Guard Thabo Sefolosha has signed a multiyear contract extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

General manager Sam Presti announced the new deal Wednesday before the team’s season opener against the Sacramento Kings. Terms were not disclosed.

Sefolosha averaged 8.5 points and 5.2 rebounds last season with the Thunder after being acquired in a February trade with the Chicago Bulls. He became the team’s starting shooting guard, replacing the injured Desmond Mason.

The Swiss guard originally was drafted by Philadelphia with the 13th overall pick in the 2006 draft.

Mike Jones, The Washington Times: Washington Wizards fans have wondered all summer and preseason which Gilbert Arenas(notes) they would get for the 2009-10 NBA season. The player who made only cameo appearances the past two seasons while recovering from three knee surgeries? The three-time All-Star, who could score with the best of them? Something in between? Shortly before his Wizards tipped off the season Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks, coach Flip Saunders admitted that he too was curious. ‘I’m like everyone else — I’m waiting to see,’ Saunders said. [...] Saunders got exactly what he wanted — the former MVP candidate — as Arenas led Washington to a 102-91 victory. The guard, playing in his first opener in two years, recorded a team-high 29 points and nine assists, fueling the Wizards to their first season-opening victory since 2005. ‘If you want to be good, you’ve got to win on the road,’ Arenas said. ‘It feels good to win, but we’ve still got a lot more to play.’”

Ben Golliver, Blazersedge: With the Rose Garden (nearly) full, the television cameras rolling, all four local television stations in the house, and the games counting, Greg Oden(notes) played nervously. Period. Frustratingly so. He got called for offensive fouls, had the ball poked out of his hands, threw a bad pass, traveled, the list goes on. It was unfortunate to see because, in most people’s minds, his solid preseason offensively (which no one saw) gets wiped away just like that. But after the game, Greg ‘Giggles’ Oden seemed more concerned about whether fashion paragon Jerryd Bayless(notes) approved of Oden’s unusual aviator-esque sport coat than he did about his offensive struggles. For the record, Bayless didn’t approve, prompting LaMarcus Aldridge(notes) to jump to Greg’s defense, joking that Oden’s one-of-a-kind jacket was ‘Changing the game!’ This cut everybody up, Oden included. When asked, Oden admitted that he was subject to opening night jitters. ‘But it’s the first game of the season, everybody has nerves.’ As if to remind himself, he continued, ‘You can’t get nervous every game, you have to go out there and play and be ready.’”

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe: “Whatever the state of Cavalier readiness, put this down as a very satisfying win for the Celtics, who were annihilated the last time they came here. This in fact, snapped a run of 16 consecutive Cavs home victories in this rivalry. Neither team had won in the other guy’s gym since the Cavs beat the Celtics in whatever they were calling the Garden Jan. 3, 2007. ‘That was a bad loss,’ Rivers acknowledged about the whipping his team had received last spring. ‘But I didn’t bring it up.’ ‘Different team,’ sniffed point guard Rajon Rondo(notes). ‘Last year has nothing to do with this year.’ It’s a team that can, and will, beat people in many different ways. They’ve got scoring punch all over the floor. They will pass the basketball. They can rebound. They’ve got a bench. And they will guard you.”

Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer: “If Shaq is going to have an impact several orders of magnitude below decisive, even though it is early, that is not promising. If [LeBron] James is going to have to make chase-down blocks, drain 3s late in the shot clock, slash like a character from a gore movie, and orchestrate the offense — well, we have seen this plot before. The Cavs put time in a bottle Tuesday. But it is not the same as champagne. James finished with 38 points to go with eight assists. O’Neal had 10 points, only two in the second half, and 10 rebounds. O’Neal was 1-for-5 in the second half. The Celtics burned him with spot-up baseline jumpers by Kendrick Perkins(notes), who also snuffed Shaq when he tried a power move in the fourth quarter. Some of O’Neal’s misses came on good looks. You simply have to live with that. The Cavs are carrying a heavy burden, not only in terms of history with the 45-year championship drought in all sports, but also because they are the only source of civic sports hope, given the Indians’ rebuilding and the Browns’ usual morass.”

Richard Hamilton and Ben Gordon may have silenced any questions about whether they can coexist on the Detroit Pistons.

Hamilton scored 25 points, Gordon added 22, and the Pistons ran away from the Memphis Grizzlies 96-74 on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.

