We have an action-packed episode of ‘The Dunker Spot’ coming your way!
Steve Jones and Nekias Duncan give you the latest news and updates surrounding the 2026 All-Star Weekend. They dive into their predictions for Team USA vs. World, who will come out victorious in the skills competitions and what to expect with the new format.
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Next, they dive into the news of the NBA fining the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers hefty amounts for tanking. Does the league have a tanking problem? What are possible solutions?
Plus, Angel Reese is back in Unrivaled! They give their takeaways, recap the 1v1 tournament and preview the latest matchups.
All that and more!
1:03 Rising Stars showcase preview 9:29 3-point contest preview 14:35 Shooting Stars competition preview 18:07 Dunk contest preview 22:14 New format expectations 27:26 All-Star replacements 32:16 Lineup predictions 35:26 Key players to watch 38:25 Team USA vs. World predictions 39:02 Jazz & Pacers fined 47:40 Unrivaled takeaways & thoughts
Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Cleveland Cavaliers shoots the ball during the 2025 KIA Skills Challenge as part of the State Farm All-Star Saturday Night at Chase Center on February 15, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
MILAN â Something was wrong from the very start. Something about Ilia Malininâs free skate Friday seemed tentative, uncertain, so very unlike the âQuad God.â This was his gold-medal moment, and it was slipping away from him.
He landed his first element, a quad flip, but it had the feel of an unexpected success, like a half-court heave that went through the net, rather than the start of a triumphal procession. And then he skated toward his planned quad axel, a move literally only he can land, a move that could have put him on a direct path to the top of the podium.
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He flinched ⌠and was lost.
In one of the most stunning collapses in Olympic figure skating history, Malinin plummeted from a near-certain gold medal all the way to eighth place. Kazakhstanâs Mikhail Shaidorov won gold, while Japanâs Yuma Kagiyama took silver and Japanâs Shun Sato claimed the bronze medal. Malinin finished with a score of 264.49, well behind Shaidorovâs 291.58, Kagiyamaâs 280.06 and Satoâs 274.90.
As Malinin spoke after his skate, televisions around the Olympic mixed zone under the arenaâs stands showed the nightâs three medalists ascending the podium. Malinin didnât seem to look in their direction, though as the national anthem of Kazakhstan played out in the arena, he knew exactly what was going on.
USA’s Ilia Malinin went from gold medal favorite in the men’s individual competition to failing to medal Friday at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
(Qian Jun/MB Media via Getty Images)
Malininâs free skate routine begins, oddly enough, with his own recorded voice. âThe only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing,â his voice echoes in the silent arena as he stands at center ice, preparing to begin.
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On a good night, his lines feel like a battle cry. On Friday night, they felt almost forlorn, a desperate attempt to rally himself in front of the entire world.
âHonestly, before getting into my starting pose, I just felt all of those experienced memories, thoughts really just rush in,â Malinin said. âIt just felt so overwhelming. Honestly, I didn’t really know how to handle it at that moment.â
The audience at the Assago Ice Skating Arena could feel it all falling apart as element after element crumbled. The quad loop Malinin had listed in his planned program became a double loop in reality. The triple flip never materialized. The quad salchow became a double salchow that ended with Malinin falling to the ice. And by then, it was all over but the cold, merciless math.
“I blew it,â Malinin told NBC after his skate. âThat’s honestly the first thing that came into my mind â there’s no way that just happened. I was preparing the whole season. I felt so confident with my program. To go out and have that happen … there’s no words, honestly.â
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This is the brutal cruelty of the Olympics, of figure skating. You devote your entire life to this merciless, fickle sport; you give up every shred of a normal life, from school to friends to weekends to holidays; you devote it all to the pursuit of perfection. And in the coldest twist of all, the closer you get to the pinnacle, the more you start to believe that perfection is possible ⌠right up until your dreams vanish in mere minutes. The higher you rise, the further you have to fall.
