I think Delonte will do well against us when in Cleveland, but he can't defend Rage as consistently, (he'll beat up on Sam, unless Sam's hot from outside). Wally is only hot in about 1 game out of 5 or 6, and while I love Wally's heart, I don't think he's a consistent threat, and he's easy to defend. LeBron is gonna get his 30 or so ... you just have to staunch the bleeding elsewhere. Z could be a problem, and I think we're going to have to waste some fouls on him, maybe use PJ to get him into foul trouble.
Normally I could care less about Delonte West (I don't rate him) but I'm always fearful of ex-players, they have a habit of playing well above their station against old teammates and old surroundings. He'll know and recognize Rondo's every move and frankly West has more ways to score the ball. Delonte clearly thinks he can score on Rondo, we saw that back in Seattle. There's a confidence there in Delonte against Rajon.
Same goes for Wally but that's a more he might get hot and make all his jump shots than anything else. I slag off Wally's defense but in comparison to Josh Childress's D, Wally has been the better defender in the playoffs so far and he's been guarding Caron Butler. We didn't ever really take advantage of Childress so why can I expect this team to take advantage of Wally? Wait and see. Hopefully they will.
I agree with ex players coming up big and I expect Delonte and Wally to have a game or two where they do. I just don't think that Delonte is going to recognize the Rondo that he matches up against as the one he played with. He is much more confident and will give him more than he can handle with his quickness. Delonte offensively will also not be a big deal on the dribble penetration because we all know he can't go to his right. Play off that left shoulder and he'll have to give up the ball. I am more worried about Delonte getting left and knocking down 3's. You are right about Wally. If he gets left open we could get burned.
I am not worried about Rondo as long as he plays within himself like that last game. He does need to shoot that 15 -17 footer from the top of the key though when they let him go over the top. He was hitting that consistently this year and it forced them to fight over the screen vs. go under.
Rondo could end up having a (very) good series here. Neither Delonte or Gibson defend quick guards well. It's their (point guards) achilles heal defensively. Cleveland have put LeBron on good point guards late on in games just to make sure they don't get beaten to bad, but they can't do that in this series.
The opportunity is there for Rondo, much like it was against Bibby, to be a great penetrator in this series.
Without a doubt! If they put Lebron on Rondo he will blow right past him. Lebron is quick but not that quick. That would also leave PP getting guarded by Delonte or Gibson. We saw when Bibby switched over on PP off a pick and roll what happened with that one.
