A late 14-0 run lifts Heat past Celtics, 102-91
With the outcome decided in the final seconds, LeBron James walked toward Mario Chalmers to begin his version of a celebration.
He playfully punched his teammate twice in the chest.
Fitting, because James and the Miami Heat have now landed two blows against the Boston Celtics .
James scored 24 of his 35 points in the second half, Dwyane Wade added 28 and the Heat used a late 14-0 run to pull away and beat the aching Celtics 102-91 in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Tuesday night.
"Feel good about it," James said. "Series is far - far, far, far - away from over. It's really just beginning for us."
James shot 14 of 25 from the field, and logged 44 minutes with no turnovers. Chris Bosh finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds for Miami, which leads the best-of-seven 2-0.
Game 3 in Boston isn't until Saturday night, and the Celtics may be particularly thankful for the break.
Rajon Rondo played through a balky back to score 20 points and add 12 assists for Boston, which got 16 points from Kevin Garnett and 13 from Paul Pierce - who retreated to the locker room for treatment on his strained left Achilles' in the first half. Ray Allen was held to seven points, and left with what he said was a bruised chest cavity courtesy of an elbow from James in the third quarter.
"Being down 2-0 doesn't scare any of us, doesn't make us nervous," Allen said. "It's just an opportunity to come out shining."
Boston tied the game at 80 on a pair of free throws by Pierce with 7:10 left. The Celtics missed their next six shots and Miami pulled away, taking command of both the game and the series.
"That's our staple. We know the only way for us to win games, especially in the playoffs, is to play defense," James said. "Everyone has each other's back. If one guy gets beat, another steps up. They made a run, a heck of a run ... but we just kept grinding, kept playing our principles, and we finally wore them down."
Jeff Green scored 11 and Delonte West added 10 for the Celtics.
Even for a franchise with such fabled history as the Celtics, an 0-2 deficit represents a colossal challenge.
This is now the ninth time Boston has dropped the first two games in a best-of-seven series. In the previous eight, the Celtics prevailed only against the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1969 NBA finals.
And it's something this group of Celtics has never faced before, either.
The last time Boston lost the first two games of a playoff matchup was in 2004, when it was swept by Indiana. The current core of Celtics had lost Game 1s four other times before this series, then bounced back to win Game 2 each time, against Chicago and Orlando in 2009, then Cleveland and the Lakers in 2010.
Not this time.
"Nothing we can do about it," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "We've got a third game and we've got to take care of that. Whatever the past is, it is. They've won two games at home. But we can't allow them to play like this, or it's going to be tough at our place."
To win this series, Boston will need to prevail four times in a five-game span - which it did in the first round against Miami last year, then again in the second round at the expense of James and the Cavaliers in the East semis. So it can be done, but neither James (7-0) nor Wade (5-0) has ever been part of a playoff series defeat after their clubs won the first two games.
"This is a great team we are going against right now," James said. "We're just trying to give ourselves a good chance to win, just try to keep on attacking them, playing as hard as we can defensively, just trying to wear them down throughout the game, but it's a great team."
That's one of the titles the Heat are trying to claim, too.
James won the MVP award in 2009 and 2010, his reign officially ending a couple hours before Tuesday's game when the NBA made the long-expected announcement that Chicago's Derrick Rose was this season's top player.
James' name did not appear on nine of the 121 ballots cast. Wade was entirely left off all but 10 of the ballots; voters were asked to rank the league's best five players.
They noticed.
"At the end of the day, we don't really play this game for individual awards," Wade said. "He has two MVP trophies, which is awesome. I have a finals MVP trophy. Our body of work speaks for itself. What we've done in this game speaks for itself."
The Celtics had more than a chance to avoid the 0-2 hole.
James scored 12 points in the third quarter, one more than he managed in the first half, to help Miami take a 72-67 cushion into the final 12 minutes. James then added the first basket of the fourth, but Boston answered with a 13-6 run over the next 4 minutes to knot the game at 80.
The outcome was undecided - momentarily.
That's when Miami's big run began, including a three-point play where James dunked and got fouled after Joel Anthony kept an offensive rebound alive. Chalmers started it all with a 3-pointer - his only points of the night - off a pass from Wade, and Miami was on its way.
"Great trust," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Jermaine O'Neal had a chance to end Boston's drought with 4:53 left, but his dunk was partially blocked by Anthony and bounced off the rim. James hit a long jumper from the left corner 17 seconds later, pushing the Heat lead to 92-80, their biggest to that point and the celebration was underway a few minutes later.
