Damian Lillard was a shocking addition to the NBA’s 3-point contest during All-Star weekend, given that the 35-year-old, nine-time All-Star hasn’t played a single minute of NBA basketball this year.

His inclusion in the event was head-scratching to many fans. Still, there’s no denying that Lillard is one of the best shooters in NBA history.

Not only has he shot over 35% from 3 in nine of his last 10 seasons, but he has won the 3-point contest twice already — 2023 and 2024. He was aiming to become just the third player in NBA history to win the event three times, and the first to do so non-consecutively.

Larry Bird won the event every year from 1986 to 1988, while Craig Hodges won the event each year from 1990 to 1992.

Lillard had a chance to make history. So, did he do it? Here are the full results from the 2026 NBA 3-point contest:

2026 NBA 3-point contest results

First round

*-advanced to the final round

• Devin Booker* – 30
• Damian Lillard* – 27
• Kon Knueppel* – 27
• Donovan Mitchell – 24
• Norman Powell – 23
• Jamal Murray – 18
• Tyrese Maxey – 17
• Bobby Portis Jr. – 15

Finals

1. Damian Lillard – 29
2. Devin Booker – 27
3. Kon Knueppel – 17

Booker missed the final three shots of his last rack, wasting three opportunities to tie and possibly win the event. Lillard’s win makes him the third three-time champion.

What did Damian Lillard score in his prior two wins?

In 2023, Lillard scored 26 points in the finals. His competitors, Buddy Hield and Tyrese Haliburton, scored 25 and 17 respectively.

In 2024, Lillard, a model of consistency in this event, scored 26 points yet again, beating Trae Young (24) and Karl-Anthony Towns (22).

Lillard’s 29 points in 2026 mark the most he’s ever scored in a 3-point contest win.

The selection committee for the women’s NCAA Tournament has given fans their first glimpse as to what seeding might look like when March Madness rolls around.

Ahead of the clash between SEC contenders South Carolina and LSU on Feb. 14, the committee unveiled its first of two projections for the top 16 seeds. Members of the committee met in Indianapolis a few days ago to put together a mock bracket.

Undefeated UConn was tabbed as the No. 1 overall seed, followed by UCLA, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. The Commodores defeated Texas 86-70 at home on Thursday, a victory that seemingly pushed Shea Ralph’s team to the one-line. Vanderbilt hasn’t been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament since 2002.

Full top 16 projection:

1. UConn
2. UCLA
3. South Carolina
4. Vanderbilt
5. Texas
6. Michigan
7. Louisville
8. LSU
9. Ohio State
10. Duke
11. Iowa
12. TCU
13. Maryland
14. Michigan State
15. Ole Miss
16. Oklahoma

Big Ten, SEC dominant in women’s basketball

The Big Ten and SEC have looked like the deepest and most competitive conferences in women’s college basketball all season and both were rewarded in this first projection with six seeds each in the top 16.

If Ole Miss holds on to its spot, it would be a historic seeding for the Rebels. They haven’t been a top-four seed since 1992. Yolett McPhee-McCuin’s team is 20-5 this season and has won six of its last eight games. But the Rebels have a tough schedule coming up with four consecutive games against ranked opponents within the next eight days: Kentucky, Tennessee, LSU and South Carolina.

Michigan State is projected to host opening weekend games for the first time since 2016.

In this projection, the ACC has two top 16 seeds, while the Big 12 and Big East have just one each. Opportunities remain for teams like Baylor, West Virginia and North Carolina to play their way into hosting rights.

The selection committee will unveil a second projection of the top 16 seeds in two weeks, on Sunday, March 1, at 11 a.m. ET on ESPN. The day before Selection Sunday — March 14 — the committee will announce which teams earned top 16 seeds and hosting rights before revealing the full bracket.

MILAN — An Olympic gold was in sight for the ‘Quad God.’ After his short program, something catastrophic would have had to happen for Ilia Malinin not to medal.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Malinin fell twice and did not fully complete other elements of his typically unbeatable routine, finishing the men’s singles event at the 2026 Winter Olympics with a total score of 264.49 for eighth place overall.

Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan) won the gold medal with a 291.58 total score, and Malinin congratulated him after. Silver and bronze went to a pair of skaters from Japan Yuma Kagiyama (280.06) and Shun Sato (274.90).

‘I blew it,’ Malinin said on the broadcast after the event. ‘That’s honestly the first thing that came to my mind, there’s no way that just happened. I was preparing the whole season, I felt so confident with my programs, so confident with everything. That happened. I have no words, honestly.’