Malinin is 21 years old, and in the minutes after his skate, he looked both much younger than that, and much more world-weary and broken, too. He faced multiple media outlets, dozens of lenses and microphones and questioners all seeking to understand how this could have happened. How could a skater whoâs reigned over the sport â two straight world championships, four straight national championships, no loss anywhere on Earth since November 2023 â fall apart so suddenly, so thoroughly?
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The words were there, but like his routine earlier, Malinin looked uncomfortable speaking them. He committed the athleteâs unpardonable sin, confessing to weakness. But it seemed the right thing to do in the moment. What else could he do?
âI just thought that all I needed to do is go out there and trust the process that I’ve always been doing with every competition,â Malinin said. âBut of course, it’s not like any other competition. It’s the Olympics, and I think people only realize the pressure, and the nerves that actually happened, from the inside. So it was really just something that overwhelmed me, and I just felt like I had no control.â
He threaded his way into an excuse â âMaybe the ice was also not the best condition for what I would like to haveâ â but quickly found his way right back out again. Everyone skates on the same ice, after all, and if heâd merely matched the scores of any of the three skaters who went right before him, he would have medaled.
After Malinin vanished behind closed doors, and as the fans left the arena, one last cruel joke awaited. On the overhead speaker system â the one that had carried Malininâs own voice just a few minutes before â a surely well-meaning DJ cued up Coldplayâs âViva La Vida,â and, for Malinin, its sadly on-point lyrics.
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I used to rule the world ⌠One minute, I held the key / Next the walls were closed on me âŚ
Itâs a long time until the 2030 Olympics in Chamonix, France. If Malinin makes it there, at least heâll know what to expect.
The pitch-rigging scandal keeps getting bigger for Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase.
Federal prosecutors unsealed a 29-page indictment providing further insight into the mechanics of the alleged pitch-rigging system involving Clase, according to The Athletic, as well as more examples in which he’s accused of intentionally throwing balls to ensure his co-conspirators’ prop bets cashed.
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One such example is particularly bad: Game 1 of the 2024 ALDS. Clase had previously been accused of rigging pitches only in the regular season.
Clase entered that game with a 7-0 lead. The Guardians ultimately beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 in the series.
In total, prosecutors reportedly claimed to have identified 15 times from 2023 to 2025 in which Clase allegedly threw pitches to help bettors win their prop bets, as well as three occasions in which he planned to do so but never entered the game. That’s actually far less than a previously reported total of 48 in a different legal filing.
Clase would allegedly communicate with co-conspirators in code via text message. You can probably crack the cipher, via The Athletic:
âThrow a rock at the first rooster in todayâs fight.â
âYes, of course, thatâs an easy toss to that rooster,â [Clase] responded. If there was any confusion, he followed up again later. He would throw it âlow.â
Clase’s co-conspirators are alleged to have won at least $450,000 with their system, with Clase and Ortiz receiving kickbacks. Of course, those numbers are far less than the $4.9 million salary Clase was receiving from the Guardians in 2025.
Clase has claimed innocence via his attorney:
âEmmanuel Clase is innocent and denies all allegations in the superseding indictment,â Michael Ferrara, the lawyer for Clase, said. âWhile we remain disappointed in the flawed views of the evidence and rush to judgment that led to these charges, we look forward to clearing his name at trial where the full facts and circumstances of the case will be revealed.â
A third man, Robinson Vasquez Germosen, has also reportedly been hit with federal charges for allegedly working as the middleman for Clase.
Day 7 of the 2026 Winter Olympics was a surprise shutout for Team USA on the podium, as no American won any of the 21 medals handed out Friday in Italy. Nothing was more shocking than Ilia Malinin stumbling his way off the podium. The day wasn’t all bad, though, as a couple of U.S. teams posted big wins.
Here are the top five stories of the day:
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U.S. women’s hockey team stomps Italy to open playoffs
Team USA left group play looking like the clear gold-medal favorite. Nothing changed on that front in their first game of the knockout round. The Americans advanced to the semifinals with a 6-0 win over the host country, scoring five goals in the second period.