"Now the mental discipline begins," Spoelstra said. "This thing is just getting started."
Source: sportsillustrated
Lendl Simmons steers West Indies to win over Pakistan
West Indies broke their duck in the home one-day series against Pakistan with a one-run win in a rain-affected match in Barbados
The tourists, already 3-0 up in the series, made 248-9 in their 50 overs, with opener Mohammad Hafeez making 121.
After a rain interruption, West Indies faced a target of 223 off 39 overs.
Lendl Simmons hit 76 off 70 balls to see them to 154-4 in the 30th over and they were declared the winners after more rain prevented any further play.
It was the home side's first win over a team above them in the one-day rankings since June 2009, albeit one achieved with the help of the Duckworth-Lewis calculations for weather-affected matches.
And relieved skipper Darren Sammy afterwards admitted: "We needed that. We created an opportunity today and it was good to see the guys pulling us through in the end."
Opposite number Shahid Afrid was unhappy with his team's failure to reach a total of 270-275 after Hafeez, who struck three sixes and seven fours in his highest limited-overs international score, and Asad Shafiq (71) had put on 153 for the second wicket.
Tail-ender Tanvir Ahmed (18) was the only other Pakistan batsman to reach double figures, with leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo picking up 3-37 for West Indies.
The home side began their reply badly when Kirk Edwards edged the second ball of Junaid Khan's opening over to the keeper and departed for a golden duck.
But Simmons batted confidently to reach his third successive half-century, clearing the ropes on three occasions as he shared stands of 56 and 55 with Darren Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan.
His dismissal, caught at deep cover by Usman Salahuddin off seam bowler Tanvir, came just four overs before the teams were forced from the field by the weather for the final time.
Rory McIlroy says he was 'not ready' to win Masters
Rory McIlroy believes he was not ready to win his first major at the Masters last month.
The Northern Irishman, who will be 22 on Wednesday, led after 63 holes before crashing to a last-round 80 at Augusta.
McIlroy, who will defend his Wells Fargo Championship title at Quail Hollow this week, said: "I displayed a few weaknesses that I need to work on.
"I was just trying to stay ahead of the field, which, in hindsight, probably wasn't a good thing."
The world number six, who fired a closing 62 to win his maiden PGA Tour title 12 months ago, led by four strokes going into the last day at Augusta but his round unravelled after a triple-bogey seven at the 10th and he ended up 10 shots adrift of winner Charl Schwartzel.
"I just should have gone out, played my game and said 'Right, if I play well today I'm capable of shooting 65 around this golf course and winning by 10'," he told reporters in Charlotte, North Carolina - the venue for this week's tournament.
"But that's not the way it worked out and that's experience. That's just learning to be in that position more often.
"Hopefully I'll be able to get myself in those positions more often in my career and sooner or later it's going to happen where it finally clicks and I'm able to handle the whole thing a lot better and win.
"It took me a couple of days maybe to get over it. It was a great chance to win a first major, but it's only golf at the end of the day.
"No-one died. I'm very happy with my life, very happy with my game."
McIlroy went straight from the Masters to the Malaysian Open, where he needed a closing birdie to tie 17-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero for the lead, but instead ran up a bogey six and came third.
The Northern Irishman, who finished third in the last two majors of 2010, has had two other top-10 finishes on the European Tour this season, coming 10th in both the WGC-Cadillac Championship and the Dubai Desert Classic.
McIlroy will play with Americans Jim Furyk and Bubba Watson, who was last week's PGA Tour winner, in the opening round at Quail Hollow.
World number two Martin Kaymer, fourth-ranked Phil Mickelson, England's Paul Casey and Justin Rose and Ireland's three-time major champion Padraig Harrington are among those also in the strong field.
Man Utd v Schalke 04 (agg 2 - 0)
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney will sit out Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg against Schalke 04 with a tight hamstring.
Holding a 2-0 first-leg lead and with the crunch Premier League game against Chelsea scheduled for Sunday, boss Sir Alex Ferguson will shuffle his side.
Dimitar Berbatov is likely, therefore, to start up front, possibly alongside Michael Owen in a two-pronged attack.
Fabio da Silva will miss out, however, as he is suffering from a knock.
