Manu Ginobili Breaks Harrison Barnes’ Ankles With A Behind-The-Back Dribble 
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Watch Klay Thompson Get Buckets in High School Rondo and KG connect to conquer Philly; Dwight Howard drops 39
NBA League Pass junkies can testify this much about the Philadelphia 76ers: They’re mostly brutal to watch. But stick them on national TV, and suddenly the Sixers are playing instant classics while their building is jumping like it was during Allen Iverson‘s prime … OK, so maybe Sixers/Celtics last night wasn’t a classic — we just watched Celtics/Lakers from 1984 in the Dime office and that’s a hell of a high standard — but it was a back and forth, down to the wire thriller that was decided by the stars … All along you were waiting for the Celtics to flip the BEAST switch and turn it into a rout, like when they went on an 11-0 run to close the third quarter, but the Sixers hung tough down to the last second. Throughout the fourth quarter the teams traded the lead, with Jodie Meeks (19 pts) and Andre Iguodala (14 pts, 11 asts) sparking the Sixers offense, and Ray Allen (23 pts) and Rajon Rondo making it happen for the Celtics … Philly was down by one with 11 seconds left, and although Iguodala’s LeBron-ish nervous face coming out of the timeout was like a WARNING sign with worry lines, A.I.2 crossed up Paul Pierce and powered his way to the rim for a go-ahead bucket. (“The NEW A.I.!” yelled Reggie Miller.) With six seconds on the clock, the Celtics ran another clinic-worthy play where Kevin Garnett ended up being guarded by Jrue Holiday, and all Rondo had to do was lob it toward the rim for KG to lay it in. Ballgame. After the buzzer, Garnett was laughing like he couldn’t believe he’d gotten such an easy look to win it … Philly went with the typical defensive strategy of trying to make Rondo a scorer — and this time he responded like one. Not saying Rondo reminded anybody of Calvin Murphy, but he scored 19 points and shot the ball with confidence. Rondo (9-14 FG, 14 asts, 3 stls) banked in a three at the end of the third quarter, and one time he made an up-and-under layup from a crazy angle almost off the top of the backboard. He was trying to avoid the shot-blocker, except Spencer Hawes wasn’t even trying to challenge … The Blazers could have used Greg Oden last night. Better yet, they could have used Greg Oden with a transplant of JaVale McGee’s healthy legs. Dwight Howard went bananas on Portland, giving everybody from LaMarcus Aldridge to Marcus Camby to Joel Przybilla to Arvydas Sabonis a dosage of buckets. Dwight scored Orlando’s first 12 points, and 20 of their first 40, on his way to finishing with 39 points (13-20 FG, 13-18 FT) and 15 boards. But the rest of his team didn’t show up. The Blazers withstood the early barrage, went on a big run in the second quarter and didn’t look back … Brandon Roy was basically a decoy. He initiated some offense and still commanded the defense’s attention, but he took a backseat to Wes Matthews (20 pts) as Portland’s top wing scorer. Tell us again why no NBA team drafted Matthews? He’s built like a tank, and when he’s in attack mode can be a handful for any guard in the League … In the second half, Steve Kerr said the Magic’s biggest problem was their “lack of a creative perimeter player who can get easy points.” As if he’d been listening to the broadcast, Vince Carter immediately got the rock, blew past his man baseline and threw down a vintage reverse dunk. Too bad it was one of just two field goals he’d make all night … In Thursday’s only other NBA game, the Mavs cruised past the Nets behind Dirk Nowitzki’s 21 points and 10 boards … We’re out like Sabonis …
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