Love the steal, but...

[wdleehi]

This shows Rondo's inexperience in having the ball in his hand with under 10 seconds at the end of the game without a set play. 



Normally, the Celtics would have gotten the ball in Pierce's hands, but let's be honest, offensively last night, Pierce was a shell of himself. 


Rondo still should have at worst gotten his shot blocked. 

Pierce could have been 0-17, you still give him the ball, or worst case let Ray take a contested shot.  At least then we get a chance.  Even if they've missed the last 5 shots in a row, they're so good they still think that next one is going in.  Especially after an airball, I definitely wouldn't have minded a redemption shot.  Rondo has proven to be one of the least efficient (scoring-wise) players in the league during crunch time, and until he proves otherwise there are AT LEAST 3 better options to go to.  It is thoroughly embarrassing to not even get a shot off in a playoff game down 1, I'm not sure I've ever seen it before.

I'm 100% with Doc on this one.  I don't know what makes Rondo so scared of attacking the rim in the 4th quarter.  I'd love to know what was going through his head dribbling into the corner with Horford on him.  Doc seemed to like the KG screen, but I would've preferred Rondo just going at Smith one on one.  Or a 1-3 with Pierce to avoid the trap.

Ray is on the bench.


With his bum leg, could Pierce even get open on that last play?

[BballTim]

Rondo absolutely needed to give that ball to KG right when he passed half court. Rondo knows he is not going to be the one to hit a contested, off-balance buzzer beater.

He had two opportunities to get it to KG, right away and then with about 3 seconds left. KG has the height and the range to give us a chance with a shot at the end there, instead Rondo dribbled way too long and at best (that's with him somehow expecting not to get trapped) he would have gotten a corner fade away contested jumper up. Don't know how Rondo can really think he is in a position to take that shot.

Kg was barley over the half court line, you think he has much better chance of hitting a contested 30 Foot three than rondo has trying to drive deeper and get a shot/ passing lane? I think they were both pretty terrible options.

but thats what happens when you get caught on your own end line with 8 seconds left and no time out. you try to do what you can.

The over reaction here is, as always, ridiculous. It was a broken play, and it sucked, no doubt you have to get a shot off.

But it is what it is, a hard loss to a team that barley held on fighting for their playoff lives in front of their home fans (sweet confetti and streamers for a game 5 win by the way Atlanta  .)

Within one second of Rondo being over half court, KG had was open a step in from 3 point range

  KG wasn't open for a shot then. When Rondo was crossing half court he was moving to set a pick for Rondo, so he's moving with his back to the basket with Horford right behind him. Rondo used the pick and wanted to get the ball to KG for a jumper. The problem was that the two defenders involved were Horford and Smith, not Horford and a guard. Horford went with Rondo but Smith stayed with KG, still not ideal. Rondo tried to go far enough into the corner to pull Smith farther away from KG, the play just didn't work out.

[celts55]

o I'm as mad as anyone that they didn't at least get a shot off, I'm certainly not going to pin this on Rondo.
A) Pierce misses a wide open lay-up.
B) Bass completely loses Horford for wide open jam.
C) Pierce barely hits net on foul line jumper
D) celtics as a team let Hawks run off like 8 seconds before they foul when they had to commit 2.

I could go on but you get the idea. The only issue I have with Rondo is he didn't go middle. That is in fact one of the first things you learn as a kid... Don't dribble into the corner. I will give you that mistake BUT I'm not thinking that's why they lost.

Ray missing 3 free throws didn't help either.

[guava_wrench]

From Doc Rivers -

"I wish (Rondo) had went down the middle of the floor, I think you should ALWAYS go down the middle of the floor, especially when have a big on you. Listen, it’s a turnover, it’s a fast break -- we were just trying to go. I thought Kevin set a nice step-up pick; I was hoping he would attack the basket

I am sure Doc has the team practice these type of end game situations where the C's have no timeouts left and need a basket.  Rondo for some reason didn't go towards the middle.  It's reasonable to wonder if him not wanting to get fouled and be at the free throw line was in his mind...

Rondo wanted to use the KG pick I guess, but then just stopped in the corner with essentially a PF on him. Easy for Horford to d any perimeter attempts. He really needed to get to the rim.

