LeBron James and Kevin Durant meshed nicely in the 68th NBA All-Star Game after being adversaries during the last three Finals. Durant had 31 points and seven rebounds, while James added 19 points to lead Team LeBron to a 178-164 comeback win over Team Giannis.
Team LeBron trailed by 18 points in the first half but battled back in the third quarter to take the lead behind the sharpshooting of Klay Thompson and Damian Lillard. Thompson had 20 points and Lilllard 18. Durant was named the game MVP after shooting 6-for-9 from the field and grabbing seven rebounds in 25 minutes. Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 38 points and 11 rebounds to lead his squad, while Bucks teammate Khris Middleton added 20 on six 3-pointers. Stephen Curry had 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in his return to Charlotte but was 4 of 17 from the 3-point range.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
In men's basketball, Quinnipiac downed Siena in triple-overtime, 107-100, UAlbany beat Maine, 63-54, and Marist defeated Monmouth, 75-67.
In women's basketball, UConn ripped UCF, 78-41, Syracuse topped Wake Forest, 77-57, and Iona beat Saint Peter’s, 61-57.
In top-25 basketball, the Villanova Wildcats did nothing Sunday to help their seeding in the NCAA tournament. L J Figueroa scored 22 points and St. John's rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half to stun the 13th-ranked Wildcats, 71-65. The Red Storm trailed 48-34 with 12:30 left before scoring 20 of the next 25 points, taking their first lead on Figueroa's 3-pointer from the corner. The win snapped a 12-game losing streak for St. John's against Villanova at Madison Square Garden dating back 17 years. Joe Cremo scored 14 points to lead the 20-6 Wildcats while Eric Paschall added 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Corey Davis Jr. nailed eight 3-pointers and scored 26 points as ninth-ranked Houston coasted to its 10th straight win, 85-50 against Tulane. Davis and Armoni Brooks led the way as Houston went 17 for 34 from beyond the arc. Brooks made six 3s on his way to 24 points. The Cougars opened on a 22-5 run and improved to 25-1 overall and 12-1 in the American Athletic Conference.
Eleventh-ranked Michigan State is 12-3 in the Big Ten after closing on a 20-2 run to beat Ohio State, 62-44. Matt McQuaid scored 14 points and Cassius Winston added 13 as the Spartans moved into a first-place tie with rival Michigan in the conference. The Buckeyes led by six at halftime before scoring just 13 points on 4 of 21 shooting the rest of the way.
NHL
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a top-8 team in the Eastern Conference once again after knocking off the New York Rangers, 6-5. Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang each scored twice while the Pens built a 6-3 lead. Defensemen Marcus Pettersson and Brian Dumoulin also scored for the Penguins, who leapfrogged Carolina for the second and final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
The Devils did further damage to the Sabres' postseason hopes as Kyle Palmieri delivered a goal and two assists to New Jersey's 4-1 win at Buffalo. Jesper Bratt had a power-play goal and Joey Anderson added a short-handed tally to help Cory Schneider pick up his second straight victory since a 24-game winless skid. Sam Reinhart scored the lone goal for the Sabres, who are 5-9-1 in their last 15 games and five points out of a playoff spot.
Ivan Provorov scored a tiebreaking goal early in the third period and Oskar Lindblom tallied twice as the Flyers completed a home-and-home sweep of the Red Wings, 3-1. Rookie Carter Hart finished with 37 saves in Philadelphia's 12th victory in 14 games. The Flyers moved within six points of a playoff berth and dropped Detroit into a last-place tie with New Jersey in the East.
The Ducks overcame Alex Ovechkin's league-leading 40 goal by getting two scores apiece from Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg in a 5-2 victory against the Capitals. The game was tied until Henrique and Corey Perry scored power-play goals 3:40 into the third period. Anaheim won for just the fourth time in 24 games and kept Washington five points behind the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Islanders.
Elsewhere on NHL ice, not only are the St. Louis Blues unbeatable these days, they've become impenetrable. The Blues posted their 10th straight victory and third consecutive shutout on Sunday as Jordan Binnington made 31 saves in a 4-0 win at Minnesota. Binnington ran the Blues scoreless streak to 187:16 since the team allowed a goal late in an 8-3 win over New Jersey on Tuesday. Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists to help St. Louis match the longest winning streak in team history. The surge has put the Blues sixth in the NHL's Western Conference, one point behind Vegas and four in front of Dallas.
Aleksander Barkov notched a hat trick and had an assist as the Panthers doubled up the Canadiens, 6-3. Florida coughed up a 3-1 lead before Barkov scored late in the second period to send the Panthers to their eighth victory in 12 games. Antti Niemi was pulled after allowing three goals on nine shots through the first 13:57 of Montreal's fourth consecutive loss.
NASCAR
Denny Hamlin is the Daytona 500 winner for the second time in four years. Hamlin took the checkered flag for Joe Gibbs Racing a month after Joe Gibbs' oldest son died following a long battle with a degenerative neurological disease. J.D. Gibbs was 49. Hamlin moved out front after a final restart and had teammate Kyle Busch blocking in the final lap as the pair created a sweep of the top three finishes for Gibbs Racing. Busch finished second, followed by Erik Jones. Defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano was fourth. Hamlin last year suffered through his first winless season in the Cup Series and made a crew chief change during the offseason. The Cup-opening event turned into a wreck-fest near the finish. "The Great American Race" had five crashes and two red flags over the final 20 laps of regulation.
PGA
J.B. Holmes rallied from a four-shot deficit in the final round to win the PGA's Genesis Open. Holmes closed with a 1-under 70 for his first victory in three years and a trip back to the Masters. He overtook Justin Thomas, who three-putted three times on the back nine and shot a 75.
Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Chubb Classic for his seventh PGA Tour Champions title. He beat Bernhard Langer and Olin Browne with a 5-foot par putt on the first hole of a playoff. Jimenez closed with a 5-under 66 at The Classics at Lely Resort to match Langer and Browne at 13-under 200. Browne had a double bogey on the par-4 18th in regulation for a 66.
MLB
Major League Baseball is unilaterally starting the use of pitch clocks for spring training games. Pitchers generally will have 20 seconds to deliver to the plate when teams play exhibition games in Arizona and Florida beginning this week. The intention is to get players and umpires accustomed to the clock in the event MLB makes the rule change for the upcoming regular season. Owners have the right to implement one this year without consent, but Commissioner Rob Manfred has been reluctant to initiate on-field modifications without agreement from players and their union head, Tony Clark. Meanwhile, several players around the majors have taken issue with a second consecutive slow market for free agents. They question why more teams aren't trying to win. All-Stars Bryce Harper and Manny Machado remain unsigned — along with closer Craig Kimbrel and dozens of other accomplished veterans.
Also in the majors, left-hander Aaron Loup and the Padres have agreed to a one-year contract that guarantees $1.4 million and includes a team option for 2020. The 31-year-old reliever had a 4.54 ERA in 59 games last year for Toronto and Philadelphia, striking out 44 and walking 14 in 39 2/3 innings.
NFL
Former NFL executive of the year Reggie McKenzie has been hired by the Miami Dolphins as a senior personnel executive under general manager Chris Grier. The move was the latest change in football operations for the Dolphins following a 7-9 season. Grier was given more authority last month, and Brian Flores was hired as coach to replace the fired Adam Gase.
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