So, everybody still in love with Rondo???

[ejk3489]

Saw it for myself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQC6oCi78x4&feature=player_embedded

Wow. Utterly pathetic.

I could not believe this one either. Rondo was 10 feet ahead of either guy and slowed down to look for an assist. Why, oh why does he continue to do this?

I agree he should of taken the shot, but 10 feet ahead is a bit of a stretch...there is a good chance he would've been blocked.

[GrandTheftRondo]

My bigger problem is that he continues to pull up on lay-up opportunities in his quest for the assist title.   With about 2 minutes left ray stole the ball and threw it up court to Rondo who was ahead of everyone but when he looked behind him and didn't see an assist he pulled up.  Tommy made some BS excuse about TA trailing him but Rondo is the fastest player on the court and there is no excuse for that.  It sickens me every time he pulls that move.  I hope he gets the assist title and then cuts that out in the playoffs but who knows.

  Rondo was out wide and TA and someone else were going up the middle of the court. They had the angle on him and were going to beat him to the rim.

Not true. Watch the video.

  Should I go find a video of LeBron blocking Rondo from behind on the same kind of play?

Tony Allen = Lebron?

Guess we shouldn't have let him go then 

[zerophase]

I was in love with rondo until i saw him shoot that floater that basically cost us the game. Then I wanted to kill him.

[vinnie]

Saw it for myself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQC6oCi78x4&feature=player_embedded

Wow. Utterly pathetic.

I could not believe this one either. Rondo was 10 feet ahead of either guy and slowed down to look for an assist. Why, oh why does he continue to do this?

I agree he should of taken the shot, but 10 feet ahead is a bit of a stretch...there is a good chance he would've been blocked.

You are right, he probably had 5 feet or so on each guy. If he goes up and jams the ball it does not get blocked. He has done this all year and it is frustrating.

[Army_of_One_Nation]

He probably wanted to tack on another assist than 2 points.

[BballTim]

My bigger problem is that he continues to pull up on lay-up opportunities in his quest for the assist title.   With about 2 minutes left ray stole the ball and threw it up court to Rondo who was ahead of everyone but when he looked behind him and didn't see an assist he pulled up.  Tommy made some BS excuse about TA trailing him but Rondo is the fastest player on the court and there is no excuse for that.  It sickens me every time he pulls that move.  I hope he gets the assist title and then cuts that out in the playoffs but who knows.

  Rondo was out wide and TA and someone else were going up the middle of the court. They had the angle on him and were going to beat him to the rim.

Not true. Watch the video.

  Should I go find a video of LeBron blocking Rondo from behind on the same kind of play?

Tony Allen = Lebron?

Guess we shouldn't have let him go then 

  Haha. You've never seen TA block a shot?

  Tony seems to be pretty healthy, he's moving around well, and he was possibly the best athlete in his draft class.

[GrandTheftRondo]

My bigger problem is that he continues to pull up on lay-up opportunities in his quest for the assist title.   With about 2 minutes left ray stole the ball and threw it up court to Rondo who was ahead of everyone but when he looked behind him and didn't see an assist he pulled up.  Tommy made some BS excuse about TA trailing him but Rondo is the fastest player on the court and there is no excuse for that.  It sickens me every time he pulls that move.  I hope he gets the assist title and then cuts that out in the playoffs but who knows.

  Rondo was out wide and TA and someone else were going up the middle of the court. They had the angle on him and were going to beat him to the rim.

Not true. Watch the video.

  Should I go find a video of LeBron blocking Rondo from behind on the same kind of play?

Tony Allen = Lebron?

Guess we shouldn't have let him go then 

  Haha. You've never seen TA block a shot?

  Tony seems to be pretty healthy, he's moving around well, and he was possibly the best athlete in his draft class.

I will admit that his defense on PP during that last possession really made me miss him...

[BballTim]

Saw it for myself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQC6oCi78x4&feature=player_embedded

Wow. Utterly pathetic.

I could not believe this one either. Rondo was 10 feet ahead of either guy and slowed down to look for an assist. Why, oh why does he continue to do this?

I agree he should of taken the shot, but 10 feet ahead is a bit of a stretch...there is a good chance he would've been blocked.

You are right, he probably had 5 feet or so on each guy. If he goes up and jams the ball it does not get blocked. He has done this all year and it is frustrating.

