LOS ANGELES -- LeBron James caught fire in the fourth quarter on Saturday, scoring 16 of his game-high 32 points in a three-minute span to help the Los Angeles Lakers to a 131-127 win over the Sacramento Kings and a 3-0 start to the season.

James was responsible for 18 points in the Lakers' 21-0 run to start the fourth, scoring 11 straight then assisting on a Jaxson Hayes dunk before scoring five more.

While it was a vintage performance for the 22-year veteran, James said that fourth-quarter burst isn't something he feels will be necessary for entire games in order for L.A. to win this season.

"Listen, I could do that at 22, but at almost 40, I don't need to be doing it for four quarters," James said after adding 14 rebounds and 10 assists, accounting for the 113th triple-double of his career. "I have the luxury of having a MVP-caliber player next to me [in Anthony Davis]. AR [Austin Reaves] can get it going in bunches, D-Lo [D'Angelo Russell] can catch fire, Rui [Hachimura] has been consistent, and he can get going and score in bunches, as well.

"So, this team is not built for me to have 16-point quarters through all four quarters. That's not how it's constructed and nor should it be. We're a team, and we all play together."

Indeed, for as hot as James was to start the fourth, it was Davis who finished it by hitting a 3 and tacking on a free throw in the final minute to give L.A. the edge.

"We encourage him, coaches encourage him, we as his teammates encourage him to shoot that 3 ball, and probably the biggest shot of the night is him making that 3, so it made it easy on me," James said of Davis, who poured in his third straight 30-point game, tying a franchise record for most consecutive 30-point games to start the season with Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Kobe Bryant.

James had been relatively quiet through the Lakers' first two wins against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns, totaling 37 points.

"Just when you think he's slowing down, man, he continues to show the world why he's the greatest," Davis said of James. "To go on that stretch, he actually looked to the bench and was trying to come out the game. We told him, 'You're not coming out.' He comes out and hits another 3. He never ceases to amaze any of us because we just know what he's capable of and what he's able to do."

While every other Lakers starter did have 16 points or more -- supporting James' claim that he doesn't need to look to aggressively score from the opening tip to the final buzzer -- when he finds a rhythm like that, there's nothing left for L.A. to do but embrace it.

"What can you say?" Lakers coach JJ Redick said. "We've all been very fortunate to watch his greatness for so long, and the fact that he's able to keep doing it, it's just, it's actually insane."

LOS ANGELES -- When Aaron Judge is the best version of himself, the version that tormented pitchers all summer on a tear not seen since peak Barry Bonds, he demolishes the 2-0 fastball Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw him in the sixth inning of the New York Yankees' 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.

The 94 mph offering was on the lower half of the strike zone, down the middle, ripe for Judge on which to feast. But Judge didn't feast. He didn't even swing. Instead, it was a called strike.

"When we're going well, we can usually fire on that," Judge said.

Judge fouled off the next pitch, a low curveball that he usually devours, too. Then came the knockout punch: a splitter that darted underneath his hands. Judge swung and missed for strike three, an alarmingly common result in October for Judge and Yankees.

The presumptive American League MVP went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Saturday as the Yankees dug themselves a 2-0 hole in the series. He is 1-for-9 with six strikeouts in the World Series and 6-for-40 (.150) with 19 strikeouts in 50 postseason plate appearances.

Simply, his playoff struggles from 2022, which drew boos from his home crowd after his historic season of 62 home runs, have bled into 2024.

"I think what it comes down to is just swinging at strikes, getting a pitch to drive," Judge said. "You don't get a pitch to drive, don't try to make something happen up there. It's the postseason. Guys are going to make their pitches. They're going to pitch you tough, so I just got to hunker down and get the job done. That's what it comes down to and I'm not doing that right now."

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Judge was expanding his strike zone, a problem he believes stems from Judge not putting himself in a position to make good swing decisions. In other words, his timing is off. Judge said he was "getting close" to correcting his mechanics.

He said his October struggles are "a little similar" to his struggles to start the season, when he hit .197/.331/.393 with 40 strikeouts in 149 plate appearances through May 2. He went 1-for-4 on May 3, beginning a torrid 125-game stretch in which he batted .357 with 52 home runs and a 1.279 OPS to finish the regular season.

"When you have a guy like that, so good like that, I think it's only going to take one at-bat to get him going," said Yankees right fielder Juan Soto, who went 2-for-4 with a home run in Game 2.

