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From The Associated Press

Celtics blow out Lakers for 17th NBA Championship

BOSTON—On a new parquet floor below aging championship banners, the Boston Celtics won their 17th NBA title and a first one -- at last -- for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen -- their Big Three for a new generation.

After 22 long years, the NBA has gone green.

Lifted by ear-splitting chants of "Beat L.A." from their adoring crowd, which included Boston legends Bill Russell John Havlicek and JoJo White, the Celtics concluded a shocking rebound of a season with a stunning 131-92 blowout over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 on Tuesday night.

With the outcome assured, Boston fans sang into the night as if they were in a pub on nearby Canal Street. They serenaded the newest champs in this city of champs, and taunted Kobe Bryant and his Lakers, who drowned in a green-and-white wave for 48 minutes.

Garnett scored 26 points with 14 rebounds, Allen scored 26 and Pierce, the Finals MVP, added 17 as the Celtics, a 24-win team a year ago, wrapped up their first crown since 1986.

This was total domination. The Celtics obliterated the Lakers, who were trying to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the Finals.

No way. No how. No chance.

Boston's 39-point win surpassed the NBA record for the biggest margin of victory in a championship clincher; the Celtics beat the Lakers 129-96 in Game 5 of the 1965 NBA Finals.

Pierce doused Celtics coach Doc Rivers with red Gatorade. Owner Wyc Grousbeck, who named his group Banner 17 to leave no doubt about his goal, put an unlit cigar in his mouth -- a tribute to Red Auerbach, the patriarch who had a hand in the franchise's first 16 titles.

Garnett dropped to the parquet and kissed the leprechaun at center court, then found Hall of Famer Bill Russell for a long embrace.

"I got my own. I got my own," Garnett said. "I hope we made you proud."

"You sure did," Russell said.

New York Mets fire manager Willie Randolph

ANAHEIM, Calif.—After weeks of speculation that his job was in jeopardy, Willie Randolph finally got fired by the New York Mets while most fans were sleeping.

Randolph became the first manager in the majors to get fired this season, a move the Mets announced in a matter-of-fact news release around 12:15 a.m. PDT Tuesday, nearly two hours after they beat the Los Angeles Angels 9-6.

At 34-35, the Mets seemed wobbly after their colossal collapse last September.

“I’m really stunned by it,” Randolph said as he left the team hotel shortly before noon. “I was surprised by it.”

Bench coach Jerry Manuel takes over on an interim basis. Pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto also were fired in an enormous overhaul.

Randolph led the Mets to within one win of the 2006 World Series. They got off to a strong start again last year but plummeted down the stretch and were unable to rebound.

A preseason favorite to win the NL pennant, the $138 million Mets had won two in a row when Randolph was dismissed. He was set to earn $2 million this season and is owed $2.25 million in 2009, when the Mets move into new Citi Field.

Walker remains hospitalized after robbery, beating

LAS VEGAS—Oakland Raiders wide receiver Javon Walker remained hospitalized with a concussion and a battered face Tuesday, one day after he was beaten, robbed and left unconscious on a Las Vegas street after a night of partying.

Police said a large amount of cash and some jewelry were taken from Walker, who suffered "a moderate concussion and significant injuries to his face."

Police Lt. Clinton Nichols said detectives are retracing Walker's activities in the hours before he was found injured Monday morning on a street off the Las Vegas Strip.

"That's one of the first things we do, backtrack what he did and where he stayed," Nichols said, adding that the investigation was still in the early stages. "We knew there was a large amount of cash taken, and some jewelry."

According to reports published Tuesday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Walker visited a nightclub, Tryst, at the Wynn Las Vegas resort on Saturday night. He spent Sunday night at another club, Body English at the Hard Rock hotel-casino, before leaving about 3:30 a.m. Monday, according to casino spokeswoman Dorian Cantrell.

TO missing as Cowboys start mandatory camp

IRVING, Texas—Terrell Owens wasn’t on the field for the start of the Dallas Cowboys’ mandatory offseason minicamp Tuesday, and the Pro Bowl receiver isn’t expected to be around the rest of the week.

Coach Wade Phillips said Owens was excused from the three-day minicamp to attend to a personal family matter out of town.

“He didn’t want to go into it, and I really don’t want to either,” Phillips said. “It’s a family matter and just leave it at that. It’s not anything more than that.”

Owens was at the Valley Ranch facility Tuesday morning, but then left before the first of the team’s two practice sessions to catch a flight.

Phillips said Owens talked to him Monday, but wouldn’t elaborate on that conversation or where T.O. was going.

US Olympic team will be announced Monday

DURHAM, N.C.—Calling it “the toughest decision” facing USA Basketball since it began using professional players, U.S. Olympic team coach Mike Krzyzewski said the 12-man roster for this summer’s Beijing Games will be released Monday.

Krzyzewski, Duke’s Hall of Fame coach, said the roster will be announced during a news conference in Chicago.

“The pool of players that we have have all made commitments and have given time and effort,” Krzyzewski said Tuesday during his annual summer news conference in Durham. “Really we have more people qualified for those 12 spots than we can take, so that’s what makes it tough. There will be people we’ve coached, either last summer or the summer before, who will not be on this team.”

Earlier this month, USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said the U.S. would pick its squad without a tryout. There are more than 30 players in the national team program, but he said officials are down to about 14 names.

The deadline to submit the roster is July 1. The U.S. team will go to Las Vegas to train in mid-July and play an exhibition against Canada before opening the Beijing Games against the host Chinese on Aug. 10.

Last year, the U.S. team started Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Jason Kidd and Dwight Howard en route to an unbeaten showing in an Olympic qualifying tournament. The roster also included Amare Stoudemire, Chauncey Billups, Deron Williams, Michael Redd, Tayshaun Prince, Tyson Chandler and Mike Miller.

Larionov, Anderson elected to Hall

TORONTO—Former Detroit Red Wings center Igor Larionov and ex-Edmonton Oilers star Glenn Anderson have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Former linesman Ray Scapinello and builder Ed Chynoweth also made the Hall on Tuesday. The induction ceremony will be held on Nov. 10.

Larionov won two Olympic gold medals with the Soviet Union and was one of the first players from the country to play in the NHL. He won three Stanley Cups with Detroit and had 644 points in 921 NHL games.

Mag 7 reunites for Hall of Fame

CHICAGO—One of the Magnificent Seven is now a doctor, while another got her law degree. Kerri Strug’s ankle healed a long time ago.

And Dominique Moceanu, the baby of the squad that was the first U.S. women’s gymnastics team to win Olympic gold? She’s got a baby of her own now.

“If you haven’t seen us since 1996, you’re in for a big wake-up call. We’ve all changed,” Shannon Miller, the most decorated American gymnast, said with a laugh. “I get a lot of people that still expect to see that 15-year-old or that 19-year-old, and all the sudden you’re 31.”

The Mag Seven — Miller, Strug, Moceanu, Amanda Borden, Amy Chow, Dominique Dawes and Jaycie Phelps — will have one of their rare reunions Thursday, when they’re inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. The gymnasts are the team entry in this year’s class, beating out even the Dream Team in the fan vote.

“I was absolutely blown away,” said Borden, the team captain. “It’s such an honor to know how much people appreciated everything we did. As an athlete, that Olympics is one moment. To be inducted into the Hall of Fame is a lifetime.”