Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
PHOENIX - Miami’s Daequan Cook connected over and over again when the 3-Point Shootout went to an extra session Saturday night.
When the long-distance contest went to overtime, Cook found his stroke.
The Heat guard posted the best round of the competition with 19 points in the extra round, cruising past Orlando’s Rashard Lewis to win the title and end Jason Kapono’s two-year run as king of one of All-Star Saturday’s marquee events.
Lewis sputtered in the third session, missing his first 11 shots to finish with seven points.
Cook had forced overtime by hitting his final four shots in the second round of the six-man competition.
“It was very important for me to be focused,” Cook said. “I felt this was my opportunity to show people that I should be considered as one of the elite 3-point shooters in the game, so tonight I came out and did that.”
Afterward, Cook waved to teammate Dwyane Wade, who had been cheering him from a courtside seat. Cook said Wade had encouraged him as the contest approached.
“This was one of the times this weekend that I wanted to take over,” Cook said. “We’ve just been talking about it, and luckily I did it tonight.”
Kapono came up one point short in the second round. The Toronto Raptors sharpshooter was trying to become the third player to capture three straight titles in the event, following former Chicago Bulls guard Craig Hodges, who won from 1990-92, and Boston Hall of Famer Larry Bird, who won from 1986-88.
Mike Bibby of the Atlanta Hawks, Danny Granger of Indiana and Roger Mason of San Antonio were eliminated in the first round. Mason is something of a local villain after hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lead the Spurs to a 91-90 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Christmas Day.
Skills Challenge
Chicago’s Derrick Rose capped his Skills Challenge victory with a double-pump reverse dunk.
Rose defeated New Jersey’s Devin Harris in the final round, navigating the obstacle course consisting of dribbling, passing and shooting stations in 35.3 seconds, 4.4 seconds faster than Harris.
“I was just taking my time, going against a great group of guys,” Rose said.
Cleveland’s Mo Williams and San Antonio’s Tony Parker were eliminated after the first round. Williams took third with a time of 37.5 seconds after replacing Orlando guard Jameer Nelson, who has a torn right labrum.
Parker was booed — no surprise given the Spurs’ bitter rivalry with the host Phoenix Suns. The crowd was delighted when he finished fourth in 50.8 seconds after missing several jumpers.
H-O-R-S-E
Kevin Durant also continued his strong All-Star weekend with a victory in an outdoor H-O-R-S-E competition at the Block Party across the street from U.S. Airways Center. The Oklahoma City star rallied to beat Memphis’ O.J. Mayo and Atlanta’s Joe Johnson.
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Shooting Stars
The NBA’s popular All-Star Saturday night event opened with the Shooting Stars competition, which features a player from an NBA team, a retired player from that team and a player from that city’s WNBA club.
Team Detroit — former Piston Bill Laimbeer, present Pistons guard Arron Afflalo and Detroit Shock star Katie Smith — won the event, in which players shoot from six locations of increasing difficulty. Team Detroit was runner-up last year and won the contest in 2007.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Paul Pierce has been around long enough to know what Rajon Rondo's performance can mean for the aging Boston Celtics.
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.
On their last trip to Atlanta, the Miami Heat were missing two-thirds of their Big Three.