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BOSTON -- Rajon Rondo spun at the free throw line, leaving one defender behind, and rose toward the basket. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw another Atlanta player coming to guard him; with his other eye he spied teammate Paul Pierce open in the corner. "You have to pick your poison," Hawks swingman Tracy McGrady said. "When hes doing things like that, you dont know what to do." Rondo returned from a one-game suspension for bumping an official and recorded his seventh career playoff triple-double on Friday night, leading the Celtics to a 90-84 overtime victory over the Hawks that gave Boston a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Celtics point guard had 17 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists one game after sitting out for bumping referee Marc Davis in the closing minutes of the series opener. Rondo did not have a basket in the first half of Game 3, and Celtics coach Doc Rivers said he noticed Rondo struggling to run the offensive plays. "Then, finally, I told him: Just be a scorer. Just attack." Rivers said. "And I thought that freed him up." Rondo made the first two baskets of overtime, including a post-up hook shot over Jeff Teague that gave Boston the lead for good. "I felt good about all the shots I took," Rondo said. "My teammates told me to stay aggressive. Nights like tonight when I take a lot of shots, I finally found a way to get my team a win." Game 4 is Sunday night. Ray Allen returned for Boston after missing almost a month and scored 13 points in 38 minutes. Kevin Garnett had 20 points and 13 rebounds, and Pierce had 21 points one game after scoring 36 points with 14 rebounds to help the Celtics swipe home-court advantage with a Game 2 victory in Atlanta. Joe Johnson scored 29 points and Teague had 23 for the Hawks. McGrady had 12 points -- his highest total since he had 40 for Houston in 2008 -- but 10 were in the first half, before he landed awkwardly on his right ankle and went to the locker room. He did not have a field goal in the second half. "I know Ill be sore tomorrow. I can feel it already," he said. "It affected my shot. I had no lift. It affected my cutting. Ill just go and get treatment tomorrow." The Celtics went on an 11-1 run to open a double-digit lead with 7 minutes to play in regulation, but Atlanta rallied and tied it 80-80 on Johnsons 3-pointer with 1:23 left. Both teams failed to score on their next two possessions, leaving the Celtics with the ball out of bounds with 3.9 seconds left. Rondo inbounded to Pierce, who was defended by Johnson and had to take a long, fallaway jumper that bounced off the rim at the buzzer. "There were a few possessions it seemed no one could score," Johnson said. "We definitely felt like we let one get away. We felt like this was our chance to get one." The Celtics got Rondo back from his one-game suspension and Allen back on the court for the first time since April 10. He played just five games over the final month of the regular season because of bone spurs in his right ankle and missed the first two games of the playoffs as well. The Hawks kept losing players. With top centres Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia already out, forward Josh Smith was scratched with a sprained tendon in his left knee. "I thought we were depleted but we were still in a position where we could have won the game," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "It says a lot about your team when they can step up in the playoffs short-handed and still put themselves in position to win the game. We certainly had our opportunity. We just fell short." Notes: Hawks C Erick Dampier scored six points in 23 minutes. He played 83 minutes over 15 games and scored just two points in the entire regular season. ... Pierces next playoff game will tie him with Dennis Johnson and Bob Cousy for 10th on the Celtics all-time list with 109. Next up is current Celtics GM Danny Ainge, with 112. ... John Havlicek played in 172. ... Johnson scored eight points in the first quarter and McGrady had 10 points and four rebounds in the second. ... Celtics G Avery Bradley went to the locker room in the third with a sore left shoulder. The team initially said he would return, then said he wouldnt. ... Bruins president Cam Neely sat courtside with Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, getting a big cheer when he was shown on the scoreboard. ... Allen, the NBAs career 3-point leader, was 0-for-4 from 3-point range. He was 1-for-3 from the line and 6-for-12 from the field. Cheap NFL Jerseys From China . Scherzer pitched into the seventh inning, Young homered and the Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox 7-3 on Thursday night to avoid a four-game series sweep. Cheap NFL Jerseys China . Hamilton gave McLaren a fourth consecutive pole for the first time since 1999, and his chances of also making it four straight wins in Sundays race were boosted by Williams Pastor Maldonado snatching a surprise second place in qualifying, providing a buffer to the Britons title rivals. http://jasonhavens.org/cheap.html .C. -- Michael Jordans Bobcats are the NBAs most surprising team so far this season. MEDINAH, Ill. -- No other trio of American golfers has qualified for more consecutive Ryder Cup teams than Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk. Collectively, they have won 146 official tournaments around the world, including 19 majors. That only makes their Ryder Cup record look all the more inferior. They have been the core of the U.S. team since 1997 at Valderrama, where they combined for a 3-6-1 record as the United States lost the cup. Perhaps it was a