METAIRIE, La. -- The New Orleans Saints were willing to draft Carl Nicks when his off-the-field problems left other teams wary. Now an emerging star at left guard, Nicks decided that his allegiance should remain with coach Sean Payton, general manager Mickey Loomis and the team that gave him his first shot in the NFL, at least for one more season. Nicks, who has thrived in a starting role for most of his first three pro seasons, arrived at Saints headquarters on Monday, four days into training camp, and signed a restricted free agent tender worth about US$2.61 million for this season. "They took a chance," Nicks recalled in reference to his 2008 arrest for failing to leave the scene of a party police broke up while he was at Nebraska. "I had a lot of questions coming out of college and Payton drafted me, Mickey drafted me, so my loyalty stands with these guys first and foremost." Nicks signing was one of a couple of transactions the Saints made, including the re-signing of free agent reserve tackle Zach Strief and the signing of free-agent linebacker Clint Ingram, who was with the Saints in 2010 but never played because of his slow recovery from microfracture surgery on his left knee. Later Monday night, the Saints added Cecil Newton, a former reserve centre for Jacksonville who is Cam Newtons brother. The six-foot-five, 343-pound Nicks, whose ability on the field was highly rated but who fell to the fifth round of the 2008 draft because of his arrest, started 13 games as a rookie and has remained the starting left guard since. Nicks did not report when training camp opened last week because he wanted to see if hed receive a better offer from another club, which the Saints then would have been forced to match to retain him. He has since decided the chances of that were slim because the tender offer the Saints made to him was high enough to require any other team that signed him to compensate New Orleans with a first-round draft pick. "At the end of the day, I wanted to come back anyway. I know the system. I got (quarterback) Drew (Brees), a great offensive line, great bunch of guys," Nicks said. "I wanted to prove my worth and maybe next year we can talk long-term. "Its just a relief being back in the system, being back in locker room even. I missed my guys," Nicks continued. "We hang out all the time -- off-season, during the season, after practice, after games -- so I didnt want to lose that." His teammates were pleased to see him as well. "Hes probably the most physical guard in the league," right tackle Jon Stinchcomb said. "You combine that with (right guard) Jahri (Evans), who is also arguably also the most physical guard in the league, its a nice one-two punch to have. Thats where the strength of our line starts, with our guards." Nicks arrival on Monday means free agent centre Jonathan Goodwin is the only 2010 starter on the offensive line not yet back with New Orleans. "Jonathan Goodwin is a big part of that offensive line. He pretty much holds us together," Nicks said. "It would be nice to have him back, but the way this business goes, you never know." Ingram did not practice on Monday, but should be able to take the field after the Saints take Tuesday off. Payton said the Saints monitored Ingram even after giving up on his ability to get healthy for last season. "He is going to be healthier than he was a year ago," Payton said. "He is still someone who is young. When he was healthy, he played very well. (He is) another player that we feel is a year removed from the injury and the surgery and we feel that will benefit him specifically, a lot." Ingram, 28, has played four seasons in the NFL, all with Jacksonville from 2006-09. He started 46 games during that span, with 159 tackles, 5 1/2 sacks, two interceptions and a forced fumble. The Saints also were awaiting the arrival of defensive end Turk McBride, a free agent defensive end who the Saints acquired on Sunday night. Payton called McBride, who had five sacks, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery in 15 games with Detroit last season, a "high-energy player (who) is disruptive, plays with great effort, and probably had one of his better seasons last year with regards to production." The Saints were still trying to sign their top overall draft pick, defensive end Cam Jordan, who was taken 24th overall out of California. A person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press the delay resulted from questions over whether Jordan should receive three or four years of guaranteed salary. The person, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because negotiations were ongoing, said the overall amount of money probably would be in the range of $7.7 million for four seasons, based on $7.64 million for four years that 25th pick James Carpenter received from Seattle. Carpenter only got the first three years guaranteed. However, of the players picked ahead of Jordan who have agreed to contracts so far, all have received four-year guarantees. And several picks in the range of 17 through 23 had not been signed yet, leaving uncertainty over what the standard length of guaranteed salaries would be for players drafted in that range. Notes: Players sitting out with injuries included: LT Charles Brown (hamstring), RB Chris Ivory (foot), CB Tracy Porter (knee), DE Greg Romeus (knee), and G Carl Johnson (hamstring), CB Josh Gatlin (thumb and knee), LB Jerimiha Hunter (heel), and WR Michael Galatas (hamstring). ... The day off on Tuesday represents a schedule change. The original camp schedule had Wednesday listed as a day off, but Payton decided to move it up one day because the team remains thin at some positions, meaning some players are involved in 75 per cent to 80 per cent of the snaps in practice. Payton said practice will now resume on Wednesday. ... Payton also decided to do away with a scheduled scrimmage on Saturday and replace it with a regular practice, in large part because players who signed as free agents after the lockout ended will have only just started practising. ... When asked about the possibility of a contract extension, Brees, who is in the last year of a six-year deal, was not revealing much. Brees has the same agent as Peyton Manning, who recently agreed to a five-year, $90 million contract that in essence sets the standard for elite quarterbacks. "When the time comes, itll come," Brees said of a possible extension with New Orleans. "Weve all talked. So I think we have a plan -- but thats our plan." wholesale jerseys. 