Boston had every right to lose this game. They didn’t get into Atlanta until 4 a.m., and they fell behind big in the first half. By the second quarter, the Hawks’ announcers were asking, “Lets blow ’em outta the building. Whadda ya say?” Lou Williams (28 points) came out and dropped 11 in the game’s first four minutes while hitting three triples, and Atlanta had the Celtics’ offense in a vice grip. Too bad Paul Pierce (26 points, nine boards) forgot he’s supposed to be old, abusing the Hawks during a monster mid-game run that saw Boston outscore their Eastern Conference rivals 44-16 en route to a 89-81 win. Boston somehow continues to get praised as a great defensive team – even though they’re not – but now that Avery Bradley is back, and Rajon Rondo has himself refocused (14 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists), things might be changing for the Bean. They balled out on that end last night, holding the third-best team in the East to 28 points in the second half … In case you forgot why Eric Gordon matters in New Orleans, he reminded you late in New Orleans’ crazy 99-96 win in Dallas. With the score tied, Gordon (14 points) banked in a crazy shot – plus the foul – from the top of the key, propelling the Hornets to the win even as nearly everyone struggled with their shot outside of Greivis Vasquez (25 points, seven boards, nine dimes). On the other end, Vince Carter (17 points) still missed Dallas’ final shot despite not attending any graduations in the morning … At this point, it’s safe to say the Mavs are officially garbage, but at least Dirk gave them a glimmer of hope, scoring 20 points in the starting lineup and doing a few things down the stretch that reminded us of the old MVP Dirk … Roy Hibbert finally decided to show up for the 2012 season, showing a pulse for the first time in about three months. In Indiana’s 95-80 blowout over Milwaukee, he destroyed the Bucks, using their frontcourt players as pole vaults on his way to 20 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks. He was aggressive both in the post and on pick-n-rolls, and for once, made his own luck … Paul George has spent the past few weeks making a push for the All-Star Game in February, and last night, he unleashed a dunk that’ll be giving Larry Sanders (12 points, 12 rebounds) nightmares. George caught the rock off a cut to the hoop, took one dribble and then detonated all over Sanders’ head, dunking it so hard that George fell off-balance and landed on his side … Here was James Harden‘s (29 points, seven steals) offensive gameplan in the fourth quarter: isolate, lose the handle, run it down and then pull some crazy, impossible shot from out of his beard. He did it three times in a close win against Cleveland, twice on three-pointers. Dion Waiters looked like he was ready to cry after getting both shots in his mug. It was a part of a 25-point second half for the Beard in Houston’s win … On the other side, Kyrie Irving dropped 30 … Keep reading to hear about Carmelo’s big night …
In Just Go With It, we felt bad for Jennifer Aniston. Matched up against Brooklyn Decker, she spent the whole movie trying to match the model’s ridiculous body, and just continually came up short. Orlando was Jen Aniston last night, battling all night against the Knicks, and still running out of options, 114-106 losers after New York took it to another level in the fourth quarter. Jameer Nelson went for 29 points while feasting off the pick-n-roll, and had a third quarter in-and-out off a pick-n-roll that made Pablo Prigioni spin in a 360. Arron Afflalo also had 29, starting fast and finishing strong. Yet it didn’t matter. It wasn’t just Carmelo Anthony (40 points) who went off. The Knicks made it look easy down the stretch, getting open threes, isolating ‘Melo, and with each possession, they opened their lead up a little further until it was all over. Anthony made seven field goals by himself in the last frame, and hit two in a row to ice it in the closing minutes. Somehow, Orlando went long portions of the game guarding Carmelo Anthony with Josh McRoberts – with no help, either. And this happened by design. Jacque Vaughn either confused McRoberts with an actually decent basketball player, or it was a part of some elaborate plan to get ‘Melo to shoot and ignore his teammates, which doesn’t really take much and definitely shouldn’t include embarrassment for McBob … During the second quarter on Orlando’s broadcast, Matt Guokas started lauding Tyson Chandler (14 points, 12 boards) for how he’s learned his limits after a rocky start to his career, especially accepting that he has no post game whatsoever. Goukas compared him to Joakim Noah, and said about the former Florida beast, “He hasn’t really realized that his team doesn’t want to throw the ball to him in the post. He keeps asking for it.” … Other big stat lines from Saturday: Brooklyn smoked Sacramento by 20 as they had just enough (six players scored at least 14) to offset another four-course meal from DeMarcus Cousins (28 points, 11 rebounds); Portland survived a late charge by the Wolves in their five-point win, getting 26 a piece from Wes Matthews and Nic Batum, as well as one of those “Where the f— did that come from?” dunks from Victor Claver; Tony Parker had 20 and San Antonio waxed Philly, 109-86; Danilo Gallinari hit Utah for 26 points in Denver’s 110-91 beatdown of the Jazz; and the Clippers destroyed the Warriors by 26 behind 27 points and nine dimes from Chris Paul … We’re out like Joe Webb.
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