Rondo needs to forget about him vs Rose

[Red2]

we all know Rondo takes these pg match ups personally but he needs to let that go. Rondo scoring 29 is great for Rondo but we're a better team when Rondo scores 12 but has 13 assists. Everyone is oohing and aahing about Rondo's stat line from game 1 but we lost the game. I'm not laying the loss on him but I'm saying that if we want to win this series he has to forget about the 1 on 1 against Rose ( except when it comes to defense) and he needs to worry about getting ray and paul going. His goals should be 1) stop rose from getting to the middle 2) getting pierce and allen going and 3) rebounding

[UGA Hayes]

I personally don't think there is a total correlation and if anything we have played better when Rondo scores. Ray pretty much missed every shot most of them wide open. Thats Ray's fault.

[Dave_From_NB]

Pierce averaged 14.5 shots per game this year, and took 21 against the Bulls. Allen averaged 13 shots per game this year, and took 12 against the Bulls. Although going into OT had an affect on that, the issue wasn't that these guys weren't getting shots.

Assists can be a funny stat. The PG can make the most beautiful play, but when the shooter doesn't knock it down there is no assist. A normal game with PP and RA knocking down the shots they normally would, Rondo would have been over 10 assists in all liklihood and this thread wouldn't be here.

Actually I think my complaint about Rondo is that sometimes he tries too hard to get the other guys involved. Nights when he is able to drive at will, I wish he'd aim at scoring 50 points, rather than getting the assists.

[campybatman]

I think Rivers spoke about Rondo becoming more assertive on offense during the regular season. And how he's beginning to know when to score and when the team needs him to be a scorer if one of Pierce or Ray are struggling offensively. So, in my opinion, I doubt Rondo concerns himself very much with individual match-ups between he and fellow opposing starter. I mean Pierce, Garnett or Ray probably would pull him aside during a game and talk to him about it if they're feeling as if he's allowing the opposing starter to dictate or distract from his normal game.

Rivers also talked before about how he sees it when Celtic players tend to try to win games by themselves and that's a mentality that's out of character for his team. He doesn't like when they begin to think that way. If they're going to win, it'll be from a group effort, usually. Unless, of course, you've those games when either Pierce or Ray are called upon for a late game heroics.

[tombattor]

Red2, you are right on the money!! Rondo was too wrapped up in his match up against Rose and it costed us the game. If he tries that again, we have to bring Marbury in. We won't win with Rondo playing that way because we all saw in game 1 that the 2 are not on the same level offensively. Not to mention Rondo got schooled on D too.

[kmgarnett21]

It never fails. Rondo was our ONLY effective player on the offensive end (other than Powe and Perk, but they only get a handful of shots per game). Rondo needs to score, especially if Ray Allen is shooting 1 for 12 and KG is out. We need someone to step up and score in his absence. If Rondo can get to the hoop and lay it in like he did numerous times, then 2 pts is 2 pts. he was our MVP on Saturday, even though we lost the game. Its NOT on his shoulders. Ray Allen needs to step up and Pierce needs to be a little more effecient.

I think the keys to winning vs this Bulls team are:
1) Find a way to slow down Rose AND Gordon. I don't see Ty Thomas having a repeat performance, but Rose and Gordon could both erupt at any time. If Ray is going to play like he did Saturday, I'd rather see TA out there.

2) Get the ball down low to Perk and Powe. The Bulls front line are too thin and we can outmuscle them all night long down low. Also, get PP down low if he has Hinrich or Rose on him. There were numerous times where PP had Rose on him and he had 5 fouls. i don't get why PP didn't try hard as crap to get that 6th fould on him. Oh well, missed opportunity.

3) Take care of the ball and play with INTENSITY! We MUST play with intensity and heart. Thats why we won the title last year, b/c we WANTED it. It doesn't seem like we want it as bad this season.