sign of what was to come. For all their individual achievement, none has a winning record in the Ryder Cup. They have been on six teams together -- Woods missed in 2008 at Valhalla while recovering from knee surgery -- and the only celebration they shared was that remarkable comeback at Brookline. "I would have expected and definitely wished for a much better record than that," Furyk said Tuesday. It leads to a question that brings to mind the chicken and the egg. Do they all have losing records because they are playing on losing teams? Or does the U.S keep losing because this triumvirate has losing records? "I think its both," Woods said Tuesday. "In order to win cups, you have to earn points. And we certainly have not earned points. And on top of that, Phil, Jim and myself have been put out there a lot during those years. So if were not earning points, its hard to win Ryder Cups that way." So much has been expected. So little has been delivered. And they are running out of time to leave a lasting impression. Furyk is 42 and has gone four of the last five PGA Tour seasons without winning, though the exception was in 2010 when he won three times and was voted player of the year. Even so, he had to rely on being a captains pick for the first time. Mickelson, also 42, has qualified for nine straight teams dating to 1995. He will set an American record for most Ryder Cups when the matches began Friday. Even so, he narrowly qualified for the team this year. They will be leaned on heavily again at Medinah as the U.S. tries to win back the cup. They Americans, dressed in navy blue shirts, headed out for the first full day of practice under warm sunshine in the Chicago suburbs. They played fourball matches among the three groups, which was evident when Bubba Watson and his pink-shafted driver drove through a dogleg on the 440-yard 11th hole and over the gallerys head. He still played that shot (and they won the hole). U.S. captain Davis Love III finally showed his hand -- and confirmed some obvious pairings in mind -- by sending out Woods and Steve Stricker, Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, Watson and Webb Simpson. Other pairings were Matt Kuchar and Dustin Johnson, Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson, and Furyk and Brandt Snedeker. There were few surprises on the European side. European captain Jose Maria Olazabal had Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood in one group; Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia and Paul Lawrie in another; and Mark Kaymer, Nicolas Colsaerts, Francesco Molinari and Peter Hanson in a third. FFuryk referred to McIlroy as a "marked man" last week, and not many could argue.dddddddddddd The 23-year-old from Northern Ireland already is a two-time major champion, with both wins by eight shots. He has established himself as No. 1 in the world without debate, and has won three of his last six tournaments against the strongest field. For so many years, Woods was that guy on the U.S. team, and thats why his record gets so much attention. "I kind of liken it to playing premiership football, the biggest teams, the Manchester Uniteds, the Liverpools, the Chelseas, the Arsenals," McDowell said. "Any lesser team that comes to play these guys, they have a tendency to raise their game because its a huge game for an underdog to play a Tiger Woods. And they get up for it. They are not expected to win. When expectation levels drop, game tends to improve. I think a guy who plays Tiger Woods, or a player of that calibre, he doesnt expect to win, so he lets it all go and he plays out of his skin and gets the upset." Woods, despite his 86 wins and 14 majors, has never had a winning record in the Ryder Cup. He has combined to go 6-3-0 in his last two events to raise his career record to 13-14-2. Even at the height of his game, Europe would say that he could only win five points out of the 28 points up for grabs. Woods never came close to that, which helps explain why Europe has won six of the seven Ryder Cups in which he played. "Certainly, I am responsible for that because I didnt earn the points that I was put out there for," Woods said. "And thats part of being a team. I needed to go get my points for my team, and I didnt do that. Hopefully, I can do that this week. And hopefully, the other guys can do the same and we can get this thing rolling." Mickelson began his Ryder Cup career in 1995 at Oak Hill, where he went 3-0 and privately burned that he wasnt used more often. That turned out to be the most points Mickelson contributed in a week. Their contributions are so noticeable that Mickelson and Furyk are tied for losing the most fourball matches (eight) among American players. Furyk is 1-8-1 in fourballs, though there are pleasant Ryder Cup memories. He took down Nick Faldo in his debut at Valderrama, and it was his big win over Sergio Garcia at The Country Club in 1999 that was critical in the great American comeback. None of this bothers Love, who played on only two winning teams and had a 9-12-5 record. "Match play is just so different," he said. "I kind of throw the Jim Furyk or the Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods record of wins and losses out. ... Theres a reason why these guys keep making teams, and I dont look a whole lot at the record." That speaks to what they have done in their careers. They qualified for six straight teams from 1997 through 2008 (Woods would have led the Ryder Cup standings except for being injured). Woods was a captains pick only once, in 2010. Mickelson has never been picked. They have shown themselves as Americas best over the last 15 years. Trouble is, Europe keeps going home with the trophy. ' ' '