In brief: Allen leads Celtics to win over Cavaliers
NBA: The Boston Celtics pushed the Cleveland Cavaliers dangerously close to an early start to the Summer of LeBron.
Ray Allen scored 25 points, Rajon Rondo scored all of his 16 in the second half and the Celtics, once thought too old to challenge for another title, beat LeBron James and the Cavs 120-88 in Game 5 on Tuesday night at Cleveland, to move within one win of knocking the NBA’s top team from the playoffs.
Paul Pierce added 21 and Kevin Garnett 18 for the Celtics, who handed the Cavs their worst home playoff loss in history and can end Cleveland’s season with a win in Game 6 on Thursday night.
James, the league’s two-time MVP on the verge of an expected trip into free agency on July 1, had an atrocious game. He scored 15 points on 3-of-14 shooting, a startling outing for the 25-year-old who has been playing with a sprained elbow.
Because of James’ uncertain future, Game 5 may have been his last at home for Cleveland and it has set up Game 6 as the most important in franchise history: Win and force Game 7 on Sunday in Cleveland; lose and maybe watch James, the local kid trying to deliver this city its first pro championship since 1964, leave for good.
•Russian billionaire becomes new Nets owner: The New Jersey Nets are officially the Nyets.
The NBA’s board of governors approved the sale of the New Jersey Nets to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.
Prokhorov becomes the league’s first owner from outside North America. A person with knowledge of the voting results told the Associated Press that NBA owners voted 29-0 to approve the purchase. One team did not vote. The sale had to be approved by three-fourths of the NBA’s owners.
Russia’s richest man agreed to buy 80 percent of the Nets and 45 percent of an arena project in Brooklyn late last year. The next step comes next week with the NBA draft lottery, which the Nets have a 25 percent chance of winning to earn the No. 1 pick and can finish no worse than fourth.
•Hornets hold more interviews: Former NBA head coach Lawrence Frank and Portland assistant Monty Williams met with the New Orleans Hornets about the club’s vacant head coaching position as the list of candidates interviewed for the job grew to seven.
Blackhawks win, eliminate Canucks
NHL: Troy Brouwer and Kris Versteeg scored 36 seconds apart early in the second period, and the Chicago Blackhawks eliminated the Canucks in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals for the second straight year with a 5-1 win at Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dave Bolland scored on a short-handed breakaway with 45 seconds left in the second, and Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien added breakaway goals 35 seconds apart in the third to send Chicago back to the Western Conference finals.
The second-seeded Blackhawks will face the West’s top-seeded team, the San Jose Sharks, with a trip to the Stanley Cup finals on the line.
Antti Niemi made 29 saves for the Blackhawks.
•Ovechkin leads Russia to victory: Alex Ovechkin and Washington Capitals teammate Alexander Semin led Russia into the second round of the hockey world championships with a 4-1 victory over Kazakhstan in Cologne, Germany.
In Group C in Mannheim, Norway beat the Czech Republic 3-2. Sweden joined Russia in the second round by holding on for a 3-2 victory over France.
•Stars, Lehtonen ink deal: The Dallas Stars and goaltender Kari Lehtonen agreed to a three-year, $10.65 million contract extension that locks up Marty Turco’s replacement through the 2012-13 season.
Cushing tested positive for HCG
NFL: Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing tested positive for HCG, a fertility drug that is on the NFL’s banned substance list.
A person familiar with Cushing’s case told the Associated Press that Cushing had one positive test last September, then subsequently tested negative several times. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the test results were supposed to remain confidential.
“He had one low-level positive test for HCG in September, and then every test after that was negative,” the person said. “He has said he has no idea where the positive test came from.”
The NFL has suspended Cushing for the first four games of the season.
He won the AP’s NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honor in January for outstanding on-field performance. Now, the AP is taking a revote for the award.