SPORTS HEADLINES

NBA’s Adam Silver to consider changing draft lottery, revoking picks to stop teams from tanking

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver believes teams are tanking more aggressively this season than the league has ever seen before, and he is considering many possible remedies to ensure real competition, from taking away draft picks to making wholesale changes to the draft and the lottery. Silver immediately addressed the hottest topic in NBA circles Saturday in his annual address during All-Star weekend at Intuit Dome, making it clear that the NBA will do almost anything to make sure its teams earnestly compete. He also said the NBA still expects to make decisions on expansion this year, starting with discussion at the Board of Governors meeting next month.

It’s the US (and the US) against the world as the NBA All-Star Game tries yet another format

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The NBA is trying its fourth All-Star Game format in four years this weekend as it attempts again to answer one of the bigger existential questions in professional basketball. How do you get both the players and their fans to care about this midseason showcase? The newest scheme appears to be the most promising yet, at least according to people like Victor Wembanyama who still believe this game should matter. A team of veteran All-Star Americans, a team of younger U.S. players and a third team representing the rest of the world will play in a round-robin tournament Sunday, setting up a final.

Damian Lillard wins a record-tying 3rd NBA 3-point contest title. Team Knicks wins Shooting Stars

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Damian Lillard has won the NBA All-Star 3-point contest even as he sits out the season for Portland with an Achilles injury. He edged Devin Booker in the final round, 30 points to 27. Booker started fast but tailed off late. Lillard earned his third career title and tied Larry Bird and Craig Hodges for the most ever. Rookie Kon Knueppel took third with 17 points. Lillard jokes he “was praying for his downfall” about Booker. In the Shooting Stars contest, Team Knicks won with 47 points over Team Cameron, which had 38. Karl-Anthony Towns, Allan Houston and Jalen Brunson made longtime Knicks fan Spike Lee happy. He grinned from courtside.

Fight breaks out between No. 17 St. John’s and Providence and six players are ejected

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Six players were ejected from Saturday’s game between No. 17 St. John’s and Providence after a fracas resulting from a hard foul by Friars forward Duncan Powell on Bryce Hopkins sent the Red Storm star crashing to the ground. St. John’s coach Rick Pitino, who led Providence to the 1987 Final Four, was in the middle of it, trying to hold back his players. But several entered the fray as it drifted toward the Red Storm bench. The game was delayed by nearly 20 minutes while the referees sorted out the punishments: Four St. John’s players were booted and two from Providence.

Lindsey Vonn says her latest surgery after Olympic crash ‘went well’ and she can return to US

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Lindsey Vonn says the latest surgery on her left leg that she broke in the Olympic downhill “went well” and now she “will be able to finally go back to the U.S.” The 41-year-old Vonn is being treated at a hospital in Treviso, Italy. She crashed 13 seconds into her run during last Sunday’s race and was airlifted off the course by helicopter. She said Monday she had suffered a “complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly.” Vonn says she is “still looking forward to the moment when I can stand on the top of the mountain once more. And I will.”

Jordan Stolz joins Eric Heiden with a 500-1,000 speedskating double gold at the Olympics

MILAN (AP) — Jordan Stolz has won his second speedskating gold medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics by finishing first in the 500 meters in an Olympic-record time. Saturday’s race was the American’s second of the Winter Games. The 21-year-old from Wisconsin was coming off a victory in Wednesday’s 1,000, the first of his four individual events in Milan. He came to these Games as someone considered a contender for gold in all four. The men’s record for most speedskating titles at one Olympics is the five for Eric Heiden at Lake Placid in 1980. Stolz beat 500 world champion Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands, who got the silver.

Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen wins giant slalom, earns South America’s 1st medal at Winter Games

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Brazilian ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen has turned in a powerful final run to win the Olympic giant slalom and earn South America’s first medal at a Winter Games. With snow falling and fog settling in, the 25-year-old Pinheiro Braathen remained cool and relaxed Saturday as he navigated his way through the technical Stelvio course. After seeing his place in first he fell to the snow before starting to scream. He finished in a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 25 seconds. He beat Swiss racer Marco Odermatt, the defending Olympic champion, by 0.58 seconds. Odermatt’s teammate, Loic Meillard, earned bronze.

A battered car forces William Byron into a backup for his Daytona 500 three-peat bid

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — William Byron chases an unprecedented third straight Daytona 500 win Sunday when he attempts to make NASCAR history. He’ll be trying to win NASCAR’s season opener for the third consecutive year in a backup car after he damaged his primary in a qualifying race. He starts near the back in 39th, but he says that does not scare him. Byron has won here with a backup before. He has also won by staying patient and avoiding trouble, not by leading lots of laps. The field also has big storylines. Kyle Busch starts on the pole while stuck in a long winless skid and Brad Keselowski races while recovering from a broken leg.

Third-tier Mansfield stuns Premier League team Burnley for another FA Cup shock

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Third-tier Mansfield pulled off the latest upset in this year’s FA Cup by knocking out Premier League Burnley. Louis Reed’s goal in the 80th minute at Turf Moor completed a comeback 2-1 win for the League One team in the fourth round after going behind in the first half. Manchester City beat Salford 2-0. Brave Burton Albion gave Premier League West Ham a scare before losing 1-0 in extra time.

For Winter Olympic favorites, the pursuit of gold brings risk for their legacies, unfair or not

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Olympic stars are learning that the same spotlight that elevates their sport can also potentially tarnish their legacies. American skier Mikaela Shiffrin says narratives about their careers can be skewed based solely on their performance at the Olympics. Figure skater Ilia Malinin and snowboarder Scotty James saw their hopes for gold fade. Malinin admitted the pressure that comes with the Olympic spotlight may have been too hot to handle this time around. Shiffrin says the best athletes can hope for is to do their best, support each other and keep showing up.