Today's other stories in brief
Boston Celtics take 17th title
BASKETBALL:The Boston Celtics captured a record 17th NBA championship by trouncing the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 on Tuesday to seal the best-of-seven title series 4-2. The Game Six win clinched the first championship for the Celtics since the Larry Bird era 22 years ago.
Hundreds of Celtics fans jammed the street outside Boston Garden to celebrate, some smashing shopfront windows before dozens of police in riot gear dispersed the crowd.
Boston took control of the game in the second quarter and stretched a four-point lead into a 58-35 advantage by the intermission. The Lakers never got closer than 23 points thereafter.
Off-season acquisitions Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen each had 26 points for the Celtics, Allen hitting seven from the three-point range.
Paul Pierce had 17 points for the Celtics and was named the MVP of the championship series.
"I'm not living under the shadows of the other greats now," said Pierce, who averaged 21.8 points over the six games.
Porter seals Ireland's victory
RUGBY: Ian Porter was Ireland's match-winner as his penalty in the second period of sudden death extra-time grabbed a 9-6 victory over Italy in Cardiff last night.
Porter gave Ireland the lead on three minutes with a close range penalty but fly-half Riccardo Bocchino tied the scores with a 40- metre penalty to level the scores at 3-3 three minutes before the break.
Porter added a second penalty from close range on 45 minutes to put Ireland back into the lead before Bocchino replied again but Porter had the final say to clinch the win.
Scorers: Ireland: Pens: Porter (3); Italy Pens: Bocchino (2).
IRELAND: N Morris (Blackrock); D Kearney (Lansdowne), E O'Malley (Old Belvedere), C Cleary (Greystones), Chris Cochrane (QUB); M Dufficy (Dublin University), I Porter (QUB); P Karayiannis (QUB), J Harris-Wright (Greystones), S Douglas (Ballymena 75), S Archer (UCC), B Barclay (UCD 71), I Nagle (UCC), J Sandford QUB, 65), E Sheriff (Lansdowne), K Essex (UL Bohs), P Mallon (Lansdowne), M Entwistle (Ballymena, 30), P Ryan (capt, Blackrock). Replacements: D Moore (Blackrock), I Madigan (Blackrock), J Smith (Ballymena).
ITALY: A Pratichetti; A Bacchetti, R Quartaroli, A Chiesa (capt), E Rotella; R Bocchino, C Vannini (A Catagnoli 65); A De Marchi, T D'Amico (G Morelli 74), M Ravalle, E Caffini (R Mernone 65), A Cazzola, F Giusti (J Furno 84), L Petillo, S Favaro. Replacements: L Sebastiani, G Bernini, A Marconato. Attendance: 1,000 .
Referee: Tim Hayes (WRU).
Clement may join Niland and Sorensen in Irish Open
TENNIS: The Irish Davis Cup players Louk Sorensen and Conor Niland may be joined by Arnaud Clement in this year's Shelbourne Men's Irish Open at Fitzwilliam, writes Johnny Watterson.
The Frenchman has declared an interest in the €48,000 ATP Challenger and has entered his name, although he is also in the Wimbledon main draw. If he is knocked out of Wimbledon in the first week, the likelihood is he will then travel to Dublin.
Clement, who has a world ranking of 117, owns an enviable record in Grand Slam events, in singles as well as doubles. He is the current holder, alongside his compatriot Michael Llodra, of the Wimbledon doubles title and this year reached the final of the doubles event at the Australian Open, also with Llodra.
In 2001 he fell to Andre Agassi in the Australian Open final, having beaten Roger Federer and the former world number one Yevgeny Kafelnikov along the way, while in April of that year he reached a career-best singles ranking of 10.
Irish hopes will once again rest with Niland and Sorensen, who pulled out of the Wimbledon qualifiers on Tuesday with a stomach-muscle problem.
In 2007 Sorensen progressed to the quarter-finals before being defeated by Martin Pedersen of Denmark. Niland went one better in what proved to be a breakthrough week for him. In reaching the semi-finals he won his first matches at this level before going down to the eventual champion, Rohan Bopanna.
Police question English players
RUGBY: New Zealand police are investigating a "serious allegation" against up to four English players after an incident in a hotel room in Auckland, early on Sunday after England's 37-20 defeat to the All Blacks.
According to reports, the incident involved a woman, but Auckland Police said a formal complaint had yet to be lodged.
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has confirmed that the unnamed players are helping police with their enquiries.
RFU elite rugby director Rob Andrew said England were fully co-operating with police and that the four players had the "complete support" of team and management, adding, "In the circumstances, we are unable to make any further comment."
The England team are training in Christchurch ahead of the second Test on Saturday.
A spokeswoman for Auckland Police would not confirm the nature of the allegation or the identity of the players.