The Brazilian picked up the injury in Sunday's 1-0 defeat by Arsenal, a match that has ensured this weekend's Premier League match against Chelsea at Old Trafford could prove to be the key in this season's title race.
United are three points clear of the Blues with three matches left in the season but defeat on Sunday would see them leapfrogged at the top of the Premier League and playing catch up in their final two games of the season - Blackburn away and Blackpool at home.
With that in mind, it is thought Ferguson will rest a number of key stars against German outfit Schalke on Wednesday.
The Red Devils outplayed Schalke in the first leg last week, emerging 2-0 victors.
And with Anders Lindegaard and Darren Fletcher available again after a knee ligament injury and virus respectively, the likes of first choice keeper Edwin van der Sar and Michael Carrick could sit out the tie as United aim to reach the 28 May final.
"Darren [Fletcher] will play part of the game," Ferguson said on Tuesday. "He has shown great improvement from the reserve game last week and his weight is back to normal.
"It is just that issue of game time and a little bit more strengthening."
And speaking after the weekend defeat by Arsenal, the Scot said: "We have a big week ahead.
"Wednesday is a European semi-final second leg and... we will regroup and freshen it up. I will make some changes without question. I will bring Paul Scholes back in, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen.
"We'll need to do that but I will probably keep my experienced players at the back.
"We are in as good a position as you could ever wish for at the start of the season - semi-final of the European Cup, second leg, two-goal lead and go into a home game on Sunday level on goal difference [and with a three-point advantage]."
Ferguson was keen, however, to warn his side against complacency, adding: "We have to be favourites for the title, if only because we are three points ahead.
"But that can evaporate quite quickly and we have a big job to do. As I said last week, the drama is not finished."
Schalke players, meanwhile, were forced to endure a two-hour delay as a result of visa issues on Tuesday before flying to England for the Old Trafford tie.
Five of their players, including Peruvian Jefferson Farfan, Brazilian Edu and Japanese Atsuto Uchida, had not been issued the relevant paperwork as non-EU passport holders.
The Germans are hoping to have Benedikt Hoewedes fit after a stomach muscle injury, and Klass-Jan Huntelaar following a two-month break because of a damaged medial knee ligament.
Schalke boss Ralf Rangnick is hoping his team's quarter-final first-leg victory over Inter Milan, which they won 5-2, will provide sufficient inspiration against the three-time European champions at Old Trafford.
"In football you can get the chance so we will see what happens," he said. "When we played in Milan against Inter people didn't give us much hope either.
"I think we have to be well organised in the first 10 minutes and then we have to take our chances when they're presented, even if there are just two minutes left.
"You think of Manchester United and the Champions League win when they came back to win 2-1."
Barcelona lead Real Madrid 2-0 from the first leg in the other Champions League semi-final.
Sony hires detectives after gamers lose personal data
Sony has hired investigators after a breach of security, in which the personal data of more than 100 million online game users was compromised.
Cyber-security detectives from Guidance Software and Data Forte, among others, have been brought on board, said Sony.
The Playstation Network and Sony Online Entertainment have been taken offline.
Information including names, addresses and potentially even credit card numbers was stolen in the attack.
Officials from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said they were looking into the breach of data, which might include some credit card numbers.
Last week, Sony said the personal details of 77 million Playstation users may have been stolen by hackers.
On Tuesday, it said a further 25 million gamers had their personal details stolen because of a security breach.
The company said credit card details and other personal information had been taken from an "outdated database".
The new attack went beyond users of Playstation hardware, affecting PC and Facebook gamers.
Sony said direct debit information for about 10,700 customers in Austria, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany was stolen.
It also said credit or debit card details of some 12,700 non-US customers were compromised.
India raises interest rates again to tackle inflation
India's central bank has raised its key interest rate for the ninth time in 15 months in an attempt to curb inflation.
The Reserve Bank of India raised the rate at which it lends to commercial banks to 7.25% from 6.75%, a bigger increase than had been expected.
Despite a series of rate rises, March inflation hit 8.9% as Asia's third-largest economy continued its growth.
High oil, food and other commodity prices have frustrated the central bank's attempts to curb inflation.
"High inflation is inimical to sustained growth as it harms investment by creating uncertainty," the Reserve Bank said in a statement. "Current elevated rates of inflation pose significant risks to future growth."
The bank said it expected economic growth to slow to around 8% in the current fiscal year, down from 8.6% in the previous year.
This should help to ease inflation, but the bank said that it still expected the rate to average 6% this year.
