Rondo's recent play

[crownsy]

the kid is great. he's a vital part of this team and his play in this series, particularly at home, was instrumental. assist-turnover ration was something like 30:1 in games at the garden.

That's a crazy stat. Very impressive from Rondo.

He benefited a lot from Mike Bibby's terrible defense though. There was hardly any ball pressure and Rondo could do whatever he wanted against Mike all series long. Bibby is the worst defensive starting point guard in the league today. Still, great work to avoid turnovers from the help D and the mental mistakes. Well done Rondo.

its not his fault that Bibby has 40 year old knees. That shouldn't be a negative to his superb play as a playoff virgin, and incredible play all year.

Exploiting your opponents weakness (i.e bibby) shouldn't come with a "yea, but the guys not an awesome defender...meh." it means he did EXACTLY what he needed to do, and dominated his match up. exactly what he's supposed to do.

[fan33]

I swear Rondo must be reading this blog. He did exactly what we have been saying he needed to do. Drive to the basket and dish off for easy layups. Take smart shots. (4-5) Let the stars do their thing. Great defense. THAT is the Rondo we know and love. Most importantly he kept himself on the floor and Sam on the bench. Keep this style up Rondo!

Nothing to do with Sam, since he had a nice game himself, but Rondo played today as he's supposed to. Picked his spots well, and moved the ball like he did in the first couple of games.  At the beginning of the game, he was once again doing what he was doing wrong in the last 4 games, but he managed to correct himself and play a more intelligent game.

1-3 and no assists in 7 minutes? You're quite liberal with this "nice game" label. I am not saying he hurt us, but he sure wasn't valuable on the floor for those minutes like Rondo was in his.

Lookit, it isn't an either / or  situation, if rage isn't getting it done as in the first qarter today , or also has two fouls as in the previous game when Sam came in for him, that IS valuable to the TEAM. But no, you seen to have a need to keep on with this anti-Sam bias preventing you from seeing your own bias, as evidenced in your quote here: "THAT is the Rondo we know and love. Most importantly he kept himself on the floor and Sam on the bench. Keep this style up Rondo!"

Again, I just don't think you see the whole picture guy. Either that or you simply need to bring up, to continue the same old arguement!

Obviously Rage is delivering ahead of schedule, and a big part of getting the TEAM to this point, but also at times he still plays like a typical 2nd year player, albeit with gifts and tallent! He needs more quality minutes, not just more minutes, especially in the playoffs!

[Bahku]

However you want to assess his play, or who you compare him to, Rage has definitely exceeded expectations this year, and taken on a huge responsibility by being the on-floor leader of the number one team in the NBA, (talking records, here, not semantics).

There have been very few players at his age or experience who have been asked to do as much early on in their careers, and answered above and beyond what was expected. Does he need to develop his shot more? Absolutely, but when you've got a driving offense and the power inside that we showed today, you really don't need an outside shot.

I don't think that him taking a jump-shot today would have made a difference one way or the other, but he will need to develop that threat in the future, to keep opposing defenses honest. Awesome kid, and the PG of the future for this team! Plus he's got that Celtic heart, man ... sure wish Red could have been here to see this team this year!

[EJPLAYA]

I swear Rondo must be reading this blog. He did exactly what we have been saying he needed to do. Drive to the basket and dish off for easy layups. Take smart shots. (4-5) Let the stars do their thing. Great defense. THAT is the Rondo we know and love. Most importantly he kept himself on the floor and Sam on the bench. Keep this style up Rondo!

Nothing to do with Sam, since he had a nice game himself, but Rondo played today as he's supposed to. Picked his spots well, and moved the ball like he did in the first couple of games.  At the beginning of the game, he was once again doing what he was doing wrong in the last 4 games, but he managed to correct himself and play a more intelligent game.

1-3 and no assists in 7 minutes? You're quite liberal with this "nice game" label. I am not saying he hurt us, but he sure wasn't valuable on the floor for those minutes like Rondo was in his.

Lookit, it isn't an either / or  situation, if rage isn't getting it done as in the first qarter today , or also has two fouls as in the previous game when Sam came in for him, that IS valuable to the TEAM. But no, you seen to have a need to keep on with this anti-Sam bias preventing you from seeing your own bias, as evidenced in your quote here: "THAT is the Rondo we know and love. Most importantly he kept himself on the floor and Sam on the bench. Keep this style up Rondo!"

Again, I just don't think you see the whole picture guy. Either that or you simply need to bring up, to continue the same old arguement!

Obviously Rage is delivering ahead of schedule, and a big part of getting the TEAM to this point, but also at times he still plays like a typical 2nd year player, albeit with gifts and tallent! He needs more quality minutes, not just more minutes, especially in the playoffs!

And your same old rebuttal is that somehow Sam coming in the game and producing a little one out of every 6-7 games is a positive. I see the whole picture. Just coming out and standing out there isn't valuable. House, because of his limited play which is affecting his shots, isn't playing much better. There is nothing wrong at all with saying the more Rondo is out on the floor the better we are. The next 2 options (Sam and House) aren't even close to what he brings to the floor. If the backups aren't producing, then it IS an either or situation.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I swear Rondo must be reading this blog. He did exactly what we have been saying he needed to do. Drive to the basket and dish off for easy layups. Take smart shots. (4-5) Let the stars do their thing. Great defense. THAT is the Rondo we know and love. Most importantly he kept himself on the floor and Sam on the bench. Keep this style up Rondo!

Nothing to do with Sam, since he had a nice game himself, but Rondo played today as he's supposed to. Picked his spots well, and moved the ball like he did in the first couple of games.  At the beginning of the game, he was once again doing what he was doing wrong in the last 4 games, but he managed to correct himself and play a more intelligent game.

1-3 and no assists in 7 minutes? You're quite liberal with this "nice game" label. I am not saying he hurt us, but he sure wasn't valuable on the floor for those minutes like Rondo was in his.

He was moving the ball quite well, and suddenly a guy playing good defense doesn't count when it's Sam in the mix? He played great defense last night.

[RebusRankin]

Rondo had a good series. Should be able to exploit Delonte and Gibson too.

[BASSTHUMPER]

better bring yo A game with west..he'd love to beat us...wally too...

[BASSTHUMPER]

i'm lookin at the game again...rondo is a good rebounder he got hops and uses his body..long arms

[RebusRankin]

better bring yo A game with west..he'd love to beat us...wally too...

Rondo's better than West. Wally is overrated.

[BASSTHUMPER]

better bring yo A game with west..he'd love to beat us...wally too...

Rondo's better than West. Wally is overrated.

yeah...wally really let me down when he was here....injury prone..that ankle always kept him out of games...but after the hawks we should never doubt the abilities of other teams playas...all year we have brought the best out of teams....king james gonna act a fool like ludachris..

[Bahku]

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.

[Smitty]

Rondo had an average Efficiency Rating for the series of 17.43.

Bibby had an avg. Eff. Rating for the series of only 7.86.

I am VERY proud of Rondo.  He had five solid games out of seven.  Not bad for a 21 year old kid.

[Who]

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.

[EJPLAYA]

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.

[Who]

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.