Rajon Rondo delivered a mammoth triple-double to lead the Celtics to a 115-111 overtime victory over New York on Sunday, spoiling Knicks guard Jeremy Lin’s return to Boston.
Rondo poured in 18 points with a career-high 17 rebounds and 20 assists. It was the most impressive triple-double in the NBA since Magic Johnson’s 24-17-17 in 1989.
Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 34 points, including a three-pointer in the waning seconds of regulation to force overtime, while Kevin Garnett had a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Photo: AFP
NBA sensation Lin — a onetime bench-warmer who shot to prominence last month — had 14 points with five assists and four rebounds for the Knicks, who were led by Carmelo Anthony’s 25 points.
Lin, who graduated from Harvard University in the Boston area and attended several Celtics games as a student, had hoped for more on his return.
His last game in Boston, on Feb. 3, preceded his Feb. 4 break-out performance against New Jersey and the dawn of the “Linsanity” hoopla that gripped the media and Knicks fans.
The fact that Lin is an Asian-American, born in California to parents who moved from Taiwan, made him an international favorite as well and there were pockets of Lin supporters scattered among the Celtics faithful on Sunday.
Lin’s Harvard coach — and the university president — attended the game.
Two quick fouls hindered Lin early on, but in the fourth quarter he flashed the skills that have sparked the Knicks as New York tried to claw back.
Lin connected on a layup off a loose ball and drained a wide-open three-pointer to narrow the gap to 96-95 with 2 minutes, 7 seconds left.
He scored six straight points late in the last period of regulation, but he also had six turnovers in his 31 minutes on the court.
“The thing about Jeremy, he’s going to make some mistakes and he’s got a learning curve,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “There’s no way you can throw him in here, the first time he ever does it, and expect it to be perfect, but he finds a way to be very positive at the end of games.”
The Celtics paid special attention to Lin. Like Miami two weeks earlier, they did not want the rising star to beat them.
“Definitely a target, but I think that’s fine because I think we have such a well-rounded team,” Lin said. “It’s just going to take time. It’s my, whatever, 11th, 12th game, 13th, I don’t really know. Early on, so I’m learning a lot and absorbing information right now.”
“Obviously, Boston is a great defensive team,” Lin said. “I didn’t have a great one today. I didn’t have a great one here last time. Maybe it’s the arena. I don’t know ... I was a little more comfortable, but still not to where I want to get to.”
In Taipei, many of Lin’s fans stayed up overnight at local sports bars to cheer for the iconic player.
Most of them were young students and white-collar workers, who appeared unconcerned by the fact they had to go to work the following day.
“Staying up one night won’t affect my work. It’s worth skipping one night’s sleep to watch Lin flashing his remarkable skills on court,” one fan said.
SEE LAKERS ON PAGE 19
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