Should Rondo be taking the last shot?

[crownsy]

NEVER! I am so sick of seeing our worst outside shooter take the last shots at the end of quarters as well. What a wasted posession...

So the better shot would have been a ray allen fall away jumper over two people or a paul pierce forced iso shot?

I disagree. The open look is always the best, and rondo is actually shooting the jumper at a good clip this year.

[fairweatherfan]

If Rondo's gonna be the future of this team, he needs to start taking opportunities that the defense gives him, like he did last night.  Even if he misses a few and it costs us a game or two.

Ultimately this is something he'll have to add to his game to take himself - and us - to the next level.

[Chris]

When he is left wide open to take a completely uncontested shot, while the other team is doing everything they can to shut off the passing lanes then absolutely.  He did the absolute right thing last night. 

But he can't shoot.  Teams give him 8-10 feet! That tells you something... doesn't it?

He can knock down that shot.  He is nowhere near as good as the other guys on the floor, but when left that wide open, he can absolutely hit it.

The issue here though is that he had no other choice.  He ran the play, and it broke down because the defense took the pass away, and he had no where to go.  So, his choice was to either force a bad pass that would likely be tipped or picked off, or shoot a wide open shot.  He made the right decision.

Now, do I want him shooting the last shot?  But given the situation, I think he made a good decision, and gave his team a chance to win the game.  

[scaryjerry]

I dont think its going to always be the right thing, anyone of our players can step in that role..But I think its an encouraging sign rondo is now WILLING to take it, hopefully some go in in the future

[BballTim]

If Rondo is on the floor in a last shoot situation, the other team is going to play their defense to make Rondo take the last shot which is good for them, not for us.

I think you will see Delonte on the court in those situations and Rondo taken out.  They will have to man up on Delonte and it will make it easier for PP or RA to get a shot.

  I think it's kind of a "take your medicine" kind of thing. Rondo's our best ballhandler, best decision maker and best passer. Putting him on the bench helps the opposition as much as anything else.

[Tgro]

Rondo seems to shoot good when you don't necessarily need him to shoot good. When it's in the rhythm of the game kind of thing, he knocks down a shot, its cool. But when it's clutch time, I don't really want to see him shooting the ball. Everyone else seems covered because the other team wants him to shoot or take it to the hole so they can foul him. I love Rondo for what he does best. But he can be downright scary when he puts a shot up unless it's a drive to the basket and even then he can get wild. I suppose seeing him take a few at the last seconds of a game is a growing thing. If he misses now and knocks them down in April and May, I'm cool with him learning how to take that last shot. But if he continues to miss or shows them streaks of just being wild, I'm dead set against it. He made me cringe in the Finals last year. Was loving the man every time he passed the ball or played defense, but when he took shots or went to the free throw line, I was covering my eyes. His strength is not to be the game winning shot taker.  

[guava_wrench]

Not a big deal at this point in the season. This is the time to build players up.

When the playoffs come, that is when you have to be more selective.

[MBz]

I don't have an issue with him taking the last shot, but I do have an issue with the shot selection.  With 5 seconds left there was still plenty of time.  They laid of Rondo quite a bit, he had room to take 2-3 dribbles and shoot it off the bounce.  I understand the 3 would have been for the win, but it would have been a much higher percentage shot to move in a few feet.

[Drucci]

NEVER! I am so sick of seeing our worst outside shooter take the last shots at the end of quarters as well. What a wasted posession...

So the better shot would have been a ray allen fall away jumper over two people or a paul pierce forced iso shot?

I disagree. The open look is always the best, and rondo is actually shooting the jumper at a good clip this year.

I do agree here. Of course the priority would be to give an open look to Ray, Paul or KG, and to go fo the layup if you can. But when Rondo took the wide open shot I thought to myself it was a good shot and I actually thought he was going to make it.

I'm fine with him taking wide open shots at the end of games, actually I would even encourage him in that regard, it can only help him (and the team) for the future.

[Tai]

If he's that wide open....and there's clearly not a better shot out there, then why not?

Short of taking him out, he may have to do that once in a while.

[Sizzlack]

I don't have an issue with him taking the last shot, but I do have an issue with the shot selection.  With 5 seconds left there was still plenty of time.  They laid of Rondo quite a bit, he had room to take 2-3 dribbles and shoot it off the bounce.  I understand the 3 would have been for the win, but it would have been a much higher percentage shot to move in a few feet.

That's not exactly true, the mid-range jump shot isn't really a higher percentage shot, and taking a couple steps in allows the defender to contest. It doesn't make much sense for him to shoot from 18ft there, especially since the defender was sagged off so much that he was able to step into the 3pt shot and take that one in rhythm as well. They didn't even contest, he missed this one, but that happens, even great shooters miss wide open shots sometimes.

I promise you this, you do that shot 10 times, you leave him that WIDE open and let him shoot in rhythm without so much as a dirty look to contest it, Celtics win a majority of them.

[paul]

Rondo has to make them pay for giving him the j.

[CelticsWhat35]

I had much more of a problem with his decision on the inbounds pass with 1.5 seconds left than his shot before that.  Nate was open for a 3 pointer to potentially win the game, and he has a really quick release.  Instead, Rondo gave it to KG, being guarded by Tyson Chandler, and having to take a turnaround shot from the toughest spot on the court.

Not a big deal.  It's only one game, but for a guy who so often makes the best decision with the ball, that was a glaring mistake.

[MBz]

I don't have an issue with him taking the last shot, but I do have an issue with the shot selection.  With 5 seconds left there was still plenty of time.  They laid of Rondo quite a bit, he had room to take 2-3 dribbles and shoot it off the bounce.  I understand the 3 would have been for the win, but it would have been a much higher percentage shot to move in a few feet.

That's not exactly true, the mid-range jump shot isn't really a higher percentage shot, and taking a couple steps in allows the defender to contest. It doesn't make much sense for him to shoot from 18ft there, especially since the defender was sagged off so much that he was able to step into the 3pt shot and take that one in rhythm as well. They didn't even contest, he missed this one, but that happens, even great shooters miss wide open shots sometimes.

I promise you this, you do that shot 10 times, you leave him that WIDE open and let him shoot in rhythm without so much as a dirty look to contest it, Celtics win a majority of them.

He didn't step into the shot though.  He just stood there for about 2 seconds.  Had he taken a bounce and taken a step he would have been able to step into the shot.

[Chris]

I don't have an issue with him taking the last shot, but I do have an issue with the shot selection.  With 5 seconds left there was still plenty of time.  They laid of Rondo quite a bit, he had room to take 2-3 dribbles and shoot it off the bounce.  I understand the 3 would have been for the win, but it would have been a much higher percentage shot to move in a few feet.

That's not exactly true, the mid-range jump shot isn't really a higher percentage shot, and taking a couple steps in allows the defender to contest. It doesn't make much sense for him to shoot from 18ft there, especially since the defender was sagged off so much that he was able to step into the 3pt shot and take that one in rhythm as well. They didn't even contest, he missed this one, but that happens, even great shooters miss wide open shots sometimes.

I promise you this, you do that shot 10 times, you leave him that WIDE open and let him shoot in rhythm without so much as a dirty look to contest it, Celtics win a majority of them.

He didn't step into the shot though.  He just stood there for about 2 seconds.  Had he taken a bounce and taken a step he would have been able to step into the shot.

Hadn't he picked up the dribble though?  I might be misremembering, but I thought he was standing there, because he was trying to make the entry pass, but shot it when he realized they weren't going to give him the chance.