The two guards, both out of UConn, were a combined 17 of 31 from the floor, and that was after Hamilton started the game missing five of his first six shots.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a problem, especially in this locker room,” Hamilton said of sharing time with Gordon. “We’re UConn guys. We know how to win.

“We just go out there and try to feed off each other on the floor.”

Hamilton left the game after spraining his right ankle on a shot with just under 5 minutes to play. He hit one of the two ensuing free throws, then went straight to the dressing room on the next dead ball. Postgame X-rays on the ankle were negative.

Tayshaun Prince finished with 14 points for Detroit in new coach John Kuester’s debut, while Rodney Stuckey scored 12.

“I thought Memphis came out strong in the beginning of the game,” Kuester said. “Our guys were taking the punches and were very resilient in how they competed on every possession.”

Marc Gasol led Memphis with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Rudy Gay scored 16 points, and Zach Randolph recorded 14 points and nine rebounds in his first game with the Grizzlies, who were without the injured Allen Iverson.

“We didn’t play with any kind of passion at all,” Memphis point guard Mike Conley said. “If we don’t do that, then we don’t have a chance to win any games.”

After shooting well at the start, Memphis struggled to 36 percent from the field, while Detroit finished at 51 percent.

“It was generally a bad night shooting,” Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. “[Our players] just have to come down to Earth and realize winning in the NBA is very difficult, and it takes a lot of work and effort. Our young guys were like deer in headlights.”

Already leading by 14 entering the final quarter, Detroit clicked off eight unanswered points to open the period, including consecutive 3-pointers by Gordon, and Memphis was on its way to losing its ninth straight season opener.

Memphis shot well early, but the turnover problems that plagued the Grizzlies in the preseason continued. The Detroit pressure defense caused some of the miscues; some came as Memphis tried to run.

“That was the most impressive thing about [Wednesday night's] victory, the way we played on the defensive end,” Gordon said. “We need to keep that up. We need to be a team that, when we’re not scoring, we can get stops and can kind of hang around in games.”

Hamilton got untracked in the second quarter, connecting on six of his seven shots in the period, en route to 17 first-half points. That helped Detroit carry a 53-41 lead into the dressing room.

Gordon came off the bench to hit five of his first six shots for 15 points in the half. His 3-pointer near the midway point of the second period extended the Pistons’ lead to double digits.

“Guys hit shots and we dropped our head,” Randolph said. “It’s the NBA. Guys are going to hit shots. We’ve just got to keep on playing and play hard for 48 minutes.”

Memphis guards Conley and O.J. Mayo combined to shoot only 3 of 16 from the floor in the game.

Detroit led by as much as 17 in the third quarter and brought a 71-57 lead into the fourth, which Memphis never really threatened. It was the kind of performance, particularly from Hamilton and Gordon, that is necessary for the Pistons.

“We’re in a situation where we have two guys that are legitimate scorers in this league at the [shooting] guard position,” Prince said. “To put [the questions] to rest, we just have to go out and play basketball and know those two guys are going to do that.

“They stepped up big for us, but that’s what we are going to need from them throughout the season for us to be the team we want to be.”

Game notes
Memphis wore its alternate Beale Street Blue uniforms for the first time in the game. Prince started his 437th consecutive game, tops among active players. Kuester acknowledged a bit of nervousness. “The butterflies are there, and I think you’re anxious to get going,” he said before the game. “I’m just lucky to have a great group of guys who work hard at this thing. To get the season going, and to improve each game is going to be important to us, and I’m looking forward to it.” Within seconds of entering the game in the first quarter, Gordon recorded a four-point play. … The 22-point loss was the largest for the Grizzlies in a season opener since the team relocated to Memphis in 2001.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

The Orlando Magic didn’t spend much time hoisting their Eastern Conference championship banner.

They didn’t take long to adjust to a revamped roster, either.

Dwight Howard had 21 points and 15 rebounds, Vince Carter scored 15 points and the new-look Magic rolled to a 120-106 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.

“You look around,” Carter said, “this is like heaven.”

Ryan Anderson added 16 points, and Jason Williams had 15 points to highlight a deep Magic bench. Orlando went ahead by 23 points at the half, scored 100 through three quarters and showed no signs of a finals hangover after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers on the same floor in June.