Watch Ilia Malinin Olympics video on Peacock

The 21-year-old Malinin sat in first place — by a comfortable margin of five points — entering the free skate, but was among the many skaters who struggled to stay upright on the ice on Friday, Feb. 13 in Milan.

‘I felt really good this whole day, going really solid, and I just thought that I all I needed to do was go out there and trust the process that I’ve always been doing with every competition,’ he said. ‘But of course, it’s not like any other competitions, it’s the Olympics.”

What happened to Ilia Malinin?

The 21-year-old scored a 156.33 in his disastrous free skate, finishing in eighth place with a total score of 264.49. It’s the first event he’s lost since November 2023, and the first time he didn’t finish in the top three at a competition since March 2022. He didn’t land a single quad Axel the entire competition.

‘I was not expecting that. I felt like going into this competition, I was so ready,’ he said. ‘I just felt ready getting on the ice, but I think maybe that have been the reason that maybe I was too confident that I was (going to) go well. It honestly just happened. I can’t process what just happened. It happens.’

‘I think it was definitely mental. Just now experiencing that Olympic atmosphere, it’s crazy. It’s not like any other competition. It’s really different.’

Breaking down Ilia Malinin’s free skate, jump by jump

Here’s a breakdown of every element from Ilia Malinin’s free skate program, looking at what was planned and what actually happened.

Ilia Malinin free skate video

NBC broadcasts the Olympics and has replays of every event on TV, Peacock and the full video of Malinin’s routine is already on YouTube.

Ilia Malinin 8th place finish

Malinin finished in eight place finish in the men’s singles figure skating competition at the Olympics. It’s the first event he’s lost since November 2023, and the first time he didn’t finish in the top three at a competition since March 2022.

What Ilia Malinin said on hot mic

As Ilia Malinin sat in the Kiss-and-Cry section, waiting for his free skate score to be read out after his terrible performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics, he was caught on a hot mic talking about how things would have been different had he gone to the 2022 Beijing Games.

‘Beijing, I would not have skated like that,’ he was heard saying. Then, NBC commentator Johnny Weir told viewers what he said: That he would not have skated so terribly had he already had Olympic experience under his belt. 

Malinin could be heard saying: ‘It’s not easy.’ The 21-year-old was later asked about the comment.

‘I think if I went to ’22, then I would have had more experience and know how to handle this Olympic environment,’ he said. ‘But also, I don’t know what the next stages of my life would look like if I went there.’

Mikhail Shaidorov wins figure skating gold

Ilia Malinin congratulates Mikhail Shaidorov

Men’s singles figure skating results

1. Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan): 291.58 total score, 198.64 free skate, 92.94 short program.
2. Yuma Kagiyama (Japan): 280.06 total score, 176.99 free skate, 103.07 short program.
3. Shun Sato (Japan): 274.90 total score, 186.20 free skate, 88.70 short program.
4. Junhwan Cha (Korea): 273.92 total score, 181.20 free skate, 92.72 short program.
5. Stephen Gogolev (Canada): 273.79 total score, 186.37 free skate, 87.42 short program.
6. Petr Gumennik (Neutral Athlete): 271.21 total score, 184.49 free skate, 86.72 short program.
7. Adam Siao Him Fa (France): 269.27 total score, 166.72 free skate, 102.55 short program.
8. Ilia Malinin (United States): 264.49 total score, 156.33 free skate, 108.16 short program.
9. Daniel Grassl (Italy):263.71 total score, 170.25 free skate, 93.46 short program.
10. Nika Egadze (Georgia): 260.27 total score, 175.16 free skate, 85.11 short program.
11. Kevin Aymoz (France): 259.94 total score, 167.30 free skate, 92.64 short program.
12. Andrew Torgashev (United States): 259.06 total score, 170.12 free skate, 88.94 short program.
13. Kao Miura (Japan): 246.88 total score, 170.11 free skate, 76.77 short program.
14. Lukas Britschigi (Switzerland): 246.64 total score, 165.77 free skate, 80.87 short program.
15. Matteo Rizzo (Italy): 243.18 total score, 158.88 free skate, 84.30 short program.
16. Aleksandr Selevko (Estonia): 236.82 total score, 154.80 free skate, 82.02 short program.
17. Boyang Jin (China): 229.08 total score, 142.53 free skate, 86.55 short program.
18. Deniss Vasiljevs (Latvia): 226.46 total score, 144.02 free skate, 82.44 short program.
19. Kyrylo Marsak (Ukraine): 224.17 total score, 137.28 free skate, 86.89 short program.
20. Maxim Naumov (United States): 223.36 total score, 137.71 free skate, 85.65 short program.
21. Vladimir Samoilov (Poland): 222.25 total score, 144.68 free skate, 77.57 short program.
22. Donovan Carrillo (Mexico): 219.06 total score, 143.50 free skate, 75.56 short program.
23. Yu-Hsiang Li (Chinese Taipei): 214.33 total score, 141.92 free skate, 72.41 short program.
24. Adam Hagara (Slovakia): 202.38 total score, 122.08 free skate, 80.30 short program.

