Live action from LeBron James’ debut with Heat

With a new number and new colors on his jersey, LeBron James started a new chapter of his basketball life Tuesday night when he and the Miami Heat took on the Boston Celtics in the NBA season opener.

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Ballgame.

LeBron James‘ debut with the Miami Heat doesn’t quite go according to plan, as his new club falls to the Boston Celtics 88-80.

Miami made the requisite run, cutting a 19-point deficit to three in the final moments, before ultimately falling in a game that was closer than most would have expected after watching the Heat stumble through the early going.

Celtics fans serenaded the Heat with chants of “Ov-er-ra-ted!” in the final minutes, and Dwyane Wade surely set a career high of the wrong kind by having two shots bounce off the frame of the backboard in the same game. Miami was down 13. Game was over. Right?

Nope.

A 10-0 run had the wearers of the green turning a little green, with the Heat getting within 83-80 on James‘ scooping layup with a little more than a minute left.

Then Ray Allen _ who crushed the Heat and the Cavaliers in the playoffs last season _ made Wade, James and others relive those nightmares by hitting a 3-pointer from the left corner, pushing Boston’s lead back to six.

With that, the “Ov-er-ra-ted!” chants resumed.

Kind of might make for an odd scene in Cleveland on Wednesday night when Boston visits. After all, given the way James has gone from revered to reviled there, some Cavs fans might want to greet the Celtics with open arms for spoiling his debut.

Neither team was great offensively, though Miami was downright awful in that department at times. The final numbers: Heat shot 27 of 74 from the field, and James _ in the highest-scoring debut ever for a Heat player _ finished with 31 points, but had eight turnovers.

Allen had 20 for Boston, which got 19 from Paul Pierce. And James, Chris Bosh and Wade walked off the court together, not expecting Game 1 to go like that.

“It was fun,” Rajon Rondo said.

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