Still, some spotty defense had Magic coach Stan Van Gundy mocking the success his team enjoyed offensively.

“Nobody has ever gone 82-0,” Van Gundy said.

Marreese Speights had 26 points, and Elton Brand added eight points in his first regular-season game since missing most of 2008-09 with a right shoulder injury for Philadelphia.

“This is a heck of a team we played tonight,” new Sixers coach Eddie Jordan said. “They got away from us a little bit in the first half with some layups in the open floor, but the 3s destroyed us.”

The Magic didn’t spend much time embracing last season’s success.

The Eastern Conference championship banner was already hanging from the rafters before the game. A video montage of their playoff run only lasted about three minutes, and Van Gundy — in his usual play-the-game-already attitude — was stretched out in his chair on the bench during opening night introductions.

A perfect preseason behind them, the Magic showed signs that those exhibition wins weren’t a fluke. They went down by five points early in the first quarter before showing why so many have them picked to again contend with Boston and Cleveland for a conference title.

Carter took a near halfcourt alley-oop pass from Matt Barnes and finished left-handed, his mother in the fourth row among the throngs in the arena brought to their feet in celebration for the hometown kid.

Carter, a Daytona Beach native who has made his home in Orlando for years, followed that with a 3-pointer to highlight a furious Magic push that put them ahead by 23 points at the half. The Magic eventually led by as many as 31 points.

“With all the surrounding talent that we have, it really cuts down on the starters’ minutes and keeps us fresh,” Carter said.

Orlando was still missing a key piece.

The Magic are without Rashard Lewis for the first 10 games after the All-Star forward was suspended by the league for testing positive for an elevated level of testosterone. Lewis posted a link on his Twitter page to a video of him exercising on a stationary bike at his home about two hours before tipoff.

“We have nine more games to play without him,” Howard said. “Hopefully we can get better before then.”

Philadelphia didn’t show quite the same energy.

Having Brand back didn’t help much, and although Lou Williams had 18 points, his reign as the full-time point guard was shaky. The Sixers were sloppy and resembled little of the team that took the Magic to six games in the first round of the playoffs last season.

The only real fight Philadelphia showed all night was when Speights went face-to-face with Howard after the big men got tangled up underneath the rim in the second quarter. Howard was called for a technical foul on the play.

The Sixers never got so close again.

“He is very strong and athletic,” Speights said. “That is a good learning experience for me. I learned a lot from this game.”

Game notes
Most of the Magic players said during the morning shootaround that they watched the Lakers’ championship ring ceremony Tuesday night. Howard said it was difficult to observe but joked that “the rings are very pretty.” Van Gundy said seeing Los Angeles get its rings brought back a lot of bad memories from the finals. “You sort of relive the whole thing,” Van Gundy said. “Not pleasant.” … Tiger Woods, a central Florida resident, sat courtside but didn’t return to his seat for the second half with the Magic leading big.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

Other than Tony Parker crashing to the floor, it was everything the revamped San Antonio Spurs wanted for a season opener.

Parker walked back to the bench OK after a hard landing in the third quarter, leaving the game with 17 points but with rookie DeJuan Blair and the Spurs already well in command of the New Orleans Hornets in a 113-96 victory on Wednesday night.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Parker simply had the wind knocked out of him after falling to the court almost horizontally following a layup. Blair, meanwhile, continues enticing the Spurs after a dominant preseason, getting 14 points and 11 rebounds in his NBA debut.

The Spurs spent atypically lavishly this summer to add veterans Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess. But so far, it’s been the former All-American from Pitt getting the most buzz.

“He’s showing really good maturity so far,” Popovich said. “You just have to give him credit. He’s got a great way about him and let the game come to him.”

Chris Paul scored 26 points and got a technical foul along with Jefferson after they met fact-to-face at midcourt following Parker’s hard fall. Both downplayed the exchange after the game, and Paul kept his sense of humor even though New Orleans was never closer than 15 points in the second half.

“We hoped to go 82-0, but we knew it wasn’t too feasible,” Paul said.

Emeka Okafor had 18 points and 10 rebounds in his Hornets debut after sitting out the preseason with an injured toe. He played 29 minutes, shooting 8 of 14 from the floor.

Also re-emerging healthy was Manu Ginobili, who scored 16 points. He hobbled through last season with bad ankles. Tim Duncan had nine points and 12 rebounds.

