Hawks (1-1) at Celtics (1-1) Game 3 5/4

[Swoopz]

remember one thing when judging rondo tonight...He had to play ALL GAME.....no REST...none.....zero....

no reszt....

I don't know where you're getting you're info from, but Rondo rested for about 5 minutes. Also, Steamer played about 6 minutes, too.

Are we talking about the guy who runs the offense, does the most rebounding, covers the fastest guys...thru picks...hard layups....hit by bigs.....where are you getting your info from...5 minutes...really.....how many games have you played that you are saying this from....?

...I can never really understand what you're saying to be honest, but oh well, we won, who cares.

[Meadowlark_Scal]

remember one thing when judging rondo tonight...He had to play ALL GAME.....no REST...none.....zero....

no reszt....

I don't know where you're getting you're info from, but Rondo rested for about 5 minutes. Also, Steamer played about 6 minutes, too.

Are we talking about the guy who runs the offense, does the most rebounding, covers the fastest guys...thru picks...hard layups....hit by bigs.....where are you getting your info from...5 minutes...really.....how many games have you played that you are saying this from....?

...I can never really understand what you're saying to be honest, but oh well, we won, who cares.

haha, well, no hard feellings..i can live with that..some do, some don't.....

[OmarSekou]

I didn't see the game but from reading through the thread it seems like it was one of those "Rondo did everything, but he should have done it better" games.

My question is, how aggressive was he in the 4th quarter and OT? If he's not a late game liability that is huge down the stretch.

[ManUp]

If you are watching Comcast telecast Tommy is spouting some of the smartest stuff I have heard him say about how Rondo has to run this club late in games.

Paraphrase so I can read it tomorrow I wasn't paying attention i'm slightly tipsy, lol. Great win!

[nickagneta]

I didn't see the game but from reading through the thread it seems like it was one of those "Rondo did everything, but he should have done it better" games.

My question is, how aggressive was he in the 4th quarter and OT? If he's not a late game liability that is huge down the stretch.

Rondo was excellent in the 4th and pushed the pace except for the last 3 minutes when they went up by 8 and tried to sit on the lead offensively.

[OmarSekou]

I didn't see the game but from reading through the thread it seems like it was one of those "Rondo did everything, but he should have done it better" games.

My question is, how aggressive was he in the 4th quarter and OT? If he's not a late game liability that is huge down the stretch.

Rondo was excellent in the 4th and pushed the pace except for the last 3 minutes when they went up by 8 and tried to sit on the lead offensively.

Good to hear. Thanks.

[syfy9]

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!

Great game! Horror to watch the end of the 4th quarter, though. Glad we pulled through! Ray looked okay. Rondo was flat out Rondo.

[nickagneta]

If you are watching Comcast telecast Tommy is spouting some of the smartest stuff I have heard him say about how Rondo has to run this club late in games.

Paraphrase so I can read it tomorrow I wasn't paying attention i'm slightly tipsy, lol. Great win!

Basically Rondo has to push the pace and get the team running its offense in an aggressive manner. Now if the opposition has everyone else cover then Rondo has to take his man off the dribble to the basket and not be afraid to make contact, get fouled and go to the line. Yes, he may not be a great FT shooter but this then causes the other team to get into foul trouble, bring up their foul totals so that if other players are fouled they can go to the line if the opposition is in the penalty.

[BballTim]

This is another one of those "Rondo had a triple-double, but did he have a great game?" nights.

Awesome question.

His defense was god awful.

  I missed some of the second half, but how many points did guys that he covered in the first half score? 2? 4? He covered Teague for much of that half and Teague did close to nothing in those possessions. Meaning, didn't shoot, didn't even *try* to drive, just gave the ball up almost every time. Throw in the general havoc he creates on defense and I don't think I'd call what he did god awful.

[ManUp]

If you are watching Comcast telecast Tommy is spouting some of the smartest stuff I have heard him say about how Rondo has to run this club late in games.

Paraphrase so I can read it tomorrow I wasn't paying attention i'm slightly tipsy, lol. Great win!

