Detroit takes 1-0 lead in NBA East finals
MIAMI, May 23 (UPI) -- Rasheed Wallace had 20 points and 10 rebounds Monday night to lead Detroit to a 90-81 victory over Miami in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals.
Chauncey Billups added 18 points and Richard Hamilton 16 for the defending world champion Pistons, who are played in the East finals for the third straight year.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Wednesday in Miami.
Shaquille O'Neal returned to the lineup after having missed Miami's previous two playoff games with a bruised right thigh. He had 20 points and five rebounds. O'Neal has been bothered by the injury for the past five weeks. During Monday's game, O'Neal had the thigh heavily protected with pads to help ease the pain.
Eddie Jones had 22 points and eight rebounds and Dwyane Wade added 16 points for Miami, which suffered its first loss in nine playoff games this year.
76ers replace O'Brien with Cheeks
PHILADELPHIA, May 23 (UPI) -- The Philadelphia 76ers fired Coach Jim O'Brien on Monday and turned the job over to former assistant Maurice Cheeks.
Cheeks will be the 76ers 21st head coach. He takes over in Philadelphia after more than three seasons as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.
O'Brien, a 53year-old Philadelphia native, lasted one season in Philadelphia. He directed the 76ers to a 43-39 record.
O'Brien spent seven seasons in the Boston organization. He took over in Boston for Rick Pitino in January 2001 and had a head coaching record of 139-119 with the Celtics. He resigned as Celtics coach in January 2004.
Cheeks, 49, was fired as coach of the Trail Blazers March 2 after the club dropped 33 of its first 55 games. He was named Portland coach June 27, 2001 after seven years as an assistant in Philadelphia.
Cheeks was a four-time NBA All-Star during his 15-year playing career.
Bears release defensive back McQuarters
CHICAGO, May 23 (UPI) -- The Chicago Bears Monday released defensive back R W. McQuarters, who was acquired from San Francisco in 2000 and played five seasons with the Bears.
McQuarters, who was a leading punt returner, signed a $21 million contract extension with the Bears in January 2002 that ran through 2006.
"After exploring trade opportunities with R.W., we felt it was in everybody's best interest to release him at this time," General Manager Jerry Angelo said in a statement.
During his five seasons with Chicago, McQuarters had 295 tackles, nine interceptions, and three touchdowns. He was a first-round draft pick by the 49ers out of Oklahoma State in 1998 and is the fourth-leading punt returner in Chicago franchise history with 983 yards for a 10.6 yard average and two scores.
Federer, Davenport advance at French Open
PARIS, May 23 (UPI) -- The top-ranked players in the world both advanced Monday in the first round of the French Open tennis tournament in Paris.
Roger Federer, a four-time Grand Slam champion, beat Dudi Sela of Israel, 6-1, 6-4, 6-0. He was joined on the men's side by No. 4 Rafael Nadal of Spain, fifth-seeded Gaston Gaudio, No. 7 Tim Henman and former world No. 1 and ex-French Open winner Carlos Moya, who is No. 14.
Among women's winners were Lindsay Davenport, who beat Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva, former runner-up Venus Williams and two-time finalist Kim Clijsters.
A key loser on Day 1 was women's defending champion Anastasia Myskina. The fifth-seeded Myskina was upset, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, by Maria Sanchez Lorenzo of Spain, becoming just the third defending champion at a Grand Slam event to suffer a first-round loss.