Simone Biles stops by figure skating

Eleven-time Olympic medalist and seven-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles stopped by the Milano Ice Skating Arena on Friday night to watch ‘Quad God’ Ilia Malinin and the rest of the men’s singles figure skaters compete for Olympic hardware.

Maxim Naumov’s free skate

Despite the mixed performance, the crowd shared its love for the skater. He even earned a standing ovation from actor Jeff Goldblum, who is in the crowd at Milano Ice Skating Arena. He again shared the photo of him as a child with his parents.

Here’s more about his backstory:

After Naumov finished in fourth place at the 2025 U.S. figure skating championships for the third straight year, his father, Vadim, wanted to game plan.

Vadim and Maxim’s mother, Evgenia Shishkova, were two-time Olympic pair skaters for Russia, and they knew Maxim’s upcoming year was critical with the 2026 Winter Olympics on the horizon.

A few days later, Vadim and Shishkova were among the 67 people killed in the midair collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C. They were among the 28 figure skating coaches, young athletes and parents who were returning from a development camp. An unimaginable tragedy, and Naumov didn’t know if he could skate anymore.

Read the full story from reporter Jordan Mendoza.

Why is Ilia Malinin called the ‘Quad God’?

Simply put, Ilia Malinin has the greatest array of jumps any figure skater in history has ever possessed. He’s launched himself into the air for seven quadruple jumps in a single long program at last month’s Grand Prix Final and was the first skater to land a quad Axel.

Malinin’s username used to be Lutz God, but he changed it to Quad God after landing his first quad jump. 

“i didn’t think much about it … Days go by and people started asking, ‘Why’d you name yourself Quad God, you only landed one jump,’’ he said on Milan Magic, USA TODAY’s new Olympics podcast that drops its first episode Saturday. ‘And then I was like, ‘Oh, OK maybe I should be come a Quad God.’ From there I found my rhythm of landing quad after quad after quad and then of course landing the first quad axel.”

“In the most humble way possible, I think it’s definitely helped my confidence in not only to skating in general but just feeling like I deserve to be recognized as who I am.”

What makes Ilia Malinin so great? Skaters marveled by the ‘Quad God’

These are the few ways to describe Ilia Malinin, and none of them are an exaggeration. Every sport gets an athlete that redefines everything you know about it. Basketball had Michael Jordan. Football had Tom Brady. Baseball has Shohei Ohtani. 

Now, figure skating has its phenom, and it’s not just fans that are amazed by the 21-year-old. Those who have championed the sport and been through the grind are just as flabbergasted by how he’s turned figure skating upside down.

‘All the skaters that I sit with in the audience, they throw up their hands, and they think, ‘Oh, my God, this guy’s just so amazing,’” 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano said on USA TODAY’s Milan Magic podcast.

Now, the entire world has its chance to be the next spectators wowed at the 2026 Winter Olympics. It’s been a journey four years in the making, and in his Olympic debut, Malinin is out to show why he is the present and future of figure skating. 

He already did it in the team event, and now it’s time for him to do it in the men’s singles to become the next great American figure skating champion.

Figure skating Olympics schedule

Here is the remaining figure skating schedule in Milan. All times Eastern.

• Feb. 15, 1:45 p.m.: Pairs short program
• Feb. 16, 2 p.m.: Pairs free skate
• Feb. 17, 12:45 p.m.: Women’s short program
• Feb. 19, 1 p.m.: Women’s free skate

Ilia Malinin’s parents

Malinin was born into figure skating. His mother, Tatiana Malinina, is from the Soviet Union, Siberia specifically, and competed at 10 consecutive world figure skating championships for Uzbekistan. She finished eighth at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, the competition in which Tara Lipinski won the gold medal and Michelle Kwan the silver. Malinina finished fourth at the 1999 world championships as well, and she also competed at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, but withdrew after the short program with the flu.

