Rondo changes his game to spark Boston’s Super Bowl Sunday win

Here’s the thing: Just because Rajon Rondo doesn’t score a lot, it doesn’t mean he can’t score. So we don’t always have to act surprised when Rondo gets buckets, like he did during yesterday’s Boston win over Orlando that served as the main Super Bowl appetizer … The Magic did what the scouting report said, sticking close to Ray Allen and Paul Pierce and forcing Rondo to look for his own shot. So considering he has a lethal first step, some of tightest handles in the League, and maybe the NBA’s best court vision, Rondo did what he’s supposed to do: Get into the lane and get layups. He scored 26 points to go with 7 assists, taking over the third quarter when Boston extended a three-point halftime lead to as much as 15 on their way to another W. But you can hear the haters anyway: “It’s easy to score 26 when you’re playing with three Hall of Famers.”Dwight Howard, maybe the one superstar whose offensive repertoire is even more scrutinized than Rondo’s, put up 28 points, 13 boards and 3 steals. He was dominant in the first half — hitting one circus shot from behind the backboard but otherwise just beasting whoever tried to check him — before Boston slowed him down in the second half by funneling the defense to Dwight and watching Orlando’s shooters build a community center with all their bricks. The Magic shot 3-for-24 from three-point range, while Hedo Turkoglu, Gilbert Arenas and J.J. Redick were a combined 4-for-27 from the field … Scary moment when Marquis Daniels tried drive on Gilbert Arenas, rammed the top of his head into Arenas’ chin and dropped to the floor motionless. Daniels was taken off on a stretcher, and the last we heard he was diagnosed with a spinal cord bruise that will sideline him 1-2 months … Quentin Richardson‘s play where he knocked a ball out of the hoop that was going in for Orlando wasn’t a good result for his team, but at least we know Q-Rich can still touch the net … Clearly Eddie House is just trying to take the Miami Heat villain role to another level and make everybody hate him personally. Last Sunday in front of a national TV audience, he capped his usual s***-talking performance with a Sam Cassell Big Balls Dance that drew a $25K fine from the League. In this Sunday’s Heat/Clippers matchup, House decided to take out the League’s golden child of the moment and turn all of YouTube against him … Fourth quarter, Miami was well ahead when L.A. got out on a fast break. Blake Griffin was running on the wing, Baron Davis had the rock in the middle, and you could see the highlight alley-oop coming. House also saw it, so he served Griffin with a forearm shiver and sent the rookie into the front row rather than get dunked on. You can’t get mad at House for making sure he didn’t get turned into Damon Jones for Blake’s LeBron, but that was just a cheap shot … As for the game, Dwyane Wade dominated, finishing with 28 points, 8 boards and 8 assists in a near 20-piecing. House (15 pts) was also big in the fourth quarter, taking advantage when L.A. left him wide open multiple times … Blake (21 pts, 16 rebs) did have one sick highlight, a follow dunk in the first quarter. He also had a one-hand alley-oop miss that was even sicker, if that makes sense … There were just two other games on Super Bowl Sunday: Amar’e Stoudemire dropped 41 points (17-21 FG) as the Knicks took care of business at home against Philadelphia; and Mike Dunleavy Jr. scored 17 points with 5 threes to lead Indiana past New Jersey … So about that Super Bowl. What started out as a potential blowout turned into another nail-biter, as Pittsburgh’s last-chance two-minute drill imploded when Green Bay’s defense just wouldn’t give Ben Roethlisberger anything to work with. The Packers won, 31-25, and Aaron Rodgers copped MVP with 304 passing yards and 3 touchdowns. No confirmation on the rumor that Rodgers sent Brett Favre a dick pic with the Lombardi trophy in the background and “Tell Me How My Ass Tastes” as a companion sound clip … What was up with that halftime show? Black Eyed Peas is usually harmless — somewhere between corny and catchy — but that Tron-style thing yesterday was just weird. What did you think? … We’re out like terrible towels …

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