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1B Weekend Feb. 15-16, 2014 Sports AP photo Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) battle for position during an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City. It's a matchup of perhaps the best two players in the NBA. NBA's 1A, 1B meet as All-Stars NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With the first pick in the 2014 NBA All-Star fantasy draft ... ''I'd go with LeBron,'' Toronto's DeMar DeRozan said. ''I'll take KD,'' said Cleveland's Kyrie Irving. That's how close it is right now between LeBron James and Kevin Durant. They are the very best of the NBA's best, both so talented that even guys who play against them every night have trouble deciding which one they think is better. ''I think it's almost a situation where you have 1A and 1B, because both give you so many different things out on the court,'' Minnesota's Kevin Love said. ''1A, 1B,'' agreed Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs, who were knocked out of the playoffs by Durant two years ago and James last year. ''As journalists you're always going to try to choose, but me as a basketball player and playing against them, they're both great.'' James was the MVP of the game in 2008, the last time the NBA's All-Star weekend came to New Orleans. These days, he's the MVP of most seasons, winning four of the last five awards. But King James might be giving up the throne this time, with multiple players believing Durant will emerge with his first MVP award this season. ''I think it's ultimately going to be KD and LeBron, and KD's team is No. 1 in the West right now,'' Portland's Damian Lillard said. ''He's getting 40 every night and flirting with a triple-double, so I think if they had to pick an MVP right now it would be KD.'' But MVP is decided by a media panel. Nobody voting for that ever shares the floor with James or Durant. What about somebody like Carmelo Antho- ny, who plays the same position, is sandwiched between them at No. 2 in the scoring race, and has teamed with both on the U.S. Olympic team? ''As far as Durant, he's a hell of a scorer, great scorer, gets better every year in all facets of his game. Never seen somebody his height shoot the ball the way he's capable of shooting the ball,'' Anthony said. ''Then you look on the flip side with LeBron, you have somebody who's so powerful, so athletic, can do so many things, can change a game in so many dif- ferent ways throughout the course of a game. So going up against those two guys, it's a totally differ- ent mindset, game plan, focus that you have to have because it's coming at you from a lot of different ways.'' James has been considered the game's best player for a while now, having moved past Kobe Bryant. Durant was the sensational scorer — he's on his way to a fourth scoring title in five years — but without the full array of skills that James possessed. But even with his 26.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game, James isn't the only guy filling up every stat category. Besides his 31.5 points per game, Durant is also averaging 7.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists. Love said James is like ''Old Faithful,'' because ''you know what he's going to give you,'' and added that ''at this point it's going to be very tough to pass him'' as the best player in the world. But he seems in the Durant category when it comes to the MVP ballot. ''I have to say with what Kevin Durant is doing at this point, it's pretty unbelievable,'' he said. ''Scoring the ball at such a high clip, and then you look at the stat sheet and he's filling it up in other categories as well. His team is winning, and LeBron is having a great year, but it just seems like what KD has done has been pretty unbelievable.'' James caused a stir this week when he said he believed he'd go down as one of the top four players in history during an interview with NBA TV that will air Monday. Yet even as he looks toward his place in the future, he seems aware his