Through five games, the United States has outscored opponents 26-1, dominating against both the teams at the bottom of their group and co-favorite Canada. They will likely face Sweden, which pulled off an upset over Czechia, in the semis, barring an upset on the other side of the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Ilia Malinin of the United States competes during the men’s free skate program on Friday in Milan. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
It was instead Kazakhstanâs Mikhail Shaidorov who claimed gold, with Japanâs Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato joining him on the podium. Malinin will still leave Italy with a gold medal via the Americans’ win in the team event, but he was blunt about his performance on Friday: âI blew it.â
U.S. women’s curling team finally beats Canada in Olympic play
The U.S. womenâs curling team beat Canada 9-8 in round-robin play on Friday. Itâs the first time in nine Olympic meetings that the Americans have been victorious against their northern neighbors.
The match was tight through the first five ends, with Canada clinging to a 3-2 lead. In the sixth end, the U.S. roared ahead with four points. Canada did not back off, scoring two in the seventh and adding three in the ninth.
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Holding the hammer, Tara Peterson scored two on the last shot of the match to give the Americans their second victory of the tournament.
Norway’s Johannes Høsflot KlĂŚbo ties record by winning eighth career gold medal
Norwayâs Johannes Høsflot KlĂŚbo tied a Winter Olympic record on Friday by winning his eighth career gold medal, and he might not be done yet. KlĂŚboâs latest medal came in the men’s 10km freestyle race, in which he claimed his third gold of the Milan Cortina Games. He had already won the 20km skiathlon and the individual sprint.
The 29-year-old can break his tie with fellow Norwegians Bjørn DĂŚhlie, Marit Bjørgen and Ole Einar Bjørndalen if he wins gold in the 4×7.5km relay, the men’s team sprint or the 50km mass start, all of which heâs scheduled to compete in.
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Vladyslav Heraskevych’s appeal over DQ for helmet tribute denied
Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevychâs appeal for reinstatement was denied after he was banned from competing at the Winter Olympics on Thursday. Heraskevych refused to change a helmet honoring Ukrainian athletes who died during Russiaâs invasion of his home country. He said he did not consider racing with a different helmet because he believes he is ânot violating any rulesâ and pointed to other athletes from different countries who are allowed to express their political views.
The IOC stated that his helmet did not comply with Olympic rules, which prohibit any form of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda at Olympic sites, venues or other areas. The IOC offered him the option to wear a black armband or black ribbon instead of the helmet on Thursday, but Heraskevych refused. As a result, he sat out Fridayâs menâs skeleton event after missing the first two runs yesterday.
Jorrit Bergsma was already a decorated Olympian, entering these Games with one medal of each color. He returned for another go in Milan at 40 years old and won a bronze medal in the 10,000m, becoming the oldest-ever speedskating Olympic medalist. But the highlight might just be his cheering section, also known as the “Matties,” who sport his signature mullet.
Sacramento Kings guard Zach LaVine will undergo season-ending surgery on his right hand after the All-Star break, longtime NBA insider Chris Haynes reported Friday.
LaVine, a two-time All-Star, was averaging a team-leading 19.2 points per game and shooting 47.9% from the field, including 39% from 3, this season. It’s his second season with Sacramento after he was traded midseason from the Chicago Bulls last year in the three-team deal that sent now-two-time All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs.
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The Kings have been riddled with injuries this season. Notably, center Domantas Sabonis missed extensive time earlier in the 2025-26 campaign due to a partially torn meniscus.
A three-time All-Star, Sabonis returned before the trade deadline. He had been the subject of trade talks this season, and so had LaVine and fellow veteran DeMar DeRozan.
The Kings, an NBA-worst 12-44 at the break and losers of 14 consecutive games, didn’t deal any of those players. General manager Scott Perry did, however, send Keon Ellis and Dennis SchrĂśder to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team trade that brought back De’Andre Hunter and moved Dario Ĺ ariÄ to the Chicago Bulls.