Parker was 6 of 9 from the field and had six assists before his hard landing set off a chorus of gasps at the AT&T Center. Parker had bumped off Hilton Armstrong in mid-air while putting up the layup, and remained sideways on the ground before turning over on his back and catching his breath.

He went to the bench with 2:21 left in the third and was done for the night. Parker left the locker room without speaking to reporters but appeared fine.

Ginobili, a former NBA sixth man of the year, became a starter last season but opened the season back on the bench for the revamped Spurs.

Hornets coach Byron Scott called Blair “a monster.”

“You know, a 6-5, 6-6 center who comes in and plays 22 minutes and gets 14-11 is pretty impressive,” Scott said. “Especially for a rookie.”

Blair, whose locker is next to Duncan’s, said he’s simply the beneficiary of being on a good team.

“My teammates are taking me under their wing and showing me what to do,” Blair said. “It’s been excellent to have that.”

The summer spending spree put the Spurs over the luxury tax threshold for one of the few times in the Duncan era. The hopeful payoff is a long season of what the Spurs had plenty of against New Orleans: balanced scoring providing an offensive punch that San Antonio sorely lacked last season.

Six players for the Spurs scored in double figures. Matt Bonner and Roger Mason had 11 apiece and Michael Finley had 10.

Jefferson debuted in the starting lineup but struggled, scoring five points on 1 of 7 shooting. McDyess had nine points off the bench.

Poor shooting put the Hornets in a hole quickly. New Orleans missed 10 consecutive shots over a 6-minute span in the first half while the Spurs rolled to a 16-0 run midway through the second quarter.

Game notes
The Spurs rewarded guard George Hill before the game by exercising the option on his contract for next season. Popovich teased Hill as his “favorite player” throughout training camp but said, straight-faced, before the game that Hill has picked up the game after one season as well as Parker did. …The Spurs have beaten New Orleans in nine of the last 10 games in San Antonio.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

Saying he was “overwhelmed,” Tim Hardaway beamed Wednesday night as he watched his No. 10 jersey raised to the rafters by the Miami Heat, never to be worn again.

With about 50 family and friends looking on, including the other two parts of the famed “Run TMC” trio — Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin — that he first captured NBA acclaim with, Hardaway’s oversized jersey was hoisted skyward before Miami opened its season against the New York Knicks.

“Tonight, I stand before you truly humble and grateful,” Hardaway said.

Hardaway had hugs for everybody — players, coaches, even referee Joe Crawford, no small feat considering how much the player loved to clash with officials during his playing days.

Before he came to Miami, only three other players had worn No. 10: Kelvin Upshaw, Clinton Wheeler and Manute Bol. No one had since Hardaway left the Heat in 2001.

“Obviously, well deserved,” Mullin said. “Tim is one of the best players of his time.”

His is the second Heat jersey to be retired: Alonzo Mourning’s No. 33 was hoisted last season.

“It’s another great moment,” Heat president Pat Riley said. “I would say from the year 2006 until now, we’ve had a couple of incredible moments. Both of them are hanging from the rafters, our world championship banner that we’re so proud of — and there’s more of those in store for the future — and of course Alonzo Mourning last year, one of the anchors of this franchise.”

Hardaway is still the Heat career leader in 3-point field goals and assists, ranks fifth in points and steals, and is 10th in regular-season games played.

“His contributions helped build a successful championship franchise,” Mourning said.

The Heat presented Hardaway with a $50,000 check for his foundation, plus kept the Mullin and Richmond part of the night secret until the ceremony.

“To see him and Alonzo’s numbers up there in the rafters, I’m very proud of him,” Richmond said. “He deserves it.”

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

Dwyane Wade knows they all won’t be this easy.

Wade began defense of his NBA scoring title with 26 points, Jermaine O’Neal finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and the Miami Heat opened with a 115-93 win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
New starting power forward Michael Beasley scored 21 for Miami, which made 26 of 31 shots in a staggering 20-minute stretch spanning the second and third quarters, turning a close game into a blowout.

“Pick your poison,” Beasley said. “When we all play like that, it makes the game a whole lot easier.”

Here’s one way to put that absurd Heat shooting spree into perspective: Miami missed fewer shots (five) in more than 1 1/2 quarters than New York’s Al Harrington did (six) in the second quarter alone.