status at the present could be in jeopardy. ''LeBron for a few years has known Kevin Durant has been coming as a player,'' said Dwyane Wade, James' teammate in Miami. ''He wants to be the best, one of the greatest of all- time and he knows that this young guy is coming and he's trying to protect his turf.'' Durant sent a loud statement when the Thunder routed the Heat in Miami during his incredible scor- ing run of 12 straight games with 30 or more points. He scores so easily that even other guys who can fill it up are in awe, and Irving said he'd pick Durant at No. 1 in part because of what Durant could do for his own stats. ''It's an easy assist,'' Irving said. ''Going up the floor, he's shooting from everywhere now. So you just throw him the ball. He's on fire.'' But everyone already knew Durant could score. It's the way he has added to his game while leading Oklahoma City to the league's best record even with- out the injured Russell Westbrook that has put him in the discussion with James. James has two straight NBA titles, beating Durant in the first one, and that might be the tiebreaker over the ringless Durant. And it appears now a tiebreaker may indeed be necessary. ''There's not one you can really just put over the other right now at this moment. It's a tight race,'' Atlanta's Paul Millsap said. ''It all depends on what you're looking for, to be honest with you.'' Tehama Tracker Satuday's schedule WRESTLING Sac-River League Championships Northern Athletic League Championships at Corning, 9 a.m. Sunday's schedule NBA All-Star Game, 5 p.m. Sports on TV Saturday AUTO RACING 7:30 a.m. FS1 — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, practice for Daytona 500, part I, at Day- tona Beach, Fla. 10:30 a.m. FS1 — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, practice for Daytona 500, part II, at Day- tona Beach, Fla. 1:15 p.m. FS1 — ARCA, Lucas Oil 200, at Daytona Beach, Fla. 5 p.m. FS1 — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, Sprint Unlimited, at Daytona Beach, Fla. GOLF 10 a.m. TGC — PGA Tour, Northern Trust Open, third round, at Pacific Palisades, Calif. Noon CBS — PGA Tour, Northern Trust Open, third round, at Pacific Palisades, Calif. TGC — Champions Tour, ACE Group Classic, second round, at Naples, Fla. 2 p.m. TGC — LPGA, Women's Aus- tralian Open, third round, at Cheltenham, Australia (same-day tape) 2:30 a.m. TGC — European PGA Tour, Africa Open, final round, at East London, South Africa MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 8 a.m. ESPNU — Saint Joseph's at La Salle 9 a.m. ESPN — Memphis at UConn ESPN2 — Virginia at Clemson 10 a.m. CBS — Pittsburgh at North Car- olina ESPNU — Iowa at Penn St. 11 a.m. ESPN — VCU at Saint Louis ESPN2 — Oklahoma at Oklahoma State Noon ESPNU — Houston at Cincinnati 1 p.m. ESPN — Teams TBA ESPN2 — Teams TBA FOX — Xavier at Marquette 2 p.m. ESPNU — LSU at Arkansas 3 p.m. ESPN — Maryland at Duke ESPN2 — Georgia St. at Troy 4 p.m. ESPNU — Kansas St. at Baylor 5 p.m. ESPN2 — BYU at Saint Mary's (Cal) 6 p.m. ESPN — Florida at Kentucky ESPNU — N. Iowa at Missouri St. 8 p.m. ESPNU — San Francisco at Santa Clara MEN'S COLLEGE HOCKEY 5 p.m. NBCSN — Wisconsin at Ohio St. NBA BASKETBALL 5:30 p.m. TNT — Exhibition, Shooting Stars, Skills Challenge, Three-Point Con- test, and Slam Dunk, at New Orleans WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 9 a.m. FSN — Middle Tenn. at FAU WINTER OLYMPICS At Sochi, Russia All events taped unless noted as Live NBC 3 p.m. Women's Short Track - 1500 Gold Medal Final; Women's Cross-Country - 4x5km Relay Gold Medal Final; Men's Skeleton - Gold Medal Final Runs 8 p.m. Women's Alpine Skiing - Super-G Gold Medal Final; Men's Short Track - 1000 Gold Medal Final; Men's Speed- skating - 1500 Gold Medal Final; Men's Ski Jumping - Individual K-125 Large Hill Gold Medal Final 12 Mid. Women's Curling - United States vs. Sweden NBCSN 4 a.m. Men's Hockey - United States vs. Russia (LIVE) 7 a.m. Men's Skeleton - Gold Medal Final Runs (LIVE) 9 a.m. Men's Hockey - Switzerland vs. Czech