Three tied for individual lead, Majesticks top team leaderboard at LIV Golf Adelaide

SAN FRANCISCO: This will be an actual All-Star matchup. On one side, there’s a team with 86 combined All-Star selections, $2.7 billion in on-court earnings and where every single player on the team is either an NBA champion, an Olympic gold medalist, or both.
On the other, there’s a bunch of young guys without much in the way of resumes yet.
Welcome to the reimagined NBA All-Star Game, a single-elimination mini-tournament: four teams of eight players, three games, first to 40 points wins and a David vs. Goliath element thrown in there for good measure. It happens Sunday night in San Francisco, the NBA’s latest way of trying to make the midseason showcase event competitive again.
“It’s definitely different, definitely interesting,” New York’s Jalen Brunson said. “We’ll see. I’m just as interested as you.”
There’s no more Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference. There are four teams with new names: Shaq’s OGs, Kenny’s Young Stars, Chuck’s Global Stars and Candace’s Rising Stars, all a nod to TNT analysts and basketball greats Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Candace Parker.
It’ll be Smith’s team against Barkley’s team in the first semifinal. The second one is the one with all the intrigue: O’Neal’s team of some of the biggest names in basketball history — LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
They’re going up against this group of first- and second-year players that earned their way into the All-Star mix by winning Friday’s Rising Stars competition: San Antonio’s Stephon Castle, Utah’s Keyonte George, Phoenix’s Ryan Dunn, Memphis teammates Zach Edey and Jaylen Wells, Golden State’s Trayce Jackson-Davis, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Dalton Knecht and Houston’s Amen Thompson. Fine players, for sure, but they’re not All-Stars — at least, officially.
And yet, they could win the All-Star Game.
“I think that’s probably why they put this type of format in, to kind of heighten that sense of pride and not wanting to be on the wrong end of that,” Lillard said. “I mean, we’ll see. I think one thing about a team full of young players is they’re going to come out there and they’re going to play with some energy. They’re going to play fast. I think that’ll probably heighten the competition.”
The Rising Stars team is, by far, the long shot to win this thing, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. It’s fair to say that they won’t have much expected of them. But that said, Mac McClung — who went up against that team in the Rising Stars competition title game Friday night — said he wouldn’t count them out.
“They’re still NBA basketball players. They’re still really good basketball players,” McClung said. “And I think everybody’s vibe is just joy right now. We’ll see how competitive the game is. I’m excited to watch it myself.”
That’s the whole reason for the change: Competition, or at least the hope of having some.
The All-Star Game last year set all sorts of records: a 211-186 final score, almost everything 3-pointers or dunks, and it didn’t sit well with Commissioner Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA decision-makers. They don’t want Game 7-type mayhem. They want a better product.
So, the tournament idea became reality.
“I like taking chances on something different, knowing that the game had kind of stalled out for a couple of years,” Curry said. “I think it’ll work just because it’ll be something new for everybody.”
At least one player is vowing to play defense in this All-Star Game. San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, a top defensive player of the year candidate who is in the All-Star Game for the first time, said he’s bringing his best.
“That’s the goal,” Wembanyama said. “The goal is not to chill, for sure.”
Inside the numbers
To illustrate the size of the mismatch — on paper — in the second semifinal, consider this:
Shaq’s OGs have the No. 1 (James), No. 8 (Durant), No. 13 (Harden), the No. 27 (Curry), No. 37 (Lillard), No. 81 (Irving), No. 220 (Tatum) and No. 337 (Brown) scorers in NBA history.
The Rising Stars’ leading scorer: That would be George, tied for 1,813th on the all-time scoring list.
The format
It’s fairly simple: untimed games, first team to 40 points wins, no fouling out, regular rules pretty much apply. There is no consolation game.
Players on the winning team get $125,000 each. Players on the team that finishes second get $50,000 each. The other two teams get $25,000 per player.

JEDDAH: Oliver Rowland stormed to victory in the second race of the inaugural Jeddah E-Prix on Saturday, leading an all-British podium and securing Nissan’s place at the top of the Teams’ and Manufacturers’ World Championship standings.

Rowland’s expertly managed race saw him capitalize on a dramatic early collision between title contenders Antonio Felix da Costa and Maximilian Guenther. The incident cleared the way for the Briton to seize control, executing flawless energy management and Attack Mode activations to maintain his lead to the checkered flag.

“It was great — the key was at the beginning obviously. It was pretty much the perfect scenario. I had a little bit of contact with Guenther at the chicane; he got really aggressive on the inside and I got stuck on him,” Rowland said.

“That’s the point when I went to the front — being third or fourth, people start to get aggressive, so I got out of trouble and went to the front and led from there. I’m just trying to focus race by race, try and do the best job we can and score points,” he added.

The 21-year-old Taylor Barnard, who made history as the youngest polesitter in Formula E, took an impressive second place, fending off a late charge from Jake Hughes. Despite immense pressure, Barnard held firm to secure his second podium of the weekend for NEOM McLaren.

“Coming into this weekend I didn’t expect a podium, so to leave here with massive points for the team, I couldn’t be happier,” Barnard said. “I think I struggled a little bit for the first five laps — but two podiums, I’m so happy. Sometimes you have to be extra aggressive, but we also had to keep the podium and secure P2, and we did that.”

Hughes rounded out the podium in third, marking his first rostrum finish for Maserati MSG Racing and his second in Formula E. Reflecting on his hard-fought result, Hughes praised his team’s execution.

“It felt like it was a little bit on the edge, but super happy with today. After messing up FP3, getting into the Duels to the Semi-Final and then coming away with a podium for the team, I couldn’t ask for more really,” he said. “We did really well with the Attack Mode; we used the energy when we needed to, and the execution was great.”

The all-British dominance extended beyond the podium, with reigning champion Jake Dennis delivering a remarkable drive from 19th on the grid to finish fourth.

Meanwhile, Kiwi Nick Cassidy climbed from 17th to claim fifth, and Hughes’ Maserati teammate Stoffel Vandoorne secured sixth place. Defending champion Pascal Wehrlein, battling to limit the damage from a challenging weekend, finished eighth.

With this result, Rowland leads the Drivers’ World Championship standings with 68 points, ahead of Barnard on 51. Nissan hold a slim lead in the Teams’ Championship, with just five points separating the top four squads.

Formula E now heads to Miami for Round 5 on April 12, where the championship battle will continue on American soil.