Basically Rondo has to push the pace and get the team running its offense in an aggressive manner. Now if the opposition has everyone else cover then Rondo has to take his man off the dribble to the basket and not be afraid to make contact, get fouled and go to the line. Yes, he may not be a great FT shooter but this then causes the other team to get into foul trouble, bring up their foul totals so that if other players are fouled they can go to the line if the opposition is in the penalty.

TP, thanks.

Sounds about right to me, I hate when we slow it down to a snails pace late.

[nickagneta]

This is another one of those "Rondo had a triple-double, but did he have a great game?" nights.

Awesome question.

His defense was god awful.

  I missed some of the second half, but how many points did guys that he covered in the first half score? 2? 4? He covered Teague for much of that half and Teague did close to nothing in those possessions. Meaning, didn't shoot, didn't even *try* to drive, just gave the ball up almost every time. Throw in the general havoc he creates on defense and I don't think I'd call what he did god awful.

I know you love Rondo BBall. I do too. But his defense was awful.

[ChainSmokingLikeDino]

This is another one of those "Rondo had a triple-double, but did he have a great game?" nights.

Awesome question.

His defense was god awful.

His rebounding was excellent.

His decision making was poor.

His passing was great.

His shooting was really bad.

His ability to create turnovers was very good.

Overall stats say triple double is great.

Overall effect on the game is he gave up as much as he contributed.

Great game IMO. You just don't get 17 pts, 12 assists, and 14 rebounds unless you are Jason Kidd, Magic Johnson, or you had a great game.

Yeah, I agree. Rondo made his mistakes. But no one was perfect.

He is frustrating at times, but he is clearly one of the best. You can't get those stats by accident. And it's not like we were shooting lights out tonight to get him all the assists.

Jeez. So maybe cut the guy some slack during the games? Now you can see that this wasn't Rondo killing the team. The whole team played bad. But 80 percent of your posts during the game were "Rondo is killing us" At some point you have to be aware of the big picture and that the game unfolds over time. Not the drastic every second is the end of overdoing it posts all the time. Not to be all whiny myself but it makes participating in the game threads just depressing and no fun at all.

[Atzar]

Frustrating game.  Wall of text forthcoming.

I honestly don't feel like Rondo played well, despite his stats.  He shot poorly, he commited too many turnovers, and he was invisible in the first half.  I was at the game, and I found myself looking up at the big screen in the third quarter, wondering how the heck Rondo was flirting with a triple double.  Still, he was a big lift on the glass and he seemed to be the only Celtic who could check Teague (who is the only guard I've seen who can regularly beat Bradley with quickness and handles).  He was also an integral part of the lead the Celtics built in the fourth quarter, but on the other side of the coin he was also an integral part of giving it right back.

Pierce found a way to be productive despite a terrible shooting night - you won't often see a player score 20+ points on only three made field goals.  Shout out to Ray for playing heavy minutes on a bad wheel and giving the team a huge lift off the bench.  Shout out to KG for being the best player on the court tonight.  Lastly, props to Pietrus for taking the challenge of guarding Joe Johnson - Joe is a tough guard for anybody, but Mickael made him work for everything he got and forced him into a bad shooting night.  

Looking to Game 4, first of all I hope Bradley is okay.  We need him.  Aside from that, I feel that this game would have never been close had the team made a consistent effort to attack the basket.  Rondo did it early in the fourth quarter, and guess what?  Positive things happened, and we built a lead!  Then we started looking for dagger threes and hero shots, and guess what happened next?  The lead vanished!  It doesn't take a genius to see the correlation here.  Also, if Stiemsma is hurting so bad that he can only play 6 minutes a game, then I'd like to see Doc throw Sean Williams in the fire on a short leash to see what happens.  He seems to make positive things happen when he's on the court, I'd rather not see KG logging 40+ minutes per game going forward, and it's clear that Ryan Hollins is not the answer.

A tough game to watch overall, but I'll take it.  A win is a win.  Looking forward to Game 4!  Go C's!

[j804]

I don't know if I'm more happy about the win or more concerned about our struggles.

No Josh Smith going up against the likes of Dampier, Pargo, Rodmanovic, McGrady and barely pulling away. You would think the Heat/Bulls/Sixers would have wiped the floor with us.

[2short]

I cannot for the life of me understand how some can criticize any player during a playoff WIN.   

great job by rondo, great job by garnett, welcome back ray i'm sure he is sore today