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With shiny new diamond-encrusted rings on their fingers, the Miami Heat began their NBA title defense in confident fashion Tuesday with a 120-107 win over Eastern Conference rivals the Boston Celtics.
Miami was presented with its championship rings and raised the title banner to the arena rafters before the game to mark its second NBA title and the first since the creation of the "Big Three" with the arrival of LeBron James and Chris Bosh to team with Dwyane Wade.
Ray Allen made his Miami debut against his old team and put aside any concerns about his fitness with 19 points as the home crowd taunted the Celtics with chants of "We got Ray".
Last season's Most Valuable Player James marked his first ring ceremony with 26 points, but had to sit out most of the fourth quarter with leg cramps.
James, who also suffered cramps in last season's finals, left in the third quarter but came back before cramping up again.
"At that point there was no point in forcing it," said Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra. "He already went back and started to cramp again. Game 1 is not the time to pull what we did in the finals."
James' points tally continued his run of scoring at least 20 points in each of his past 28 regular season games against Boston.
Wade, looking fresh after his knee surgery in the offseason that cost him a place in the gold medal US Olympic team, was top scorer with 29 points, while Bosh delivered down the stretch and finished with 19 points.
Miami were 19 points up early in the fourth but, in the absence of James, Boston launched a comeback and reduced the deficit to 4 with just more than two minutes remaining on the clock.
The Heat rallied, however, to gain a win against the team they defeated in last year's Eastern Conference championships.
About the broadcaster:
Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.