The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Daytona 500 is postponed until today due to weather
NASCAR postponed the season-opening Daytona 500 until today because of two days of rain at Daytona International Speedway.
The race had been scheduled for Sunday afternoon, although the weather forecast put that in doubt all week. The final practice for drivers was canceled Saturday, as was the Xfinity Series race.
The Xfinity Series race is now scheduled to be held this morning, hours ahead of the 4 p.m. (local) start for the Daytona 500 in Daytona, Beach, Fla.
Joey Logano start from the Team Penske.
The last time the Daytona 500 was postponed a full day was in 2012. NASCAR completed 20 laps in 2020 before rain halted activity, and the race resumed the next day.
In making the early call Sunday, NASCAR prevented fans from sitting in the rain awaiting a decision on whether the race would proceed. It continued a willingness NASCAR exhibited earlier this month when it moved the exhibition Clash at the Coliseum up a full day on little notice because of poor weather headed toward Los Angeles. is set to pole for
NBA Lakers' Davis: All-star Game “an honor”
For the first time in four years, Lakers star big man Anthony Davis was back on the stage where a player of his caliber belongs: at Allstar Weekend.
When Davis was named a Western Conference Allstar reserve on Feb. 1, it marked the ninth time he was given the honor in his career but the first time since the 2020-21 season after being an All-star for eight consecutive seasons (2013-21).
Sunday was to mark the first time since 2020 that Davis played in the Allstar Game after missing the 2021 All-star Game because of a right strained calf.
The All-star Game returns to an East vs. West format for the first time since 2017, scrapping the format that saw the captains pick their respective teams with no regard to conference affiliation.
“It’s an honor,” Davis said during his Saturday media availability at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. “It’s a privilege to be here. Not too many guys can say they’ve been an Allstar, especially for the nine times that I have. You never take it for granted. Even with the injuries last year, I feel like I could have made it still. Year before, probably not.
“Getting back to being recognized as one of the top players in the league, it’s just a credit to my team, my trainers and stuff like that to make sure that I’m healthy for the entire year and then just get back to the level that I’ve been playing at.”
Injuries and missed games — Davis in 60% or fewer games the previous two seasons — were significant reasons Davis wasn’t named an All-star in 2022 and ’23.
But durability hasn’t been an issue for Davis this season. He entered All-star Weekend having played in 52 of the Lakers’ 56 regular-season games and with averages of 24.9 points, 12.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.5 blocks.
Having played in 92.8% of the Lakers’ games — which extrapolates to about 76 games in an 82game season — Davis is not only on pace to play the most games he has for the Lakers in a single regular season, but he’s also on pace to set a career-high for games played. Davis played 75 regular-season games in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans.
“Just locking in, knowing that when I’m on the floor, my team is better,” Davis said of his preparation for the season. “When I’m off the floor, I can’t do anything to help them.”
— Khobi Price • Stephen Curry was on a roll — and it was barely enough to beat Sabrina Ionescu. And fittingly, he won by three.
The Golden State star and NBA’S all-time 3-point king beat Ionescu 29-26 in the Steph vs. Sabrina competition at All-star Saturday night, the first such him-vs.-her event of its kind at the league’s weekend showcase.
“For us to deliver a show like that, it was perfect,” Curry said. “As much excitement as you can build in that short amount of time with two great shooters going at it. This is something we’ll remember for a long time.”
Ionescu won the WNBA’S 3-point shootout at its Allstar weekend last year with a record 37 points, smashing Curry’s NBA shootout mark of 31 points. From there, a challenge was thrown down and the plan was concocted for them to meet at All-star weekend.
So they did, and it felt like the main event of the night.
“Hopefully, this isn’t the last time we do this,” Ionescu said.
Curry’s prize was a championship belt, with images of goats — as in, GOATS — on either side.
Ionescu went first and made 18 of 27 shots — starting 7 for 7. Some of them were worth one point, some worth two, giving her a total of 26 points.
She shot from the NBA 3-point line, which is roughly 12 to 18 inches farther from the basket than the WNBA line, depending on the area of the floor. Ionescu used a WNBA ball, which is slightly smaller than the NBA ball Curry used.
Curry had to rally a bit at the end, making nine of his last 10 to finish off the win.
NHL Matthews, Leafs drub Ducks in Toronto
Auston Matthews had his second straight hat trick to push his Nhlleading goals total to 48 and added two assists for a career-high five points in the Maple Leafs’ 9-2 victory over the Ducks on Saturday night in Toronto.
Matthews broke a tie for the Toronto record for hat tricks in a season with six, passing Reg Noble (191718), Babe Dye (1924-25) and Darryl Sittler (1980-81).
“It’s pretty remarkable,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said about Matthews. “Credit to him for getting into those spaces and being as dynamic as he is.”
The 26-year-old American is the 10th NHL player with six hat tricks in a season — and the first since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96.
“Playing here is a big honor,” Matthews said after again drawing “M-VP! M-V-P!” chants from the home crowd. “It’s something that none of us take for granted.”
Matthews also had his team-record 73rd multi-goal game, two more than Sittler. He has 13 career hat tricks.
William Nylander added a goal and two assists to reach 500 career points, Bobby Mcmann had two goals and an assist,
Martin Jones made 19 saves to help Toronto improve to 29-16-8. Timothy Liljegren had three assists and Mitch Marner, Max Domi and Matthew Knies each had two.
Toronto became the 15th team in NHL history to have hat tricks in three straight games after Mcmann had the first of his career Tuesday night against St. Louis and Matthews followed that with three goals of his own Thursday night against Philadelphia.
Ryan Strome had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, and Frank Vatrano also scored. Lukas Dostal allowed four goals on 18 shots in the first period before being replaced by John Gibson.