David Lee scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds for New York. Danilo Gallinari added 22 off the bench for the Knicks, who were 10 of 39 from 3-point range.

“We couldn’t make shots and couldn’t stop them,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “That’s not a good combo.”

Miami shot 14 of 17 from the floor in the second quarter, following that up with a 14 of 21 showing in the third. Meanwhile, New York was the gang that couldn’t shoot straight: The up-tempo Knicks were only 5 of 28 from 3-point range through three quarters, plus only managed eight fast-break points in the game’s first 37 minutes.

Daequan Cook scored 15 for Miami, with Mario Chalmers adding 11 to the balanced Heat scoring column.

“When the ball is moving, everyone is getting their opportunities and it makes everyone play hard on the other end of the floor,” Wade said. “That’s what we want to do.”

Wilson Chandler finished with 21 for New York, which got 15 from Harrington.

“We need to learn from this loss and keep our heads up,” Gallinari said. “It’s tough to play defense against them 1-on-1, especially O’Neal and D-Wade.”

The Heat retired former point guard Tim Hardaway’s No. 10 before the game, then gave him the best seat in the house, courtside and opposite Miami’s bench.

Given all the Knicks-Heat tussles he was part of as a player, he had to enjoy this show.

“A special night for all of us involved,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Hours before the start of the 2009-10 season — predictably — Wade fielded questions about 2010-11, especially since both the Knicks and Heat are expected to be major players in the long-expected free agent bonanza next summer. Wade can opt out of his contract and become a free agent, joining that fray.

“Not thinking about it,” Wade said wryly.

Forget 2010. It sure seems like Miami wants to win right now.

Three dunks in a 40-second span late in the half — O’Neal on a rare breakaway for a center, Wade after Harrington missed a slam at the Knicks’ end, and then O’Neal again on a nifty bounce pass into the heart of the lane by Chalmers — gave Miami a 10-point lead.

And in the third quarter, the dam burst.

Miami put it away with a 32-8 run. O’Neal had 10 points and six rebounds in the period alone.

Even Quentin Richardson, the former Knicks forward who was traded away this summer — then traded again and again before landing in Miami — got into the act, making a 3-pointer with 8:05 left in the third, then giving the New York bench a long stare.

“I was out there having fun,” Beasley said. “I was yelling, screaming … I felt like a kid in a candy shop today.”

Game notes
Knicks F Darko Milicic was shaken up with 8:28 left, remaining down under the Heat basket for a few moments before gingerly walking into the New York locker room, to have his left knee checked out. It was not believed to be serious. … The Knicks missed 11 straight shots late in the first quarter. … O’Neal and Richardson left tickets for former Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, now the coach at FIU.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

Seven years in the NBA has taught LeBron James the importance of patience. It is being tested after Cleveland started its new season with two straight losses.

Andrea Bargnani scored 28 points, Chris Bosh had 21 points and 16 rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors overcame James’ 25th career triple-double to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 101-91 on Wednesday night.

“Early in my career, I’d get very upset when you lose two or three games, you’d just feel like you can’t turn it around,” James said. “But I’m at a point in my career now where I know that you can lose two but, at the same time, you don’t look too far into it. You learn from the mistakes and you just try to get better.”

James had 23 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds, but Cleveland opened its season with consecutive losses for the first time since an 0-3 start in 2004-05. James scored 38 points in Tuesday’s 95-89 home loss to Boston.

“I’m still positive,” James said. “If it was 25 or 35 games into the season and we were going through a three- or four-game losing streak, then I’d be a little bit disappointed, but I’m not at this point.”

Mo Williams scored 16 points and Shaquille O’Neal had 12 for Cleveland, which had won five straight over Toronto and nine of 10.

“Coach is still learning us, we’re still learning the system, we’re still learning each other,” O’Neal said. “It’s going to be a work in progress.”

Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said his team has work to do at each end of the court.

“There were stretches where we struggled offensively and there were stretches where we struggled defensively,” Brown said. “To struggle the way we did on both ends of the floor is going to result in a loss.”

Hedo Turkoglu scored 12 points in his Raptors debut and Marco Belinelli had 10. Jose Calderon had 11 assists for Toronto, but Bargnani’s performance was the talk of the locker room.

