LeBron James received his long-awaited NBA championship ring on Tuesday, then he and the Miami Heat launched their bid for another with a season-opening 120-107 victory over the Boston Celtics.
While the Heat were busy signaling their intentions of maintaining their supremacy, the revamped Los Angeles Lakers failed to fire in a 99-91 loss to an injury-depleted Dallas Mavericks.
Defensive force Dwight Howard, who arrived as part of a four-team trade in August, had 19 points and 10 rebounds, but fouled out and was a dismal three-of-14 from the foul line on his Lakers debut.
Photo: AFP
Steve Nash, a two-time Most Valuable Player also acquired in the off-season, finished with seven points and four assists.
Pau Gasol led the Lakers with 23 points and Kobe Bryant, playing despite a sore foot that had kept him out of practice for nearly a week, added 22, but they could not stop a Mavericks team missing German star Dirk Nowitzki, who is still recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery.
Darren Collison tallied 17 points, Elton Brand had eight points and 11 rebounds, while O.J. Mayo added 12 points for the Mavericks.
Miami were in celebratory mood, with players receiving their rings and fans cheering as they raised the title banner to the rafters.
The Celtics did their best to spoil the party, but the star triumvirate of James — who missed much of the fourth quarter with leg cramps — Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh along with newly acquired former Celtic Ray Allen proved too much for Boston.
James scored 26 points with 10 rebounds, Wade added 29 points, Bosh scored 19 with 10 rebounds, while Allen chipped in 19 against his former team.
“King” James is coming off a spectacular season, earning the Most Valuable Player honor in the regular season as well as in the NBA Finals triumph over Oklahoma City, before helping the US Olympic team win gold in London.
He departed the game late in the third quarter with cramps, returned early in the fourth and made a long-range jump shot to give the Heat their biggest lead of the night, then exited again.
“Once you start cramping, there’s nothing you can do about it,” James said.
After James’ jump shot gave Miami a 95-76 lead in the fourth quarter, the Celtics responded by cutting the deficit to four.
Brazilian Leandro Barbosa scored all 16 of his points during Boston’s run, while Courtney Lee, like Barbosa an off-season arrival, trimmed the margin to 111-107 with a layup.
Paul Pierce scored 23 points and Rajon Rondo added 20 points and 13 assists for Boston, but the Heat’s suffocating defense held the Celtics without a point over the final 2 minutes, 9 seconds.
“It was good to cap this night off with a win,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It was an emotional time for all of us in the organization, but our guys did a very good job of compartmentalizing and we turned the switch as soon as we went to warm-ups.”
Not all of the night’s emotion was of the feel-good variety.
Wade was angered by a late foul by Rondo, who seized Wade around the neck in a move Wade called a “punk play.”
Only one other game was on the opening night schedule, with the Cleveland Cavaliers holding on for a 94-84 victory over the Washington Wizards.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS