Lebron-led Cavaliers down Raptors
Lebron James scored 35 points and grabbed 10 rebounds on Monday, leading the reigning NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers over Toronto Raptors 116-105 in the opener of their second-round play-off series.
Kyrie Irving added 24 points and 10 assists while Kevin Love had 18 points and nine rebounds as the Cavaliers seized the edge in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference matchup with game two set for Wednesday.
James hit 13-of-23 shots from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free throw line while Tristan Thompson contributed 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Cavaliers, whom James warned will be even better next time out.
“I feel like I’ll be a lot better on Wednesday,” James said, citing an eight-day layoff since completing a first-round sweep.
“Little bit of rhythm here and conditioning there, I think a lot of our mistakes we were able to cover up for because our energy level was high.”
Later, Trevor Ariza scored 23 points, and James Harden added 20 points and 14 assists as the Houston Rockets jumped on the San Antonio Spurs in the opening minutes and rolled to a 126-99 victory in Game 1 of a Western Conference semifinal series.
The Rockets led by 11 after the first quarter, by 30 at halftime and by 29 at the end of the third quarter, after which Harden and Ariza were removed from the game. Houston’s 22 made 3-pointers were a playoff high for a San Antonio opponent.
SELBY RETAINS WORLD SNOOKER TITLE
England’s Mark Selby successfully defended his World Snooker Championship on Monday, beating four-time champion John Higgins 18-15 in a thrilling contest.
The 33-year-old Englishman had trailed 10-4 at one stage but just as he did against Ronnie O’sullivan in 2014 he fought back to win, becoming only the fourth player in the past 40 years to retain the title.
“I can’t believe it, I am still pinching myself now,” Selby told the BBC.
“From 10-4 to get to 10-7 yesterday, I was over the moon as I had nothing left. He outplayed me yesterday. Today I came back fresh and was a lot better. When I was 10-4 down I was missing everything and had nothing left. I said ‘pull something together’. If you lose, you want to at least go down fighting.”
RECORD HOLDERS RECEIVE APOLOGY
Innocent athletes worried that their world and European records will be struck off received an apology on Tuesday from the official who proposed the radical anti-doping plan.
European Athletics’ taskforce chair Pierce O’callaghan said he accepted that some record-breakers would be “collateral damage” under the measures which suggest resetting pre-2005 marks.
The proposal, which was announced by European Athletics on Monday, was immediately condemned by several athletes with Britain’s Paula Radcliffe branding it “cowardly”.
Under the plan, any athlete breaking a record would have to have been drug-tested many times in the lead-up. A sample taken afterwards would have to be available for retesting for 10 years.
European Athletics’ ruling council has accepted the project team’s recommendations, which it wants to be extended to world records.