[Joyeuse]

Why blame Rondo for being the only player who managed to step up and score when our other players weren't scoring? Rondo should take advantage of opportunities presented to him, not pass them up just so Ray Allen can miss a couple more open jump shots. I have nothing against the other Celtics, obviously we need to get Ray and Pierce and Baby and everyone else involved, but Rondo was the hot hand in game one. If Pierce had made that free throw, or Ray Allen had made one extra shot, the Celtics would have won in spite of a terrible first half, bad games by several players, and Rose completely torching the Celtics. All in all, Rondo was the only one keeping us in that game until Pierce showed up.

[tombattor]

Rondo is the PG. He has the ball in his hands every possession. If he doesn't pass, no one sees the ball. And that's exactly what he did. He tried to show people who's better between him and Rose and we all know now that Rose is at least 2 levels above him. So now we don't need him to keep proving that. Time for him to run the offense and does what he does best.

[Bad-Thoma]

The Bulls tried to cheat off of Rondo ala the Lakers last year in the playoffs, and he did his best to make them pay for it. I thought offensively he played a great game, and as was stated if Ray and Pierce hadn't shot so poorly his assists would have reflected that. Defensively the whole team pretty muched sucked except Perk other than in short stretches, Rondo's man may have killed us but he killed our team defense, not just Rondo. The D cost us this game, not Ray's shooting, not Rondo scoring, our defense had zero intensity until it was too late.

[Celtsfan1980]

Rondo is the PG. He has the ball in his hands every possession. If he doesn't pass, no one sees the ball. And that's exactly what he did. He tried to show people who's better between him and Rose and we all know now that Rose is at least 2 levels above him. So now we don't need him to keep proving that. Time for him to run the offense and does what he does best.

I think this is the third thread where you've made a similar comment. It gets a bit repetitive after a while.

[sdeezy]

Bulls fan here, i dont get the OP's argument. Rondo had 7 assists so it wasnt like he was being Iverson out there. Ray got 12 shots, just about how many he shoots per game, and he made one, if Rondo doesnt score as much as he does, the Celtics arent in a position to win the game. Rose and Rondo cant really stop each other one on one. Rondo is going to have a lot of opportunities to score simply because defenses want him to do just that . If he's passing up open shots and not attacking when the Bulls give him space, that will hurt more than help.

[SuigintouEV]

they weren't helping all that much off of ray.

Which means if rondo attacks, he can't get ray involved, he has to score to make the defense pay.
Rondo wasn't the problem, although some of his passes were off target.
Ray just wasn't getting open, according to doc it's the bigs' fault for not setting good screens.

[ryaningf]

I have no problem with how Rondo played on the offensive end on Saturday. We had terrible ball movement during that game, but guys like Pierce, Allen, and Baby were more responsible for the ball sticking than Rondo.

Rondo should take it to the hole every time he can...Rose can't guard him and the best way to neutralize a great offensive player is to make him guard you (and hopefully get him in foul trouble).

[Banks2Pierce]

When Rondo is attacking the rim on offense, that is when the team is at their best. He has to shoot the ball to keep them honest and make them help out. Right when they start to overpursue him in the lane, that is when Rondo will really kill them. I mean, Rose can do that too, but for our offense, it is best when Rondo has the ball in his hands and he creates for himself and others. He just kept them honest last game.

When they are gameplanning for Rondo, that is a good thing. If they don't, Rondo has to make them pay.

[GreenDreamer]

Red2, you are right on the money!! Rondo was too wrapped up in his match up against Rose and it costed us the game. If he tries that again, we have to bring Marbury in. We won't win with Rondo playing that way because we all saw in game 1 that the 2 are not on the same level offensively. Not to mention Rondo got schooled on D too.

Right on the money? Marbury brought nothing to the table. He is probably going to go on bringing nothing to the table. I find it interesting that so many people want to stick this game on Rondo when he:

1. Was the only Celtic who actually showed up to play the ENTIRE game.

2. Actually played good defense on Rose OVERALL. Sure, he got burned a few times, but Rose is hard to handle. Rondo gave just as good as he got on that accord. If the refs blow the whistle a few more times in his favor... or if they just called that last foul on Rose the continuation it definitely was... then we aren't even going down this road.