Malinin’s father, Roman Skorniakov, represented Uzbekistan at the same two Olympics, 1998 and 2002, finishing 19th both times. He and Malinina were married in 2000 and became skating coaches in the United States, moving to the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., where, in December 2004, Ilia was born. He took the Russian masculine form of his mother’s last name because his parents were concerned that Skorniakov was too difficult to pronounce. 

Are backflips allowed in figure skating?

They are now. For nearly 50 years, the backflip was banned in figure skating, after American skater Terry Kubicka became the first one to execute it at the 1976 Innsbruck Games. French skater Surya Bonaly did it at the 1998 Winter Olympics, landing it on one blade, but the move was illegal and she was deducted for it. 

The International Skating Union reversed course and made the move legal in 2024, paving the way for it to be done at the 2026 Winter Olympics, 50 years after it was first done.

Ilia Malinin backflip

The ‘Quad God’ performed his first skate during the team event Saturday, Feb. 7, and he became the first skater since 1998 to perform a backflip at the Games, and the first since it was unbanned.

Malinin closed his performance with the stunning move than wowed the crowd at the Milano Ice Skating Arena. However, Malinin finished second in the event with a score of 98.00 after Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama pulled off a stunning routine that received 108.67 points.

Malinin then landed a backflip on one foot during his long program of the team event. Malinin was the first to pull off the one-foot move since French figure skater Surya Bonaly at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games. Bonaly landed it on one blade despite it being banned at the time and was deducted for it.

Quad axel in figure skating

Malinin is the only skater in history to achieve a quadruple axel in competition. That feat earned him the nickname ‘Quad God.’

What is a quad axel though? Here’s a full explanation of Malinin’s iconic move. A quadruple axel requires four-and-a-half rotations in order to complete. It’s so difficult, in fact, that it was once considered impossible to perform.

When did figure skating start in the Olympics?

Figure skating first made its Olympic debut at the Summer Games in London in 1908 and made another appearance in Antwerp in 1920, before becoming a Winter Olympic staple at the inaugural 1924 Chamonix Winter Games with men’s singles, women’s singles and pair skating events. Ice dancing was added to the program at the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics, and the team event was first contested at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

How is figure skating scored?

A figure skating routine is made up of two scores: Technical elements score and program components score. The technical elements score is exactly what it sounds like: It’s for the jumps, spins and step sequences in a performance. The program components score is made of up composition, presentation and skating skills.

MILAN — Ilia Malinin fell apart in real time.

The 21-year-old was the gold medal favorite entering 2026 Winter Olympics. He took a more than five-point lead into Friday’s free skate. But the self-proclaimed ‘Quad God’ had a disastrous performance, falling twice, bailing on two jumps that were meant to be quads and suffering an epic meltdown on the sport’s biggest stage.

‘I blew it,’ he said after. ‘That’s honestly the first thing that came to my mind, there’s no way that just happened. I was preparing the whole season, I felt so confident with my programs, so confident with everything. That happened, I have no words, honestly.’

Watch Ilia Malinin Olympics video on Peacock

Ilia Malinin free skate video

NBC broadcasts the Olympics and has replays of every event on TV, Peacock and the full video of Malinin’s routine is already on YouTube.

What happened to Ilia Malinin?

The 21-year-old scored a 156.33 in his disastrous free skate, finishing in eighth place with a total score of 264.49. It’s the first event he’s lost since November 2023, and the first time he didn’t finish in the top three at a competition since March 2022. He didn’t land a single quad Axel the entire competition.

‘I was not expecting that. I felt like going into this competition, I was so ready,’ Malinin said. ‘I just felt ready getting on the ice, … maybe I was too confident.

‘It honestly just happened. I can’t process what just happened. It happens.’

‘I think it was definitely mental. Just now experiencing that Olympic atmosphere, it’s crazy. It’s not like any other competition. It’s really different.’

‘I felt really good this whole day, going really solid, and I just thought that I all I needed to do was go out there and trust the process that I’ve always been doing with every competition,’ he said. ‘But of course, it’s not like any other competitions, it’s the Olympics.”

What Ilia Malinin said on hot mic

As Ilia Malinin sat in the Kiss-and-Cry section, waiting for his free skate score to be read out after his terrible performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics, he was caught on a hot mic talking about how things would have been different had he gone to the 2022 Beijing Games.