Swiss freeze $1bn in Gaddafi, Mubarak, Ben Ali assets
Switzerland says it has frozen nearly $1bn worth of assets linked to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and the deposed leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said some 830m Swiss francs (£580m; $960m) had been discovered.
Of that, the largest proportion - 410m SFr - was linked to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his circle, the minister said.
Another 360m SFr was believed to belong to Col Gaddafi's regime.
A further 60m SFr was tied to former Tunisian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his associates.
Property and cash
Ms Calmy-Rey revealed the amounts at a conference in Tunisia, where she is on a three-day visit, foreign ministry spokesman Lars Knuchel said.
"These amounts are frozen in Switzerland following blocking orders by the Swiss government related to potentially illegal assets in Switzerland," she said.
"It is not just money, there are real estate assets," she added.
Switzerland initially ordered the Ben Ali and Mubarak assets frozen after they were toppled in popular uprisings in January and February.
The assets of Col Gaddafi and his associates were blocked in February after he cracked down on opposition protests.
However, it is only now that the Swiss authorities have revealed details of the assets they have located and secured.
The new governments in Tunisia and Egypt have contacted Switzerland seeking to reclaim the funds, he said.
But neither country had yet given enough evidence that the money had been obtained illegally for Switzerland to release it.
There had been no such discussions with Libya, where Col Gaddafi remains in control of much of the country despite a popular rebellion.
Avon net rises sharply on Latin America strength
Raising prices and selling more products in Latin America, its largest market, helped cosmetics seller Avon Products Inc more than triple its first-quarter profit, the company said yesterday.
Avon’s net income and revenue beat expectations, and the company’s stock rose more than six per cent by midday. Investors were reassured that two large markets for Avon showed signs of recovery after struggling for several quarters, although Avon said work remains. “We are squarely focused on restoring growth in Brazil and Russia in the second half,” CEO Andrea Jung said. Revenue also rose fast in other areas, particularly Turkey and South Africa, and Citi Investment Research analyst Wendy Nicholson said the year is off to a strong start.
All told, more than 80 per cent of Avon’s quarterly revenue came from outside the US and Canada. But its North America revenue–excluding Mexico—fell two per cent for the quarter. The company said it would have fallen ten per cent if Avon hadn’t bought jewelry direct seller Silpada. Avon, based in New York, makes more than 40 per cent of its revenue in Latin America, where a 16 per cent sales increase helped the company’s total revenue rise seven per cent to $2.63 billion, beating analysts’ average expectation for $2.59 billion. Mexico and Venezuela were particularly strong in Latin America, helped by growth in independent sellers.
Excluding the effect of a weaker dollar, Avon’s total revenue rose four per cent. Its net income was $143.6 million, or 33 cents per share, for the quarter that ended March 31, up from $42.5 million, or ten cents per share, a year earlier. AP
LIAT advises of new St. Lucia tax for travellers
LIAT wishes to advise its customers and the public in general that, effective May 1, 2011, the St. Lucia Air and Seaports Authority has introduced a new tax of US$35.00 known as “Airport Development Charge” which is to be collected by all airlines.
All customers departing St. Lucia, including those making connections in St. Lucia will see the new US$35 tax reflected in the cost of their ticket.
With the addition of the new US$35 “Airport Development Tax” by the St. Lucia Air and Seaports Authority, taxes and charges paid on LIAT tickets may in some instances represent more than 50 per cent of the ticket price.
Vybz Kartel denied Uk Visa
Vybz Kartel was denied a visa by the United Kingdom Embassy in Jamaica, therefore all his European shows were subsequently cancelled. Kartel was schedule to perform in Holland, France and Germany
A statement was issused by one of the promotors the cancelled show , reads
"Due to the fact that the artist “Vybz Kartel” did not receive his passport from the UK Embassy in Jamaica, he won’t be in Europe again this week! We will try and reschedule his tour for June, 2011, when he will be touring both the UK and Europe. We are very sorry for this massive disappointment, and inconvenience to all dance hall fans, and most importantly, “Vybz Kartel” fans."
Vybz Kartel was to perform at Rotterdam Reggae festival, Rockers Rockers Rockers Festival in France, two shows in Germany and a show scheduled today for Livelloundiciottavi in Lecce, Italy, for which he was schedule to perform alongside protégés Popcaan and Shawn Storm.
No statement were issued from Vybz Kartel himself or his mangement team