Celtics handle Pacers
Raef LaFrentz connected from the outside, his teammates dominated inside and the Boston Celtics ran all over the Indiana Pacers.
LaFrentz set a club playoff record by hitting all five of his 3-pointers and the scrappy Celtics rolled over the slower Pacers 102-82 Saturday night in their playoff opener at Boston.
Boston will host Game 2 on Monday night in the best-of-seven rematch of its first-round series the past two years. Last season, Indiana swept the series, with an average winning margin of 14.2 points.
On Saturday night, it was the Celtics who got the lopsided victory after a horrible start in which they missed 12 of their first 13 shots and trailed 12-6. But they hit 20 of their 31 shots the rest of the half, outscored the Pacers 39-11 in the second quarter and led 57-31 at intermission.
The closest Indiana came after that was 99-81 on Eddie Gill’s layup with 2:45 to play.
LaFrentz led the Celtics with 21 points and broke the record for 3-pointers set by Scott Wedman in Game 1 of the 1985 NBA finals, won by the Los Angeles Lakers. Gary Payton had 14 points and Antoine Walker and Ricky Davis added 13 each.
Boston outscored Indiana 40-22 in the lane.
The Pacers were led by Stephen Jackson with 25 points and Austin Croshere with 10. Reggie Miller, who plans to retire after this season, and Jermaine O’Neal had only seven each for Indiana.
Rockets 98, Mavericks 86
The jaw-dropping baskets by Tracy McGrady were expected. The clutch baskets by Mike James and Jon Barry? Well, that’s why McGrady feels so good about his chances of finally winning a playoff series.
McGrady scored the majority of his 34 points during the first three quarters to help the Houston Rockets build a big lead, then James and Barry helped protect the shrinking margin in the final period, preserving a 98-86 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the first-round series on Saturday in Dallas.
McGrady’s early heroics, highlighted by a long 3-pointer with the shot clock about to expire and Dirk Nowitzki’s hand in his face, helped Houston take a 19-point lead early in the second quarter. The Rockets were up by double-digits until the closing minutes of the third, then Dallas got to 75-71 with 9:16 left.
James finished with 16 points, and Barry had 8. Nowitzki led Dallas with 21.
Game 2 is Monday night in Dallas.
Pistons 106, 76ers 85
For the first time since the season opener, Rasheed Wallace strutted into The Palace with the boxing-style championship belts he had made for the Detroit Pistons. Then the demonstrative forward showed how he plans to help the Pistons defend their title.
Wallace scored 24 of his 29 points in the second half at Auburn Hills, Mich., helping Detroit pull away from the Philadelphia 76ers 106-85 in the first game of the NBA playoffs.
“There’s no pressure on us. Most of the attention is on Miami and San Antonio,” he said. “We like being on the back burner.”
The Pistons went from Eastern Conference contenders to champions after dealing reserves and No. 1 picks for Wallace just before the trading deadline last season. He gave the Pistons just what they needed with his inside-outside scoring, defense and swagger.
“You’ve got to know Sheed to know the intangibles he brings,” said Philadelphia’s Chris Webber, a former teammate of Wallace’s. “You can tell what a difference he makes on their team.”
Allen Iverson had 30 points and 10 assists and Webber scored 27, but that wasn’t nearly enough for the Sixers.
“We played one quarter of basketball,” Iverson said. “That’s not enough to beat nobody.”
Ben Wallace tied a Pistons playoff record with seven blocks and had seven points and 10 rebounds.
Detroit will host Game 2 on Tuesday.