I find it interesting that people can't seem to be able to follow what is actually happening in games. Rose got a good number of his first half points on counter breaks where the Celtics didn't look to pick up Rose, some due to cross matches, even though Rondo was understandably behind him. Then Rose hit a bunch of jumpers in the third which we INTENTIONALLY GAVE HIM. It was THE PLAN. Rose beat that plan, but it was not on account of Rondo, apart from getting his ankles broken on ONE drive, blowing it. Then, after that burst, Rose didn't do much from the 7 minute mark until when Rondo was subbed out for, drum roll please, Stephon Marbury. He then got his confidence back with a vengeance. Rondo comes back in, and Rose quieted down again. He was still a load to handle, but he wasn't killing us either. Unfortunately he beats Rondo on a drive down the stretch (after Doc inexplicably took Perk out), and reflexively fouled him after turning his ankle on the next possession (when it rains it pours). Look at the damn play by play. It is pretty obvious what actually went on.

3. Rondo did an excellent job passing the ball. He turned the ball over once, and that was entirely on Perk being a dimwit when it mattered most. He found Ray with accurate and catachable passes in good position to score on many occasions, and Ray completely botched those looks. Ray was an excresence in that game. That dunk that Ray blew was ENTIRELY set up by Rondo working the defense to get Ray the ball at the top of the key, and Ray ended up getting a clear path to the rim as a result. Rondo hit him for midrange shots and threes. Hit him in transition and the half court. Ray blew them. Hell, he couldn't even hold on to the ball, never mind shoot it. He was a disaster.

In addition, Rondo also set Paul up in a good position to score. Found BBD and Perk for good looks, and even got Mikkie and Eddie good shots too. Did they make the most of those opportunities? Hell no, which is why Rondo took it on himself to score. He HAD TO. The "pass it to me where I'm standing" offense that Doc likes to run wasn't working all that great. All Rondo can do is pass these guys the ball. They have to make their shots. His seven assists was in absolutely now way a reflexion of the quality of his passes. If anything was, it was his 1 turnover after having the ball in his hands for a large portion of that game.


I think that Rondo offends the "sensibilities" of some of the people here. His style of play is not to their liking. Well, the little guy lead us in scoring (very efficiently I might add), assists and rebounding, getting two steals, a block while recording one turnover while having to chase around an athletic freak like Rose who was having the game of his life. Rondo was throwing his body around, taking a ton of punishment in the process. The only guys who eve came close to matching his intenisty level were Perk and BBD. Where were "The Big Three Minus One"? Seriously? What the hell were they doing out there? Paul wasn't terrible, but he wasn't particularly good either. Ray was an abomination. Our bench was terrible to boot. Just look at the plus minus. They got destroyed. To top it all off, Doc made horrendous subtitution decisions. It seemed as if he wasn't even aware that this was a playoff game at times. You know that it is pretty bad when the ESPN crew is openly wondering why Rondo and Paul are riding the pine while the Bulls actually have their best players on the floor.

I'm hoping for better in the next game.

[Frank Lucas]

I loved the way Rondo played in game 1. My only beef with him was in the 4th quarter he stop putting on the pressure from in offensive standpoint and it became a Paul Pierce 1on1 contest. Rondo was the only players on the Cs who really came to play. So to call out Rondo to be is off base here. If Ray Allen showed up to play in game 1 the Cs would have won. If Paul Pierce would have made one more free throw with 2.2 seconds to go and the Bulls out of time-outs the Cs win the game. You can point to a lot of reason why the Cs lose game 1, like the lack of defense Glenn Davis played on his best freiend Tyrus Thomas most of the game (who by the way seem to have a world of confidence playing Big Baby). But Rondo wasn't the problem in game 1, he was the reason why we stayed in the game.

[Cliff Levingston]

I think the keys to winning vs this Bulls team are:
1) Find a way to slow down Rose AND Gordon. I don't see Ty Thomas having a repeat performance, but Rose and Gordon could both erupt at any time. If Ray is going to play like he did Saturday, I'd rather see TA out there.

