The Miami Heat opened their season last night with a 120-107 victory over the Boston Celtics.  Dwayne Wade led the Heat with 29 points, LeBron James had 26, and Chris Bosh contributed with 19 points.  Good night for the newcomers as well.  Ray Allen added 19 and Rashard Lewis scored 10.  LeBron left the game early with some leg cramps, but it is not expected to be a serious situation.  You know that a Heat-Celtics game is going to have some physical play, and last night was no exception.  With the game already decided in the closing seconds, Celtic guard Rajon Rondo committed a dirty, flagrant foul on Wade by grabbing him by the neck as Wade was driving to the basket.  Rondo is in midseason form adding to his reputation as a dirty player.  Next game for the Heat is on Friday, November 2nd, in New York against the Knicks and they have a quick turnaround with a game on Saturday, the 3rd, back in Miami against the Denver Nuggets.  In other games around the NBA yesterday,

Cleveland Cavaliers 94 Washington Wizards 84

Kyrie Irving led the way with 29 points for the Cavs.  Anderson Varejao pulled down 23 rebounds for Cleveland. 

Dallas Mavericks 99 LA Lakers 92

Dwight Howard’s debut with the Lakers saw him score 19 points and grab 10 rebounds before fouling out.  Howard was horrible, as usual, from the foul line, as he converted only 3 of 14 from the stripe.    

TODAY IN THE NBA

Indiana Pacers @ Toronto Raptors         7:00 pm

Denver Nuggets @ Philadelphia 76ers 7:00 pm

Houston Rockets @ Detroit Pistons         7:30 pm

Sacramento Kings @ Chicago Bulls         8:00 pm WGN

San Antonio Spurs @ New Orleans Hornets 8:00 pm NBA-TV

Dallas Mavericks @ Utah Jazz         9:00 pm

Golden State Warriors @ Phoenix Suns 10:00 pm

Memphis Grizzlies @ LA Clippers 10:30 pm

LA Lakers @ Portland Trailblazers 10:30 pm NBA-TV

  

TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  A lot of teams don’t play well the opening game of the season after winning an NBA Championship.  What did the Heat do in their opening game in 2006 after winning the NBA trophy in 2005?  Tell you later, alligator. 

The Miami Dolphins are still not certain as to the playing status of rookie QB Ryan Tannehill for Sunday’s game against the Colts in Indianapolis.  The coaches and the training staff will continue to monitor Tannehill during practice this week.  They are very confident in backup QB Matt Moore, so they feel they don’t need to rush Tannehill back before he is 100% ready to go.  A good matchup on the other side of the ball this week, as the Colts come in 9th in the league on offense, while the Fins have allowed the fewest points in the AFC.  Miami is going to have to run the ball better than they did against the Jets, when they only got 97 total yards rushing, a 2.9 yards per carry average.  The Colts are 27th in the league against the run.  Game time this Sunday is 1:00 pm, and the game will be televised by CBS, Channel 4 in Miami.

This week’s complete NFL schedule, 

THURSDAY

Kansas City Chiefs @ San Diego Chargers

SD -9.5 8:20 pm NFL Network

SUNDAY

Miami Dolphins @ Indianapolis Colts

Ind +1 1:00 pm CBS Ch. 4

Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati Bengals

Cin +3.5 1:00 pm

Baltimore Ravens @ Cleveland Browns

Cle +3.5 1:00 pm

Arizona Cardinals @ Green Bay Packers

GB -11 1:00 pm

Chicago Bears @ Tennessee Titans

Ten +3.5 1:00 pm

Carolina Panthers @ Washington Redskins

Was -3.5 1:00 pm

Detroit Lions @ Jacksonville Jaguars

Jax +3.5 1:00 pm

Buffalo Bills @ Houston Texans

Hou -10 1:00 pm

Tampa Bay Bucs @ Oakland Raiders

Oak -1 4:05 pm

Minnesota Vikings @ Seattle Seahawks

Sea -5 4:05 pm

Pittsburgh Steelers @ New York Giants

NYG -3.5 4:25 pm FOX Ch. 7

Dallas Cowboys @ Atlanta Falcons

Atl -4 8:20 pm NBC Ch. 6

MONDAY 

Philadelphia Eagles @ New Orleans Saints

NO - 3.5 8:30 pm    ESPN

Bye week for the St. Louis Rams, New England Patriots, New York Jets, and San Francisco 49ers

In college football, the University of Miami Hurricanes return to the field at Seven Names Stadium on Thursday to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies.  Game time is 8:00 pm, and you can watch the game on ESPN.  FIU travels to Mobile to take on South Alabama this saturday.  Game time is 3:30 pm, and remember to catch the game broadcast (in English) on your smartphone or on the computer at www.fiusports.com.  I will be handling the play-by-play, and Pete Pelegrin will be handling the color analysis.  In the BCS rankings, Alabama remains #1, Kansas State is #2, Notre Dame is #3, Oregon is #4, and LSU is #5.  The rest of the top ten - #6 Georgia, #7 Florida, #8 South Carolina, #9 Florida State, and #10 Louisville.  Game of the week is definitely #1 Alabama visiting #5 LSU.  

MLB handed out their gold gloves last night, and the Marlins weren’t shut out as Mark Buehrle won his fourth straight gold glove.  Of course, the first three were with the White Sox.  The other Marlins finalist, SS Jose Reyes, lost out to Jimmy Rollins of the Phillies.  The complete list of winners that included nine first-time winners:

AMERICAN LEAGUE NATIONAL LEAGUE

C Matt Wieters BAL Yadier Molina STL

1B Mark Teixeira NYY Adam LaRoche    WAS

2B Robinson Cano NYY Darwin Barney    CHC

SS JJ Hardy BAL Jimmy Rollins PHI

3B Adrian Beltre TEX Chase Headley    SD

LF Alex Gordon KC Carlos Gonzalez COL

CF Adam Jones BAL Andrew McCutchen  PIT

RF Josh Reddick OAK Jason Heyward ATL

P Jeremy Hellickson  TB Mark Buehrle MIA

Jake Peavy CWS

THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  A lot of teams don’t play well the opening game of the season after winning an NBA Championship.  What did the Heat do in their opening game in 2006 after winning the NBA trophy in 2005?  The Heat got embarrassed by the Chicago Bulls, 108-66.  They started that 2006 season 4-8.  

Don’t miss my two “Descarga Deportiva” segments (for the Spanish-challenged, “Sports Jam Session”) every day, Monday through Friday, at 9:25 am and 12:15 pm on Radio Esperanza, 1550 AM or on the internet on www.miradioesperanza.com.  

Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.