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Ĺ ariÄ has since been traded again and waived.
As for the soon-to-be-31-year-old LaVine, he sat out the past three games due to what the team described as a “right fifth finger tendon injury.” That shooting-hand issue is reportedly requiring a procedure that will end LaVine’s 12th season in the league.
Earlier this season, he sustained a left ankle injury when he landed awkwardly on a drive into the paint against his old team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, on Dec. 14. He missed nine games in a row as a result.
LaVine has a $48.9 million player option for next season. He’s expected to pick that up, but trade rumors likely will resume in the offseason.
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Although he led an imbalanced Kings roster in scoring this season, LaVine’s 2.3 assists per game were the fewest he has averaged in his career. Plus, he was reeling in under three rebounds per contest for just the third time and the first since the 2015-16 campaign.
Known for his athleticism, LaVine made a name for himself as a two-time NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion with the Timberwolves, who took him No. 13 overall in the 2014 draft. Friday marked the 10-year anniversary of LaVine’s high-flying showdown versus Aaron Gordon in the memorable 2016 dunk contest.
GLENDALE, Ariz. â The Los Angeles Dodgers are back at the beginning, preparing once again to climb the mountain that is the major-league season, sights set squarely on adding to this golden era for the franchise.
The Friday, Feb. 13, report date for Dodgers pitchers and catchers was the latest of any team league-wide, an appropriately delayed start after the Dodgersâ championship run stretched into November. And unlike the previous two years, when the Dodgers opened the season with series in Seoul and Tokyo, the team will stay grounded on the west side of Phoenix this spring, affording a bit more wiggle room to ease into camp activities, rather than needing to arrive early and expedite the preparation process.
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âFirst day, good,â manager Dave Roberts said. âGetting the pitchers, catchers here, majority of the position players are here already. Guys are anxious. I think for me, we got a long camp, longer than we’ve had in recent years. So to try to get guys to start slow but intentional, methodical ⌠is kind of the message.â
While the World Baseball Classic will add a wrinkle for a handful of Dodgers stars, the vast majority of the roster is embarking on a more normal spring training leading up to Opening Day against the D-backs on March 26 at Dodger Stadium. Granted, little is normal about even the most average day at Camelback Ranch, the spring training home of MLBâs supervillains and superheroes, a gobsmacking collection of baseballing talent that only grows each year.
A large banner touting Los Angelesâ status as âBACK-TO-BACK WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSâ now adorns the chain-link fence looming over the bullpen mounds. A full week before the Cactus League slate begins, hordes of fans swarmed the backfields Friday in hopes of catching their favorite Dodgers in action, if even in low-intensity practice settings. As each player emerged from the facility to make his way down to the fields, crowds erupted, offering expressions of adoration and appreciation for the team that has given them so much to cheer about across consecutive title runs.
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The specifics of what was happening on each field seemed to matter less than the fact that it was happening at all â baseball is back, bringing a breath of fresh air after a long winter. But Friday did offer a particularly intriguing sampling of backfield activity, at least by mid-February standards: Shohei Ohtani threw a bullpen, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw live batting practice.
The duo is in their third spring together, and the buzz around their presence in Glendale has grown each year as the two have achieved more and more while wearing Dodger blue. Ohtani is entering his first fully healthy spring with the Dodgers, gearing up to put his unprecedented two-way abilities on full display from the get-go in 2026. Yamamoto is only a few months removed from one of the most legendary pitching performances in World Series history, earning an almost mythical aura that now follows him in perpetuity. Perhaps more pertinently, both stars are ramping up to represent Japan in the World Baseball Classic, adding a level of urgency to their early camp activities that most of their teammates donât feel quite yet.
