BOSTON, May 8 (UPI) -- Paul Pierce had 19 points and Ray Allen 16 Thursday to lead Boston to an 89-73 victory over Cleveland and a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The Celtics again made it tough on Cleveland star LeBron James, who scored 21 points but needed 24 shots to do so. James has made less than 20 percent of his shots from the field in the opening two games of the series.
Cleveland grabbed a seven-point lead after one period, but the Cavaliers' hopes diminished when center Ben Wallace suffered a bout of dizziness and had to leave the game in the first quarter. He almost collapsed after walking toward the sideline.
Wallace returned to the bench after being examined, but he did not play again.
Boston quickly took control in the second period and held Cleveland to just 27 points during the middle two quarters. The Celtics led by as many as 24 in the second half.
Kevin Garnett had 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Celtics, who will travel to Cleveland for Game 3 Saturday.
Garcia leads Players Championship
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla., May 8 (UPI) -- Sergio Garcia, seeking to improve on his runner-up finish last year, took the first-round lead Thursday at The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Garcia fired a 6-under 66 at the TPC-Stadium Course, putting him two shots in front of Kenny Perry and Paul Goydos.
The morning starters had the advantage because the breezes increased as the day went on and Garcia was among those with an early tee time. Of the eight players who broke 70 Thursday, seven played in the morning.
Todd Hamilton was the exception and his 3-under 69 left him tied for fourth with Heath Slocum, Steve Elkington, Ian Poulter and Niclas Fasth.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson was among those at 70, as was Fred Couples, Boo Weekly, current U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera and Anthony Kim, who won for the first time on the PGA Tour last week.
"I think that anything under par is a very good score," Mickelson said. "I feel as though I'm turning 66s into 70s and I'm going to have to fix that."
Masters champion Trevor Immelman withdrew Thursday, citing stomach problems similar to those that have bothered him throughout the year.
Braves win sixth straight
ATLANTA, May 8 (UPI) -- Matt Diaz's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday gave the Atlanta Braves a 5-4 victory against the San Diego Padres and a three-game sweep.
The Braves ran their winning streak to six games, the longest currently working in the major leagues.
The hit by Diaz was his only one of the game, broke a 4-4 tie and produced his 14th RBI of the season.
Atlanta's Greg Norton contributed a two-run single in the sixth. Mark Teixeira drove in a run and one run scored on Heath Bell's seventh inning wild pitch. Yunel Escobar had two hits and scored three times for the Braves.
The winner was reliever Manny Acosta (1-1).
San Diego got Kevin Kouzmanoff's two-run double in top of the first while Scott Hairston and Khalil Greene had RBI hits in the fifth.
Adrian Gonzalez had three hits and Hairston two for the Padres, who have dropped four in a row and six of their last seven games overall.
The losing pitcher was reliever Joe Thatcher (0-4).
Americans edge Germany in world hockey
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, May 8 (UPI) -- Zach Parise scored a power-play goal with 8:56 remaining Thursday, boosting the United States to a 6-4 win over Germany at the World Hockey Championship.
The tougher-than-expected victory came on the first day of the second round of the tournament and all but clinched a spot in the quarterfinals for the Americans. After putting his team in front, Parise assisted on an insurance goal by Dustin Brown with 96 seconds to play.
The United States moved into second place in its six-team group behind Canada. The top four teams from the group will advance to the knockout round next week.
In other second-round action Thursday, Sweden ran over Denmark 8-1, the Czech Republic blanked Switzerland 5-0 and Canada edged Norway 2-1.
Norway reached the second round with an upset win over Germany Wednesday. Norwegian goaltender Pal Grotnes made 51 saves against Canada, but Rick Nash made an end-to-end rush and scored with 3:58 remaining to give Canada the victory.
