Luck of the Irish: Celtics top 76ers on Garnetts last second basket

Iconic is was not but Sixers Celtics sure was entertaining

Kevin Garnett's alley-oop layup with 1.4 seconds remaining lifted the Boston Celtics to a 102-101 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center.

Rajon Rondo connected with Garnett for the tip-in, finding his teammate with a substantial size advantage in the paint over Sixers guard Jrue Holiday.

"We worked on that last week," said Celtics head coach Doc Rivers of the play. "We tried to run it early and we had bad timing. It's just funny how things work out."

The shot came just seconds after Andre Iguodala gave Philadelphia a 101-100 advantage with a running hook shot.
Garnett stole the inbounds pass after his go-ahead bucket, sealing the win for Boston. He scored 14 points and Rondo added 19 with 14 assists for the Celtics, who have won nine straight.

Ray Allen scored a game-high 23 points and Glen Davis added 16 in a reserve role for Boston.

Jodie Meeks led the Sixers with 19 points on 4-of-4 from beyond the arc and Iguodala scored 14 with 11 assists for the Sixers, who saw their five-game home winning streak snapped.

Hornets Stung: Philly capitalizes on slow NOLA for win

Andre Iguodala scored 16 to go along with 10 rebounds and five assists as the Philadelphia 76ers cruised to an 88-70 victory over the New Orleans Hornets at Wells Fargo Center.

Lou Williams accounted for 17 points and Elton Brand had 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Sixers, who capped a 3-1 homestand with the win. Jrue Holiday added 12 points and four assists.

"The mentality around the team is great. Five out of seven," stated Brand when talking about the team's recent success. "We had a lead out in Atlanta, big lead and the one-point loss the other day [to Boston]. That could have been seven in a row. We would have been one of the most talked about teams in the league, so they know we can play. We are just working hard to get better."

Chris Paul led the Hornets with 25 points but fell well below his 10.4 assists per game average because of a dismal shooting day from his team. David West accounted for nine points and eight rebounds and Trevor Ariza grabbed 10 boards for the Hornets, who have lost two in a row and four of their last five.

"Give them credit. They switched, they're active and athletic," Hornets head coach Monty Williams said of the Sixers. "But we missed a lot of point blank shots and we missed a lot of free throws."

LouWill Shines as Sixers top Magic

Lou Williams scored 24 points off the bench and the Philadelphia 76ers opened an eight-game road-trip with a 97-89 victory over the Orlando Magic at Amway Center.


Orlando made two trades prior to the game, overhauling its roster in the midst of a slump with moves that involved eight players.


Andre Iguodala scored 21 points and dished out seven assists for Philadelphia, which has won two straight on the road for the first time this season. Elton Brand finished with a double-double, scoring 20 and grabbing 13 rebounds.


The Magic acquired embattled guard Gilbert Arenas from Washington for forward Rashard Lewis, then made a six-player deal with Phoenix that netted them Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu and Earl Clark for Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat, Mickael Pietrus, a first-round draft pick and cash consideration.


"We needed scoring and we needed a little bit more punch," stated Magic president of basketball operations Otis Smith regarding the trades. "Looking at our team we were missing a little bit of something. We lost size but we got scorers and that was important for us."

Phil Jasner: Thank You

For those of you that know me you know that I am a basketball fan. Someone that follows the NBA more then is socially acceptable and one of the remaining Sixers fans still brave enough to admit it.

Today the Sixers lost one of their longest standing voices, Mr. Phil Jasner. I don't need to read across his accomplishments because if you know who he is then his years of service to the Philadelphia basketball community are already well known.

I met Phil once and I thought it was a good time to tell my story.