“If Andrea gets it going and is scoring the basketball a lot, then we are going to be tough to beat,” Bosh said.

Trailing 78-71 to start the fourth, Brown left James on the bench and Toronto took advantage, outscoring the Cavaliers 9-3 and building an 87-74 lead by the time James returned with 8:40 remaining.

Brown said he wants James, who played 45 minutes Tuesday, to average 38 minutes in the regular season. James played 40 minutes against Toronto.

“The bottom line is this is the second game of the year and I’ve got to make sure I don’t play him too many minutes,” Brown said.

Even with James back, Cleveland struggled to cut into the lead. A pair of free throws by Williams and a 3-pointer by Daniel Gibson cut it to 93-83 with 4:06 left, but Antoine Wright answered with a 3-pointer for Toronto.

James wasn’t done, making one free throw, then following up a miss from the line with a 3-pointer from the top to cut it to 96-90 with 1:37 left.

Toronto guard Jarrett Jack stopped the run with a free throw and, after James made one more from the line, Turkoglu made a free throw and Calderon converted a three-point play.

Bargnani had 13 points in the first while James was held to just three, making one of three shots, as Toronto led 27-22.

Belinelli had 10 points, Bargnani scored eight more and the Raptors shot 10 for 17 in the second as the Cavaliers stumbled, going just 6 for 22. Toronto closed the second on a 16-7 run and led 57-39 at the break.

James made four of Cleveland’s six shots in the second and had 14 points at the half.

It was Toronto’s turn to go cold in the third, as the Raptors shot 6 for 15. Cleveland, meanwhile, used five 3-pointers to get back into it, and trailed 78-71 heading into the fourth.

Game notes
Cleveland was an NBA-best 16-3 in the second game of back-to-backs last season. … Calderon was honored at center court before the game for posting an NBA-record 98.1 free throw percentage last season, making 151 of 154. Calderon later missed his first two free throws, the first time he’d done that since Apr. 9, 2007, at Minnesota. … Cleveland’s last loss to Toronto had been a 91-82 defeat on Nov. 30, 2007, a game that James skipped because of a sprained left index finger. … James scored a career-high 56 points in a 105-98 loss at Toronto on March 20, 2005.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

Kevin Garnett returned to the Boston parquet and slipped on it, putting a bigger scare into the Celtics than the Charlotte Bobcats could.

In his first game back in Boston since the injury that knocked him out of last year’s playoffs, Garnett scored 10 points with seven rebounds over 26 easy minutes and the Celtics held Charlotte to a franchise-low in scoring to coast to a 92-59 victory.

“It’s great we could rest our bodies,” said Paul Pierce, who scored 15 points and also sat out the fourth quarter one night after a more difficult win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. “The more rest, the better. That means we’re playing well, especially the starters.”

Garnett, who missed 25 games and the playoffs last year with strained ligaments in his right knee, slipped on the floor late in the third quarter and appeared to be slow getting up. But he dismissed concerns of an injury, saying he relaxed because he saw his teammates were back to protect against the fast break.

“It was just a slide into second base,” said Garnett. “The umpire said I was safe.”

And then he was out.

Garnett left the game with 4:06 left in the third as coach Doc Rivers rested his aging Big Three to preserve them for the long-haul regular season.

“You guys keep reminding them how old they are,” Rivers told reporters. “It was time for him to come out anyway. But any time he goes to the floor and just gets up [is good]. The rarity is seeing a big guy diving to the floor with a big lead. But that’s who he is and that’s who you want him to continue to be.”

Ray Allen was the only Boston starter to play in the fourth, scoring 18 points in all. Rajon Rondo scored 10 with 11 assists, and newcomers Rasheed Wallace and Shelden Williams came off the bench to help; Wallace had three 3-pointers and Williams had 12 points and nine rebounds.

Gerald Wallace had 10 points and 12 rebounds — the only Bobcat to reach double digits in scoring.

Asked if he’d ever coached a team that scored in the 50s, Hall of Famer Larry Brown said, “I don’t know if they call that coaching.”

“Our team wasn’t prepared. Weren’t ready to play,” he said. “That’s nobody’s fault but the coach.”

Garnett went through his usual pregame routine, pumping his arms and banging his head against the basket support. He hopped around the court, pointing at the crowd, drawing cheers from the fans who believe that his injury was the only thing that kept Boston from winning back-to-back NBA championships.