We've seen teams trap Rose up top as soon as he crosses half court with varying results. It definitely gets the ball out of Rose's hand quickly but creates a 4 on 3 situation for a moment. The Bulls early in the season weren't able to take advantage of that, but with guys like Salmons and Miller in the fold now as well as much improved Noah/Thomas offensively, that defensive plan might not work. If Salmons wasn't fighting a groin injury and playing like he was a few weeks ago, then it definitely wouldn't work.

Ray/Tony Allen did a nice job on Gordon for most of Game 1 though it's tough to tell how that'll translate to Game 2 considering the C's will inevitably try to make some adjustments to limit Rose. In short, it'll be really tough for them to stop both Rose and Gordon but if Cliff Levingston was Doc Rivers, he'd worry about Rose first.

2) Get the ball down low to Perk and Powe. The Bulls front line are too thin and we can outmuscle them all night long down low. Also, get PP down low if he has Hinrich or Rose on him. There were numerous times where PP had Rose on him and he had 5 fouls. i don't get why PP didn't try hard as crap to get that 6th fould on him. Oh well, missed opportunity.

Good point. Perkins made 4 out of 5 hook shots on Noah while they were matched up one-on-one. As stupid as it might sound at first, it might be a good idea to give Perkins some iso on the low block. The Bulls tend to double team anyone in an iso position so if Perkins can find the open shooters, that might go a ways in opening up the 3 point line a bit more and get Ray Allen some better shots.

3) Take care of the ball and play with INTENSITY! We MUST play with intensity and heart. Thats why we won the title last year, b/c we WANTED it. It doesn't seem like we want it as bad this season.

We'll see tonight. It could be that the Celtics didn't take the Bulls as seriously as they need to in Game 1. The Bulls were arguably the 4th best team in the East going into the playoffs so they won't go away easy. The Celtics are going to need to bring their A game on most nights to move on.

[tombattor]

Green Dreamer,

Maybe I was going a little overboard when I said we need to bring in Marbury, but Rondo didn't have as good of a game as you may think.

You, like many others, are getting a hard on over Rondo's 29 points. But he was consistently late in getting the ball to other players, which led us to several blown opportunities because he was looking only for his shot. The job of a PG is to run the offense, get everyone involved and then pick your spots to look for his own shot. And Rondo didn't do that. He was going at Rose to prove that he can take D-Rose. Well, he proved that he's at least 2 levels below D-Rose, so there is nothing left to be proven.

He better get his act together and do a much better job of running the offense and getting everyone involved because if he tries to go one-on-one against Rose again, we're definitely getting swept because Rondo is not in D-Rose's league.

[DuckIII]

Red2, you are right on the money!! Rondo was too wrapped up in his match up against Rose and it costed us the game. If he tries that again, we have to bring Marbury in. We won't win with Rondo playing that way because we all saw in game 1 that the 2 are not on the same level offensively. Not to mention Rondo got schooled on D too.

As a Bulls fan, let me just say that I hope Doc Rivers and Rajon Rondo agree with you. I want the ball in his hands as little as possible. He was 12-21 with seven assists and one turnover. Not to mention that he scored 8 points in the last 3.5 minutes of the game, including a huge bucket with 22 seconds remaining in regulation. He was your best player in the game by an extremely wide margin and didn't play selfishly at all.

[Frank Lucas]

Red2, you are right on the money!! Rondo was too wrapped up in his match up against Rose and it costed us the game. If he tries that again, we have to bring Marbury in. We won't win with Rondo playing that way because we all saw in game 1 that the 2 are not on the same level offensively. Not to mention Rondo got schooled on D too.

As a Bulls fan, let me just say that I hope Doc Rivers and Rajon Rondo agree with you. I want the ball in his hands as little as possible. He was 12-21 with seven assists and one turnover. Not to mention that he scored 8 points in the last 3.5 minutes of the game, including a huge bucket with 22 seconds remaining in regulation. He was your best player in the game by an extremely wide margin and didn't play selfishly at all.

I agree you, some people just don't think before the speak. Clearly the person who started this thread really didn't think before he posted but that's ok everyone get 1 pass