The "why we lost" question is pointless. What is reasonable was to criticize a bad play, which should be intuitive.

[Celtics18]

From Doc Rivers -

"I wish (Rondo) had went down the middle of the floor, I think you should ALWAYS go down the middle of the floor, especially when have a big on you. Listen, it’s a turnover, it’s a fast break -- we were just trying to go. I thought Kevin set a nice step-up pick; I was hoping he would attack the basket

I am sure Doc has the team practice these type of end game situations where the C's have no timeouts left and need a basket.  Rondo for some reason didn't go towards the middle.  It's reasonable to wonder if him not wanting to get fouled and be at the free throw line was in his mind...

Rondo wanted to use the KG pick I guess, but then just stopped in the corner with essentially a PF on him. Easy for Horford to d any perimeter attempts. He really needed to get to the rim.

The "why we lost" question is pointless. What is reasonable was to criticize a bad play, which should be intuitive.

I wouldn't say he stopped in the corner as much as Horford moved his feet well and cut off the base line to the hoop.  There are a multitude of things that could have gone differently for the Cs, but let's give Al Horford some credit for a great play.

If that was KG making that play on a guard, we would have been hailing him as a hero.  I'm sure that's how Hawks fans are looking at Al Horford today, as well they should.

[guava_wrench]

From Doc Rivers -

"I wish (Rondo) had went down the middle of the floor, I think you should ALWAYS go down the middle of the floor, especially when have a big on you. Listen, it’s a turnover, it’s a fast break -- we were just trying to go. I thought Kevin set a nice step-up pick; I was hoping he would attack the basket

I am sure Doc has the team practice these type of end game situations where the C's have no timeouts left and need a basket.  Rondo for some reason didn't go towards the middle.  It's reasonable to wonder if him not wanting to get fouled and be at the free throw line was in his mind...

Rondo wanted to use the KG pick I guess, but then just stopped in the corner with essentially a PF on him. Easy for Horford to d any perimeter attempts. He really needed to get to the rim.

The "why we lost" question is pointless. What is reasonable was to criticize a bad play, which should be intuitive.

I wouldn't say he stopped in the corner as much as Horford moved his feet well and cut off the base line to the hoop.  There are a multitude of things that could have gone differently for the Cs, but let's give Al Horford some credit for a great play.

If that was KG making that play on a guard, we would have been hailing him as a hero.  I'm sure that's how Hawks fans are looking at Al Horford today, as well they should.

I give Horford a lot of credit, but if Rondo wants to get by him, he will be able to. The difference in speed is too much. Rondo seems to be trying too hard to get Horford off balance instead of just blowing past him. Considering Rondo is right handed, I don't see how Horford could have contained Rondo if Rondo went right if Horford was protecting the baseline while playing Rondo so close.

If you aren't Tim Hardaway, don't try to break ankles with a UTEP two step. Just sprint. Rondo also can't rely on people worrying more about penetration than the jumper in that situation where a 3 would win it. They are going to overplay the jumper, even from Rondo.

Don't get me wrong. I am happy with Rondo's effort and the team's general performance. It was a road game against a team that finally has a core piece back in Horford. There was also very little time left and any decision will be second guessed. I just don't believe that Horford's best defense can stop Rondo from getting around him when Horford is repecting Rondo's jumper due to the situation.

[Celtics18]

From Doc Rivers -

"I wish (Rondo) had went down the middle of the floor, I think you should ALWAYS go down the middle of the floor, especially when have a big on you. Listen, it’s a turnover, it’s a fast break -- we were just trying to go. I thought Kevin set a nice step-up pick; I was hoping he would attack the basket

I am sure Doc has the team practice these type of end game situations where the C's have no timeouts left and need a basket.  Rondo for some reason didn't go towards the middle.  It's reasonable to wonder if him not wanting to get fouled and be at the free throw line was in his mind...

Rondo wanted to use the KG pick I guess, but then just stopped in the corner with essentially a PF on him. Easy for Horford to d any perimeter attempts. He really needed to get to the rim.

The "why we lost" question is pointless. What is reasonable was to criticize a bad play, which should be intuitive.

I wouldn't say he stopped in the corner as much as Horford moved his feet well and cut off the base line to the hoop.  There are a multitude of things that could have gone differently for the Cs, but let's give Al Horford some credit for a great play.