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The deal is reportedly a one-way deal, which means the Leafs likely expect Holzer to begin the season on Torontos big league roster after the blueliner spent most of last season with the AHLs Toronto Marlies. cheap jerseys .com. Not so on Saturday, when the smallest player on the team came up big in a 28-26 victory over Washington. After two straight blowouts in the Las Vegas Bowl, the Broncos had to work hard for a win sealed by a 27-yard field goal by 5-foot-5 Michael Frisina with 1:16 left.MIAMI -- The way LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are rolling right now, one bad quarter is hardly too much for the Miami Heat to overcome. And with that, the Heat are three wins away from another trip to the NBA finals. James scored 32 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Wade scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and the Heat beat the Boston Celtics 93-79 on Monday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. "One down. And they still have an opportunity in Game 2 to accomplish what they want to," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, referring to how Boston can still grab home-court advantage by winning Game 2. "At times it was a strange game. Some good runs, both teams. We felt we could have played better and Im sure they felt the same thing. But we found a way to grind it." Shane Battier, playing in the conference finals for the first time, had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who wasted an early 11-point first-half lead, then gave up 35 second-quarter points before running away to break a halftime tie -- getting going with a 9-2 run early in the third. Miami outrebounded the Celtics 48-33, blocked 11 shots and didnt trail at any time. "A block is like a dunk," Wade said. "It gets your team going." Kevin Garnett had 23 points and 10 rebounds for Boston, which got 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists from Rajon Rondo and 12 points from Paul Pierce. Ray Allen shot just 1 for 7 from the floor for Boston, which was outscored by 10 in the first quarter and 11 in the third. "On the road, you cant have two quarters of lulls," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. Game 2 is Wednesday night in Miami. And while both sides would say theres a long way to go in this series, Game 1 winners have a decided edge in any best-of-seven, the conference final being no exception. In the most recent 10 postseasons, teams with 1-0 leads in conference finals have advanced 15 out of 20 times. James and Wade scored 197 points in the final three games of Miamis second-round series with Indiana, all those games being Heat wins. The momentum carried over into Game 1 with the Celtics. "We get a lot of the press, we get a lot of the headlines," James said. "But our teammates, they do everything to help us win ball games." Its the third straight year the Heat and Celtics have met in the playoffs, and the third straight year James has seen his post-season path go through Boston -- the first of those matchups coming in 2010 in his final run with Cleveland. Each of those came in the first or second rounds, not this close to the NBA finals. And yes, the rivalry seems to be heating again. "Theyre home, theyre comfortable and when youre comfortable you do things like that," Garnett said, suggesting that Miami was showboating at times down the stretch. "We have to show them to take them out of their comfort zone. Weve got to fight a lot harder." Last seasons Miami-Boston series ended with James scoring the final 10 points of Game 5, and the start of this years matchup had him putting on another offensive display. He had 13 points in the first quarter -- two more than the entire Celtics roster -- and Miami ran out to a 21-11 lead after the opening period. Garnett made three of his four shots in the quarter, while everyone else in Boston green was 2 for 16 from the floor. "I thought they were ready to play," Rivers said.dddddddddddd. "Im talking about Miami. I thought we kind of joined the game." The 11 points matched the lowest output by any team in the opening quarter this post-season. The other team to manage that few was San Antonio, which then dropped 32 on the Los Angeles Clippers in the second quarter of their game on May 19. The Celtics response was even better. Boston scored 35 in the second quarter, erasing what was an 11-point deficit early in the period by scoring 27 points in the final 8:46 of the half to pull into a 46-all tie. Rondo, Garnett and Pierce combined to score 23 points in the quarter, looking absolutely vintage, near-perfect offensive execution getting to Miami time and time again. And the Celtics comeback happened even while they got hit with three technical fouls in the second quarter, plus Allen missing four first-half free throws -- matching his career-worst for an entire game. "We may never see that again," Rivers said. In the end, it went down as merely a one-quarter lapse for Miami. Another technical foul, this one on Rondo, came in the third quarter, likely born from frustration as the Heat started to roll again. With the game tied at 50, Rondo missed three shots in a 31-second span early in the third, the last of those getting blocked by Battier -- who hit a 3-pointer 11 seconds later. It started a 9-2 Miami burst, including a touchdown pass from Wade to James -- Wade grabbed the rebound of a miss by Pierce, spun and delivered a 90-foot pass to the reigning MVP -- for an easy score. "We knew at halftime we hadnt played our best basketball," James said. "So we just had to stop making the mental mistakes and start to play the way were capable of playing." And thats what happened. Miami led by as many as 13 late in the third, before taking a 72-61 lead into the fourth. James scored 10 more in the third, Boston went cold again, shooting just 27 per cent in the period, and Wades left-handed bullet pass into the lane set up Joel Anthony for a dunk that pushed the Heat lead to 15 with 10:13 remaining. Pierce was 5 for 18. Rondo shot 8 of 20. Ray Allen was 1 for 7 from the floor and 3 for 7 from the foul line -- missing four free throws for just the third time in his 1,270 career regular-season and playoff games. "We kept fighting," Rondo said. "It wasnt pretty. We missed four or five layups, a bunch of free throws. That being said, we were tied at halftime but we just didnt come out with the right mindset in the second half." Miami did and takes a 1-0 lead into Game 2 as its reward. But James said he knows Boston is far from done. "I look at them as a top opponent, as a top contender and a competitive group ... a championship-calibre team," James said. NOTES: Spoelstra is now 6-0 in Game 1s at home. ... James passed Sam Jones (2,909) for 22nd on the NBAs playoff scoring list with a layup late in the first quarter, and Garnett passed Dirk Nowitzki (1,314) for 22nd on the leagues post-season rebound list. ... The Heat left the floor at halftime with a 48-46 lead, then had two points by Anthony taken off after a lengthy review showed he had a basket after the shot clock expired. ... Miami F Chris Bosh did a light pregame workout, but still remains out indefinitely with a lower abdominal strain. He was on the Heat bench for the first time in Miamis last six games. ' ' '