Riley Gets 1,000th Victory as Heat Rolls

Victory No. 1 for the revamped Miami Heat was NBA regular-season coaching victory No. 1,000 for Pat Riley.

Even without ailing Alonzo Mourning, the Heat meshed marvelously and helped Riley achieve a milestone in their season opener Wednesday night, defeating the Orlando Magic, 105-79, at Miami.

Mourning, who will sit out this season because of a kidney disorder discovered at the start of training camp, received a standing ovation when introduced before the game.

“I appreciate the love, the support, the prayers,” he told the crowd. “That’s going to get me through all of this.”

Looking dapper in a three-piece suit, Mourning watched the game from the end of the bench. At the other end sat Riley, who joined Lenny Wilkens as the only NBA coaches to reach 1,000 victories.

“It’s a wonderful honor,” Riley said. “Now I know how Lenny feels. It’s very satisfying.”

Riley said the pregame tribute to Mourning wasn’t orchestrated to fire up the team, although that may have been the effect.

“Zo hadn’t had a chance to talk to the fans,” Riley said. “He has gotten hundreds and hundreds of cards. There’s a lot of support out there, and some of our guys played a little bit with his face on.”

The Magic was also without its best player. Forward Grant Hill sat out because of soreness in his left ankle after playing 33 minutes in a season-opening victory Tuesday over the Washington Wizards. Hill is still recovering from off-season surgery on the ankle, and his status is day to day.

The Heat began the season with four new starters but dominated at the outset thanks to its lone holdover--Tim Hardaway. The veteran point guard scored 12 of the first 27 points for the Heat, which raced to leads of 17-3, 28-7 and 37-14.

Seattle 112, Denver 99--Gary Payton had 35 points and 10 assists to lead the SuperSonics at Seattle.

Patrick Ewing added 11 points and eight rebounds and displayed an arsenal of behind-the-head and over-the-shoulder passes in his first game as a SuperSonic at KeyArena after being traded from the New York Knicks.

Rashard Lewis had 18 points, Shammond Williams 16 and Vin Baker 10 points and eight rebounds for the SuperSonics, who took the lead with 10:36 to play in the first quarter and never relinquished it.

Nick Van Exel led the Nuggets with 26 points. Antonio McDyess picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter and was held to 10 points and four rebounds in 18 minutes. He appeared to limp off the court as he left the game with about five minutes to play.

Philadelphia 104, Toronto 98--Allen Iverson scored 24 points and the 76ers overcame a big first quarter by Vince Carter at Philadelphia.

Iverson also had five rebounds and five assists. Eric Snow scored 16 points, Tyrone Hill 12.

Carter scored 15 of his 25 points in the first quarter when the Raptors opened a 10-point lead. Mark Jackson added 16 points and 12 assists, and Antonio Davis had 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The 76ers were coming off a 29-point season-opening victory over the Knicks on Tuesday at New York.

Boston 103, Detroit 83--Paul Pierce showed no ill effects from being stabbed last month, scoring 28 points to lead the Celtics in their season opener at Boston.

Antoine Walker had 33 points and 12 rebounds as the Celtics improved to 3-1 in season openers in the Rick Pitino era.

One night after scoring a career-high 44 points in the Pistons’ season-opening victory at Toronto, Jerry Stackhouse had 20 but made only seven of 21 shots. The Pistons made only 36% overall as they trailed, 56-40, at halftime and got no closer than nine points in the second half.

Pierce was stabbed nearly a dozen times on Sept. 25 at the Buzz Club, a nightclub in the Boston theater district. The former Inglewood High star sat out three exhibition games recovering from what the Celtics described as “injuries in an off-court incident.”

“I was happy to be out there. I was pumped. I kind of didn’t want the game to end,” Pierce said. “I feel lucky just to be here and to be around my teammates, to be able to play the game of basketball again.”

Cleveland 102, Sacramento 100--Lamond Murray scored all six of the Cavaliers’ points in the second overtime before slapping the ball away from Doug Christie just before the final buzzer at Cleveland.

Murray, who finished with 18 points, reached in and poked the ball away as Christie was about to go up for a potential game-tying shot.

Andre Miller had 17 points and eight assists for the Cavaliers before falling hard and suffering a bruised right knee in the second overtime.

Clarence Weatherspoon, acquired from the Miami Heat in the trade that sent Shawn Kemp to the Portland Trail Blazers and one of six new players on the Cavalier roster, added 14 points and 11 rebounds. Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, attempting to come back after sitting out most of the last two seasons because of foot injuries, added 10 points for the Cavaliers.

Chris Webber scored 27 points in 50 minutes and Predrag Stojakovic had 23 for the second consecutive game for the Kings, whose offense was out of rhythm all game without point guard Jason Williams. The flashy point guard sat out the second game of his five-game suspension for failing to comply with the NBA’s drug treatment plan.

“It’s a tough loss,” said King Coach Rick Adelman. “We had so many chances to win and we made a nice comeback. It was one of those games, it could have gone either way. They’re the ones who did it.”

Washington 95, Charlotte 77--Richard Hamilton scored 15 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Wizards at Charlotte, N.C.

Five Wizard players scored in double figures to give first-year Coach Leonard Hamilton his first victory as an NBA coach in front of a hometown crowd. Leonard Hamilton, who coached 10 seasons at the University of Miami before getting the Washington job, is a native of Gastonia, N.C.

Rod Strickland had 18 points for Washington, Juwan Howard 13, Felipe Lopez 12 and Mitch Richmond 10 to move into 25th place on the all-time scoring list.