If that was KG making that play on a guard, we would have been hailing him as a hero.  I'm sure that's how Hawks fans are looking at Al Horford today, as well they should.

I give Horford a lot of credit, but if Rondo wants to get by him, he will be able to. The difference in speed is too much. Rondo seems to be trying too hard to get Horford off balance instead of just blowing past him. Considering Rondo is right handed, I don't see how Horford could have contained Rondo if Rondo went right if Horford was protecting the baseline while playing Rondo so close.

If you aren't Tim Hardaway, don't try to break ankles with a UTEP two step. Just sprint. Rondo also can't rely on people worrying more about penetration than the jumper in that situation where a 3 would win it. They are going to overplay the jumper, even from Rondo.

Don't get me wrong. I am happy with Rondo's effort and the team's general performance. It was a road game against a team that finally has a core piece back in Horford. There was also very little time left and any decision will be second guessed. I just don't believe that Horford's best defense can stop Rondo from getting around him when Horford is repecting Rondo's jumper due to the situation.

I agree that he should have tried to go up the middle instead of going wide.  As has already been pointed out, though, he was trying to make use of the KG screen. 

[BballTim]

From Doc Rivers -

"I wish (Rondo) had went down the middle of the floor, I think you should ALWAYS go down the middle of the floor, especially when have a big on you. Listen, it’s a turnover, it’s a fast break -- we were just trying to go. I thought Kevin set a nice step-up pick; I was hoping he would attack the basket

I am sure Doc has the team practice these type of end game situations where the C's have no timeouts left and need a basket.  Rondo for some reason didn't go towards the middle.  It's reasonable to wonder if him not wanting to get fouled and be at the free throw line was in his mind...

Rondo wanted to use the KG pick I guess, but then just stopped in the corner with essentially a PF on him. Easy for Horford to d any perimeter attempts. He really needed to get to the rim.

The "why we lost" question is pointless. What is reasonable was to criticize a bad play, which should be intuitive.

I wouldn't say he stopped in the corner as much as Horford moved his feet well and cut off the base line to the hoop.  There are a multitude of things that could have gone differently for the Cs, but let's give Al Horford some credit for a great play.

If that was KG making that play on a guard, we would have been hailing him as a hero.  I'm sure that's how Hawks fans are looking at Al Horford today, as well they should.

I give Horford a lot of credit, but if Rondo wants to get by him, he will be able to. The difference in speed is too much. Rondo seems to be trying too hard to get Horford off balance instead of just blowing past him. Considering Rondo is right handed, I don't see how Horford could have contained Rondo if Rondo went right if Horford was protecting the baseline while playing Rondo so close.

  Smith was in between Rondo and KG, he would have been on Rondo if he went around Horford to the right.

[Tai]

From Doc Rivers -

"I wish (Rondo) had went down the middle of the floor, I think you should ALWAYS go down the middle of the floor, especially when have a big on you. Listen, it’s a turnover, it’s a fast break -- we were just trying to go. I thought Kevin set a nice step-up pick; I was hoping he would attack the basket

I am sure Doc has the team practice these type of end game situations where the C's have no timeouts left and need a basket.  Rondo for some reason didn't go towards the middle.  It's reasonable to wonder if him not wanting to get fouled and be at the free throw line was in his mind...

Rondo wanted to use the KG pick I guess, but then just stopped in the corner with essentially a PF on him. Easy for Horford to d any perimeter attempts. He really needed to get to the rim.

The "why we lost" question is pointless. What is reasonable was to criticize a bad play, which should be intuitive.

I wouldn't say he stopped in the corner as much as Horford moved his feet well and cut off the base line to the hoop.  There are a multitude of things that could have gone differently for the Cs, but let's give Al Horford some credit for a great play.

If that was KG making that play on a guard, we would have been hailing him as a hero.  I'm sure that's how Hawks fans are looking at Al Horford today, as well they should.

Agreed. I can see why people are worried about Horford's emergence in the series based off stuff like this. The Hawks are a different team with him. The way I see it, though, the C's should still finish this up on Thursday.

[OmarSekou]

Bad play by Rondo, great play by Josh Smith and Horford.

