🏀 All-Stars, No Shine

Happy Tuesday! We hope everyone had a relaxing President's Day weekend. There will be no jokes in today's intro, as the NBA All-Star Game already took care of that. However, we'll still recap the entire All-Star Weekend, which was somewhat salvaged by a G League journeyman and a WNBA sensation (neither of whom plays in the NBA). At the PGA’s Genesis Invitational, Tiger took a trip to the vet, Jordan Spieth got DQ’d, and a scintillating Sunday round gave way to a surprising winner. We also had another jam-packed weekend of college hoops, plus a Wild comeback in the NHL last night that capped a thrilling few days of hockey. And let’s not forget about the Great American Race from Daytona. It's a packed letter, so buckle up and start your engines!

WTF Stat: In Sacramento State baseball’s season-opening doubleheader on Friday, outfielder Matt Masciangelo was hit by a pitch in seven of his eight at-bats. On Sunday, in Sac State’s third game of the season, Masciangelo was hit again in his first at-bat - Masciangelo began the season by getting hit eight times in nine plate appearances.

🏀 Woeful All-Star Weekend

73rd NBA All-Star Game (Indianapolis, IN)

• Eastern Conference 211, Western Conference 186 - MVP: Bucks G Damian Lillard

• In hopes of making the All-Star Game more competitive, the NBA reverted back to the traditional format of East versus West with a standard four, 12-minute quarters for the first time since 2017. However, Sunday night’s showing was borderline unwatchable, as it quickly turned into a lifeless rotation of fast breaks that hardly resembled the game of basketball, featuring zero defensive effort, a slew of mindless three-point attempts from beyond half-court, and ultimately, one of the least entertaining All-Star Games the league has ever seen, leading to heavy public scrutiny amongst fans

• The final score reflected the players’ lack of effort, as the East won by scoring an unprecedented 211 points (yes, 211 points in a 48-minute basketball game), while both teams combined for a record 397 points, 167 three-pointers attempted(!), and 67 threes made. Timberwolves C Karl-Anthony Towns (50 PTS, 23-35 FG, 8 REB) dropped 50, tied for the third-most points in All-Star history, and Bucks G Damian Lillard (39 PTS, 11-23 3PT, 6 AST) took home the MVP award in an underwhelming affair - NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s postgame trophy presentation summed up the viewers’ disappointment

See the full box score here.

Slam Dunk Contest

• Final Round: Mac McClung 98.8, Jaylen Brown 97.8

• In perhaps the most exciting event of the weekend, Magic G League player Mac McClung won his second straight Slam Dunk Contest by throwing down a series of showstopping jams capped by jumping over 7-foot-1 Shaquille O’Neal for a perfect 50 to beat Celtics G Jaylen Brown in the final round - Brown paid homage to several icons with his dunks, and the competition was held on a new LED court, installed at the Indianapolis Colts’ Lucas Oil Stadium

See every dunk from the contest here.

3-Point Contest

Main Contest

• Final Round: Damian Lillard 26, Trae Young 24, Karl-Anthony Towns 22

• Before taking home the All-Star Game MVP on Sunday, Damian Lillard won his second consecutive 3-Point Contest on Saturday by splashing a money ball on the final shot to edge out Hawks G Trae Young in the final round - Lillard, Young, and Towns advanced to the finals after tying with 26 apiece in Round 1

Steph vs. Sabrina

• Stephen Curry 29, Sabrina Ionescu 26

• In a new intriguing one-on-one, 3-point contest between the NBA’s best shooter and the WNBA’s best shooter, Liberty G Sabrina Ionescu applied the pressure with an opening score of 26, the same mark as Lillard’s winning round in the main competition, but it wasn’t enough to top Curry, who hit 11 of his final 12 shots to win an exciting matchup - broadcaster Kenny Smith has received public backlash for saying afterward that Ionescu “should have shot from the women’s line; That would have been fair contest”

See the full Steph vs. Sabrina contest here.