Yankees hitting coach James Rowson said Judge was "grinding right now -- in a good way. He's up there. He's giving everything he's got." He also noted the human element in Judge playing in his first World Series.

"More than anything, we're in this spot and you want to do things," Rowson said. "So sometimes you get a little anxious, and your mindset's just trying to do a little bit more than normal. We got three games at home [next]. I think the homecoming will be good for him."

Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. echoed Rowson's thoughts.

"We're all a little bit anxious, you know?" said Chisholm, who is also playing in his first World Series. "First two games of our World Series in our career. So you're going to go out there a little bit anxious. I feel like when we get home, he's going to feel more confident and he's going to calm down a little bit more going into a home crowd."

Judge has whiffed on 32 of his 59 swings (54%) over the past five games, a staggering clip for someone who led the majors in home runs, RBIs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, and wRC+ while whiffing on only 31% of his swings. He has 13 strikeouts over the five-game stretch, his most in any five-game span since June 2021.

Judge clubbed home runs in back-to-back games during the American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians, including a tying two-run shot off All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase in Game 3. Other than that, he has one double, three singles and seven walks in the postseason.

Meanwhile, Giancarlo Stanton, who cracked a two-run home run in Game 1, has six homers and a 1.098 OPS in October. Soto, who delivered the go-ahead home run in Game 5 of the ALCS to send the Yankees to the World Series, is batting .350 with four home runs and a 1.160 OPS in the playoffs. They have fueled the Yankees' postseason run.

The Yankees are now waiting on Judge, the third member of the slugging trifecta, to get back on track, to pounce on those 2-0 fastballs over the plate and affect games. Those around Judge are confident he will. Their championship hopes depend on it.

Said Stanton: "He's going to help us win some games here."

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Quinn Ewers settled into the kind of rhythm his Texas coaches and teammates are accustomed to Saturday night in a hard-fought 27-24 win over Vanderbilt.

And he did so on the heels of one of Ewers' more forgettable weeks on the Forty Acres. Not only did he get benched in the first half of Texas' 30-15 home loss to Georgia, but a false report surfaced on social media that Ewers was opting out for the remainder of the season and preparing for the NFL draft.

"If he plays like that for the rest of the year, we're going to be OK. We're going to be just fine," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said of Ewers, who completed 17 straight passes at one point and finished with 228 passing yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

Both of those interceptions came on tipped passes, the first one leading to a Vanderbilt touchdown giving the Commodores a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

But after that, Ewers led the Longhorns on three scoring drives, all ending in touchdown passes, the last two to DeAndre Moore Jr.

"It was normal for us. We had a really great week of practice, so that's what I expected," Moore said.

So did Sarkisian, who said Ewers' resilience has been on display all season going back to him missing parts of three games with an oblique injury. The first half last week against Georgia was a disaster for everybody on the Texas sideline. After the Bulldogs went up 20-0 in the first half, Sarkisian replaced Ewers with Arch Manning, although Ewers returned in the second half.

"You can't get worse than how it went for [Ewers] last week, especially in that first half, and then his ability to bounce back and show the resolve that he showed," Sarkisian said. "I always say that the sign of the true character of a man is in the face of adversity, and that was a lot of adversity for him, a lot of adversity for us as a team coming off last week's game.

"I think the way he responded was kind of indicative of how we responded as a team."

Texas (7-1, 3-1) wasn't able to put away No. 25 Vanderbilt until Moore recovered an onside kick with 44 seconds to play. The Commodores entered the contest ranked in the AP poll for the first time since the end of the 2013 season.

"These weeks are not easy when you get so emotionally invested into a game like you were last week and then you don't play your best," said Sarkisian, whose Longhorns won their ninth straight road game going back to the 2022 season. "It's tough. It's tough on coaches. It's tough on a team to rebound, and I think about how many times have we seen a team lose a game like [Georgia] and then they get beat again the next week because they're still going through it.

"I thought this game tonight was a culture win, a toughness win for us. ... We knew it was going to take 60 minutes against this style of team. That was a good football team. They weren't 25th in the country on accident."

Even though it was technically a road game for Texas, the majority of FirstBank Stadium was decked out in burnt orange, as the Longhorns' fans descended on Nashville for the first meeting between the teams since 1928 and Texas' first SEC road contest.

The start to the game wasn't what Ewers or anybody on Texas' team wanted. On the game's first possession, Ewers had a pass batted by Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson and intercepted by cornerback Martel Hight at the Texas 31. Five plays later, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia sprinted around right end for an 18-yard touchdown.

