Toybox - 050211

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SPORTS 8B Monday, May 2, 2011 Brainerd Dispatch | www.brainerddispatch.com Limited-Time Section! Se Laura Ellingson 218-855-5823

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SPORTS8B Monday, May 2, 2011 Brainerd Dispatch | www.brainerddispatch.com

Limited-TimeSection!Se

Laura Ellingson • 218-855-5823

NBA PLAYOFFS

MIAMI (AP) — Dwyane Wadeknew his regular-season numbersagainst Boston were lacking.

He also knew that wouldn’t matterin the playoffs.

And Game 1 — which seemedmore like Round 1 — of what’salready an emotionally charged serieswent to Wade and the Miami Heat.

Wade scored 38 points on 14 of 21shooting, James Jones set a Miamipostseason record with 25 points offthe bench, and the Heat beat theCeltics 99-90 on Sunday to open theirEastern Conference semifinal series.

“It’s a big game. It’s Game 1, athome,” Wade said. “You’ve got to takecare of home court. These guys expectthis from me. I wasn’t giving it tothem in the regular season versusthem and I wanted to come out todayand be a leader.”

LeBron James finished with 22points, six rebounds and five assistsfor Miami, which led by as many as 19before a fiery finish that saw plenty ofplayers jawing at each other — morethan that in some cases. Paul Piercewas ejected with 7 minutes left, afterpicking up two technicals in skirmish-es with Wade and Jones within a spanof 59 seconds.

Ray Allen scored 25 points forBoston, which lost for the first time infive games this postseason. Piercescored 19 and Delonte West finishedwith 10 for the Celtics, while RajonRondo and Kevin Garnett were heldto a combined 14 points on 6-for-19shooting.

Game 2 is Tuesday in Miami.It was physical throughout, with

West earning a technical andJermaine O’Neal picking up a fla-

grant foul along the way, before thingsreally got hot in the fourth. Piercetook offense with a hard foul by Jones,each getting double-technicals there,and Pierce and Wade — who have abit of history — renewed acquaintanc-es not long after that.

Referee Ed Malloy called both fordouble-technicals, and Pierce wasscreaming as he departed.

The Celtics tried to rally. Allenmade a 3-pointer to get within 90-82,but Chris Bosh and Wade hadMiami’s next two baskets, restoring adouble-digit lead that wasn’t againthreatened.

“Every game is going to go likethis,” Wade said. “We look forward tothe challenge.”

Wade averaged 12.8 points on 28percent shooting against the Celticsin four regular-season matchups, hisworst numbers in both categoriesagainst any opponent this season.

Whatever wasn’t working then,well, it was fixed for Game 1.

He had nine field goals and 23points by halftime — while the entireBoston starting five combined foreight field goals and 21 points in thefirst 24 minutes. He had a steal to setup Mario Chalmers’ layup with 0.1seconds left in the first quarter thatput Miami up 20-14, and added amore spectacular buzzer-beater nearhalftime.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra wanteda 20-second timeout to set up the finalpossession of the half, only to get over-ruled — surely without complaint,either. Wade waved it off, then keptwaving his arm to clear his team-mates away, setting up a drive pastWest for a bank shot with 0.8 ticks

remaining that put Miami ahead 51-36 at the break.

Boston was completely out of sorts,perhaps rusty from sitting around fora week after sweeping the New YorkKnicks, and partly because Miami’sdefense bottled up everything theCeltics tried. Rondo was on the benchwith three fouls for the final 11 min-utes of the half, and the Celtics missed20 of their first 26 shots from the field.

And then there was the James fac-tor — Jones, that is.

He drew Rondo’s third foul on aplay where he ended up sprawled outunder the Boston basket, grabbing hislower back and writhing in pain.Jones inflicted hurt the rest of thequarter, shooting 4 for 5 from 3-pointrange in the second period alone.

Grizzlies 114, Thunder 101OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Zach

Randolph had 34 points and 10rebounds, Marc Gasol added 20 pointsand 13 boards, and Memphis over-powered Oklahoma City inside in theopening game of the WesternConference semifinals.

Just as they did in a first-roundupset of top-seeded San Antonio,Randolph and Gasol provided enoughpunch to give eighth-seeded Memphisa road victory in Game 1.

Randolph and Gasol each scored 20points in the same regular-seasongame only once this season, but did itin Game 1 against the Spurs andagain to negate the Thunder’s home-court advantage right from the start.

Kevin Durant led the Thunderwith 33 points and 11 rebounds.Russell Westbrook scored 29.

Bulls’ Thibodeau is Coach of the YearDEERFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Tom Thibodeau waited

about two decades to become an NBA head coach. Itdidn’t take him long to be recognized as one of the bestonce he got the chance.

Thibodeau is the NBA’s Coach of the Year after lead-ing the Chicago Bulls to 62 wins in his first season totie a league record set by Paul Westphal.

The Chicago Tribune first reported Thibodeau’sselection, which was no surprise the way the Bullsdominated during the regular season. Now, after atough five-game series against Indiana in the openinground, they’ll open the Eastern Conference semifinalsagainst Atlanta on Monday.

“After being here for a year, I realize how fortunate Iam to be here,” Thibodeau said. “It’s a great city, greatfans, great organization, great players, and if it meantwaiting 20 years to get this job, it was well worth thewait.”

Center Joakim Noah said Thibodeau was “very welldeserving” of the award and called him “one of thehardest workers I’ve ever been around.

“He stays in late,” Noah added. “He’s the first onehere. He was there for me all summer working me out.I felt like I really improved as a player because of him.”

Thibodeau received 475 points and 76 first-placevotes from a media panel. Philadelphia’s Doug Collinsgot 18 first-place votes and 210 points, and GreggPopovich of San Antonio finished third.

An NBA assistant for about two decades, Thibodeaufinally got his chance to lead a team after spendingthree seasons working for Doc Rivers in Boston. He isthe fourth Chicago coach to win the award, joiningJohnny Kerr (1967), Dick Motta (1971) and PhilJackson (1996).

“I think I was very fortunate to have great jobsalong the way, to be with great teams,” he said. “Ialways felt deep down that it would happen. I neverdoubted that it would happen. I knew I had to bepatient. I recognized that these jobs were hard to get,and I was hopeful that I would get a chance. Then, Iwanted to make the most of it.”

He replaced the fired Vinny Del Negro in June, andwith a rebuilt roster to go with an emphasis on defenseand rebounding, the Bulls breezed to a 62-20 markthat matched their best record since Michael Jordanand Scottie Pippen completed their second champi-onship three-peat at the end of the 1997-98 season.

Game 1 goes to Wade, Heat