Other Events - Winners

• Skills Challenge: Indiana Pacers

• Rising Stars Tournament: Team Jalen - MVP: Pacers G Bennedict Mathurin

• Celebrity Game: Team Shannon - MVP: Cowboys LB Micah Parsons

NHL - Top Games

• Minnesota Wild 10, Vancouver Canucks 7: In an utterly outrageous Monday night affair featuring three different hat tricks, the Wild trailed 5-2 late in the 2nd period before Joel Eriksson Ek (3 G, 3 A) and Kirill Kaprizov (3 G, 3 A) sparked a monster six-goal run in just 5:45 of game time — including five bingos in the first 4:48 of the 3rd period — and Minnesota ultimately lit the lamp a franchise-record seven times in the final period to stun JT Miller (3 G, 1 A) and the Canucks in the highest-scoring game this season - all three of Kaprizov’s goals came in the 3rd period, and he and Eriksson Ek tied a franchise with six points

• Boston Bruins 4, Dallas Stars 3 (SO): In a President’s Day matinée, the B’s avoided a fifth straight loss by squeezing out a shootout win that took nine skaters to decide a winner with our former podcast guest Charlie McAvoy (2A) netting the winner past another former podcast guest Jake Oettinger (30 SV) - Bruins tender Jeremy Swayman (43 SV) set a career-high in saves, which doesn’t include the eight stops he made in the shootout

• Stadium Series | New York Rangers 6, New York Islanders 5 (OT): MetLife Stadium hosted an outdoor thriller on Sunday, as Brock Nelson (1 G, 1 A) and the Isles led 4-1 in the 2nd period, but the Rangers rallied late and Mika Zibanejad (1 G, 1 A) netted a beautiful one-timer with 1:29 remaining in regulation to force overtime, where Artemi Panarin (1 G, 1 A) called game just 10 seconds in, giving the Blue Shirts their seventh straight W - the Rangers (36-16-3) are 6-0-0 since the All-Star Break

• Stadium Series | New Jersey Devils 6, Philadelphia Flyers 3: The always-beautiful Meadowlands also held a game at MetLife on Saturday, in which Nico Hischier (2 G, 1 A) and Nathan Bastian (2 G) combined for four ginos to lead the Devs past Owen Tippett (2 G) and the Flyers

See the full box scores here and the current NHL standings here.

Men’s College Basketball - Top Games

• NCAAM | #2 Houston 73, #6 Iowa State 65: After leading 28-23 at the break, Houston dropped 45 in the second half, 20 of which came from Jamal Shead (26 PTS, 4 REB, 6 AST), as the Cougars outpaced Keshon Gilbert (17 PTS, 5 AST) and the Cyclones last night for an impressive top-10 win at home, giving them sole possession of first place in the Big 12 - Houston (23-3) is 10-3 in conference play despite a 1-2 start

• NCAAM | Ohio State 73, #2 Purdue 69: Following the firing of HC Chris Holtmann on Wednesday, Ohio State pulled off the upset of the weekend in Jake Dielber’s first game at the helm, as Bruce Thorton (22 PTS, 4 REB) and the Buckeyes never trailed in the second half to knock off Zach Edey (22 PTS, 13 REB) and Purdue in Columbus on Sunday - Purdue (23-3) fell to No. 3 in this week’s AP Poll, and all three of their losses have come against unranked Big Ten opponents

• NCAAM | #1 UConn 81, #4 Marquette 53: The game of the weekend turned out to be not much of a game at all as Donovan Clingan (17 PTS, 10 REB), Tristen Newton (15 PTS, 8 REB, 8 AST) and the Huskies pumped Tyler Kolek (7 PTS, 2-11 FG, 3 AST) and the Golden Eagles for a statement victory at the XL Center on Saturday

• NCAAM | #22 Kentucky 70, #13 Auburn 59: Coach Calipari’s Wildcats also notched a statement dub on Saturday behind a big night from Austin Reeves (22 PTS, 5 REB) and a surprisingly stout defensive effort, which kept Johni Broome (14 PTS, 11 REB) and War Eagle at bay in Lexington - despite blowing out then-ranked No. 11 South Carolina on Wednesday, Auburn (20-6) has lost two of their last three games

• NCAAW | #15 UConn 73, #21 Creighton 53: Paige Bueckers (24 PTS, 6 REB) and the Huskies rolled Creighton yesterday at home, giving their legendary HC Geno Auriemma his 1,203th career victory, which moves him past former Duke HC Mike Krzyzewski for second place on the Division I all-time wins list behind Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer (1,209)

• NCAAW | #10 USC 58, #11 Oregon State 50: After stunning No. 7 UCLA, 79-77, on Friday thanks to Talia von Oelhoffen’s epic buzzer-beater, the Lady Beavers stumbled on Sunday against the Trojans, as freshman phenom JuJu Watkins (18 PTS, 11 REB) led USC to their fifth straight win

See the full NCAAM scoreboard here and the current rankings here. See the full NCAAW scoreboard here and the current rankings here.

