He's back, and he's looking better than ever. In our last Celtics' post we talked about how Shaq makes no difference for the C's Championship chances. This time around, we'll point out something a little more obvious. Rajon Rondo may be one of the most important pieces when it comes to the Green Army looking to put together a deep playoff run. His recent poor play, which culminated in his sitting out with a "strained pinky" from March 6-March 27, scared the heck out of me. But his performance against Philly in the 99-82 win on Tuesday, calmed my fears. He's back, and that's huge.
Rondo's play was masterful in the game. He distributed, he drove to the basket without fear, and he even drained a really fun running floater over the leaping defense in the second half. The pride of Louisville, Kentucky (okay, maybe the bats are the real pride of that town) was the only C to get a double double (with grilled onions), as he nabbed 16 points and 13 assists. It was like the good ol' memories from earlier in the season. When Rajon is dropping 10+ assists, the C's are going to win games. It seems to be just that easy. And if he's able to keep up this play into the second season, and we somehow catch the Sixers in the opening round, I'm calling a sweep. Sorry, Elton.
Popeye Pierce led the team with 18, in a game where the scoring was much more evenly distributed than we're used to. KG had 14, Ray Ray had 13, and Jermaine O'Neal continued to show "starting at the 5" potential by dropping 9 with 3 boards. He even had a nice dunk with all the defense just standing around after a perfect feed (although it might have been a walk, in all honesty) from Ray Allen.
With O'Neal stepping up and Krstic moving to the bench, the depth of this team only gets better, and that's a big deal. I've made a big stink from time to time about the lack of production from the bench since the trade deadline, but having Krsitc, Green, Delonte, and Davis all coming off the pine makes a huge difference. They added 30 points in this test, and Nenad and Jeff Green had as many boards as KG, Jermaine, and Popeye, combined. That's a big stat to show how this bench is finally starting to gel. Keep all this in mind with the fact that O'Neal played just 13 minutes, while Green clocked in at 23 and Krstic was out there for 18. Jermaine still has some need to get fit before the playoffs, but it's coming along nicely.
The key, though, is Rajon. As he goes, so goes the team. If he comes out flat in the opening round, we may be primed for an upset. If he comes out hot, I'm not sure if we can be stopped by anyone in the East. That being said, we've clinched a top three spot in the Conference, and the 6-7-8 field of New York-Philly-Indy doesn't look too scary. That Orlando-Atlanta first round matchup seems like it would be the best watch.
So, at 54-23, the C's are sitting second in the East with 5 games to go. They trail the Bulls by 3 games and lead the "Crash Heat Dummies" by 0.5. Tonight's game is simply huge. The result of tonight's contest between the Celtics and the Bulls will go a long way to determine how I feel the Celtics will fare in the later rounds of the playoffs. Will my boys step it up against Rose and company, and prove that they are still ready to run with the big boys? Or, will Chicago overpower the C's with their youth and size and help us realize that we don't stand a chance to be the last team standing in the East this year?
It all, of course, depends on how Rondo plays.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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