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.
First, I'd like to say, that I DO like Rondo. I'm a defensive player myself, and am biased in favor of defense minded players as a fan. That said, I don't let my preference cloud my observations.
Yes KG said he was playing hurt...Then Rajon and Doc said he's not. Sounds like KG was trying to be a good teammate and take some heat off his fellow player. Watching Rondo play, it doesn't look like he's hurt. The majority of his mistakes are either mental, or a result of his offensive shortcomings.
If you're leading a break away with no one in front of you, and you do anything aside from take the shot/layup, you're making a mistake (with few exceptions related to clock management). You're not "trying to get your teammates going", when you're alone on a break. That was just a boneheaded play. If it was another player (especially an elite player), people would laugh it off, and carry on. The reason it becomes a talking point with Rondo, is because its just the latest (most blatant) example of a recurring issue. Rondo cant, and subsequently WONT shoot. Pointing to his 10 "attempts a game", doesn't counter that, because the vast majority of those attempted "shots", are layups, and the remaining attempts that are actual shots, often result in a collective face palm for Celts fans.
Returning to the Pierce play..He was NOT in a shooting motion. It was a fake from the start. Unless Pierce suddenly started taking 3 pt shots with his feet planted on the ground, and a release completely dependent on arm motion to propel the ball, that was never going to be released. It was just an up fake, that sold more than expected.
I won't be cutting Rondo any slack anytime soon. I won't cut PP, or KG, or Ray any slack either, if they start playing like boneheads. I also won't be starting any threads on here calling for them to be traded. I love all of them, and see them all as top 5 at their respective position. Along with that love, comes expectations, and I reserve the right to be downright brutal with my analysis, should they fail to meet mine.
Topic: So, everybody still in love with Rondo??? (Read 29859 times)