Vince Carter Makes It Look Easy From Half-Court

Vince Carter had a huge first quarter last night against the Magic, dropping 15 on Dwight N’ the Gang. Three of them come from this buzzer-beater shot which, all things considered, looks like a normal shot coming out of Carter’s hands. “Vinsanity” finished with just 27 after that first-quarter outburst, but it doesn’t make this shot any less impressive.

Allen-to-Allen for Alley-Oop in Celtics Win

The Celtics have to work much harder to win games these days, finishing the regular season minus the ailing Kevin Garnett. Wednesday night against the Nets was a nail-biter for them and Boston fans, as they barely held off a 33-point attack from Vince Carter in a 106-104 victory. Rajon Rondo led the way with 31 points, just short of his season high, and added 9 rebounds and 5 assists.

Rondo was 10-15 shooting, while Paul Pierce and Kendrick Perkins were the only other Celtics to even attempt 10 shots. Eddie House scored 15 points off the bench, including 3-4 from three-point range.

Rondo had plenty of highlight hoop drives in this one, but the biggest play of the night came from the Allen-Allen connection. In a top-10 play of the night, Ray Allen makes a pretty alley-oop pass to Tony Allen, whose propensity for occasional highlight-reel plays shines through here as he finishes with the reverse slam.

Stephon Marbury contributed nicely off the bench, scoring 4 on 2-5 from the field and 5 assists in 15 minutes. Considering the quality of their postseason competition, the Celtics will need Marbury to step up his game soon in order to make another deep playoff run. Mikki Moore also had a very nice game, scoring 9 and grabbing 9 rebounds on 4-4 shooting in 22 minutes. The Celtics shot 51.9% as a team.

The rest of the highlights from this game can be seen here, courtesy of JalenRose.com:

Vinsanity Windmills It Home

Last Sunday’s “Dunk of the Night,” this windmill slam by Vince Carter, unquestionably one of the NBA’s all-time great dunkers, came in a 106-101 victory against the cross-town rival Knicks. It should be noted, however, that the dunk would not have been possible without a very nice effort by Devin Harris to save the inbound pass. Courtesy of NBA.com and their daily video highlights.