Pierce took the microphone before the opening tip, alluding to last season’s disappointment and promising something better in 2009-10.

“We expect great things. You see up there, there’s only 17 of them,” he said, pointing to the championship banners than hang from the Boston Garden rafters. “I think we need another one.”

Other than that, the biggest cheers were for the scores showing the Yankees were losing Game 1 of the World Series. (LeBron James and Co.’s loss to Toronto was also a crowd-pleaser.)

One day after beating the Cavaliers to snap an 11-game losing streak in Cleveland and make an early statement about the balance of power in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics returned to Boston. The home opener had fewer subplots, and even less drama.

Boston scored the first eight points of the game, then piled it on with six 3-pointers in the second quarter to take an 11-point halftime lead. The Celtics scored the first 15 points of the second half and led by as many as 30 in the third quarter.

Only Raymond Felton’s buzzer-beater kept the Bobcats from equaling a franchise-low 8 points in the third quarter.

Game notes
Gerald Henderson Jr. started his NBA career in the same place his father, Gerald Sr., started his. The elder Henderson, who spent the first five years of his 13-year career in Boston, was in the stands. … Felton got hit in the mouth in the second quarter and needed 15 stitches, but he returned in the second half. … Patriots LB Junior Seau and WR Wes Welker sat courtside. … Technical fouls were distributed freely: Pierce and Kendrick Perkins each had one for Boston, and Wallace and Tyson Chandler picked them up for the Bobcats.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy’s tell-all book has been canceled by Triumph Books and parent company Random House, the publisher said.

“Blowing the Whistle: The Culture of Fraud in the NBA” was slated for publication later this month. The book was to have covered Donaghy’s experience as an NBA referee and the events leading up to his conviction on federal wire fraud charges.

During the process of editing and vetting the manuscript, which Triumph received from Donaghy in the spring, Random House and its imprint made the joint decision to cancel the book out of “concerns over potential liability,” according to an e-mail from a Triumph representative.

Pat Berdan, a senior consultant at Executive Prison Consultants and Donaghy’s liaison to the publisher, said that the decision not to publish the book came two weeks ago. He said it was the result of a threat of legal action by the NBA.

“Somehow, the NBA got wind of the project and let Random House know in a threatening-type correspondence that they would object to the publication of such a book and they threatened that they would sue if they did go ahead and do that,” said Berdan, who didn’t see any letters from the NBA. “Random House considered that and … just pulled the plug on it.”

“The NBA never threatened a lawsuit or anything else,” NBA vice president of basketball communications Tim Frank wrote in an e-mail to ESPN.com.

Berdan said the book was vetted, including one final look by a senior attorney from Random House, and was ready to go to press when the company decided not to publish the book.

“Our supposition is that they became aware that the book is coming,” Berdan said. “The major houses knew the book was coming. So it’s conceivable that the NBA found out the book was forthcoming and it was a reaction to the general information. There’s no question that they have a certain degree of contempt toward Donaghy.”

The NBA was aware of the book but had not received or reviewed a copy.

Berdan said there is “legitimate interest” from five publishers to continue with the book.

Donaghy, 42, remains behind bars for a probation violation following his 15-month prison sentence.

A New York judge sentenced Donaghy last year after the referee said he took thousands of dollars from a professional gambler in exchange for inside tips on NBA games — including games he worked.

Court papers say Donaghy began placing bets on NBA games in 2003. He gave gambling associates sensitive information, including which crews would officiate games and how the various officials and players interacted.

His actions “compromised his objectivity as a referee because of his personal financial interest in the outcome of NBA games,” the government said.

Donaghy said in a court filing that the league routinely encouraged refs to ring up bogus fouls to manipulate results, while discouraging them from calling technical fouls on star players.

Commissioner David Stern has called Donaghy’s allegations “baseless,” saying he tried to implicate others to secure a lighter sentence.

Donaghy said he took part in the betting operation because he was a gambling addict.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commerce in the tips-for-payoffs scheme.

He was released from a federal prison in Pensacola, Fla., to a halfway house in June. He was scheduled for release on Oct. 24.

But Donaghy was sent back to prison in August when he was accused of violating his federal probation by not showing up for work, the U.S. Marshals Service said. His lawyer said it was all a misunderstanding.