Shaquille O'Neal shot 7-for-9 and finished with 16 points in his Miami debut on Wednesday as the Heat took a 100-77 victory over the New Jersey Nets.
It was anything but a dominant debut in black for O'Neal, who was acquired over the summer from the Los Angeles Lakers for three starters and a first-round draft pick.
PHOTO: AFP
"I was ordered to be 100 percent when I came back, but I haven't been 100 percent in about 10 years," O'Neal said.
O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning both had successful nights: O'Neal because his team won; Mourning because the former Miami center was able to play less than a year after undergoing a kidney transplant.
Mourning finished with seven points, five rebounds and four fouls in 14 minutes for a gutted Nets team that's a shadow of the squad that reached the NBA Finals two of the past three years.
Former starters Kenyon Martin and Kerry Kittles were traded for draft picks over the summer, and Jason Kidd is beginning the season on the injured list after undergoing knee surgery.
Richard Jefferson had 19 points to lead New Jersey.
O'Neal had only six points and three rebounds in the first half, missing his first shot, making his next three and missing his last.
"It went better than I thought it would go," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. "But I'm not going to go crazy on the superlatives after one game."
Magic 93, Bucks 92In Orlando, Florida, Steve Francis hit the game-winning basket with two-tenths of a second remaining and finished with 26 points as the new-look Orlando edged Mil-waukee.
Grant Hill, in his first regular-season action since Jan. 16, last year, scored 20 points. Top draft pick Dwight Howard had 12 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
On the final possession, Hill inbounded from the left to Francis at the top of the arc. Francis beat Mo Williams on the turn to the basket and got the shot off despite being fouled.
The buzzer sounded as the shot fell, and the Magic celebrated. After a brief review, the officials let the shot stand but reset the clock and brought the Magic back out for Francis' free throw. Francis intentionally missed the foul shot, and time expired.
Timberwolves 99, Knicks 93
In Minneapolis, Kevin Garnett began his quest to repeat as league-most-valuable player with 28 points and 20 rebounds to lead Minnesota past New York.
Latrell Sprewell, whose complaints about his lack of a contract extension were the talk of the town this week, had 10 points against his former team. Sam Cassell added 19 points and 11 assists for the Timberwolves.
Stephon Marbury, also up against his old club, led the Knicks with 27 points. Jamal Crawford, in his first game with New York since arriving from Chicago in a summer trade, capably filled Allan Houston's spot in the starting lineup with 22 points on 10-for-23 shooting.
Raptors 95, Rockets 88
In Toronto, Chris Bosh had 20 points and Toronto handed Tracy McGrady and Houston their second straight loss.
McGrady scored 21 points, but only two after the third quarter; and Yao Ming finished with 17 points.
Vince Carter, who asked for a trade this summer, added 16 points and six assists for the Raptors to help Sam Mitchell win in his first game as Toronto's coach.
76ers 98, Celtics 95
In Boston, Allen Iverson scored 30 points, five of them during an 11-0 fourth-quarter run when Phil-adelphia took the lead and held off Boston.
Former Celtics coach Jim O'Brien returned to Boston with the Sixers.
Paul Pierce had 35 points and 13 rebounds, but missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that could have tied it. Gary Payton, making his Boston debut, had six points and eight assists and missed a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute with the Celtics trailing by 3.
Boston made one basket over the final 7:45 of the game.
Pacers 109, Cavaliers 104, 2OT
In Cleveland, Ron Artest scored 31 points, and Jamaal Tinsley added 15 points and 14 assists as Indiana opened the season with a win over Cleveland.
Artest didn't decide to play on a sore right knee until shortly before tipoff, and then gave the Pacers everything he had, adding nine rebounds in 50 minutes.
The Pacers were without starters Jermaine O'Neal, Reggie Miller and Jeff Foster.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 35 points and 18 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who were unable to take advantage of Indiana's injuries. LeBron James added 28 points, eight assists and five rebounds.
Wizards 103, Grizzlies 91
In Memphis, Tennessee, Antawn Jamison scored 34 points as Washington beat Memphis in the first regular-season game at the new FedExForum.
Juan Dixon had 28 points and Jarvis Hayes added 20 points and nine rebounds for the Wizards, who outscored Memphis 32-11 in the third quarter to take control.
Bonzi Wells led Memphis with 19 points.
Mavericks 106, Hornets 91
In New Orleans, Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley and Jerry Stack-house helped Dallas ruin Byron Scott's coaching debut with New Orleans.
All three scored 19 points, and Dallas had three other players reach double figures.
Baron Davis led the Hornets with 25 points, and Jamaal Magloire and David Wesley added 11 each.
Spurs 101, Kings 85
In San Antonio, Tim Duncan scored 30 points and Brent Barry made three 3-pointers in his debut with San Antonio.
Manu Ginobili finished with 24 points, and Barry had 16 on 6-for-9 shooting. Duncan had 14 rebounds, and Rasho Nesterovic added 12 boards.
The Spurs improved to 8-0 in season openers since Duncan joined the team in 1997.
Mike Bibby scored 23 points for Sacramento, which lost for the second time in two nights in Texas. Chris Webber scored 18 points and Peja Stojakovic had 15 for Sacramento.
Suns 112, Hawks 82
In Phoenix, Amare Stoudemire had 18 of his 23 points in the first half to help Phoenix down Atlanta.
Stoudemire also had eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Joe Johnson scored 17 and Steve Nash had 12 points in his Suns debut. Shawn Marion added 10 points and nine boards.
Yuta Tabuse entered the game with 10 minutes left to become the first Japanese-born player to play in an NBA game. The point guard scored seven points, including 3 that put Phoenix up 100-64 with 4:58 to play.
Antoine Walker scored 21 points on 9-of-22 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds for Atlanta. Al Harrington added 13 points but made just four of 16 shots in an ugly head coaching debut for Atlanta's Mike Woodson.
Trail Blazers 78, Warriors 75
In Oakland, California, Nick Van Exel scored 13 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to help Portland beat his former team.
Mike Dunleavy missed two 3-pointers in the final seven seconds, including one at the buzzer, spoiling the NBA debut of Warriors coach Mike Montgomery.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim added 18 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Blazers.
Zach Randolph, who signed a US$84 million, six-year contract extension on Monday, had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Portland.
Dunleavy led the rebuilt Warriors with 17 points. Troy Murphy had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Clippers 114, SuperSonics 84
In Los Angeles, Bobby Simmons scored a career-high 30 points and the Los Angeles Clippers routed Seattle to win its season opener for the first time in eight years.
The win also was the most lopsided in an opener in franchise history for the Clippers. Their previous most one-sided victory to start a season was a 133-112 win over Milwaukee in 1976, when the Clippers were the Buffalo Braves.
Elton Brand added 21 points, Corey Maggette 18 and Chris Wilcox 15 for Los Angeles, which opened the game with an 8-0 burst and stayed in front the rest of the way.
Rashard Lewis led Seattle with 24 points. Ray Allen and Vladimir Radmanovic added 20 points apiece.
Jazz 104, Lakers 78
In Salt Lake City, Carlos Boozer had 27 points and 11 rebounds in his Utah debut, Andrei Kirilenko added 16 points and eight blocks and the Jazz opened the season with a win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Matt Harpring finished with 23 points and seven rebounds, and Keith McLeod had eight assists -- one more than the Lakers -- in his first NBA start.
Kobe Bryant led Los Angeles with 38 points, and Lamar Odom finishing with 14. Los Angeles shot just 20-for-68 from the floor (29.4 percent) and never recovered after scoring only 13 in the first quarter.
The Lakers opened the season the night before with an 89-78 win over Denver.
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