‘Beijing, I would not have skated like that,’ he was heard saying. Then, NBC commentator Johnny Weir told viewers what he said: That he would not have skated so terribly had he already had Olympic experience under his belt. 

Malinin could be heard saying: ‘It’s not easy.’ The 21-year-old was later asked about the comment.

‘I think if I went to ’22, then I would have had more experience and know how to handle this Olympic environment,’ he said. ‘But also, I don’t know what the next stages of my life would look like if I went there.’

Men’s singles figure skating results

1. Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan): 291.58 total score, 198.64 free skate, 92.94 short program.
2. Yuma Kagiyama (Japan): 280.06 total score, 176.99 free skate, 103.07 short program.
3. Shun Sato (Japan): 274.90 total score, 186.20 free skate, 88.70 short program.
4. Junhwan Cha (Korea): 273.92 total score, 181.20 free skate, 92.72 short program.
5. Stephen Gogolev (Canada): 273.79 total score, 186.37 free skate, 87.42 short program.
6. Petr Gumennik (Neutral Athlete): 271.21 total score, 184.49 free skate, 86.72 short program.
7. Adam Siao Him Fa (France): 269.27 total score, 166.72 free skate, 102.55 short program.
8. Ilia Malinin (United States): 264.49 total score, 156.33 free skate, 108.16 short program.
9. Daniel Grassl (Italy):263.71 total score, 170.25 free skate, 93.46 short program.
10. Nika Egadze (Georgia): 260.27 total score, 175.16 free skate, 85.11 short program.
11. Kevin Aymoz (France): 259.94 total score, 167.30 free skate, 92.64 short program.
12. Andrew Torgashev (United States): 259.06 total score, 170.12 free skate, 88.94 short program.
13. Kao Miura (Japan): 246.88 total score, 170.11 free skate, 76.77 short program.
14. Lukas Britschigi (Switzerland): 246.64 total score, 165.77 free skate, 80.87 short program.
15. Matteo Rizzo (Italy): 243.18 total score, 158.88 free skate, 84.30 short program.
16. Aleksandr Selevko (Estonia): 236.82 total score, 154.80 free skate, 82.02 short program.
17. Boyang Jin (China): 229.08 total score, 142.53 free skate, 86.55 short program.
18. Deniss Vasiljevs (Latvia): 226.46 total score, 144.02 free skate, 82.44 short program.
19. Kyrylo Marsak (Ukraine): 224.17 total score, 137.28 free skate, 86.89 short program.
20. Maxim Naumov (United States): 223.36 total score, 137.71 free skate, 85.65 short program.
21. Vladimir Samoilov (Poland): 222.25 total score, 144.68 free skate, 77.57 short program.
22. Donovan Carrillo (Mexico): 219.06 total score, 143.50 free skate, 75.56 short program.
23. Yu-Hsiang Li (Chinese Taipei): 214.33 total score, 141.92 free skate, 72.41 short program.
24. Adam Hagara (Slovakia): 202.38 total score, 122.08 free skate, 80.30 short program.

Valentine’s Day has a funny way of bringing toxic relationships to light.

After Chris Paul announcement his retirement from the NBA on Feb. 13 following his release from the Raptors, scuttling his initial plan to retire after the season, the team that arguably expedited his retirement shared a thank you video on social media. The Clippers, the team whose jersey many fans will associate Paul with in the annals of NBA history, shared a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) after they effectively booted him from the team in December.

The thank you video from the team, posted after midnight ET, features a voiceover from Paul talking about his dreams for the Clippers cut in with some of his highlights, and ends with the words ‘FOREVER A LEGEND. THANK YOU, CP3.’

Paul, of course, established himself as a franchise icon as part of the Lob City Clippers alongside Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. But what was meant to be his swan song was cut short when he was effectively sent home from the team Dec. 3. At the time, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said in a statement:

‘Chris is a legendary Clipper who has had a historic career. I want to make one thing very clear. No one is blaming Chris for our underperformance. I accept responsibility for the record we have right now. There are a lot of reasons why we’ve struggled. We’re grateful for the impact Chris has made on the franchise.’

It was later reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania Paul wasn’t on speaking terms with Clippers coach Tyronn Lue ahead of the ousting.

Paul was traded to the Raptors with the Brooklyn Nets as a third trade partner on Feb. 5 ahead of the NBA trade deadline. After he was waived by Toronto on Feb. 13, he announced his retirement at 40 years old and after 21 seasons.

INGLEWOOD, CA — Give credit to the young stars of the NBA.

