Rondo is key to Boston Success

[CT34]

Since the start of the season the two biggest concerns most people had for the Boston Celtics was Rajon Rondo and the bench.  With that addition of veteran players like Sam Cassell and P.J. Brown late in the season, to go along with James Posey and Eddie House. The questions about the Celtics bench have cooled off.

Still the biggest question remain, can the Celtics win a championship with a 2nd year pg as their starter? Up until last night there was still some doubt in most people minds. 

In the biggest game of the season Rajon Rondo came up big.  He scored 20 points, 13 ast. 2 steals and 2 block shots.  Cleveland pretty much dear Rondo to beat them and he did.  Rondo controlled the tempo of the game on both ends of the court.  He took pressure off his three all-star teammates which allowed them to play like all-stars.  He even got a kiss on the forehead by Kevin Garnett. 

I have to give Doc Rivers a little credit for trusting Rondo and turning over the keys to the car to him. Every since the trade for Sam Cassell, Doc has been cutting into Rondo's minutes a lot. But now is the time we have to live or die with Rondo mistake (oh by the way he only had 1 turn-over last night) in a game that was full of turn-over. 

From this point forward Rajon Rondo is the key to the Celtics success.  He not only starts the offense but he also starts the defense with his ball pressure. Not to mention teams will continue to force Rondo to beat them. I'm sure Friday night Cleveland will continue to dear Rondo to beat them.  If you do that Cleveland Rondo will beat you

[Celtic]

Rondo will be dared by Cleveland, and in all honesty it's what they should do. Rondo has played out of his mind at home, and been OK on the road, he hasn't shot well in Cleveland, and if you are going to leave a shooter open on the Celtics, it's going to be Rondo. So now the ball really is in his court, if he plays well offensively in Cleveland, the Celtics will be very tough to beat.

[MMacOH]

The Cavs let Rondo's 2 three pointers change their defense on him.  That was a huge mistake.  Rondo made 5 three pointers all year.  The cavs should have been playing off of him and making him shoot jumpers.  They were guarding him way too close and allowing him to drive...Rondo will kill you with the drive.

Look for the Cavs to force him into jumpers tomorrow night.  Also, Rondo played 42 minutes and was admittedly tire after the game last night.  Remember, he is only 2 years removed from college and the NBA season is much more demanding physically than college.  If Rondo is consistently asked to play that many minutes he may tire out. 

[heatnum119]

"From this point forward Rajon Rondo is the key to the Celtics success.  He not only starts the offense but he also starts the defense with his ball pressure. Not to mention teams will continue to force Rondo to beat them. I'm sure Friday night Cleveland will continue to dear Rondo to beat them.  If you do that Cleveland Rondo will beat you"

Oh you think so, Doctor?

OBV son. Rondo 41mins + Sam/Eddie 7mins at pg= Series over in 6.

-heat

[CT34]

I hate to say this but I will but Rondo is like Tony Parker in the since that he can get anywhere on the court if he wants to.  Even if they leave him open of the jump shot, they are just giving him a running start to the basket.  Also when has Rondo have just a bad night shooting the basketball?  He can knock down jumpers he has a pretty good shot.  Like with any player it comes down to confidence with Rondo.  I think if the Cs are going to make it all the way to the finals, it start and end with Rondo.  You need either great PG play or a great inside play for advance and when a championship.  If Rondo can play great and he will be force to the Cs will have a great chance of winning it all. 

Notice how easy the offense flows when Rondo is making plays???  He is the key, he always has been the key.  Well Rondo is the team defense but he along with KG starts our defense.

[irishbuddy]

If Rajon developes a consistent jumpshot wich he already has improved drastically he will be one of the best point gaurds in the game.Also add about 15 pounds of muscle.

[kevingamble34]

Rondo has been such a pleasant surprise this season (although there are plenty of us who aren't surprsied and thought he just needed the minutes).  What I love is his attitude and his hustle, and you can tell he'd rather get the assist than the bucket.  He's going to be a GREAT player someday, I just know it.

Now, about his jumpshot.  We all know it has improved, and I think he's worked on it very hard and it's paying off, and it has been all year, really.  I think Ray Allenhas to credited with helping him there, to a certain extent.  Ray's been a mentor to Rondo all year, and they seem to be friends, the OCD kids as they like to say. 

What I love about Rondo's emerging jumpshot is that he actually has decent-looking form out there.  Even if you have picture-perfect form you have to practice hard and be consistent, and Ray is a great guy to look up to if you want to learn how to shoot.

Kind of off-topic, but...
This got me thinking about two of the most physically gifted players in the world who both have awful-looking form on their jumpers: one is Andre Igouldala and.... (drumroll please)... the other is ..."King" Lebron James.  If either one of these guys actually practiced shooting J's without A) Kicking their legs out in front of their hands B) Shooting on the way down from their jump, and C) Releasing the ball from over their heads while jumping way too high... well, they might actually have a consistent 'J" someday.  With their type of release they should almost turn into pseudo "set shooters" like Larry Bird, or KG for that matter.  Those guys had the funky over the head release, but they're great shooters because they didn't jump 3 feet veritcally and 2 feet forward on their release and they weren't always shooting dreadfully off-balance and alway shooting from a different part of their jump.