"There were no 'poor me's going on," Ewers said. "We just kept playing."

Sarkisian isn't sure that Ewers would have responded with such poise two years ago after such a shaky start.

"It's just a real credit to him, even coming off of last week's game, where when doubt creeps into your mind, that's a killer," Sarkisian said. "And I didn't think there was a sliver of doubt in his mind. It was a bad luck [on the batted pass]. He made a great read, the ball got tipped and intercepted. He came right back out, believed in his preparation and the plan and really executed at a very high level.

"So I really want to credit him and his maturity, his belief in himself, his confidence, and I want to credit his teammates because I think all week those guys were making sure they were pumping him up and getting him ready to go."

Moore, who finished with six catches for 97 yards, said his first touchdown catch came when Ewers audibled while Moore was in motion.

"I'm like, 'OK, it's man [coverage]. Let's go get it. He called a slot fade and he put it up there and allowed me to go make a play," said Moore, adding that's not the first time Ewers has changed the play mid-motion.

"Yeah, he has the ability to do that, especially in this offense. Quinn is the president, so if he sees a look that he may not like, he can change it to something else just like that."

Ewers admitted he was "itching" to get back out there in a game with his teammates after the Georgia loss last week.

"I think the credit goes to everybody not getting down after a loss that we had, and we came out here and we played our brand of football, especially in the first half," Ewers said.

The Longhorns hurt themselves with penalties in the second half, and a second batted interception led to the Commodores' second touchdown in the second half to make it a 24-17 game.

"We did a good job of just continuing to play," Ewers said.

He also shook off the craziness of Monday when 247Sports said its Instagram account was hacked with the fabricated report that Ewers was shutting it down for the rest of the season at Texas coming off the Georgia loss.

"I mean, it was pretty random. I didn't really know where they got that from or whether they got hacked or not. ... It was definitely weird, and there's not much else to say about it," Ewers said.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan tight end Colston Loveland and Michigan State defensive end Anthony Jones pushed, shoved and butted helmets, triggering a skirmish with the rivals throwing punches as the final seconds ticked off the clock Saturday night.

"It was heat-of-the-moment type stuff," Loveland said in a postgame news conference after the Wolverines won 24-17.

Loveland may have cooled down after his postgame news conference on the Big Ten Network.

"Lil bro stay doing little bro things," Loveland told BTN on the field. "So, MSU is the little bro. They can do whatever they want. We knew it was going to get chippy. Everything within the confines of the game, we do right. And then after if they want to get busy, we'll get busy."

Quarterback Davis Warren took a knee to let the remaining time run out as Loveland and Jones got tangled up.

Michigan players left the nearby sideline to join the scrum and Michigan State players rushed over to join the fray.

"I told the team that was unacceptable," Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said.

Michigan State's coach Jonathan Smith also was disappointed.

"You don't love finishing kind of that way," Smith said.

The last time the teams met at the Big House two years ago, a melee broke out in the tunnel with Spartans hitting, kicking and using a helmet to hit Michigan players.

Seven Michigan State players were later charged with crimes and the Big Ten fined the school $100,000. Michigan was reprimanded for failing to provide adequate protection for personnel of both home and visiting teams when entering and leaving the venue.

LOS ANGELES -- Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one hit over 6 innings, Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night and the Los Angeles Dodgers hit three early longballs off Carlos Rodon to beat the New York Yankees 4-2 on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium to take a 2-0 World Series lead.

Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernandez also went deep for the Dodgers, who watched star slugger Shohei Ohtani walk off the field because of an apparent left shoulder injury at the end of the seventh inning.

After the Yankees closed to 4-2 on Giancarlo Stanton's RBI single in the ninth against Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia relieved with the bases loaded and retired pinch hitter Jose Trevino on a first-pitch flyout for a save.

Yamamoto gave up Juan Soto's third-inning homer, then retired his last 11 batters.

According to ESPN Research, Yamamoto is the 13th pitcher in World Series history with one or fewer hits allowed in an outing of at least six innings. He is the second Dodgers pitcher to do so after Rich Hill in 2018 against the Boston Red Sox, and the first pitcher to do it against the Yankees.

"I was really looking forward to this game," Yamamoto said through an interpreter, "and I'm glad that we had a great ending."

Soto also singled in the ninth and scored on Stanton's one-out hit off the third-base bag. Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Treinen then struck out Anthony Volpe before Vesia completed a four-hitter.

Ohtani hurt his left arm on a feet-first slide when he was caught stealing second base to end the seventh inning.