As the NBA All-Star Game has faced criticism from fans and league executives alike for a lack of competitive spirit, the Rising Stars tournament delivered in entertainment and quality play. In the end, it was Team Vince, led by NBA Hall of Famer Vince Carter, who won the championship behind the play of 76ers rookie guard VJ Edgecombe.

He led all players across the competition with 23 combined points in the semifinal and final round. Team Vince toppled Team Melo by one point, 25-24, in the championship game.

‘This is what we wanted to get out of this, guys competing,’ Carter said in the postgame interview with NBC. ‘I thought the competition was great.’

Edgecombe won the Rising Stars Most Valuable Player award for his performance.

‘We appreciate people tuning in, even to the Rising Stars Game,’ Edgecombe told reporters after the game. ‘We just tried to make it fun, tried to make it competitive and worth your time. …

‘And I wanted to win. I hate losing, I really hate losing. We had the chance to win it all, so why not go for it?’

Rising Stars Championship: Team Vince 25, Team Melo 24

Needing a 3 to win, Team Melo tried to find an open look from beyond the arc, but Team Vince’s defense made it tough to get a clean shot off. So Jeremiah Fears drove to the hoop and missed the layup, but Stephon Castle cleaned it up with the putback, to give Team Melo a 24-23 lead.

On the other end, as he had done all night for Team Vince, 76ers rookie VJ Edgecombe was the standout. He drove down the left side of the paint, got to the basket and drew a shooting foul from Team Melo center Donovan Clingan.

Edgecombe, calm as ever, knocked down the two free throws to win the game. He led Team Vince with 6 points.

Second timeout: Team Vince 23, Team Melo 22

Straight out of the Team Melo timeout, Spurs rookie Dylan Harper laced a corner 3. Then, after a stop on the other end, Jeremiah Fears rattled home a 3 from the opposite corner to take back the lead.

Team Melo then got 3 happy and missed its next three attempts, all of which were from beyond the arc. That let Team Vince go on a little run.

Now, each team is just one basket away from the title, as the first team that gets to 25 will win the game.

First timeout: Team Vince 15, Team Melo 11

Team Vince missed its first three shots, while Team Melo’s Donovan Clingan nailed a 3 to open scoring. On the way down, Matas Buzelis (Vince) thundered home a dunk and then VJ Edgecombe added a basket.

The pace has been quick and engaging, with both teams looking to get quick offensive actions early in the shot clock. Team Melo, though, has only had two players — Clingan and Dylan Harper — score points. The rest of Team Melo has combined to go 0-for-5.

It has been the opposite for Team Vince, which has had six of its seven players score at least 2 points. Team Vince is now just 10 points away from the Rising Stars title.

Rising Stars Semifinal Game 2: Team Vince 41, Team T-Mac 36

76ers rookie guard VJ Edgecombe took over down the stretch. As Team Vince continued to stack baskets, it was Edgecombe who set the tone and finished with a game-high 17 points. He added 5 rebounds and 1 assist, but he scored Team Vince’s final 10 points of the game.

Team T-Mac did start to mount a little comeback, but it missed a few attempts inside the paint.

Now, Team Vince will face Team Melo in the Rising Stars championship game.

Second timeout: Team T-Mac 24, Team Vince 22

Team Vince has settled in and has found its rhythm. It has hit 4 of its last 9 shots, as 76ers rookie guard VJ Edgecombe has come off the bench to pour in 7 quick points, including a corner 3 assisted from Derik Queen that forced a Team T-Mac timeout.

Team T-Mac has cooled off a touch, but Heat center Kel’el Ware continues to lead the team with 7 points. One player having a rough go? Hawks second-year wing Zaccharie Risacher, the 2024 No. 1 overall selection, who is 0-for-5 from the field.

First timeout: Team T-Mac 15, Team Vince 7

In a battle of cousins and NBA icons, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady, it was Team T-Mac that took an early lead.

Miami Heat center Kel’el Ware flushed a 3-pointer and, later, slammed home an alley-oop that he received off of a pick-and-roll. He and Wizards point guard Tre Johnson are tied for most points on Team T-Mac, with 5.

Team Vince, however, has had a tough time hitting shots, opening the game just 3-of-10 (30%) from the field. That compares to Team T-Mac’s shooting clip of 54.5%.

Rising Stars Semifinal Game 1: Team Melo 40, Team Austin 34

Just when it looked like Team Austin and the G Leaguers would scratch out an upset, Team Melo locked in. Rockets guard Reed Sheppard (Melo) drained consecutive 3s to reclaim the lead.

