LOS ANGELES -- It took only three games with LeBron James and Luka Doncic as teammates before the Los Angeles Lakers had to answer the question: Who gets the last shot?

Wednesday, it was James. The 22-year veteran missed two potential game-tying 3-pointers in the waning seconds of L.A.'s 100-97 loss to the Charlotte Hornets.

Doncic, who threw the inbounds pass to James with 6.3 seconds left, setting up the first shot, said their roles are interchangeable.

"He had it going, so obviously we're going to go to him," Doncic said. "I think it will go both ways. One time it's going to be him, one time me. So, I think it depends how the game is going."

Before his final two misses -- the last falling short at the buzzer after Gabe Vincent grabbed the offensive rebound followed James' first missed 3 and fed him again -- James had scored 16 points in the fourth quarter on 6-for-8 shooting, including 2-for-3 from 3. Doncic, meanwhile, had scored five points in the fourth on 2-for-5 shooting.

"As a coach, you're excited that you have two guys that can be the passer and be the guy who gets the pass," Lakers coach JJ Redick said of the late-game dynamic between James and Doncic. "But it felt like LeBron, particularly in the fourth, just found a nice rhythm and I felt really comfortable with that. And we got two good looks."

James said that he "felt pretty good" with the play call to get him the ball for a 3 above the break. He had just made one with 6.8 seconds remaining to cut the Hornets lead from four to one at 98-97.

"We run the set that JJ draws up," James said of being the guy to take the last shot Wednesday. "You execute it. And we executed it. We just didn't make it."

James finished with his typical production -- 26 points on 10-for-22 shooting, 11 assists, seven rebounds and two blocks -- but the Lakers struggled overall against the Hornets.

Doncic nearly posted a triple-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, but he shot just 5-for-18 with six turnovers. Austin Reaves shot 3-for-9 before being ejected late in the third quarter for picking up two quick technical fouls in succession from referee Rodney Mott. Rui Hachimura scored 17 points but shot 1-for-8 from 3 and missed two free throws with 37.7 seconds left that could have tied the score.

"Obviously, it's going to take a little time," Doncic said. "Today, a lot of rustiness for my part. Started the game with like four or five turnovers. That can't happen. So, just got to play basketball the right way."

L.A. shot a season-high 51 times from beyond the 3-point arc and made just 15 (29.4%).

"I thought, our effort and competitive spirit was good enough to win," Redick said. "Just, we were really poor offensively for 90% of the game."

James, playing on a left ankle injury that held him out of the All-Star game, pointed out that Doncic was only playing in his third game since Christmas because of a strained left calf injury of his own.

"He still doesn't know all the plays, he doesn't know all the defensive coverages, all the signals, and things that we've built since September," James said. "So obviously, we're trying to fast-track it on the fly. He's coming back from his injury. He's getting back into form. So, we're all working through it together."

PITTSBURGH -- Hall of Fame broadcaster Mike Lange, whose imaginative goal calls made his raspy voice immediately recognizable to Penguins fans for decades, has died. He was 76.

The team confirmed Lange's death Wednesday. No cause was given.

"Mike was a wordsmith -- a magician behind the mic," the Penguins said in a statement, later adding, "Only Mike could make the biggest names in hockey seem more magical with just his voice."

Phil Bourque, a former Penguin who spent years alongside Lange in the team's radio booth, called his former partner "one of the kindest, most loyal and loving humans I've ever met."

Lange spent nearly five decades chronicling the franchise's rise from also-ran to Stanley Cup champion five times over, his unique delivery and quirky sayings serving as the soundtrack for iconic moments from Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux and longtime running mate Jaromir Jagr to current stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

The Hockey Hall of Fame inducted Lange in 2001 when he received the Foster Hewitt Award for broadcast excellence.

From "It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh" to "Elvis has left the building" to "he beat him like a rented mule," Lange's distinctive turns of phrase made his voice instantly recognizable.

When Pittsburgh defeated Chicago to win a second straight Stanley Cup in 1992, Lange punctuated the title on the team's radio network by telling listeners "Lord Stanley, Lord Stanley, get me the brandy."

Born in Sacramento, California, on March 3, 1948, Lange called games in the Western Hockey League before doing a one-year stint with the Penguins in 1974. He left while the team experienced financial difficulties before returning to Pittsburgh for good in 1976. He didn't miss a single game for the next 30 years, serving as the club's lead broadcaster on its television and radio networks as Pittsburgh became one of the NHL's marquee clubs.

It wasn't uncommon for Lange's calls to be mimicked by sportscasters everywhere, with former ESPN anchor Keith Olbermann putting his own twist on a Lange classic by using the line "he beat him like a rented goalie" occasionally during NHL highlight packages. Lange even appeared as a broadcaster -- and trotted out some of his singular sayings -- in the Pittsburgh-set Jean-Claude Van Damme action movie "Sudden Death." The fictional 1995 film was set against the backdrop of a Stanley Cup matchup between the Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks.

