It seems fitting that three Los Angeles-based players led an All-Star victory on a night the league honored Lakers legend Kobe Bryant. Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard received the Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP award after scoring a game-high 30 points in Team LeBron's 157-155 victory over Team Giannis in Chicago.
Leonard made eight 3-pointers to finish one shy of Paul George's All-Star record in 2016. Lakers forward LeBron James had 23 in helping has namesake squad win the All-Star game for the third straight year. Lakers forward Anthony Davis added 20 points, including a game-ending free throw. The game format was overhauled to put in elements for charity and ensure that someone was going to hit a shot to end the game.Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo had a team-high 25 points but was shut out in the fourth quarter. Boston guard Kemba Walker finished with 23 points and Philadelphia center Joel Embiid had 22 for Team Giannis.
The league announced last week that it was renaming the All-Star game MVP after Bryant, who was among nine killed in a helicopter crash late last month. The crash also claimed the life of his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna. Jennifer Hudson wore the Lakers' deep purple as she performed a pregame tribute to Bryant and sang "For All We Know." Players on James' team wore Gianna's No. 2 on their jerseys and players on Antetokounmpo's team wore Kobe's No. 24 on theirs. All players wore a patch with nine stars, one for each victim of the crash. American rapper Common also paid homage to Bryant in his pregame tribute to Chicago, saying that "even in the darkest times, you'll feel Kobe's light."
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
In men’s college basketball, UAlbany topped Maine 66-60, Siena beat Manhattan 65-52, Iona took down Marist 78-70, and UConn outlasted Memphis 64-61. In women’s college basketball, Marist beat Siena 78 to 55, Syracuse topped Pittsburgh 71 to 53, Saint Louis bested UMass 71 to 56, and UConn took down South Florida 67 to 47.
In men's top-25 basketball, San Diego State remains the only unbeaten team in Division I following a resounding victory at Boise State. Malachi Flynn had 22 points and the Aztecs improved to 26-0 with a 72-55 trouncing of the Broncos. Yanni Wetzell had 14 points and seven rebounds for San Diego State, while Matt Mitchell delivered 11 points, seven boards and five steals.
Collin Gillespie scored a season-high 29 points and 15th-ranked Villanova finished 4-0 against Philadelphia's Big 5 schools by trouncing Temple, 76-56. Jermaine Samuels added 13 points and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had 10 in the Wildcat's seventh straight win over the Owls.
Payton Pritchard scored 25 points and led an early 3-point shooting spree as No. 17 Oregon rolled to an 80-62 victory over Utah. Will Richardson added 18 points, six assists and six rebounds to help the Ducks improve to 14-0 at home this season.
Luka Garza dropped in 24 points and No. 21 Iowa closed on an 11-0 run to pull out a 58-55 victory at Minnesota. Golden Gophers center Daniel Oturu missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw attempt with a chance to tie the game with 3.8 seconds left.
NASCAR
It's going to take another day to determine the winner of the Daytona 500. NASCAR's season-opening race was postponed following a second rain delay, pushing the event into Monday. It's the second time in 62 years and first time since 2012 that "The Great American Race" will finish on a Monday. Pole-sitter Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the leader 20 laps into the race when the rain returned, sending drivers back to pit road. The first delay lasted 50 minutes and came moments after the presidential motorcade completed a ceremonial parade lap around the 2 1/2-mile track. The second stoppage was prompted by heavier rain, further soaking a racing surface that takes hours to dry.
NHL
The Boston Bruins have expanded their lead in the NHL's Atlantic Division, while the Pittsburgh Penguins have inched two points closer to the Metropolitan Division lead. Charlie Coyle scored the Bruins' second short-handed goal in as many days to give Boston a 2-0 lead in the second period of a 3-1 victory over the Rangers. Charlie McAvoy tallied late in the first period and Patrice Bergeron added an empty-netter to secure the Bruins' eighth win in nine games. Jaroslav Halak stopped 25 shots and blanked the Rangers until Mika Zibanejad beat him midway through the third period. The win pushes the Bruins three points ahead of Tampa Bay for both the Atlantic Division and overall lead.
In Pittsburgh, Patric Hornqvist had two goals and an assist as the Penguins knocked off the Red Wings, 5-1. Sidney Crosby added a goal and an assist, giving him 19 points in 12 games since returning from core muscle surgery. Matt Murray stopped 27 shots for the Penguins, who won for the 11th time in 15 games to pull within one point of the Metropolitan-leading Capitals.
Jack Eichel scored the go-ahead goal while the Sabres tallied three times in a 91-seconds span of the third period to beat the Maple Leafs, 5-2. Johan Larsson had a goal and assist in Buffalo's third straight win. Carter Hutton stopped 20 shots to win his fourth straight and five of six starts.
Mackenzie Blackwood turned back 52 saves in regulation and overtime before thwarting six shootout attempts to lead the Devils past the Blue Jackets, 4-3. Nikita Gusev and Jesper Bratt provided New Jersey's shooting goals after Kyle Palmeiri collected a goal and an assist in the second period. The Jackets wasted a 2-0 lead but tied it on Kevin Stenlund's goal while outshooting the Devils, 21-2 in the third period.