Then, Spurs guard Stephon Castle attacked the paint and got to the line for a pair of free throws, before Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears floated a bank jumper, leaving Team Melo two points away from victory.

After Team Austin airballed a 3, Spurs rookie Dylan Harper ended the game with a short stepback jumper in the paint.

Sheppard and Donovan Clingan led Team Melo with 9 points apiece, while Fears added 7.

For Team Austin, Yanic Konan Niederhauser paced the way with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, while Yang Hansen chipped in 10 points on 4-of-5 from the field.

Second timeout: Team Austin 30, Team Melo 26

The young G Leaguers have taken control of the game. Now just 10 points away from a win, the pair of Team Austin bigs Yanic Konan Niederhauser (9 points and 2 rebounds) and Yang Hansen (8 points) have attacked the basket.

Niederhauser has flushed home a couple of alley-oop dunks, while Hansen has flashed steady footwork to create space; on the most recent basket, Hansen jab stepped multiple times, getting Donovan Clingan out of position and allowing Hansen to cruise through the paint for an easy lay-in.

First timeout: Team Melo 16, Team Austin 12

The first semifinal game of the showcase features Team Austin, led by former NBA guard Austin Rivers, against Team Melo, led by NBA Hall of Fame forward Carmelo Anthony. Team Melo is arguably the most balanced and complete roster, with high-profile second-year players and rookies. Team Austin features G League stars.

Early on, however, Team Austin held its own, fighting back from a six-point deficit to close the Team Melo lead.

It has been a showcase of bigs, as Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan (Melo) leads all players with 9 points. On Team Austin, it was Yanic Konan Niederhauser who scored 5 early points, including a 3 he swished.

Ron Harper Jr. (Austin), who is battling against his brother, Spurs rookie Dylan Harper (Melo), scooped 5 early rebounds.

How to watch NBA Rising Stars Game?

Where: Intuit Dome (Inglewood, California)

When: Friday, Feb. 13, 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT)

TV/Stream: Peacock

Who will play in NBA Rising Stars Game?

Team Melo: Ace Bailey, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, Jeremiah Fears, Donovan Clingan, Collin Murray-Boyles

Team T-Mac: Kon Knueppel, Kel’el Ware, Tre Johnson, Ajay Mitchell, Jaylon Tyson, Cam Spencer, Bub Carrington

Team Vince: VJ Edgecombe, Derik Queen, Kyshawn George, Matas Buzelis, Egor Demin, Cedric Coward, Jaylen Wells

Team Austin: Sean East II, Ron Harper Jr., Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Alijah Martin, Tristen Newton, Yang Hansen, Mac McClung, David Jones Garcia

NBA Rising Stars game schedule

• Game 1: Team Melo vs. Team Austin
• Game 2: Team Vince vs. Team T-Mac
• Rising Stars championship: (G1 winner vs. G2 winner)

• Japan’s Yuto Totsuka won the gold medal in a highly competitive men’s halfpipe final.
• Australian Scotty James took silver, while Japan’s Ryusei Yamada earned the bronze.
• The event showcased a significant progression in the sport, with the top four riders all scoring in the 90s.
• A broadcast camera cable snapped during the final run but did not affect the competition’s outcome.

LIVIGNO, Italy – This is what sports are about. This is what the Olympics are about. What happened Feb. 13 in the men’s halfpipe final is the gold standard – pun intended – for high-level athletics.

What a treat it truly was.

Competitors pushed each other, and the sport, to levels that would have been incomprehensible even a few years ago. One country, Japan, dominated the top of the leaderboard, a display of the might they carry on the international snowboarding circuit in between the spotlight the Olympics provides the sport every four years. Plenty of heartbreak to go around, from those who gave their all to those who even made the podium. A nearly shocking moment – the cable of the overhead camera snapped during the final run of the night, with the gold medal very much still up for grabs – that did not actually, and thankfully, affect the integrity of the competition.

In the end, Yuto Totsuka of Japan stood atop the podium. His compatriot Ryusei Yamada took bronze. Between them was Australia’s Scotty James, still in search of that elusive gold medal, yet clearly successful in his quest to push the sport to the next stratosphere.

Because that’s where these guys were flying. The conditions were perfect – a cool but not too cold night, a slick pipe that was perfect for both speed and landing (the opposite of what the women dealt with in their finals a night earlier).

