NBA
CLEVELAND (AP) — Stephen Curry delivered the greatest long-distance shooting performance in All-Star Game history, then LeBron James delivered another victory.
Curry made a record 16 3-pointers and scored 50 points before James made a turnaround jumper that gave Team LeBron a 163-160 victory over Team Durant on Sunday night.
Curry needed one more 3-pointer to break Anthony Davis’ record of 52 points but missed his final attempt. But with James’ team needing a basket to reach the target score of 163 points, they couldn’t afford to keep feeding Curry. So James pulled up from deep on the right side for the winning bucket, making him 5-0 in the format where the leading vote-getters in each conference draft teams.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 30 points, and James finished with 24 in his old home. Joel Embiid led Team Durant with 36 points.
CLEVELAND (AP) — One by one the names of the NBA’s greatest players were called, bridging basketball’s past and present.
And as each walked onto the floor, LeBron James found himself in further disbelief.
The posters on his bedroom wall as a kid came to life.
On Sunday night, the league celebrated its diamond anniversary with a sparkling tribute to honor 75 years on the hardwood floor.
During a moving halftime tribute at Sunday’s All-Star Game, 45 members of the 75th Anniversary Team — including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James — stood elbow to elbow on a giant circular stage in the middle of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
This was a chance for the game’s greatest to take a bow and be saluted for cutting the path for today’s players.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Angry about Wisconsin calling a late timeout, Michigan coach Juwan Howard began arguing in the postgame handshake line. Moments later, he hit a Badgers assistant in the head, and mayhem followed.
The Wolverines’ inability to boost their NCAA Tournament credentials was the least of their concerns after a 77-63 loss Sunday at No. 15 Wisconsin. Their head coach could be facing major discipline after his poke turned a pushing-and-shoving scrum into a punch-filled brawl.
Howard struck Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft after jawing with Wisconsin coach Greg Gard during the handshake line. The Big Ten said it planned to “take swift and appropriate disciplinary action when it completes its review.”
During his postgame news conference, Howard said he didn’t like Wisconsin calling for a timeout with 15 seconds left and the Badgers leading by 15.
Gard said he called the timeout because his reserves were in the game and only had 4 seconds to get the ball past midcourt. A timeout gives them 10 seconds.
GOLF
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Joaquinn Niemann survived a few nervous moments at Riviera and polished off a big week Sunday when he closed with an even-par 71 to become the first wire-to-wire winner of the Genesis Invitational in 53 years.
Staked to a three-shot lead, Niemann’s margin was down to one when he made a 7-foot birdie on the eighth hole and PGA Tour rookie Cameron Young sailed the green and made bogey.
The 23-year-old from Chile chipped in for eagle on the par-5 11th to stretch his lead to five, and he held on for a two-shot victory over British Open champion Collin Morikawa (65) and Young, whose last hopes ended with a bogey from the bunker on the 16th. Young shot 70.
NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Already the oldest winner in PGA Tour Champions history, Bernhard Langer completed a wire-to-wire victory for his record fourth Chubb Classic title.
Langer won at 64 years, 5 months, 23 days to push his victory total to 43 on the 50-and-over tour, two behind Hale Irwin for the record, and win for the 16th straight season. The German star became the oldest tour winner in October at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Virginia.
Langer closed with his second straight 4-under 68, birdieing the par-5 18th on Tiburon Golf Club’s Black Course for the third day in a row, to finish at 16-under 200. He beat Tim Petrovic by three strokes after taking a two-stroke lead into the final round.
Langer opened Thursday by shooting his age with a 64. In the final round, the two-time Masters champion had six birdies — going 4 for 4 on the par 5s — and two bogeys.
Langer also won the event in 2011 at The Quarry and 2013 and 2016 at TwinEagles. Irwin won the event three times.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A proposed Saudi-financed rival golf league took a massive hit Sunday when Dustin Johnson said he was “fully committed” to the PGA Tour, and Bryson DeChambeau indicated he would stay where the stars were playing.
Johnson added his name to a growing list of golf’s top players who have said they are not interested in taking guaranteed riches from the “Super Golf League” that Greg Norman and his LIV Golf Investments are behind.
Rory McIlroy, the first to speak out against a rival league and the guaranteed riches two years ago, said Sunday’s development left the concept “dead in the water.”
Johnson, a two-time major champion who has spent more time at No. 1 in the world than any of the current players — he now is at No. 6 — had kept his intentions quiet over the last few months, leading to speculation he would join. That ended Sunday.
Hours later, DeChambeau posted a statement on Twitter that appeared to cool his enthusiasm.
AUTO RACING
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Austin Cindric drove his brand new NASCAR ride to victory in the Daytona 500 to celebrate team owner Roger Penske’s 85th birthday.
Cindric drove a masterful race at Daytona International Speedway and the Ford drivers synched their strategy all week, then executed their plan to perfection Sunday night. The blue oval drivers pushed each other over 500 miles and were bunched together for the final restart in overtime.
Cindric was the leader on the restart from the top lane and pulled out to a sizeable gap. He then ducked down to the bottom line in front of his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney so that Blaney and Cindric could work together over the final two-lap sprint to the finish.
Blaney on the final lap made his move for the lead, and Bubba Wallace ducked low for his own look at the front. Cindric slid up to block Blaney, but still had to hold Wallace off in a drag race.
Blaney bounced off the wall and cars began crashing around him, and Cindric was declared the winner. It was the first career Cup victory for the 23-year-old Cindric, who was promoted from the Xfinity Series to replace Brad Keselowski in the No. 2 Ford and run for NASCAR’s rookie of the year honors.
The win was the third Daytona 500 victory for Penske, who also picked up the trophy in 2008 with Ryan Newman and 2015 with Joey Logano. Ford Motor Co. has won the Daytona 500 17 times, including two in a row. Wallace finished second for the second time in his career in the Daytona 500.
