Rondo Another Great Game

[pengaloo]

Sorry, it's hard for me to say our PG had a "great" game when we lost the game, largely on his accord in the 4th quarter.

Wow, some people need to relax.

  Rondo is no more to blame for the loss than anyone else, including the coaches.

Agree to disagree.  See what I said a few posts above.

Also see what Doc and Ray had to say:

"They are playing good defense," Rivers said. "They're doing a terrific job. We're trying to get him more space. We certainly have to get him more shots. Even if he doesn't get more shots, he has to touch the ball more. That's on us. But give them credit though, I think they're doing a great job."

Said Allen: "We have to make them pay. There is somebody open. We just have to find them."

Ray touching the ball more is great, if he doesn't over dribble like he tends to do more often than not. I do give the Magic's defense credit though.. they've forced the celtics to play non-Celtics basketball on the offensive side. The expectations going into this series was that our backcourt was going to blow theirs away...

[BrickJames]

nevermind, Rondo had a great game.  that 3 pointer with 10 seconds left on the shotclock when we were down 3 was GRRRREAT!

[BballTim]

nevermind, Rondo had a great game.  that 3 pointer with 10 seconds left on the shotclock when we were down 3 was GRRRREAT!

  Sorry. Since he had he shot partially blocked that means he's a stat-hungry goofball who's taking crazy shots even though Ray's completely unguarded and screaming for the ball.

  See, I can do that too.

[Jaycelt]

  Guys, Pierce controlled the offense from the very beginning of the gsme.  That was the game plan and it was very obvious to me.  I even mentioned it at halftime in the game thread.  The plan was to make the Magic pay for doubling Pierce, got the ball to Rondo who would have the whole end of the court to work with since he wasn't being guarded, then Rondo would attack and pass to the open guy, usually underneath.
And it was working beautifully.  If they gave assist for assists like they do in hockey Pierce would have gotten at least one point on almost every play.
To say he wasn't moving the ball just isn't true and his shots bare that out.  16 total, 3 from the arc.  And he really had not choice but to move it because the MAGIC MADE IT VERY CLEAR THEY WERE NOT going to let PP win the game.
On the other hand Rondo took 19 shots just two more assists and 5 turnovers, tow of those on offensive fouls so in actuality he took 21 shots.

The only differences I saw in the second half was the offense waiting on Ray, Rondo not making the quick read for the correct second pass and our big men spending way too much time trying to back down Howard and Lewis which led to a lot of turnovers.
Oh yea, it would have been nice for both Ray and Rondo to pass the ball on a fast break.  Ray had no where to go and Rondo completley ignored a wide open Pierce on the right wing.  Two pretty big plays in and of themselves.

[xmuscularghandix]

Do you remember in game 6 how fast Rondo got up the court at the end of the 1st half, to get a last second shot off? I know he can't do that all game, but every once in a while if he blasted up the court like that off the inbounds... its like automatic matchup issues for the defense.

[Levis107]

It's funny to me how people can call Pierce and Allen no-shows and lackadaisical as if they aren't trying or don't care about winning.  Has it occurred to any of you saying these things that maybe fatigue is catching up to our over 30 superstars?  They've played close to 200 games since the beginning of last season and already had a ton of miles on them to begin with from carrying their past teams every night of every previous season.  Especially Pierce who's played in basically every game the last two seasons.  They can't dominate on a nightly basis anymore, it's just asking too much at this point.  It's like you all forget what Pierce was like before 2008.

The offense was being run through Pierce in Game 6 because it was the exact same offense the Celtics ran for stretches in Game 4 and 5 to control the tempo and take the Magic out of their game.  It worked for most of Game 6 but since the team didn't execute down the stretch everybody wants to blame it on that.

And for the same people who seem to think Rondo can do no wrong,  Rondo should never be taking 19 shots in a game and 4 threes at that.  I'm sure you think his 8 for 19 really helped.  That's not being assertive like our PG should be.

[celticmaestro]

Rondo has got game.