Lange moved to the radio side full-time in 2006, calling the team's Stanley Cup wins in 2009, 2016 and 2017 before retiring in August 2021 after 46 years with the Penguins. The team honored him in October that year, which Lange noted marked his 50th in broadcasting.

"I didn't get cheated in my quest to do what I have always loved," Lange said in a statement that coincided with his retirement.

Inter Miami CF head coach Javier Mascherano labeled the conditions as "inhumane" after the team triumphed 1-0 over Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup first round at Children's Mercy Park in freezing temperatures.

"I'm very proud because I think it's impossible to play in these conditions," said Mascherano in the post-match press conference. "It is not human, you know, so I'm very proud because they gave me 100% with intensity, with a lot of attitude, so we are happy. We are in the halftime of the qualifiers, so now try to rest after a very difficult game for us."

Though Concacaf originally postponed the match by 24 hours due to the multiple winter storm warnings that forecasted between five to seven inches of snowfall across Kansas City, the two teams suffered through a frigid atmosphere on Wednesday night.

When the game kicked off at 7:00 pm CT, the temperatures in Kansas City hit five degrees Fahrenheit with a feels like of negative five degrees Fahrenheit. By halftime, the conditions deteriorated to three degrees Fahrenheit with a feels like of negative eight degrees Fahrenheit.

Despite the weather, Lionel Messi managed to score his first official goal of the year after connecting with longtime teammate Sergio Busquets and finished the play with a right-footed shot into the net.

"Fantastic [goal], I think maybe for the people that know him, it's normal because he did things like this or goals like this 1,000 times, but we are very lucky to have him in our team," said Mascherano.

Wednesday's result marks the first official triumph for new manager Mascherano, after he was appointed to the role last November to replace Gerardo 'Tata' Martino. Though Mascherano led the team to several victories during the preseason, the Concacaf Champions Cup match stands as his debut in an official match.

Sporting Kansas City must now score at least twice in the second leg of the series to advance to the next round in regulation time. SKC head coach Peter Vermes applauded his players for a job well done before revealing that there is only one player currently who can change the course of the game.

"I thought we played really well, we were very organized defensively. We didn't give anything away. There is one guy [Messi] that can turn the game over and he did," said Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes.

"It's not just [what he does] to us, it's what he does to the whole world, anyone who plays against him. He can change the game himself, and there aren't many players you can say that about in the world's game and over generations."

Inter Miami will now host Sporting Kansas City at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Tuesday, Feb. 25 for the second leg of the first round series.

Inter Miami CF kicked off its 2025 campaign with a 1-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of the first round of the Concacaf Champions Cup at Children's Mercy Park.

Though Concacaf postponed the game by 24 hours to Wednesday night because of the winter storm that brought heavy snow to Kansas City, players continued to face frigid conditions -- with temperatures hitting 3 degrees Fahrenheit with a "real feel" of minus 8 by halftime.

Still, Lionel Messi found a way to stun the opposing defense and provide fans with a moment of excitement in the second half. Longtime teammate Sergio Busquets provided a ball into the box for Messi to bring down before beating his defender and sending his shot into the opposite corner.

The rest of the match saw a back-and-forth game between the two sides, amounting to a total of 16 shots (seven from Sporting KC and nine by Miami).

Miami entered the match without Jordi Alba, who was serving a suspension for receiving a red card in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal clash against CF Monterrey. First-choice goalkeeper Drake Callender was also sidelined with an injury.

Despite the absences, the team picked up a crucial victory from the first leg and marked an important away goal that could prove to be the difference in the series.

Concacaf rules state that if aggregate goals are equal, the away goals rule is applied and counts as the first tiebreaker.

Kansas City would now need to score at least two goals at Chase Stadium in order to advance to the next round in regulation time when the teams meet in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the second leg on Feb. 25.

Elena Rybakina saved six match points before closing out a dramatic victory against Paula Badosa to reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships, while world number one Aryna Sabalenka fell to a surprise defeat.

Kazakhstan's Rybakina fought back from 6-3 down in a second-set tie-break, while Badosa also spurned two match points on Rybakina's serve at 6-5 in the decider.

The world number seven held firm before securing a 4-6 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (7-2) win with her first match point after a gruelling two hours and 49 minutes.

The six match points saved is the most by a player en route to a WTA Tour win since Tatjana Maria's win over Emiliana Arango at Nottingham in June.

The 2022 Wimbledon champion will face Sophia Kenin after the American ended Jasmine Paolini's title defence with a 6-4 6-0 victory.

Italy's Paolini, a runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon last year, struggled in the second set after rolling her ankle and later withdrew from the doubles.

Their father, Richard, later accused fans of racial abuse. Serena returned to the tournament in 2015, while Venus played the following year.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, 34, has also been handed a wildcard after her announcement earlier this month that she would return to tennis following the birth of her first child in July.

On the men's side, Brazil's 18-year-old rising star Joao Fonseca, who won his first ATP Tour title at the Argentina Open on Sunday, was granted a wildcard along with American 19-year-old Learner Tien, who reached the fourth round of January's Australian Open.