The Boston Celtics blasted the Chicago Bulls 118-90 on Friday to maintain their unbeaten start to the new NBA season.
Paul Pierce and Eddie House each scored 22 points while Ray Allen contributed 20 as the Celtics improved to 3-0.
The meeting was a rematch of the epic seven-game series between the teams in the first round of last year’s playoffs.
PHOTO: AFP
Boston outscored the Bulls 67-44 over the second and third quarters to seize control.
“We buckled down on defense and offensively took our time,” Allen told reporters. “When we have [our bench playing well] it takes a lot of pressure off of us and other teams don’t know where our attack is coming from. We definitely like the way we look right now.”
Joakim Noah had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Jannero Pargo had 13 points for the Bulls, who appeared sluggish in their second game in as many nights.
Chicago opened the season with a 92-85 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday.
Kevin Garnett had 16 points for the Celtics as he continues his comeback from a knee injury that forced him to miss 25 games including the playoffs last year.
Boston were without their All-Star forward in last season’s playoffs matchup with the Bulls that included four overtime games before the Celtics ultimately prevailed.
At full strength this year, Boston began their campaign with an opening win over the Cleveland Cavaliers and a 92-59 blowout of the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday.
Offseason signing Rasheed Wallace has provided the team with added depth so far, and he chipped in seven points while point guard Rajon Rondo collected 16 assists and eight rebounds.
The Celtics took a 50-35 lead into halftime before stepping on the gas in the third where Pierce scored 20 and made five three-pointers.
Last season’s Rookie of the Year, Derrick Rose, had a quiet 10 points as the Bulls shot just 41 percent from the field.
MAVERICKS 94, LAKERS 80
At Los Angeles, Dirk Nowitzki scored 21 points as Dallas shot 25 of 32 from the free throw line to trounce Los Angeles for its first win of the season.
Nowitzki made 10 of 11 from the line and grabbed 10 rebounds, Shawn Marion added 18 points and Jason Terry 16 to end the Mavs’ six-game losing streak against the defending NBA champions.
Erick Dampier had 10 rebounds and Jason Kidd had 11 assists.
Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 20 points and Andrew Bynum had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
SUNS 123, WARRIORS 101
At Phoenix, Steve Nash scored 18 points and had the sixth 20-assist game of his career in Phoenix’s rout of Golden State.
All five Phoenix starters scored ina double figures, led by Leandro Barbosa’s 24 points. Channing Frye added 22, including making 6 of 7 3-pointers, four in the fourth quarter.
Monta Ellis led the Warriors with 19 points, while Kelenna Azubuike added 17.
HEAT 96, PACERS 83
At Indianapolis, Jermaine O’Neal had 22 points and 12 rebounds against his former team as Miami beat Indiana.
The Pacers traded O’Neal before last year’s season as they focused on rebuilding with younger players. Dwyane Wade scored 32 points for the Heat.
Danny Granger led the Pacers with 22 points.
CAVALIERS 104, TIMBERWOLVES 87
At Minneapolis, LeBron James scored 24 points and had nine rebounds and six assists for Cleveland to avoid his first 0-3 start in five years.
Mo Williams added 20 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskus had 11 of his 15 points in the first half and Daniel Gibson drained three 3‑pointers during a 3-minute stretch of the fourth quarter.
THUNDER 91, PISTONS 83
At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Kevin Durant scored 11 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter as Oklahoma City downed Detroit.
BOBCATS 102, KNICKS 100, 2OT
At Charlotte, North Carolina, DJ Augustin made two free throws with 2.5 seconds left in the second overtime as Charlotte recovered from blowing an 18-point, fourth-quarter lead.
In other NBA action, it was:
• Magic 95, Nets 85
• Hawks 100, Wizards 89
• Grizzlies 115, Raptors 107
• Hornets 97, Kings 92
• Jazz 111, Clippers 98
• 76ers 99, Bucks 86
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier