canadiens, who retained 50 percent of Kovalchuk's salary. It's the second big move the Capitals have made ahead of Monday's trade deadline; they also acquired San Jose veteran defenseman Brendan Dillon this week.

Kovalchuk will get to team up with countryman Alex Ovechkin. The two Russian players are good friends, having played on several national teams together. They also both own homes in the Miami area. On Christmas this year, Ovechkin posted a photo of him and Kovalchuk sharing a glass of wine together.

Looking to join a contender, Kovalchuk signed with the Canadiens when they were seven points out of the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot and six points out of the Atlantic Division's third playoff spot. Although he has contributed six goals and seven assists in 22 games, Montreal is virtually in the same place -- now eight and six points back of the respective playoff positions.

Kovalchuk was the No. 1 pick of the 2001 draft by the Atlanta Thrashers and has played in 919 career NHL games, scoring 442 goals and 872 points.

He signed a record 15-year, $100 million deal with the New Jersey Devils in 2010 but left just three years in to return to Russia, where he played for five years before returning to the NHL.

Information from ESPN's Emily Kaplan was used in this report.

It was a wild finish in Mexico City, where several players held at least a share of the lead at Chapultepec Golf Club. But in the end it was Patrick Reed who surged to victory at the WGC-Mexico Championship, overtaking Bryson DeChambeau to win his second career WGC title:

Leaderboard: Patrick Reed (-18), Bryson DeChambeau (-17), Jon Rahm (-15), Erik Van Rooyen (-15), Rory McIlroy (-14)

What it means: An elite field started the day chasing Justin Thomas, but heading into the closing stretch it seemed like DeChambeau was the man to beat after he birdied eight of his first 14 holes to build a two-shot lead. As the scientist slowed, though, Reed picked up the pace with three straight birdies on Nos. 15-17 to flip the script. It's Reed's eighth career Tour title and the second time that he's won this event, having also lifted the trophy in 2014 when it was played at Doral. After starting the week dealing with lingering fallout and comments surrounding his rules infraction in December, Reed will leave Mexico with a win that positions him favorably to represent the U.S. at both the Olympics and Ryder Cup later this year.

Round of the day: Reed started the day one shot off the lead, and he appeared stuck in neutral after making par on 10 of his first 11 holes. But a birdie on No. 12 got him moving in the right direction, as the former Masters champ turned in a 4-under 67 that was bogey-free until the final hole, when he knew that he only needed to make bogey to win.

Best of the rest: DeChambeau's 65 was equal parts impressive and bittersweet. He appeared in full control of things after rolling in a 15-foot birdie on No. 14 to take a two-shot lead, but that proved to be his final birdie on the day. He couldn't take advantage of the reachable 15th, had to scramble to save par on No. 16 and three-putted from long distance on No. 17 for what proved to be a costly bogey.

Biggest disappointment: Thomas had a strong record when trying to close out a 54-hole lead, and he already has two wins to his credit this season. But Sunday wasn't his day, as the former world No. 1 bogeyed three of his first eight holes and dropped from contention with a double bogey on No. 10. He ultimately signed for a 2-over 73 and tied for sixth on a day when everyone else who finished inside the top 28 shot even par or better.

Shot of the day: Reed was nursing a one-shot lead over DeChambeau when he surveyed a 17-foot birdie putt on the penultimate hole. The putt found the bottom of the hole, eliciting a fist pump and equipping Reed with just the margin for error he needed on the final hole.

Quote of the day: "The last hole was ugly, but it was what I needed just to get the job done. At the end of the day, just putting yourself in these positions on Sunday is unbelievable. It's a great feeling." - Reed

Patrick Reed earned his eighth PGA Tour victory and second WGC title at the WGC-Mexico Championship. Here's a look at earnings and FedExCup points in the no-cut event: