I still think the defining area of this series is the inability of the pacers to open up the floor for Rondo to do what he does best. Rondo needs space to work and probe the defense. With the poor jump shooters around him my team will be able to play off of him on the perimeter and my bigs will be able to pack it in if he does get by the perimeter defenders.
Even though Pierce and Ray didnt shoot well in the playoffs because of their injuries the defenders still stayed as close to them as they could because they knew they can still turn it on and make shots.
When you compare the spacing that Ray, Pierce, Bass and KG gave Rondo with the space that Bradley, Batum, Scola and Monroe will provide I think there will be a significant drop off in Rondo's effectiveness.