BOSTON (AP) — Tyler Herro had 24 points and 14 assists, hitting six of Miami’s franchise playoff-record 23 3-pointers, to lead the Heat to a 111-101 victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night and tie their first-round playoff series at one game apiece.
Bam Adebayo had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and new Celtics nemesis Caleb Martin also had 21 points for the Heat, who shot 53.5% (23 of 43) from beyond the arc to bounce back after a Game 1 blowout. That broke Miami’s playoff record of 20 3-pointers, set against the Bucks in the 2021 first round.
Jaylen Brown scored 33 points for top-seeded Boston. Jayson Tatum scored 28, showing no ill-effects of Martin’s hard foul that sent him crashing to the floor with under a minute to play in Boston’s 114-94 victory on Sunday.
The series moves to Miami for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Monday.
THUNDER 124, PELICANS 92
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points and Oklahoma City beat New Orleans to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.
Chet Holmgren had 26 points and seven rebounds and Jalen Williams added 21 points for the top-seeded Thunder, who shot 59% from the field and made 14 of 29 3-pointers.
Jonas Valanciunas scored 19 points and Herb Jones and Brandon Ingram added 18 each for the Pelicans.
New Orleans continued to struggle on offense without top scorer Zion Williamson, who remained out with a strained left hamstring.
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, right, battles for the ball against Boston Celtics center Al Horford and guard Jaylen Brown during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian police said they arrested three suspects Friday in the slaying of a Sikh separatist leader last June that became the center of a diplomatic spat with India, and are investigating possible ties between the detainees and the Indian government.
Three Indian nationals in their 20s identified as Kamalpreet Singh, Karan Brar and Karampreet Singh were arrested in Edmonton, Alberta on Friday morning in the slaying of 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar by masked gunmen outside Vancouver, police said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparked a diplomatic feud with India in September when he said that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the slaying of Nijjar.
India had accused Nijjar of links to terrorism, but angrily denied involvement in the slaying. In response to the allegatio ns, India told Canada last year to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country. Tensions remain but have somewhat eased since.
The three suspects had been living in Canada as non-permanent residents, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Mandeep Mooker said Friday at a news conference in Toronto.
“We are investigating whether there are any ties to the government of India," Mooker said, adding that it was an “ongoing investigation.”
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner David Teboul said Canadian authorities are speaking to counterparts in India. “I would characterize that collaboration as rather challenging," he said. “It’s been very difficult.”
The three men were expected to be transported to British Columbia by Monday to face charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Nijjar, an Indian-born citizen of Canada, was a plumber and also a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland, known as Khalistan. But he had denied allegations of ties to terrorism.
A bloody decadelong Sikh insurgency shook north India in the 1970s and 1980s, until it was crushed in a government crackdown in which thousands of people were killed, including prominent Sikh leaders.
The Khalistan movement has lost much of its political power but still has supporters in the Indian state of Punjab, as well as in the sizable overseas Sikh diaspora. While the active insurgency ended years ago, the Indian government has warned repeatedly that Sikh separatists were trying to make a comeback.
Media ask questions to Assistant Commissioner David Teboul, centre, Commander of the Federal Policing Program in the Pacific Region, during a news conference for an update on the Hardeep Singh Nijjar homicide investigation from June 18, 2023, in Surrey, B.C., Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)
Media ask questions to Assistant Commissioner David Teboul, centre, Commander of the Federal Policing Program in the Pacific Region, along with Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards, left, Officer-in-Charge of Surrey RCMP Detachment, and Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, second from the right, Officer-in-Charge of IHIT during a news conference for an update on the Hardeep Singh Nijjar homicide investigation from June 18, 2023, in Surrey, B.C., Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)
Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards, Officer-in-Charge of Surrey RCMP Detachment waits to speak during a news conference for an update on the Hardeep Singh Nijjar homicide investigation from June 18, 2023, in Surrey, B.C., Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)
Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, right, Officer-in-Charge of IHIT speaks to media with Assistant Commissioner David Teboul, centre, during a news conference for an update on the Hardeep Singh Nijjar homicide investigation from June 18, 2023, in Surrey, B.C., Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)
Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, Officer-in-Charge of IHIT listens to questions from media during a news conference for an update on the Hardeep Singh Nijjar homicide investigation from June 18, 2023, in Surrey, B.C., Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)
FILE - A banner that shows the late Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar is displayed outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in Surrey, British Columbia, Sept. 18, 2023, where he was gunned down in his vehicle while leaving the temple parking lot. Canadian police said Friday, May 3, 2024, that they have made three arrests in the June slaying. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
