Reviewing The Best Games From Over The Weekend

Bouncing back from his worst season as a NASCAR driver, Denny Hamlin won a wreck-filled Daytona 500 over teammate Kyle Busch on Sunday.

Hamlin did not win a race during the 2018 season, but kicked off the current campaign with his second career Daytona 500 victory.

Hamlin called it “a total reset.”

He and Busch drive for Joe Gibbs Racing, which lost the team owner’s son, J.D., at 49 to a degenerative neurological disease in January.

“It’s the most emotional and the biggest win I’ve ever had in my life — in anything,” said Joe Gibbs, who coached the Washington Redskins to three Super Bowl wins.

NBA:
Team LeBron (James) defeated Team Giannis (Antetokounmpo) 132-131 in Charlotte on Sunday night in the NBA All-Star Game to cap the weekend’s festivities. James scored 19 points. The All-Star Game also commemorated the careers of Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade and Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, who will retire at season’s end.

College Basketball:
Duke University’s Mike Krzyzewski became the all-time winningest coach on Saturday as the No. 2 Blue Devils knocked off North Carolina State 94-78. Coach K has 1,023 career victories. His team will likely move to the top of the new Associated Press poll that drops today after No. 5 Kentucky tripped up No. 1 Tennessee 86-69, ending the Volunteers’ 19-game winning streak.

In women’s college hoops, No. 20 Miami pulled off a huge upset, defeating No. 2 Louisville 79-73.

Golf:
J.B. Holmes won the Genesis Open by one shot over Justin Thomas in Pacific Palisades, California. Holmes made par on each of the final seven holes, while Thomas could not recover from a double-bogey on the 13th hole and a bogey at No. 14. Holmes won for the fifth time on the PGA Tour, but it was his first since 2015.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman