Rajon Risin'

When Rajon Rondo is doing his thing and doing it well, the Lakers don't have anyone at the point comparable. He rebounds, he deflects, he gets loose balls, and he harasses the hell out of whomever he's guarding.

Derek Fisher?

He can knock down a spot up J.

The Celtics beat the Lakers by 20 at Staples with Rajon Rondo watching the game from the sidelines. Tony Allen manned the point in that game. Take a moment and let that sink in.

The early rumor is that Kobe will guard Rajon.

Whoa!!!

Talk about a meteoric rise in stock. On draft night two years ago, all Jay Bilus kept saying was that Rondo couldn't shoot it in the ocean. Last week, Bob Ryan said Rajon can't break down his defender off the dribble for a jumper. Yet, with less than five minutes to go, Rajon hit two huge jump shots, one from about 20 feet out and the other after he faked Rip Hamilton out of his shorts to free himself up for a J.

The Lakers have apparently decided that one key to beating the Cs is stop Rajon Rondo. This objective is so important that they are assigning their best defender to accomplish it.

I repeat: Whoa!!!

I understand that part of the theory is that Kobe may not have to work as hard defending Rondo as he would defending Allen or Pierce, but exactly who will guard Allen and Pierce?

The European three-point shooters?

Derek Fisher?

Luke Walton?

Should be interesting.

Anyone Remember This?

Four Wins from Redemption

This week Doc asked the question why on earth would anyone pay heed to a basketball blogger who has never played professional basketball or coached professional basketball? It is a valid question. Everyone over at Celtics blog got worked up over the comment, arguing that bloggers have a right to comment, whether they played or coached professional basketball.

True enough.

But that wasn't Doc's point.

Doc's point was that until you've played professional baksetball, until you've coached professional basketball, you might not have the necessary exposure to provide a balanced evaluation.

Danny Ainge, the guy who hired Doc, has repeatedly said that coaching in the NBA isn't about Xs and Os. It is about dealing with people, dealing with players' emotions and egos and personalities. In this regard, Doc Rivers is the captain of the ship. He's not operations manager. There is big difference.

We can discuss the difference later. But for now let's just say that Bill Simmons (most likely the object of Doc's comment) was off-base when he called out Doc for not saying much during timeouts other than cheer leading type-stuff. "Play tough defense" "Rebound." "Move the ball." The Celtics have now played more than 100 games this season. They don't need to be reminded of the details. The need to be reminded of the big picture. Everything else flows from defense, rebounding, and moving the ball.

If you've watched Phil Jackson's pre-game talks, you know what I'm talking about. His speech is limited to one or two word directives. "Patience." "Help out." "Focus."

Again, NBA coaches aren't operations managers who carry around Excel spreadsheets. The good ones coach at a high level, like captains steering a ship.

Doc is four wins away from earning a place in history as one of the few black head coaches to win an NBA title, and four wins away from silencing all of his critics, at least for the summer.

Posey Stole the Ball! Jimmy Posey Stole the Ball!!!

I wish Johnny Most were here to have made the call...

The Anchor

As I pondered the 20 games the Celtics spent in the wilderness known as the Eastern Conference Playoffs, I was trying to come up with a theory that could explain why the Cs collapsed in close games on the road.

One hypothesis, a recent one in fact, is that the Celtics often played the end of the game without Kendrick Perkins on the floor. At best, his minutes were spotty for most of the playoffs when the game's end was near.

Kendrick Perkins is not flashy. He's not a huge scorer. He's not even a premier shot-blocker. But he does a little bit of everything. He is this this team's backbone. He is the defensive anchor, and his block of Chauncey Billups pretty much proved my theory.

Kevin Garnett is the best defensive player in the game.

But Kendrick Perkins is the anchor.

A team needs its anchor when the game is on the line.

Garnett and the Yips

Garnett hit a huge basket down the stretch, and scored most of his points in the second half. But we also saw him clang two free throws in the final minutes and fail to drive to the hoop as the shot clock was winding down and only 6'3" Chauncey Billups was guarding him. Instead, he passed to a closely guarded Pierce, who flung up a desperation three as the buzzer sounded.

We all love KG.

At the same time, most of us will spend a few moments during the Finals saying a prayer that KG overcomes his occasional bouts with nervousness in the waning moments of playoff games.

Cap

He's been here for the good, the bad, and the awful. For most of his career everyone understood that the Celtics weren't gonna win if Paul Pierce didn't play huge. Some things changed this year. The Celtics won 66 games during the regular season, and a good number of the wins came with Pierce attempting fewer than 10 shots.

At the same time, not much has changed. Pierce is still the captain, and when the team needs to win a big game, it turns to him.

This is your time Paul.

Four wins away from history.

Let's get it done.

Twenty-Game Detour Finally Ends

Something was clearly wrong when the Celtics lost game 4 in Atlanta, and even more wrong when they lost game 6. The three losses in Cleveland were difficult to stomach, but at least the Cavs had a bona fide superstar on their team, and played tough defense.

Starting the playoffs 0-6 on the road, the Celtics have now won two of three away from the gah-den, including closing out the Pistons at Detroit with a come-from-behind thriller.

I don't know if the Celtics have their mojo back.

But this is the best I've felt about the green since way back in the first round. The twenty-game roller-coaster of the Eastern Conference Playoffs is now over, and it's time to figure out a way to win four more.

Bring It On