Paul Pierce dropped his 20,000th point, Rajon Rondo continued to make his case for being called the Association's top point guard, and the Celtics outlasted the Bucs 105-102 in OT last night. Not only did The Truth put 28 points on the board for Bean Town, but he put 12 of those 28 on the board in the extra session. Pierce is now alone with Larry Bird and John Havilcek as the three players to post 20,000+ points as all-career Celtics, and don't look now, but the C's are kind of rolling.
Our boy Rajon Rondo put 17 points up, and added 15 gigantic helpers in the game, and was joined by Ray Allen (23), Kevin Garnett (13), Glen Davis (14), and the aforementioned Pierce (28) in the double digit battle. KG and RR also led the way with 8 boards each. After storming out to a 9 point lead, the C's let up in the second quarter, as the Bucs cashed in with 31 to even things up. 29 fourth quarter points weren't enough to change the tide, and the C's and Bucs were off to OT. As stated, Paulie kind of took over in overtime, scoring 12 of the Celtic's 14 points, and leading us on to the 3 point win.
If I told you that we shot 46.8%, you probably wouldn't be that impressed, but what if I told you that we held the Bucs to a 41.8% from that very same floor? We also caught a break from the line. While both teams nearly had an equal amount of free throws (BOS was +1, in full honesty), the Bucs only shot 80% from the stripe, and that may have been the difference in this one. The entire Bucs squad had just 2 more assists that our point guard alone, and getting the help of 5 more steals (9-4) than the Bucs surely assisted the team as well. Just to be fair, I will admit that while Pierce and Rondo led the team to the win, they also combined for 10 turnovers. But, we still one, so bam!
While Paulie may have been the newsmaker with his point scoring milestone, I'd like to focus on Rajon Rondo. In 5 games, Rondo has 58 points, 82 assists, 13 steals, and 30 rebounds. That's 11.6 points/game, 16.4 assists/game, and 6 boards/game. It all got me wondering: Is Rajon Rondo the best point guard in the NBA right now?
The University of Kentucky grad is in his fifth season with the Celtics (and in the NBA, for that matter), and during that time he has made quite a mark. Last season he led the NBA in steals, and has never been ranked below 10th in his entire career. He has finished in the top 5 in assists the last two seasons. He has always been at least in the top 8 in defensive win shares since 2007. This season he seems to be taking things to a whole new level. Currently, Rondo is leading the NBA in minutes played, minutes per game, assists, assists per game, assist percentage, and is second in the NBA in steals. Yes, he's going nuts. But, is he the top PG in the game? We'll compare him with other top PGs based on Player Efficiency Rating (PER, with a league average of 15), Win Shares Per 48 Minutes (WS/48), and Offensive Rating (estimate of points produced per 100 possessions). I'm going to take my best guess at, say, the top 5 PGs in the league (based on this season's only PGs with multiple double-doubles) and see where he fits in.
Rajon Rondo- 21.8 PER, 0.204 WS/48, and 113 ORtg
Russell Westbrook- 27.6 PER, 0.226 WS/48, and 121 ORtg
Deron Williams- 18.8 PER, 0.150 WS/48, and 115 ORtg
Mike Conley- 21.2 PER, 0.145 WS/48, and 111 ORtg
Brandon Jennings- 14.5 PER, 0.097 WS/48, and 105 ORtg
Now, you might want to argue that this list of 5 PGs aren't the "top 5 PGs in the league," however, they are the ONLY PGs with multiple double-doubles this season, and I think that says a lot. In addition, while most Celtic fans (including myself) would definitely say that Rondo is the top PG in the league if you really pressed us, I think that these stats may show that Russell Westbrook is standing between Rondo and the top of the PG mountain. The UCLA grad playing for the OKC, however, is rocking just 7 assists/game. So, it's up for debate, I guess. Just don't give me any of that Derek Fisher bologna.
After the big OT win, the C's are now 4-1 and lead their division by 1.5 games over the Nets. Overall in the East, the Celtics are 1 game back of the surprising 5-0 Atlanta Hawks, and dead even with the 4-1 Miami Mega-Heat (there only loss came at our hands!). As a team, the Celtics are +6 in their point differential per game, ranked 17th in points scored and 5th in points allowed (out of 30 NBA teams). The SRS (Simple Rating System with a league average of 0) is a 7th ranked 4.48, and their PACE (an estimate of the number of possessions a team has per 48 minutes) is now 91.6 (a lowly 23rd in the NBA). We have just the sixteenth rated offense, but impressively the fourth rated defense. Seems about like what you would expect, right? Let's compare ourselves with the hated Clippers, just to keep our fierce rivalry alive. Vinny Del Negro has piloted the Clip Show to a reverse of the Celtic record at 1-4. They have a -8 point per game differential and a -6.34 SRS. Bizaro Celtics? While they can top our PACE at 93.5, their offensive rating is ranked a really, really bad 29th (out of the 30 NBA teams). Man, what does all that say about the Thunder, who lost to the Clippers last night? Maybe that should automatically deny Westbrook from the PG race we previously explored.
Tomorrow night, the C's look to continue their winning ways at home against the Chicago Bulls (2-1). Can we put a stop to Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and the Red Army? Let's do it!
Man, all these fun statistics have really made me a bigger basketball fan.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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