"It All Begins and Ends With Rondo"

[footey]

Good article in today's Herald by Gerry Callahan, which included the following:

"This much we know: Rondo is the most important player on this team, and when he goes into the funk, the team goes into a funk. The defense sags off him even further and makes life more difficult for Paul Pierce [stats] and Ray Allen. The offense flows like Storrow Drive an hour before a Sox game. Tommy loses his mind at courtside. It all begins and ends with Rondo, and if Rondo struggles, the Celtics offense struggles."

I completely agree with him on this.

[Bahku]

Good article in today's Herald by Gerry Callahan, which included the following:

"This much we know: Rondo is the most important player on this team, and when he goes into the funk, the team goes into a funk. The defense sags off him even further and makes life more difficult for Paul Pierce [stats] and Ray Allen. The offense flows like Storrow Drive an hour before a Sox game. Tommy loses his mind at courtside. It all begins and ends with Rondo, and if Rondo struggles, the Celtics offense struggles."

I completely agree with him on this.

I absolutely agree that as goes Rondo, so goes the team. It's actually the same for most teams, and should be ... the Point Guard is called the "floor general" for a reason, and it's his responsibility to set the tempo, get the ball to the players where and when they need it, run the fast break, push the ball when it needs to be, etc..

When Rondo is struggling, (which he has been, up until last night), this team struggles ... physically as in running the game, and emotionally as well. That's why, despite last night's painful loss, I was very encouraged to see Rage attacking the basket, pushing the ball up the floor, penetrating ... he even had two huge consecutive offensive rebounds.

He looked like "our" Rondo again, and I think we're going to see a renewed energy from Ray and KG on Thursday as well. It may sound strange, but I saw more good in last night's loss, than I saw in Sunday's win.

[chambers]

Good article in today's Herald by Gerry Callahan, which included the following:

"This much we know: Rondo is the most important player on this team, and when he goes into the funk, the team goes into a funk. The defense sags off him even further and makes life more difficult for Paul Pierce [stats] and Ray Allen. The offense flows like Storrow Drive an hour before a Sox game. Tommy loses his mind at courtside. It all begins and ends with Rondo, and if Rondo struggles, the Celtics offense struggles."

I completely agree with him on this.

He looked like "our" Rondo again, and I think we're going to see a renewed energy from Ray and KG on Thursday as well. It may sound strange, but I saw more good in last night's loss, than I saw in Sunday's win.

I agree, this was a good game for us. The Pacers played out of their skin and bar Rondo, Baby and Green's performances we had a below average outing and still just lost on the 2nd leg of a back to back roadie.
Big things poppin.

[winsomme]

I don't know that there is a team out there right now that is as interdependent as the Cs. We really do function and excel as a unit and are affected when any number of pieces is out of whack.

I agree that Rondo is a huge piece for us but no more than Paul, KG, Ray, bench, etc...

as we saw last night, Rondo can have a terrific game and we still lose. right now I think we are still seeing the effects of not having a defensive center.

definitely anxious to see how the team performs with Shaq and JO...

[chambers]

I don't know that there is a team out there right now that is as interdependent as the Cs. We really do function and excel as a unit and are affected when any number of pieces is out of whack.

I agree that Rondo is a huge piece for us but no more than Paul, KG, Ray, bench, etc...

as we saw last night, Rondo can have a terrific game and we still lose. right now I think we are still seeing the effects of not having a defensive center.

definitely anxious to see how the team performs with Shaq and JO...

Don't know if I completely agree with this.
We have so many options to go to on offense- our shooting percentage is so high. If it's not Rondo then we can rely on Paul or Ray to get their own shot.
Of course when everything falls apart like we've seen recently no one can pull us out in certain situations.
I think the reason the Celtics are so dangerous is because we have so many threats starting directly from our defensive power.
I just think about how many different players have won different crucial games for us compared to other teams.
ie: kobe on the Lakers (maybe gasol here or there?)
Rose on the Bulls (noah, deng?)
Lebron on the Cavs.(mo williams?)
Howard on the Magic. (rashard lewis or Nelson?)

I get what you're trying to say but I feel people overlook the fact we have so many guys that can come out and change the game single handedly.

[BballTim]

as we saw last night, Rondo can have a terrific game and we still lose. right now I think we are still seeing the effects of not having a defensive center.

  Rondo was good but he's capable of better. But maybe what we saw was that Rondo took too much of the blame for our problems.

[Fafnir]

I don't know that there is a team out there right now that is as interdependent as the Cs. We really do function and excel as a unit and are affected when any number of pieces is out of whack.

I agree that Rondo is a huge piece for us but no more than Paul, KG, Ray, bench, etc...

as we saw last night, Rondo can have a terrific game and we still lose. right now I think we are still seeing the effects of not having a defensive center.

definitely anxious to see how the team performs with Shaq and JO...

Last night was one of our worst defensive performances in a quite a while though.