  There's a decent chance it gets blocked of he goes up for the dunk, TA was ready to pounce. And unrelated but how's the landing going to be with a player flying towards him from behind?

[Green Hell]

I hear a lot of excuses flying around and you know what people say about excuses.

[kg is king]

Saw it for myself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQC6oCi78x4&feature=player_embedded

Wow. Utterly pathetic.

I could not believe this one either. Rondo was 10 feet ahead of either guy and slowed down to look for an assist. Why, oh why does he continue to do this?

I agree he should of taken the shot, but 10 feet ahead is a bit of a stretch...there is a good chance he would've been blocked.

You are right, he probably had 5 feet or so on each guy. If he goes up and jams the ball it does not get blocked. He has done this all year and it is frustrating.

  There's a decent chance it gets blocked of he goes up for the dunk, TA was ready to pounce. And unrelated but how's the landing going to be with a player flying towards him from behind?

I think we're bashing on Rajon a little too much here. He has a decent game tonight flirting with a triple double and that floater near the end of the game wasn't the best shot in the world but still one that he makes most of the time. It just wasn't our night tonight...

[vinnie]

I honestly don't know how anyone can watch that video and see Rondo has at least 5 feet on both of these players and instead of speeding up, he actually slows down hoping to find someone to pass to. He has done this the entire season.

[indeedproceed]

I hear a lot of excuses flying around and you know what people say about excuses.

I don't know what side of the divide you fall on, but I will say that there is a difference between an excuse and an explanation.

Also, if anyone would like to italicize any particular word above for emphasis, feel free.

[BballTim]

I honestly don't know how anyone can watch that video and see Rondo has at least 5 feet on both of these players and instead of speeding up, he actually slows down hoping to find someone to pass to. He has done this the entire season.

  Someone to pass to would have been the smart play if someone was available.

  By the way, if you're really looking for a scapegoat, check out the end of that clip. PP has the ball outside the three point line and someone goes flying out to stop him from shooting. If he jumped a little forward and shot the ball he'd have had 3 free throws. We went scoreless on that possession. Shouldn't the title of the clip be "Pierce afraid to draw a foul"?

[dtrader]

I think it's pretty unrealistic to say that rondo didn't go for the score because he feared a chasedown block.  This is the same player who attempted to dunk ON a defender that same game without showing fear of a block. Additionally...most defenders wouldn't even attempt to block a player that far in front of them, because it's not worth risking them getting the hoop and free throw after for the contact.

I've never seen rondo take anything off his attacks out of fear of the defense. I have however seen him stop fast breaks, and force passes on mismatched situations, in the pursuit of assists all season.

He had another play in todays game where he was leading a 2 on 1 break, and instead of finishing easily himself, he passed off to ray or baby who was trailing, leaving them with a more difficult (and contested) layup to convert.  Fortunately we came out of that possession with a score.

As for the pierce play at the end...you can see that he's already in the motion of spinning towards the baseline once his defender was off balance by the up fake. He didn't think the defender would be THAT off balance, or I'm sure he would've drawn the shooting foul. You can see his mind was already there, because he still threw the ball up after. Fact is, Rondo blew the play trying to pad his stats.

[BballTim]

I've never seen rondo take anything off his attacks out of fear of the defense. I have however seen him stop fast breaks, and force passes on mismatched situations, in the pursuit of assists all season.

  People that don't like Rondo are going to see what they want to see. He plays hurt, according to KG and the globe and the herald but people here claim that the real reason is laziness or disinterest or even substance abuse. He sometimes passes when he should shoot (according to Doc) because he's trying to get his teammates going or keep them involved, but he's accused of somehow padding his stats. KG frequently overpasses and he's been faulted many times for being "too unselfish" and passing when Doc would rather he shoot. Is he, in reality, selfishly padding his stats at the expense of the team when he does this?

As for the pierce play at the end...you can see that he's already in the motion of spinning towards the baseline once his defender was off balance by the up fake. He didn't think the defender would be THAT off balance, or I'm sure he would've drawn the shooting foul. You can see his mind was already there, because he still threw the ball up after. Fact is, Rondo blew the play trying to pad his stats.

  He was in the shooting motion when they player left his feet and he pulled out of it. If you're going to go that far in trying to excuse what Paul did you should probably cut Rondo a little slack as well.