Celtics cool Heat; Cavs, Nuggets draw first blood
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The Boston Celtics shut down the Miami Heat in the fourth quarter to record an 85-76 victory and take a 1-0 lead in their Eastern Conference playoffs first-round series on Saturday.
Kevin Garnett scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Celtics before he picked up two technical fouls and was ejected following a fourth-quarter scuffle.
Video replays appeared to show he threw an elbow at the head of the Heat's Quentin Richardson.
"He clearly made contact with Richardson," official Joe DeRosa told the NBA's Website. "But even if he had not, he still would have been ejected for a second technical foul for throwing an elbow."
The flare-up, which came with about 40 seconds left to play, occurred after Boston's Paul Pierce fell into the Heat's bench and aggravated a shoulder injury
Garnett went to check on his teammate and wound up in a shoving match with Richardson.
Richardson and Udonis Haslem of the Heat and Boston's Glen Davis also received technical fouls, and the league could take further action.
Boston trailed 64-66 after three quarters, but held the Heat to a mere 10 points in the fourth.
Dwyane Wade led Miami with 26 points but had seven turnovers.
"We played great until the fourth quarter," said Miami's Richardson.
In other National Basketball Association playoff games, LeBron James scored 24 points and blocked four shots to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 96-83 win over the Chicago Bulls, while the Atlanta Hawks beat Milwaukee 102-92 despite 34 points by the Bucks' Brandon Jennings.
Shaquille O'Neal, back in the lineup after missing nearly two months following thumb surgery, scored 12 points and blocked three shots for Cleveland.
In the Western Conference playoffs, Carmelo Anthony had 42 points, his best in a playoff game, to spark the Denver Nuggets to a 126-113 home win over the Utah Jazz and a 1-0 series lead.