PGA - Genesis Invitational (Riviera Country Club)

• Winner: Hideki Matsuyama (-17). In a headline-filled weekend, Tiger Woods (+2) withdrew during Round 2 and was accompanied by an ambulance at the clubhouse because of an illness that he later confirmed to be influenza, and Jordan Spieth (-3) was disqualified that afternoon for signing an incorrect scoreboard. But in the end, Hideki Matsuyama walked away the winner thanks to a scorching 9-under 62 on Sunday to surge past the field for his fourth PGA Tour victory - Patrick Cantlay entered Sunday with a two-stroke lead but closed with a 1-over 72

Final Leaderboard

• 1. Hideki Matsuyama (-17)

• T2. Will Zalatoris (-14)

• T2. Luke List (-14)

• T4. Patrick Cantlay (-13)

• T4. Xander Schauffele (-13)

• T4. Adam Hadwin (-13)

• 7. Harris English (-12)

• 8. Tom Hoge (-11)

• 9. Jason Day (-9)

See the entire final leaderboard here.

NASCAR - Daytona 500

• Winner: William Byron. After being postponed on Saturday to Monday due to rain, and then delayed to Monday night, Austin Hill won the Great American in unusual fashion, as he held a narrow lead entering the last lap over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman when a late crash caused a caution, making Hill the winner despite leading only the final four laps - it’s Hendrick Motorsports first Daytona 500 since 2014, and there was also a 23-car crash with eight laps remaining

Final Results

• 1. William Byron

• 2. Alex Bowman

• 3. Christopher Bell

• 4. Corey LaJoie

• 5. Bubba Wallace

• 6. AJ Allmendinger

• 7. John Hunter Nemechek

See the full race results here.

🏀 Nets fired HC Jacque Vaughn on Monday amid his second season with the team and reportedly plan to promote assistant Kevin Ollie to interim head coach - Brooklyn is 21-33 this season and went 64-65 under Vaughn

Golf season is around the corner, lower your scores with the newsletter below:

The off-the-field news in college sports is endless these days, understand it better:

Prior to Monday, when was the last time that three different NHL players recorded a hat trick in the same game?

A. 2001

B. 1992

C. 1983

D. 1977

On February 20, 1948, NASCAR was founded by Bill France Sr. in Daytona Beach, Florida. In the 1920s and ‘30s, Daytona Beach supplanted France and Belgium as the preferred location for world land speed records. Interestingly enough, stock car racing in the US has its roots in Prohibition, when southern bootleggers began designing smaller, faster vehicles to evade the police when distributing whiskey, moonshine and other liquors. The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 dried up some of their business, but the cars continued to improve, and by the late 1940s, races featuring these cars were being run in organized competitions. Bill France was a mechanic from Washington, DC, who moved to Daytona in 1935 to escape the Great Depression. As a mechanic, France enjoyed watching stock car races and realized it could be a potential source of revenue if its drivers were rewarded rather than being victimized by promoters who, up to that point, would rarely pay them. In December of 1948, France began talks with other influential racers and promoters about creating a new circuit. Three months later, the formation of NASCAR was made official. Today, the company is still headquartered in Daytona Beach and is run by Bill's son, Jim France. Each year, NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 American states as well as in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Europe.

NHL

• Dallas Stars @ New York Rangers 7:00pm ET, NHLPP / ESPN+

• New York Islanders @ Pittsburgh Penguins 7:00pm ET, NHLPP / ESPN+

• Vancouver Canucks @ Colorado Avalanche 9:00pm ET, NHLPP / ESPN+

• Full Schedule

Men’s College Basketball

• #5 Tennessee @ Missouri 7:00pm ET, SECN

• #11 Baylor @ #25 BYU 9:00pm ET, ESPN

• #1 UConn @ #15 Creighton 8:30pm ET, FS1

• Full Schedule

Women’s College Basketball

• #23 Oklahoma @ Cincinnati 6:00pm ET, Big 12 / ESPN+

• Wisconsin @ Minnesota 7:00pm ET, BTN

• NCAAW: Full Schedule

Trivia Time Answer

B. 1992. Last night marked the first time that three players recorded hat tricks in the same NHL game since Nov. 8, 1992, when Mike Donnelly, Luc Robitaille and Jari Kurri all had three goals for the Los Angeles Kings in an 11-4 win over the San Jose Sharks. Since the NHL expansion in 1967, there have only been three hat tricks in a single game four times!

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Thanks for reading, and see ya tomorrow!