Republic (LIVE) 3 p.m. Game of the Day: Hockey 12 Mid. Men's Curling - United States vs. Canada 2 a.m. Men's Cross-Country - 4x10km Relay Gold Medal Final (LIVE) MSNBC 4:30 a.m. Women's Hockey - Quarterfinal, Switzerland vs. Russia (LIVE) 2 a.m. Women's Curling - United States vs. Canada (LIVE) CNBC 5 p.m. Women's Curling - United States vs. Sweden USA 9 a.m. Men's Hockey - Sweden vs. Latvia (LIVE) 12 Mid. Men's Hockey - Austria vs. Nor- way (LIVE) Sunday AUTO RACING 10 a.m. FOX — NASCAR, Sprint Cup, pole qualifying for Daytona 500, at Day- tona Beach, Fla. GOLF 10 a.m. TGC — PGA Tour, Northern Trust Open, final round, at Pacific Palisades, Calif. Noon CBS — PGA Tour, Northern Trust Open, final round, at Pacific Palisades, Calif. TGC — Champions Tour, ACE Group Classic, final round, at Naples, Fla. 2 p.m. TGC — LPGA, Women's Aus- tralian Open, final round, at Cheltenham, Australia (same-day tape) MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 10 a.m. CBS — Wisconsin at Michigan Noon FS1 — Oregon St. at Oregon 2 p.m. FS1 — Villanova at Creighton 3 p.m. ESPN2 — Rutgers at Louisville ESPNU — Notre Dame at Boston Col- lege 4 p.m. FS1 — Georgetown at St. John's 5 p.m. ESPNU — Colorado at Southern Cal MEN'S COLLEGE LACROSSE 4 p.m. NBCSN — Moe's Southwest Grill Classic, at Jacksonville, Fla. NBA BASKETBALL 5 p.m. TNT — All-Star Game, at New Orleans SOCCER 5:30 a.m. FS1 — FA CUP, round five, Swansea City at Everton WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 10 a.m. ESPN — Kentucky at Tennessee ESPN2 — Teams TBA FS1 — Baylor at Texas 12:30 p.m. ESPN2 — Teams TBA WINTER OLYMPICS At Sochi, Russia All events taped unless noted as Live NBC 3 p.m. Men's Cross-Country - 4x10km Relay Gold Medal Final; Women's Snow- boarding - Snowboard Cross Competition 7 p.m. Figure Skating - Ice Dancing Short Dance; Men's Alpine Skiing - Super-G Gold Medal Final; Women's Snowboard- ing - Snowboard Cross Gold Medal Final; Women's Speedskating - 1500 Gold Medal Final; Two-Man Bobsled - Compe- tition 11:35 p.m. Men's Biathlon - 15km Mass Start Gold Medal Final NBCSN 4:15 a.m. Men's Hockey - Slovenia vs. United States (LIVE) 7 a.m. Figure Skating - Ice Dancing Short Dance (LIVE) 2 p.m. Men's Biathlon - 15km Mass Start Gold Medal Final 2 p.m. Game of the Day: Hockey 3 a.m. Women's Curling - United States vs. South Korea CNBC 4 p.m. Men's Curling - United States vs. Sweden USA 4:30 a.m. Men's Hockey - Russia vs. Slo- vakia (LIVE) 9 a.m. Men's Hockey - Finland vs. Cana- da (LIVE) 2 a.m. Men's Curling - United States vs. Switzerland (LIVE) Monday BOXING 7 p.m. FS1 — Champion Paul Mendez (14-2-2) vs. Raul Casarez (20-4-0), for IBA Continental middleweight title; feath- erweights, Manuel Avila (13-0-0) vs. Enrique Quevedo (15-6-1), at Salinas, Calif. MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 4 p.m. ESPN — North Carolina at Florida St. NBCSN — Delaware at Towson 6 p.m. ESPN — Oklahoma St. at Baylor ESPNU — MVSU at Southern WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 4 p.m. ESPN2 — Maryland at Duke WINTER OLYMPICS At Sochi, Russia All events taped unless noted as Live NBC 3 p.m. Women's Biathlon - 12.5km Mass Start Gold Medal Final; Men's Snow- boarding - Cross Competition; Men's Freestyle Skiing - Aerials Competition 8 p.m. Figure Skating - Ice Dancing Gold Medal Final; Men's Snowboarding - Cross Gold Medal Final; Men's Freestyle Skiing - Aerials Gold Medal Final; Men's Ski Jumping - Team K-125 Large Hill Gold Medal Final 1:01 a.m. Two-Man Bobsled - Gold Medal Final Runs NBCSN 4 a.m. Women's Hockey - Semifinal, Unit- ed States vs. Finland-Sweden winner (LIVE) 7 a.m. Figure Skating - Ice Dancing Gold Medal Final (LIVE) 10:30 a.m. Men's Ski Jumping - Team K- 125 Large Hill Gold Medal Final (LIVE); Women's Biathlon - 12.5km Mass Start Gold Medal Final 2 p.m. Game of the Day: Hockey 12 Mid. Men's Hockey - Elimination Round (LIVE) 5:30 a.m. Men's Nordic Combined - Indi- vidual K-125 Large Hill, Ski Jumping MSNBC 9 a.m. Women's Hockey - Semifinal, Canada vs. Switzerland-Russia