Along with USAâs Will Smith, Puerto Ricoâs Edwin DĂaz (reminder: heâs on the Dodgers now) and Koreaâs Hyeseong Kim, Ohtani and Yamamoto are two of the five players in Dodgers camp slated to participate in the upcoming international tournament. Japanâs pool-play games will be in Tokyo, with its first official game on March 6 and five pre-tournament friendlies against NPB clubs beginning Feb. 22. Roberts said Friday that heâs unsure when exactly the duo will make the trip back to Japan. But it stands to reason it will be at least a few days before Smith and Diaz will need to depart to join their national teams, whose training will commence in early March. As such, the time spent in Arizona is especially crucial for the two Japanese stars.
Yamamoto faced Smith and Kim for a few at-bats each in his live batting practice session Friday, coaxing some weak contact from Kim and a swing-and-miss from Smith on a running two-seam fastball that had the All-Star catcher shaking his head in disbelief. Yamamoto looked as dialed in as ever, his picturesque mechanics unfolding in perfect sequence to unleash pitches to the location of his choosing. It was an infinitely lower-stakes setting than his most recent on-mound experience, but it was Yamamoto all the same. To that end, itâs impossible to watch him now without recalling the unfathomable feats of pitching endurance he displayed in the Fall Classic. Yet Roberts isnât worried about a lingering hangover from the right-handerâs rare workload last postseason, even as Yamamoto builds back up to participate in the WBC.
âI just believe that he knows his limitations, and he’s prepared,â Roberts said. âSo I’m not too concerned.â
Earlier Friday, it was Ohtaniâs turn to take the mound, albeit not against hitters. His bullpen took place right alongside Diaz, who was making his first high-intensity tosses in his new threads. Unlike Yamamoto, Ohtani is not preparing to pitch in the World Baseball Classic â he will DH only for Team Japan â but that doesnât lessen the hype for Ohtaniâs first full season in the Dodgersâ rotation. Roberts was not shy about his expectations for what Ohtani The Pitcher is capable of now that heâs further removed from his second elbow surgery.
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âI think there’s certainly a lot more in there,â the manager said. âAnd regardless of my expectations for him, his are going to exceed those. And I think it’s fair to say he expects to be in the Cy Young conversation. But we just want him to be healthy and make starts, and all the numbers and statistics will take care of themselves.â
Asked whether the leagueâs top pitching honor is indeed a personal target, Ohtani didnât confirm his ambitions but acknowledged it could be in the cards if heâs able to stay on the mound.
âIf in the end the result is getting a Cy Young, that’s great,â Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. âGetting a Cy Young means just being able to throw more innings and pitch throughout the whole season. So if that’s the end result, that’s a good sign for me. That’s what I’m more focused on â just being healthy the whole year.â
Redirecting the focus to his durability might sound like a way to downplay his ambition, but itâs also rooted in reality. The closest Ohtani has come to winning a Cy Young was during his healthiest campaign in 2022, when he threw a career-high 166 innings. He ultimately settled for fourth that year (and second in MVP voting), but itâs a reminder that his potential as a pitcher should not be discounted whatsoever. For all the prolific power-speed exploits Ohtani has demonstrated as a hitter, entering 2026, he seems eager to seize on his currently prime physical condition and remind everyone what heâs capable of on the mound.
âEverything he does is with purpose,â Roberts said. âSo I’m really excited to see â with the full offseason to just prepare and not rehab â what he can do this year.â
Tony Stewart’s return to NASCAR didn’t even make it to lap 50 of Friday night’s Truck Series race. (Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Tony Stewartâs hopes of a win in his first NASCAR race back from retirement ended before the race was even halfway over.
Stewartâs truck was shoved into the wall when Jake Garciaâs truck got loose off Turn 4 in the second stage of the 100-lap Craftsman Truck Series race at Daytona. As Stewart was to his outside, Garcia overcorrected and collided with Stewart as he hit the wall.
The damage to Stewartâs truck was significant enough that it ended any chance he had at winning the race. After his Kaulig Racing team made repairs, it decided to take the truck to the garage.