So basically, thank goodness somebody has Rondo practicing how to shoot the ball the right way, with the right form.  It's already paying off, and he's such a great athlete that someday shooting might even turn into a strength for him.  Until Lebron and Andre I. re-work their form they'll be streak-shooters at best.

[crownsy]

The Cavs let Rondo's 2 three pointers change their defense on him.  That was a huge mistake.  Rondo made 5 three pointers all year.  The cavs should have been playing off of him and making him shoot jumpers.  They were guarding him way too close and allowing him to drive...Rondo will kill you with the drive.

Look for the Cavs to force him into jumpers tomorrow night.  Also, Rondo played 42 minutes and was admittedly tire after the game last night.  Remember, he is only 2 years removed from college and the NBA season is much more demanding physically than college.  If Rondo is consistently asked to play that many minutes he may tire out. 

I think everyone is tired after 42 minutes of constant playoff basketball, he'll be fine.

And i wouldn't rely on him bricking jumpers, he's shot 42% this year. contray to espn's belif that he still shoots 25% from the floor, he can hit the jumper.

He is very streaky though, like james. If one goes in, count the next 5 if you leave him open, but if he misses 2 or 3 in a row, he needs to go to the paint to get himself some layups to go back in rythm.

[Jon]

He's doing what he should be doing.  Not to knock Delonte West too much, but he's not a point guard and he's not nearly as quick as Rondo.  Thus, Rondo should be pressuring the heck out of him all the time and forcing him into turnover or into letting LeBron handle the ball.  In either case, it disrupts what the Cavs want to do.  He finally did that in the second half of last night. 

On offense, he should be blowing by West every time and exploiting him.  He began to do this more in the second half as well.

Hopefully he keeps it up.

[tanner]

The Cavs let Rondo's 2 three pointers change their defense on him.  That was a huge mistake.  Rondo made 5 three pointers all year.  The cavs should have been playing off of him and making him shoot jumpers.  They were guarding him way too close and allowing him to drive...Rondo will kill you with the drive.

Look for the Cavs to force him into jumpers tomorrow night.  Also, Rondo played 42 minutes and was admittedly tire after the game last night.  Remember, he is only 2 years removed from college and the NBA season is much more demanding physically than college.  If Rondo is consistently asked to play that many minutes he may tire out. 

I think everyone is tired after 42 minutes of constant playoff basketball, he'll be fine.

And i wouldn't rely on him bricking jumpers, he's shot 42% this year. contray to espn's belif that he still shoots 25% from the floor, he can hit the jumper.

He is very streaky though, like james. If one goes in, count the next 5 if you leave him open, but if he misses 2 or 3 in a row, he needs to go to the paint to get himself some layups to go back in rythm.

I don't think it's as much about the total minutes as that he played the entire 2nd half in the last game.  He'll be ok with only 3 to 4 minutes of rest in each half.  Any longer than that you risk icing him.  The alternative is playing Sam, who has gotten burned at the defensive end many times and not been hitting his shots (also Cavs have put Lebron on him taking away any offensive advantage).  Doc could use Eddie but he's not been used enough in these playoffs to be playing more than 8 or 10 minutes.   

[kevingamble34]

Eddie is much quicker than Sam on defense, plus he doesn't mind passing the ball once in a while.  He's a pro, he'll be fine if they throw him in there instead of Sam.  Now people are hating on Sam but he was huge for us in Game 1 (or was it 2?)... anyway, he bailed us OUT!

The more Rondo the better, though...

[MMacOH]

The Cavs let Rondo's 2 three pointers change their defense on him.  That was a huge mistake.  Rondo made 5 three pointers all year.  The cavs should have been playing off of him and making him shoot jumpers.  They were guarding him way too close and allowing him to drive...Rondo will kill you with the drive.

Look for the Cavs to force him into jumpers tomorrow night.  Also, Rondo played 42 minutes and was admittedly tire after the game last night.  Remember, he is only 2 years removed from college and the NBA season is much more demanding physically than college.  If Rondo is consistently asked to play that many minutes he may tire out. 

I think everyone is tired after 42 minutes of constant playoff basketball, he'll be fine.

And i wouldn't rely on him bricking jumpers, he's shot 42% this year. contray to espn's belif that he still shoots 25% from the floor, he can hit the jumper.

He is very streaky though, like james. If one goes in, count the next 5 if you leave him open, but if he misses 2 or 3 in a row, he needs to go to the paint to get himself some layups to go back in rythm.

[pearljammer10]

Its so true. So much more happens when Rondo has the ball in his hands. He runs the offense so well and people actually move around when Rondo has the ball. The cutting and slashing is amazing. When the ball isnt in Rondos hands he isnt guarded and its like we are playing 4 against 5...Let Rondo run the show like hes been doing all year and our offense will be great.