Matsuyama Wins With Record Round

It’s Presidents Day, and that means almost everyone has a day off from work. If you’re not skiing, golfing, or hanging with family, don’t worry.

We’ve got sports on today! Before we chat about what to watch, let’s recap some of the Sunday action.

Here we go.

NBA All-Star Game

The NBA All-Star game certainly isn’t what it used to be. It used to be the baddest dudes in the league and they played hard. Seriously, the offenses used to play hard and the defense used to get tough and physical, it wasn’t no Harlem Globtrotters stuff. Now, instead of the baddest dudes, we’ve got the gladdest dudes. They’re all buddy buddy having a good time and are super friendly with each other. I’m not calling for fights, and I understand no one wants to get hurt in the all-star game and ruin a season but something that looks more like an NBA game instead of a 7th grade basketball game with a cherry picker on one end of the court would be nice.

RANT OVER

Hopefully, the NBA didn’t want defense yesterday because there was none. The East crossed the 200 points mark for the first time in All-Star game history and they beat the West 211-186. The East hasn’t beaten the West since 2014. That’s wild!

For the East: Tyrese Haliburton hit five 3’s in a 92-second span near the beginning of the game to help the East get a quick lead. Hali finished with 32 points. Damian Lillard, named All-Star MVP, finished with 39 points and was 11 of 23 from three. Giannis, Tatum, and Jaylen Brown all finished with 20+ points.

For the West: Karl-Anthony Towns dropped a 50 burger and was 23 of 35 on field goals. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was 7 of 10 from 3 and finished with 31. It was a bit of a lower-scoring night for the West. KD, LeBron, Jokic, Luka, AD, Paul George, Kawhi, Curry, D-Book, and Anthony Edwards were all on the squad and none of them had more than 18 points.

Check out some highlights right here.

Sunday Ice Time

Saturday might have brought us a few blowouts, like the Maple Leafs destroying the Anaheim Ducks 9-2 and Auston Matthews getting another hat trick this season. We also had the Lightning get absolutely pummeled by the Florida Panthers 9-2. Sunday didn’t result in the same type of defeats, but the games were just as good.

New York Rangers 6 | New York Islanders 5

🏒 The Rangers took a quick 1-0 when Erik Gustafsson scored a quick goal just 90 seconds into the game but the sunny skies at MetLife Stadium got to Igor Shesterkin as he let in 4 goals over the next 20 minutes of play. The Rangers would score two goals to get the 3 goal deficit down to just a 1 goal deficit at the end of the 2nd period, but the Islanders would score quickly in the 3rd period to extend the lead by 2. The Rangers would score two power-plays goals in the final 5 minutes of play to send the game into OT and Artemi Panarin would score an unassisted goal off a puck steal just 10 seconds into the overtime session.

LA Kings 2 | Pittsburgh Penguins 1

🏒 Sidney Crosby scored a power-play goal for the Penguins late in the first period and that would be the lone goal for much of the game until the Kings’ Adrian Kempe scored with about 7 minutes left to play in the 3rd period. It’s tied 1-1, and the Penguins had a power play opportunity after a delay of game call. Kempe would score a short-handed goal for the Kings, sealing the deal for LA and handing the home team the loss in the worst type of way.

Matsuyama Wins Genesis With Record Round

Hideki Matsuyama was 6 shots off the lead when he teed it up for his final round at Riviera. It seemed unlikely that the Japanese native would be walking away with $4 million or the equivalent of 600,680,000 Japanese Yen on Sunday.

Well, Matsuyama decided to go low on Sunday and shot a closing round record at Riviera as he scored a 62 to be at 9 under for the day. After some rough play and a few holes left to play from Will Zalatoris, Xander Schauffele, and Patrick Cantlay, it was clear Matsuyama would be taking home the trophy even as the sleuths took to the World Wide Web to display their lack of knowledge around golf rules.

If you’re not sure what we’re talking about, watch the video below.

And even if Matsuyama were assessed a two stroke penalty, he still would’ve won the tournament!

And if you’re wondering how Matsuyama was able to catch up to the leaders so quickly, it’s not hard to imagine when you see him hitting shots like this all over the back 9!

So, You’ve Got a Day Off

Don’t be lame and read a book or scroll instragram all day. Watch some hockey or basketball on TV. Heck there’s even a NASCAR race today!

NHL

🏒 Toronto Maple Leafs @ St. Louis Blues, 1 pm ET on ESPN

🏒 Detroit Red Wings @ Seattle Kraken, 3:30 pm ET on ESPN

🏒 Ottawa Senators @ Tampa Bay Lightning, 7 pm ET on NHL Network

NCAA Basketball

🏀 #21 Virginia @ Virginia Tech, 7 pm ET on ESPN

🏀 #10 Iowa State @ #3 Houston, 9 pm ET on ESPN

NASCAR

🏎️ Daytona 500 (rescheduled to today due to rain) will be on

FOX @ 4pm ET

Enjoy your Monday and I hope you have a great start to the week!

-The Daily Breakroom