Campbell Melville Ives of New Zealand went for it all on his three runs and fell on his last hit as he ran out of room on the pipe each time. The lack of landing zone did not prevent his daring. South Korea’s Chaeun Lee was inconsolable after he put down an astounding final run after falling on his first two. But when his score of 87.50 (sixth place) came up, he was simply devastated. Japan’s Ruka Hirano had to be peeled off the snow once he realized he wouldn’t stand on the podium. Ziyang Wang of China spun like a thimble. The top four riders all had scores in the 90s, with 1.50 points separating Totsuka (95.00) and James (93.50).

Even the two Americans who occupied the final qualifying spots, Jake Pates and Chase Josey, threw down runs they were more than proud of – as they should have been.

Aussie Valentino Guseli, who went 5.8 meters in the air on his first hit of his last run and ended up with an 88.00 and a shrug that said “well, what can ya do,” understood why many of the women could not put down the runs they wanted the night prior in their final. The Olympic pressure is real, he said.

Scotty James’ gamble on final run backfires, but what a show it was

Like the best Olympic events, the gold medal came down to the final moment, with James needing another huge run to leapfrog Totsuka.

But James couldn’t land his final run. To put the exclamation point on the night, he went for a backside 1620, instead of settling for a 1440. The 1440 perhaps could have been enough for gold, Guseli said. James wasn’t feeling that last hit Friday night and during training. He tried it anyway.

For his own conscience – and he snowboards for Scotty James, not for the judges, not for the fans, not for his family – he needed to try the 1620.

That’s the sign of a healthy sport. He wasn’t thinking about the medal. He was thinking about the run, the process, the bettering of the product without an emphasis on the – literally subjective – results.

“I’ll have to keep pushing in the future, I guess,” he said, adding: “The difference was me. If I executed well, I feel pretty confident I would have won.”

Had James landed his first run, he believed, from an execution standpoint, it would have generated more than the 1.50 points needed to overtake Totsuka and he’d leave Italy with a different-colored medal.

“What I can live with is that I tried my best,” James said.

James admitted he was numb and in that in the next 24 hours he’ll have a “bit of a cry.” Nonetheless, he exuded pride in winning a medal for Australia as he became the country’s most-decorated Winter Olympian ever with a second silver to join a bronze. James, wearing his customary red mittens that resemble boxing gloves, waved to doting fans who called his name as he hugged his family after the medal ceremony, when he kept his eyes down for half of the Japanese national anthem.

A cable that held the broadcast camera hovering over the halfpipe snapped as James tried to complete the 1620 of his final run. Fortunately, it fell harmlessly into the bottom of the pipe. James did not notice the commotion.

“Everyone’s talking about the cable. I should blame it on the cable,” James joked.

Guseli thought, at first, it was a good omen from the “shred gods.”

“He was riding that pipe, he was tearing it apart … like it was the craziest thing that ever happened … I guess they weren’t with him,” he said.

Watching the progression of the sport over the duration of his Olympic career, which dates back to 2010, has been “crazy,” he said. Even wilder, James added, is how rapidly it has advanced in the last 12 months.

“It’s times where I was like ‘I hope it slows down, but it didn’t,’” he said with a smile. “And I’m pushing it myself as well. I’m pushing it, so they’re pushing it, so I’m equally responsible. But yeah, it’s been cool to be a part of it.”

Japan exerts its dominance in men’s halfpipe

Even in defeat, James held empathy for others, such Hirano, who has been his biggest rival along with Totsuka over the past 12 years. Seeing him on the ground hurt James, too. He’s been there. He’s been on the winning side over Totsuka, one of his rivals, plenty of times over the years.

“I just respect them as a country, as riders,” James said of Japan, which had four of the top seven riders, including 2022 gold medalist Ayumu Hirano. “It’s hard to see anyone be upset with a result like that.”

What’s clear is that Japan’s place as the epicenter of men’s halfpipe is not going away anytime soon with that deadly combination of depth and success.

“I think they just are born with snowboards on their feet, honestly,” he joked. “They’re amazing. I think they have a natural ability and gift in skateboarding and snowboarding that, to be honest, you don’t really see that from anyone else.”

In all seriousness, James said, the collective work ethic makes them an overwhelming force on the world stage. The Japanese reign does not appear to be ending any time in the near future.

“I’ve competed in many events before, but today’s competition was among the highest caliber,” Totsuka said. “The level was exceptionally high right from the qualifiers.”

And on this stage, that’s exactly how it should be.