12.23.2017

Shorty Stepping Up

12/24/07

When the game film from this one gets passed around from team to team, there is going to be a collective imbibing of hemlock across the NBA. Rajon Rondo, the man Kevin Garnett affectionately refers to as "shorty," is now making threes, too? Who's next, Leon Powe?

Rondo's outside shooting has always been perceived to be the Achilles' heel of the otherwise powerful Celtics' offense, even though he shoots a high percentage. The kid gets open looks all the time. He's encouraged to shoot the ball. He makes more than he misses. He still gets open looks. And other teams scratch their heads.

"That's not going to change, either," Doc Rivers said. "Even if he makes them, they're [not] going to stop [leaving him open.] Because they're not going to believe it. So we'll take it."

So, in the classic game of pick your poison, the Orlando Magic last night were victimized by the nerveless Rondo, who matched his career high of 23 points in the Celtics' 103-91 victory. Rondo was a force of nature in 38 minutes, also collecting 4 rebounds, dishing out 6 assists, and adding 4 steals to his stat line. He made 8 of 10 shots, raising his field goal percentage to a spiffy 54 percent.

But one line stood out: 2 of 2 from 3-point territory.

Rondo had attempted only three of them before last night and he had missed them all (although if memory serves, they were mostly of the quarter-ending or shot-clock beating variety). He did make six of them last year - in 29 attempts.

But on the final play of the first half, with the Celtics leading, 46-42, Ray Allen dutifully dished the ball to the open man as the shot clock was winding down. That open man was Rondo. He didn't hesitate and arched a parabola that gently settled into the net as the horn sounded. It was Boston's only trey of the half; the Celtics had missed their first seven.

If you're Stan Van Gundy on the Orlando bench, you've got to be thinking, "What? That guy, too?" As Van Gundy put it afterward, "Rajon Rondo hasn't [made any] threes all year and he makes two. It's one of those nights."

Suffice it to say that Rondo's 3-point shooting was not high on the Magic's scouting report.

"He's streaky," said the Magic's Dwight Howard. "He happened to have the touch."

Rondo doesn't go into a whole lot of depth in explaining his actions on the floor. And, after the game, he was characteristically brief and matter-of-fact in dissecting what had been a pretty awesome performance. He brushed aside any significance in matching his career high for points; his season high had been 18.

"It's all about the win," he said. "We're trying to get the championship."

But Rivers said he wants Rondo to keep shooting from international waters - and elsewhere - when the kid has the kinds of looks that teams are going to invariably give him.

"He stepped into both of them [the 3-pointers] and didn't hesitate on either one, which is really nice," Rivers said. "But I also don't want him looking for them, I can tell you that. But when they come, and he's open, he has to take them. I'm actually more proud of the midrange [shot] that he's making. I tell him, 'You're going to get open shots.' And the more he makes them, the more it is going to help."

Rondo's second 3-pointer came with 6:28 left in the quarter and pushed the Celtics' lead into double digits, where it remained for the remainder of the game, save for a 77-second stretch in the fourth quarter when the Magic cut the deficit to 9.

The Magic can never be overlooked because they can score in bunches. (They'd be even harder to overlook if Howard could make free throws. The big guy was a Shaqian 5 of 16 from the line and is shooting a dreadful 59 percent from the line for the season. In two games against the Celtics this season, he has missed 21 free throws.)

But the second Rondo 3-pointer also kicked off a stretch in which the Celtics knocked down four 3-pointers in 2 minutes 29 seconds, blowing the lead out to 19. Paul Pierce made two and Ray Allen finished off the flurry, with an assist from No. 9, who seemed to be everywhere and anywhere. He broke down the Orlando point guards ("We struggled to contain him," Van Gundy admitted) and was his usual pest-like self at the other end.

So you can imagine what the rest of the NBA is thinking these days. How on earth are we going to stop these guys if Rondo is going to start knocking down long-range jumpers?

As Rivers noted, the kid already is making teams pay for leaving him alone from 15 to 18 feet. If they don't guard him there, they certainly aren't going to guard him further out.

"It is what it is," Rondo said, borrowing the favorite phrase from the Maestro in Foxborough. "I'm gonna take what the defense gives me."

And the defenses may have to think twice as the season progresses if he continues to do what he's doing.

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