Celtics' Rondo picks great time to excel

May 07, 2008 09:33 pm

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BOSTON — He's not one of the Celtics' "Big Three."

In fact, at 6-1 and 171 pounds, he's not even big by NBA standards. But Rajon Rondo, Boston's second-year guard, plays big in big games.

In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against Cleveland Tuesday night, with a lead in the series and home-court advantage at stake, Rondo was at his best.

Despite sitting for nearly the entire fourth quarter, Rondo scored 15 points, which tied a playoff career high for him, and added six assists and five rebounds to help Boston to a 76-72 victory.

The Celtics needed every one of Rondo's points and assists because All-Star teammates Ray Allen (0 points) and Paul Pierce (four) struggled on offense, combining for 2-for-18 shooting and 10 turnovers.

"Rondo brought great offensive play, especially in the first half," center Kendrick Perkins said. "(He) stepped up."

The 22-year-old floor general who finished fourth in the NBA's Most Improved Player voting this year, played aggressively, driving to the basket, drawing contact and getting to the free-throw line when there was no other option. He made five of six from the charity stripe.

Rondo also played great defense. He helped limit Cavs guard Delonte West, a former Celtic, to four points, on 2-for-10 shooting.

Rondo established himself from the start, scoring eight first-quarter points to help give Boston a 25-15 lead after the first period. He followed that up with seven points and two assists in the second quarter. Rondo scored Boston's last five points of the first half and had a hand in its last nine points of the half, which gave the Celts a 41-37 lead at the break.

"Rajon, in the first half especially, basically carried us," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "...He was terrific."

After the most prolific first-half playoff scoring performance of his career, Rondo failed to score a point in more than 10 minutes in the third quarter, so Rivers inserted veteran Sam Cassell to give him a breather.

Because of Cassell's experience and his hot-shooting hand in the fourth quarter, in which he scored 12 of his 13 points, Rivers left him in the game for most of the fourth period.

Rondo returned to action with just under three minutes left in the game with the Celtics leading, 68-65, but it was just to give Cassell a brief rest.

"Rajon has done some great things at the end of games," Rivers said. "Bottom line, it was an ugly game. I knew we were going to go to the post, and if you know you're going to go to the post you have to have shooting on the perimeter, and that was my decision there."

Rondo, a former star in college at Kentucky, has shown great maturity in just two seasons in the NBA, Rivers said earlier this season. Boston All-Star Kevin Garnett recently called Rondo one of the team's leaders.

Rondo has improved in nearly every category from his rookie season last year, upping his regular-season scoring average to 10.6 points from 6.9, his assists from 3.8 to 5.1 and his rebounds from 3.7 to 4.2. That's because he spent plenty of time in the gym over the summer, Rondo said.

And he continues to improve in the postseason.

Rondo averaged 11.6 points, 7.3 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.71 steals in the Celtics' opening-round series against Atlanta.

James says he won't repeat woeful Game One performance

BOSTON (AP) — LeBron James says he won't miss baskets like he did in the series opener between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics. Neither, James believes, will Paul Pierce or Ray Allen.

James missed all but two of his 18 shots from the field Tuesday night in Cleveland's 76-72 loss, including a layup that would have tied it with 9 seconds remaining. Pierce and Allen also went a combined 2 for 18, with Allen failing to score for the first time in 852 games.

"I can't play no worse than I did last night," James said.

"You don't expect those guys to have off nights like that. I don't expect myself to have an off night like I did."

After Tuesday night, though, everyone expects tonight's Game 2 and the rest of the Eastern Conference semifinals series to be a bruising, stifling fight between two top defenses.

"You're going to have to run through a brick wall to get to 100 points it seems like, the way these two teams play defense," Pierce said. "You just expect it to be a defensive struggle throughout."

With two-thirds of Boston's Big Three nearly shut out, it took Kevin Garnett to bail out the Celtics. He finished with 28 points, including the go-ahead basket with 21 seconds left.

"Offensively, we were a terrible-looking group," Pierce said. "We turned the ball over 23 times, shot 40 percent from the field. We did just about everything wrong you could do offensively, and what happens, the defense comes and saves the day."

James, meanwhile, had one of the worst shooting nights of his career, leading his team to a miserable 30.7 shooting percentage. James has made fewer than two baskets just one, on Dec. 29, 2004, when he missed all five of his shots against Houston.

James refused, though, to call it his worst game ever.

"No, nah, nah. It's not the worst. At the end of the day we still had a chance to win the ball game," James said. "I wasn't satisfied with the way I played but saying it's my worst game, nah."

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