I think fatigue also played a factor in what happened. Rondo looked pretty gassed towards the end of the 4th and didn't look like he was at full speed on that last play.

In general, too many guys were standing around watching.

[Celtics4ever]

Rondo is the guy who largely rose up and closed the gap late in the game.   I thought he should have drove against Horford and took his chances.   But we would have not been that close without him.

[TheReaLPuba]

To be fair, Rondo is not put into that situation a lot.

With no timeouts left and a steal the least likely thing to happen I don't think anyone really knew what they were doing and only played on instinct.

Someone else posted it earlier also that Rondo seemed gassed and it must have taken a lot of out of him to get us back into the game because Rondo made 4 or 5 plays on his own to help us back into the game.

This game should never have come down to the last possession.

Missed free throws.

Missed layups.

Missed dunks.

Stupid turnovers.

Look the C's had too many chances to blow this game wide open in the first half but the Hawks made some shots so give them credit particularly Marvin Williams with those 2 corner threes.

I loved the fight that this team still has. Blowing a lead and then getting down several times only to fight our way back is definitely a good trait.

But sometimes we play really dumb and that's just something that can't happen in the playoffs.

[Meadowlark_Scal]

Blaming the oss on the AST STEAL..is just wrong. Okay, PP should have sat at least for 5 minutes, try MD or Sasha. PP and Ray played pretty weak defense, which opened up A LOT of easy points for the hawks...How about PP's LAST shot..NO RIM...come on...no rim.....that is rookie stuff, and crash the boards...act like it REALLY MATTERS...GET ME THE BALL.....LOL.....and the rondo STEAL..was a great steal..where was the REST OF THE TEAM...NEVER make your PG bring the ball up alone...why...because IF he doesn't make it, you GET NOTHING. WHERE was the pick on smith....someone to pass to....NOTHING....smith actually did very well.....rondo had no help....your PG is in TROUBLE...MOVE TO THE BALL...this is all basketball 101....so don't blame rondo......this is a team sport....plenty of blame to go around..was doc frozen there or what....no subs for PP AL GAME....took Ray out more...and pp said his knee was rough in the beginning..he isn't 25 ya know.....!

[Meadowlark_Scal]

Blaming the loss on the LAST STEAL..is just wrong. Okay, PP should have sat at least for 5 minutes, try MD or Sasha. PP and Ray played pretty weak defense, which opened up A LOT of easy points for the hawks...How about PP's LAST shot..NO RIM...come on...no rim.....that is rookie stuff, and crash the boards...act like it REALLY MATTERS...GET ME THE BALL.....LOL.....and the rondo STEAL..was a great steal..where was the REST OF THE TEAM...NEVER make your PG bring the ball up alone...why...because IF he doesn't make it, you GET NOTHING. WHERE was the pick on smith....someone to pass to....NOTHING....smith actually did very well.....rondo had no help....your PG is in TROUBLE...MOVE TO THE BALL...this is all basketball 101....so don't blame rondo......this is a team sport....plenty of blame to go around..was doc frozen there or what....no subs for PP AL GAME....took Ray out more...and pp said his knee was rough in the beginning..he isn't 25 ya know.....!

[CoachBo]

From Doc Rivers -

"I wish (Rondo) had went down the middle of the floor, I think you should ALWAYS go down the middle of the floor, especially when have a big on you. Listen, it’s a turnover, it’s a fast break -- we were just trying to go. I thought Kevin set a nice step-up pick; I was hoping he would attack the basket

I am sure Doc has the team practice these type of end game situations where the C's have no timeouts left and need a basket.  Rondo for some reason didn't go towards the middle.  It's reasonable to wonder if him not wanting to get fouled and be at the free throw line was in his mind...

Rondo wanted to use the KG pick I guess, but then just stopped in the corner with essentially a PF on him. Easy for Horford to d any perimeter attempts. He really needed to get to the rim.

The "why we lost" question is pointless. What is reasonable was to criticize a bad play, which should be intuitive.

First, one play didn't lose this ballgame so dispense with that.

With that said, it was a shocking lack of poise and awareness by Rondo to veer off to the side like that. It's a basic basketball play in that situation to attack the big and the rim. Doc is exactly right.

But the play didn't lose the game. We had multiple chances to win that ballgame.