Shaquille O'Neal, who decided to play just before tipoff due to a strained left hamstring, shot 7-for-9 for 16 points in his Miami debut Wednesday night to lead the team 100-77 past the New Jersey Nets.

Alonzo Mourning of the Nets also had a successful night though his team was beaten badly because the former Miami center was ableto play less than a year after undergoing a kidney transplant.

Mourning got seven points, five rebounds and four fouls in 14 minutes for the Nets which traded former starters Kenyon Martin and Kerry Kittles for draft picks over the summer. And also star Jason Kidd is beginning the season on the injured list after undergoing knee surgery.

Richard Jefferson had 19 points to lead New Jersey.

In Toronto, Chris Bosh had 20 points and the Toronto Raptors handed the Houston Rockets their second straight loss 95-88.

Tracy McGrady scored 21 points and five assists and Yao Ming finished with 17 points and nine rebounds.

Vince Carter, who asked for a trade this summer, added 16 points and six assists for the Raptors to help Sam Mitchell win inhis first game as Toronto's coach.

In salt lake City, Carlos Boozer had 27 points and 11 rebounds in his Utah debut, Andrei Kirilenko added 16 points and eight blocks and the Jazz opened the season with a 104-78 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Kobe Bryant led Los Angeles with 38 points, but Lamar Odom was the only other Lakers player in double figures, finishing with 14.

Los Angeles shot just 20-for-68 from the floor (29.4 percent) and never recovered after scoring only 13 in the first quarter.

The Lakers opened the season the night before with an 89-78 winover Denver, then traveled to Utah and didn't arrive until nearly 3 a.m. Wednesday local time.

In Orlando, Steve Francis hit the game-winning basket with two-tenths of a second remaining and finished with 26 points as the new-look Orlando Magic edged the Milwaukee Bucks 93-92.

Grant Hill, in his first regular-season action since January 16,2003, scored 20 points. Top draft pick Dwight Howard had 12 points,10 rebounds and four blocks.

On the final possession, Hill inbounded from the left to Francis at the top of the arc. Francis beat Mo Williams on the turn to the basket and got the shot off despite being fouled.

The buzzer sounded as the shot fell, and the Magic celebrated. After a brief review, the officials let the shot stand but reset the clock and brought the Magic back out for Francis' free throw. Francis intentionally missed the foul shot, and time expired.

In Minneapolis, Kevin Garnett, league MVP last season, performed 28 points and 20 rebounds to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to beat New York Knicks 99-93.

Sam Cassell added 19 points and 11 assists for the Timberwolves.

Stephon Marbury, up against his old club, led the Knicks with 27 points. Jamal Crawford, in his first game with New York since arriving from Chicago in a summer trade, capably filled Allan Houston's spot in the starting lineup with 22 points on 10-for-23 shooting.

In Boston, Allen Iverson scored 30 points, five of them during an 11-0 fourth-quarter run when the Philadelphia 76ers took the lead and held off Boston Celtics 98-95.

Paul Pierce had 35 points and 13 rebounds, but missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that could have tied it. Gary Payton had sixpoints and eight assists and missed a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute with the Celtics trailing by three points.

In Cleveland, Ron Artest scored 31 points, and Jamaal Tinsley added 15 points and 14 assists as the Indiana Pacers opened the season with a 109-104 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers after two overtimes.

Artest didn't decide to play on sore right knee until shortly before tipoff, and then gave the Pacers everything he had, adding nine rebounds in 50 minutes.

The Pacers were without starters Jermaine O'Neal, Reggie Millerand Jeff Foster.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 35 points and 18 rebounds for the Cavaliers. LeBron James added 28 points, eight assists and five rebounds.

In Memphis, Antawn Jamison scored 34 points when the WashingtonWizards defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 103-91 in the first regular-season game at the new FedExForum.

Juan Dixon had 28 points and Jarvis Hayes added 20 points and nine rebounds for the Wizards.

Bonzi Wells led Memphis with 19 points.

In New Orleans, Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley and Jerry Stackhouse helped the Dallas Mavericks ruin Byron Scott's coachingdebut with New Orleans Hornets 106-91.

All three scored 19 points, and Dallas had three other players reach double figures.

Baron Davis led the Hornets with 25 points.

In San Antonio, Tim Duncan scored 30 points and Brent Barry made three 3-pointers in his debut with San Antonio when Spurs downed Kings 101-85.

Manu Ginobili finished with 24 points, and Barry had 16 on 6-for-9 shooting. Duncan had 14 rebounds.

The Spurs improved to 8-0 in season openers since Duncan joinedthe team in 1997.

Mike Bibby scored 23 points for Sacramento, which lost for the second time in two nights in Texas. Dallas defeated the Kings on Tuesday. Chris Webber scored 18 points and Peja Stojakovic had 15.

In Phoenix, Amare Stoudemire had 18 of his 23 points in the first half to help the Phoenix Suns beat the Atlanta Hawks 112-82.

Stoudemire also had eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Joe Johnson scored 17 and Steve Nash had 12 points in his Suns debut.

Yuta Tabuse entered the game with 10 minutes left to become thefirst Japanese-born player to play in an NBA game. The point guardscored seven points.

Antoine Walker scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Atlanta.

In Oakland, Nick Van Exel scored 20 points to help Portland beat his former team Warriors 78-75.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim added 18 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Blazers.

Zach Randolph, who signed an $84 million, six-year contract extension Monday, had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Portland.

Dunleavy led the rebuilt Warriors with 17 points.

In Los Angeles, Bobby Simmons scored a career-high 30 points and the Los Angeles Clippers routed Seattle 114-84 to win its season opener for the first time in eight years.

The win also was the most lopsided in an opener in franchise history for the Clippers. Their previous most one-sided victory tostart a season was a 133-112 win over Milwaukee in 1976, when the Clippers were the Buffalo Braves.

Elton Brand added 21 points, Corey Maggette 18 and Chris Wilcox15 for Los Angeles, which opened the game with an 8-0 burst and stayed in front the rest of the way.

Rashard Lewis led Seattle with 24 points. Ray Allen and Vladimir Radmanovic added 20 points apiece.

Source: Xinhua