Game 3 is Monday night at Yankee Stadium. Of teams holding 2-0 World Series leads, 45 of 56 have gone on to win the title.

"No one said it's going to be easy," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "It's a long series, and we need to make it a long series now. We won't flinch."

New York's Aaron Judge went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and is hitting .150 with six RBIs and 19 strikeouts in 40 postseason at-bats. Judge has struck out 13 times over the past five games, his most in any five-game span since June 2021 and his most in a five-game span of the postseason since 2017 when he was a rookie, according to ESPN Research.

Soto's tying homer on an inside fastball was the only run Yamamoto gave up in two starts and 13 innings against the Yankees this season. The rookie right-hander left to a large ovation and gave the very slightest tip of his cap to fans when he walked to the dugout.

"I think everything was working well for me, since the beginning, the first inning," he said. "It worked pretty good today."

Yamamoto joined the Dodgers last December on a $325 million, 12-year contract, a record for pitchers, teaming with Ohtani to create record interest in Major League Baseball in Japan.

Yamamoto was sidelined from June 15 to Sept. 10 because of a strained rotator cuff and this was his finest start since the injury.

"Yamamoto, amazing job tonight and obviously we got out to the early lead and held on," Freeman said.

In his longest outing since his start in the Bronx, Yamamoto struck out four and walked two with a five-pitch array that included curveballs, splitters, sliders and cutters. He improved to 2-0 in four postseason starts.

He threw his best regular-season game at Yankee Stadium in June when he gave up three hits over seven shutout innings. Hernandez had three homers and nine RBIs over that three-game series.

A night after Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in Series history to transform a 3-2 deficit with two outs in the 10th inning into a 6-3 win, Edman put the Dodgers ahead with a solo shot in the second.

After Soto tied the score, Mookie Betts singled with two outs in the bottom of the third and Hernández, in a 3-for-27 slide, homered into the right-field pavilion.

Freeman, who before Friday hadn't gone deep since since Sept. 16, was greeted with huge cheers before each plate appearance. He worked the count full and also homered to right-center again.

Playing on a sprained right ankle, Freeman has homered in four straight Series games dating to Atlanta's last two games against Houston in 2021. That is one shy of the record held by the Astros' George Springer.

All three Dodgers homers came on fastballs from Rodon, whose 31 longballs allowed during the regular season tied for second most in the major leagues. Los Angeles had back-to-back Series homers for only the second time, after Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager connected against Yankees left-hander Ron Guidry for a 2-1 win in Game 5 in 1981.

Rodon gave up four runs and six hits in 3 innings.

Los Angeles took a 2-0 Series lead for the first time since 1988, when Kirk Gibson's walk-off homer against Oakland's Dennis Eckersley won the opener and Orel Hershiser followed with a three-hit shutout. The Yankees are down 2-0 for the first time since 2001, when they rebounded to win three straight at home and lost Games 6 and 7 at Arizona.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES -- Shohei Ohtani sustained an injury to his left shoulder while sliding into second base on a steal attempt in the seventh inning of a 4-2 World Series Game 2 win over the New York Yankees on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.

Speaking after the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani sustained a subluxation -- defined as a minor dislocation -- of the shoulder and would undergo further testing.

Roberts added Ohtani's strength and range of motion were good and that the team was "encouraged."

The injury left a sour note on a victory that gave the Dodgers a 2-0 series lead. Game 3 is Monday in New York.

"I'm expecting him to be there," Roberts said in response to a question about whether he believes his team can sustain a potential loss of Ohtani.

Ohtani, who did not sit out any games because of injury this season, slid past the bag, then was slow to get up, rolling on the ground while grabbing his left arm.

He was finally helped to his feet and walked toward the dugout with Dodgers assistant athletic trainer Yosuke Nakajima holding the superstar's arm. They disappeared into the clubhouse.

Ohtani, who produced the first 50/50 season in history this season and is expected to win his third MVP award next month, is slashing .260/.403/.460 with three home runs but no stolen bases in 13 postseason games.

The Dodgers led 4-1 when he exited. New York rallied in the ninth inning, scoring one run before leaving the bases loaded.

With Rams coach Sean McVay practically yanking Cooper Kupp off the trade market, teams in search of wide receiver help now are expected to turn to other targets.

The two receivers who have generated the most conversation so far are Carolina's Diontae Johnson and Jacksonville's Christian Kirk, league sources told ESPN.