The three-time Cup Series champion and Hall of Famer was making his first start in a NASCAR event since he retired after the 2016 season. Stewart won 49 races over 618 career Cup Series starts and was one of the best drivers of the 2000s before he stepped away. He won the 2002, 2005 and 2011 Cup Series titles, and his final title is widely credited with helping create NASCARâs recently ditched winner-take-all championship race.
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That season, Stewart and Carl Edwards waged one of the greatest playoff battles in NASCAR history. Stewart, who won five races in the 10-race playoffs after going winless in the regular season, won the final race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway to tie Edwards and win the championship via tiebreaker because he had more wins.
Stewart was back in NASCAR on Friday thanks to Ramâs reentry into the Truck Series. The manufacturer returned to the NASCAR Truck Series in 2025, and Stewart, whose NHRA team fields Dodges, was chosen to run the teamâs No. 25 truck, which will have a rotating cast of drivers throughout the 2026 season.
The race was Stewart’s first Truck Series start in more than 20 years. He had last made a Truck start in 2005 and had won twice in six starts across NASCAR’s third-tier series.
Zac Gallen took a risk early in the offseason by declining the Arizona Diamondbacks’ one-year, roughly $22 million qualifying offer. That decision led to the 30-year-old sitting on the market for quite some time, but his free-agent wait is finally over.
Was it worth the wait? Well, the deal he landed is essentially the qualifying offer, with deferred money.
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Gallen reportedly agreed to a one-year, $22.025 million contract with the D-backs on Friday, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. Approximately $14 million of the money is reportedly deferred.
Zac Gallen’s red flags led to a cold free-agent market
While the longtime Diamondbacks starter has a history of success in the majors, he entered free agency at arguably the worst possible time. Gallen showed signs of decline in 2025, posting the highest ERA and lowest strikeout rate of his career in 192 innings with the Diamondbacks.
It marked a troubling trend for Gallen, who has seen his ERA rise in three straight seasons.
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Early in his career, Gallen looked like a future superstar on the mound. He burst onto the scene in 2019, posting a 2.81 ERA with the Miami Marlins and Diamondbacks. He maintained that excellence during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 MLB season, earning-down ballot Cy Young votes.
After some uncharacteristic struggles in 2021, Gallen bounced back to turn in his two best seasons in the majors. In 2022 and 2023, he posted a 3.04 ERA over 394 innings. He ranked fourth in ERA, sixth in starting pitcher fWAR, seventh in strikeouts and eighth in innings pitched during that period. Gallen finished fifth in Cy Young voting in 2022 and third in 2023. For the first time in his career, he also gained a few MVP votes following his strong 2023 season.
He carried that success into the postseason, in which the Diamondbacks went on a miraculous run to the World Series. The team fell short in the end, falling to the Texas Rangers in five games. Gallen performed well in his only World Series start, allowing just one run over 6 1/3 innings in Game 1. Despite that, he was saddled with the loss.
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While the team’s World Series run was an overall positive, it came with an unfortunate side effect. Gallen tossed a total of 243 2/3 innings in 2023. That workload might have come back to bite him in 2024.
Gallen got off to a solid start the following year, posting a 3.12 ERA over his first 11 starts before sustaining a hamstring injury. The issue kept him sidelined for a month. While his first start back was encouraging, Gallen then posted a 5.02 ERA over his next 11 games. He finished the year strong, posting a 2.67 ERA in his final five games, but it still marked his worst year in the majors since 2021.
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Things got even worse in 2025. Over his first 22 starts, Gallen posted a 5.20 ERA. He had the worst strikeout rate and highest home-run rate of his career. He rebounded down the stretch, posting a 3.32 ERA in his final 11 games, but that came with an even lower strikeout rate, leading to questions about his ability moving forward.
Does re-signing Gallen move the needle for the D-backs?
Gallen’s return reinforces a D-backs rotation that could be best described as solid but is by no means spectacular.
Gallen certainly presents some risk, but Arizona is more aware of the potential reward than any other team. That was apparently reason enough to bring him back, and he’ll certainly be motivated to perform better ahead of a second foray into free agency.