Kyle Turris scored with 2:12 left to give the Predators a 2-1 win over the Blues. Craig Smith furnished the other goal for Nashville, his sixth in five games. Pekka Rinne made 38 saves in helping Nashville deal St. Louis its fourth straight loss and 10th in 12 games.
Josh Archibald's second goal of the day gave the Oilers a 4-3 victory against the Hurricanes. NHL scoring leader Leon Draisaitl added a goal and two assists in Edmonton's third win in four games. Draisaitl set up Archibald's goal 3:57 into OT for his 95th point of the season.
The Senators pulled out a 4-3 win over the Stars on Artem Anisimov's goal at 3:48 of overtime. Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Brady Tkachuk and Tyler Ennis also scored to back Craig Anderson's 36 saves.
Nathan Beaulieu scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and had an assist as the Jets nipped the Blackhawks, 3-2. Mason Appleton also had a goal and an assist for Winnipeg, which ended a two-game skid and won for the fourth time in six contests. Patrick Kane collected a goal and an assist but couldn't stop Chicago from absorbing its sixth consecutive loss.
Adam Henrique hit the 20-goal mark for the season by scoring twice in the Ducks' 5-1 rout of the Canucks. Derek Grant provided a power-play goal and an assist as Anaheim handed Vancouver its fifth loss in seven games. Elias Pettersson was the lone Canuck to beat John Gibson, who finished with 37 saves.
In NHL news, the New York Islanders have solidified their defense for the playoff push by acquiring Devils captain Andy Greene for blueline prospect David Quenneville and a second-round pick in the 2021 draft. The Islanders have been searching for a quality defenseman since losing Adam Pelech to an Achilles tendon injury on Jan. 2. Greene also gives them a lefty-shooting defender on a team filled with right-handed defensemen.
The Ducks' postponed game against the visiting Blues will be played March 11. The game began last Tuesday and was stopped when defenseman Jay Bouwmeester collapsed on the bench during the first period. The game will begin with a 1-1 score, as it was at the time of the postponement. It will follow a full 60-minute format.
MLB
Yu Darvish has chimed in on Houston's sign-stealing scheme, just over two years after getting rocked by the Astros in the World Series. The Chicago Cubs pitcher says the Astros should be stripped of their 2017 championship, comparing them to an Olympian who loses a gold medal because of cheating. Darvish says he knows the Astros were stealing signs, but he acknowledged that he didn't pitch his best during the 2017 Fall Classic. Darvish lasted only 1 1/3 innings in both of his 2017 World Series appearances while playing for the Dodgers. He was tagged for four runs and six hits in Game 3 and was the losing pitcher in Game 7 at Dodger Stadium. Meanwhile, commissioner Rob Manfred met with nearly half of the major leagues managers Sunday and told them to knock off any notion of get-even beanballs. Manfred's visits come after Cody Bellinger, Kris Bryant, Trevor Bauer and Carlos Correa were among the All-Stars recently trading threats, accusations and barbs as spring training opened. Manfred said he would personally talk to the managers of the teams that train in Arizona on Tuesday.
Pitcher Chad Bettis has signed a minor league contract with the Yankees, a deal that includes an invitation to big league spring training. The 30-year-old right-hander was 1-6 with one save and a 6.08 ERA in 39 games for Colorado last season.
Brewers left-hander Brent Suter has avoided salary arbitration by accepting a two-year, $2.5 million deal. Suter returned from Tommy John surgery last September and went 4-0 with a 0.49 ERA in nine relief appearances, helping the Brewers earn an NL wild-card spot. Suter had mostly been a starter the previous two seasons with Milwaukee before having elbow surgery in July 2018. He is expected to be used out of the bullpen this year.
Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas was scratched from his second bullpen session of the spring because of a flexor tendon issue. Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said the Cardinals hope to have a more concrete time frame for Mikolas return to the mound in a day or two.
Former All-Star shortstop Tony Fernández has died at age 57 after a long battle with kidney disease. Fernández made five All-Star teams during his 17 major league seasons and helped the Toronto Blue Jays win the 1993 World Series. He won four straight Gold Gloves with the Blue Jays in the 1980s and holds club records for career hits and games played.
PGA
Adam Scott has another victory at Riviera, and this time it counts. Scott survived a calamitous final round with just enough clutch putts to take the PGA's Genesis Invitational. He closed with a 1-under 70 for a two-stroke victory over Matt Kuchar, Scott Brown and Sung Kang. The victory comes 15 years after Scott won a playoff at Riviera that didn't count as official because rain shortened the tournament to 36 holes. He earned every bit of this victory, his 14th on the PGA Tour and 29th worldwide. Nearly a dozen players had a chance to win. Five players had a share of the lead at some point.
Scott Parel closed with an 8-under 63 to overcome a three-stroke deficit and win the Chubb Classic by two shots. It's Parel's third career victory on the PGA Tour Champions surpassing $5 million for his career. It also moves him atop the Charles Schwab Cup standings for the first time in his career. Bob Estes shot 64 to end up second. Kevin Sutherland fired a 67 to finish in a third-place tie with Bernhard Langer, who closed with a 69.
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