Miami look confident in win; Lakers fail to fire

TIM REYNOLDS

Last updated 19:19 31/10/2012

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GOING FOR THE HooP: Paul Pierce #34 of the Boston Celtics lays the ball up past Rashard Lewis #9 of the Miami Heat

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LeBron James scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while missing much of the second half with leg cramps as the NBA champion Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics 120-107 in the season-opener for both teams.

Dwyane Wade scored 29 points and Ray Allen, in his first game with Miami since leaving Boston over the summer, and Chris Bosh each added 19 points for the Heat.

Miami handed out its championship rings and raised the banner commemorating last season in a pre-game ceremony replete with an indoor fireworks show.

Paul Pierce scored 23 points, Rajon Rondo finished with 20 points and 13 assists, and Leandro Barbosa scored 16 for Boston.

In the first game of the season, Cleveland opened with a 94-84 win over the short-handed Wizards and the Mavericks later had a 99-91 win against the Lankers.

Darren Collison scored 17 points and Brandan Wright added 14 as Dallas spoiled the Lakers debuts of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash.

OJ Mayo had 12 points as the revamped Mavericks pulled off a stunner in their opener, comfortably beating the star-studded Lakers without any help from injured Dirk Nowitzki.

Kobe Bryant scored 22 points while playing on an injured right foot, but the Lakers opened a season of enormous expectations with a dud of a performance.

Howard had 19 points and 10 rebounds while missing 11 of his 14 free throws before fouling out with 2:02 to play.

Nash managed just seven points and four assists with seemingly little to do in the Lakers' new offensive scheme.
Pau Gasol had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Lakers.

At Cleveland, Kyrie Irving scored 29 points and Anderson Varejao had a career-high 23 rebounds for the Cavaliers.

Rookie Dion Waiters added 17 points for the Cavs, who led by 16 in the third quarter but needed big plays from

Irving and Varejao in the final minutes to hold off the Wizards. Varejao had a career-high nine assists, two setting up dunks by Tristan Thompson in the last two minutes.

Jordan Crawford scored 11 points to lead the Wizards, who were without star point guard John Wall, power forward Nene and forward Kevin Seraphin.

Wall is expected to be out until late-November with a knee injury.

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- AP