It wouldn't be a surprise to see at least one of -- and possibly both -- Johnson and Kirk traded by the NFL's Nov. 5 trade deadline, continuing a trend of wide receiver being the most in-demand and tradeable position.

In the past week, three high-profile wide receivers have been traded: Davante Adams to the Jets, Amari Cooper to the Bills and DeAndre Hopkins to the Chiefs.

More trades are expected.

The Panthers already have received multiple inquiries on Johnson, and sources believe Carolina is seeking a midround draft pick in return for a player who this season, despite playing in a struggling offense, has 30 receptions for 357 yards and three touchdowns.

Some sources believe it's only a question of where Johnson winds up before the trade deadline. The Panthers (1-6) play in Denver on Sunday and already have ruled out Johnson because of a rib injury.

Johnson is 28 and due to make $3.5 million for the rest of the season -- making him both younger and cheaper than some of the other potentially available wide receivers.

Carolina will continue to listen to offers as the trade deadline approaches, but there are some sources who believe that, after a flurry of wide receiver trades, Johnson is now the receiver most likely to be moved.

Other teams also are eyeing Kirk, whose performance this season in Jacksonville has fallen off compared to past seasons. Should the Jaguars lose Sunday to Green Bay to fall to 2-6, it might make it more likely they would be willing to entertain offers for players such as Kirk.

Kirk, 27, has 25 receptions for 320 yards and one touchdown this season, his third with the Jaguars.

The Jets also would be open to trading away veteran wide receiver Mike Williams for the right price, according to league sources.

Teams still in need of a receiver are thought to be the Steelers and the Chargers, among others.

There had been speculation about whether the Rams would be willing to trade Kupp, but McVay did his best to shut down that conversation after Thursday night's victory over the Vikings. McVay reiterated his stance on Kupp on Friday morning, saying a trade involving the former NFL Offensive Player of the Year is "not a move that we want to make."

"He's a Ram, and we expect him to stay that way," McVay said.

For the teams still pondering ways to acquire Maxx Crosby, and for the fan bases imagining what the Pro Bowl defensive end would look like in their team's uniform, those conversations can officially be shut down.

Raiders owner Mark Davis quashed the hopes and dreams of front offices and fans across the league this weekend when he roundly dismissed the notion that Las Vegas would trade its best player.

"We're Not Trading Maxx Crosby," Davis said in an email to ESPN. "Before Or After The Trade Deadline!!!"

Despite the Raiders' unwillingness to trade their most popular player, teams have continued to explore ways as recently as this week to see if Crosby could be obtained, league sources told ESPN.

Teams have debated internally if there is a way to acquire Crosby, and some have reached out to the Raiders to make inquiries.

The Raiders, however, have essentially shut down the idea. One league source familiar with other teams' efforts told ESPN that "it would be beyond shocking" if Crosby were dealt before the NFL's Nov. 5 deadline.

New Raiders minority stakeholder Richard Seymour said on this week's "The Adam Schefter Podcast" he could not envision the Raiders trading away the "heartbeat of our team."

"If I'm the Lions, I want to come get Maxx Crosby too," Seymour said on the podcast. "Why wouldn't they? He's the heartbeat of our team. But that would be Mark Davis' decision, and I don't see him making that decision to trade away Maxx Crosby."

Crosby is beloved within the Raiders organization, especially by Davis.

Crosby said this week on his podcast he wants to stay with the Raiders and addressed the trade speculation involving the Lions, who are without injured star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson.

"I'm sitting here innocently and just doing what I do, and I feel like I got to like address it with my teammates," he said on "The Rush With Maxx Crosby" podcast. "I'm like, 'I'm not trying to leave.'

"I don't have 100 percent control and all that, but I want to be here. I want to be silver and black. I'll say it loud and f---ing clear: I want to be a Raider. I've said that over and over and over again."

The Raiders already made one high-profile trade last week, sending star wide receiver Davante Adams to the New York Jets for a conditional third-round draft pick.

Teams such as the Lions still hoping to potentially add pass-rush help before the trade deadline now will have to look elsewhere. One of the most logical trade targets is the Cleveland Browns' former Pro Bowl defensive end Za'Darius Smith, who has drawn some attention across the league.

Smith has the résumé, talent and a friendly enough salary this season to make him attractive to other teams, and league sources said they would not be surprised to see the Browns deal him before the deadline.

Crosby, 27, has 6.5 sacks this season, tied for the sixth most in the NFL. The three-time Pro Bowler has played his entire career with the Raiders, recording 58.5 sacks in 89 games over five-plus seasons.