The last couple of games have not been Rondo's best. But we all know that at age 23 the kid is going to have ups and downs, just like most veterans do. I accept his offensive his ups and owns, and I'm not going to overreact to them. On Friday, the Pacers did an excellent job of sagging off of him, forcing him to take shots that he didn't want to take and not letting him get to the rim. As a result, he wasn't very good (despite what the box score indicates), and the offense as a whole was shaky all night. Both today's and Friday's games are examples of Rondo not controlling the pace of the game, as he should every night. It's especially important that he pushes the pace with KG on the shelf, because the Celtics are crippled in the halfcourt without the Ticket. I'm sure these obvious problems with Rondo are upsetting some fans, including myself, but as we've seen in the past, Rondo will likely regroup and turn it around on offense soon.
Once again, I can tolerate his offensive mishaps, but his recent defensive effort hasn't been stomached as easily. He gets a lot of recognition for his defense, perhaps more than he deserves, because his consistency on that end isn't what it should be. I've heard that some people call him the Celtics' "mini KG", but I just don't see him bringing it every night on defense like KG does. Don't his teammates consider him the fastest player with the ball in his hands in the NBA? He can get anywhere he wants to with the dribble on offense, and there are few out there who can stay with him, but that makes me wonder on some nights why Rondo has so much trouble staying with his man. Earlier I saw someone refer to his man-to-man guarding as "matador defense", and I don't think there's a better way to put it. Rondo can pick players' pockets with the best of 'em, but I'd rather see him steal it from his teammates' men than against his own man after he's already blown by him.
Rondo is considered to be one of the best man defenders in the league by most, but sometimes I find myself doubting whether he really is. I've noticed how easily his man gets by him many times throughout the season, but I admit that I'm unsure just how frequently this happens, or how he stacks up against other point guards in this area. One thing that I can tell you is that his defensive lapses happen in clusters. It seems to me that when he has problems staying with his man, he has them all game.
I'm not sure how much stock to put into this, but take a look at Rondo's opponent counterpart 48-minute production on 82games.com (link:
http://www.82games.com/0708/07BOS1C.HTM). Is it what you thought it would be?