Canada men’s curling remained undefeated in round-robin competition Friday during the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, but only after tension overheated on the ice.
Following the ninth end of an 8-6 Canada victory over 2022 Olympic champion Sweden, which is now a ghastly 0-3 in its gold medal defense, Swedish third Oskar Eriksson levied a serious cheating allegation.
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He did so against Canada third Marc Kennedy, whom Eriksson accused of double-touching stones beyond the hog line.
“I havenât done it once,â Kennedy said. âYou can f*** off.”
Eriksson then asked, “You haven’t done it once?”
An impassioned Kennedy reiterated while pointing toward himself, “I haven’t done it once.”
Eriksson said back, “I’ll show you a video after the game.”
The heated back-and-forth continued, with Kennedy hurling more profanities Eriksson’s way.
By rule, a double touch prior to the hog line â the boundary before which the thrower must release the stone for it to be considered in play â isn’t considered a violation.
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World Curling introduced electronic handles on the stones at this year’s Games. Triggered by a touch sensor, as well as a magnetic strip in the ice, they flash red if players are still touching the handle after the hog line.
But the Swedes appeared to be contending that the Canadians, namely Kennedy, were making contact with the granite after releasing the handle. Eriksson said that’s why the red light wasn’t going off, per Reuters.
Long before the exchange between Eriksson and Kennedy between the ninth and 10th end, Sweden asked officials to watch for Canada double-touching. Canada requested that officials also keep an eye on Sweden’s deliveries.
In a statement, as reported by Reuters, World Curling said umpires were monitoring the hog line for three ends after the issue was first brought up.
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“There were no hog line violations or retouches of the stone during the observation,” the statement said, per Reuters.
Kennedy told the National Post afterward that playing the Swedes is a battle and that the teams have quite a bit of history that goes back several years.
“I have a ton of respect for Oskar Eriksson,” he said, per the National Post. “Heâs one of the best players to ever play. I just told him ⌠I would never accuse you of cheating. Iâve been on tour for 25 years. He pulled a hog line official on us to make sure we werenât double-touching. The hog line official was there … never said a thing, and heâs still talking about it in the ninth end.”
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Swedish skip Niklas Edin was disappointed the quarrel took place.
“We’re all super good friends out there,” he said, per Reuters.
“We’ve known them for 20 years. And [rule violations] happened many times before, so it’s just sad that it gets to heated discussions on the ice instead of just curling, according to the rulebooks, but it’s what it is.”
Not even a patented high-flying dunk from Michigan State forward Coen Carr could swing the momentum in Wisconsin’s Kohl Center on Friday night.
The Badgers, who used a 19-4 run to build an 18-point lead in the first half, kept the No. 10 Spartans at distance in the second half.
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Wisconsin came into the day averaging 11 triples per game â tied the for the 11th most nationally as of Thursday morning â and splashed 15 3-pointers in an 92-71 victory over Michigan State (20-5, 10-4 Big Ten), which has lost three of its past four games. The Spartans’ lone win in that span, though, was a significant one, as they outlasted then-No. 5 Illinois in overtime last week.
Nick Boyd knocked down five of Wisconsin’s 15 3-pointers â tied for its second most in a game this season â and finished with a game-high 29 points.
The former San Diego State and FAU guard has now scored at least 25 points six times this season. He ranks third in the Big Ten with 20.6 points per game.
Backcourt partner John Blackwell buried four 3s and wasn’t far behind with 24 points.
Wisconsin dominated Friday’s game, both on the perimeter and inside, where the Badgers doubled up the Spartans in the paint 28-14.
Michigan State shot a mere 36.4% from the field, and Wisconsin scored 21 points off the Spartans’ nine turnovers.
That said, the story of the day was Wisconsin’s 3-point shooting. The Badgers made their first five 3-point attempts during the opening 5 1/2 minutes of play and didn’t take their foot off the gas.
They’ve got three top-10 wins, including two in the past four days.