winner (LIVE) CNBC 5 p.m. Women's Curling - Denmark vs. Britain Hanyu wins men's Olympic gold SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Yuzuru Hanyu made it difficult on himself before coming through to win Japan's first gold medal in Olympic men's figure skating Friday night at the Sochi Games. Not only did Hanyu fall on his opening jump, a quad sal- chow, but he also crashed on his third, a triple flip. That left plenty of room for Canada's Patrick Chan to skate through to the top of the podium, but he made three errors in a watered-down program to finish second. Canada has never won the event, either. Kazakhstan's Denis Ten, the world silver medalist, won bronze in Sochi in a final that was a two-man showdown between Hanyu, now the first Asian man to win an Olympic title, and three-time world champion Chan. Neither of the top two performed close to his peak on a second consecutive night of competition. Most skaters appeared fatigued, particularly at the end of their 4 1-2- minute free skate routines. It was one of the sloppiest men's Olympic programs in memory. ''I thought the gold medal was not in my hands,'' Hanyu said. Chan skated directly after Hanyu with a chance to do what such renowned Canadian men as Donald Jackson, Kurt Browning, Elvis Stojko and his own coach, Brian Orser, could not. But he wasn't sharp either, and the differ- ence at the end was pretty much Hanyu's nearly 4-point margin carried over from Thursday's short program. ''I had that chance and it slipped out of my hands,'' Chan said. When the 19-year-old Hanyu finished, kneeling, he laid two hands on the ice for a long time, thinking he had blown it. ''I was so nervous and I was so tired,'' he said. ''But I was surprised (to win). I was not happy with my program.'' Orser told him not to fret, that the competition wasn't over. And when Chan came up short, as nearly every man did in the free skate, the gold was headed to Japan. Asked if he thought he would win, Hanyu shook his head. ''No, I was so sad,'' he said. But he was thrilled when the final results were posted, and he skated around the rink draped in a Japanese flag after the flower ceremony. Around the Iceberg rink were about two dozen banners supporting him and the Japanese team. ''I visualized this evening as one great skate after anoth- er,'' said Orser, who coached Yuna Kim to the women's gold in Vancouver. ''It kind of didn't happen. It was one of those things. Nobody got the momentum going.'' Ten, coached by Frank Carroll, who helped Evan Lysacek win the 2010 gold medal, surged from ninth to third with a busy free skate that include three spot-on com- bination jumps. It is Kazakhstan's first Olympic figure skat- ing medal. ''This medal is my gift to my country,'' said Ten, 20. ''I hope this is not the highest achievement of my life.'' American Jason Brown, 19, of Highland Park, Ill., fell from sixth to ninth, earning no points for a triple loop at the end of his program because of a previous false takeoff that was counted as a jump. ''I went out there and just performed and where I ended up is where I ended up,'' Brown said, ''but I'm so proud to be in that top 10.'' Four-time U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott, of Aspen, Colo., rallied from 15th to 12th place. Javier Fernandez, seeking Spain's first Olympic figure skating medal, struggled and fell from third to fourth. He repeated a triple salchow without putting it in a combina- tion, costing him precious points. Japan's Daisuke Takahashi, the 2010 bronze medalist and among the most popular skaters in the event — there were Dice-K signs throughout his rooting section — had a flawed if gorgeously choreographed program to a Beatles medley. He finished sixth, one spot behind countryman Tat- suki Machida. That gave Japan half of the top six finishers, spectacular for a nation that until 2010 never stepped on the men's podi- um. Not on the ice, of course, was Russian star Evgeni Plushenko. He dropped out before the short program on Thursday night with a back injury.