Blazers have No Answers for Rondo, as C's Move to 19-2

December 6, 2008

Further proof of the concern spreading through the rest of the league over Rajon Rondo's play was evident last night in the thoughts of Nate McMillan. The Portland coach only could imagine the experience his own point guard, Steve Blake, was about to encounter.



``Rondo is a very good guard,'' McMillan said before last night's game at the Garden. ``Rondo is the perfect guard for that group. ``He's very unselfish. He's solid and he's starting to knock down his shot.'' That development, of course, is forcing coaches like McMillan to give Rondo's outside game more respect.

Asked if he planned to have Blake guard Rondo more tightly last night, McMillan smiled and said, ``You'll see.'' Keeping Rondo out of the paint, however, was clearly Portland's priority. ``He tends to get to where he wants to go on the floor,'' McMillan said. The same could be said of the Blazers, who came in on a six-game win streak, with the Northwest Division lead in hand.

``It feels good,'' rookie center Greg Oden said. ``The thing we have to do now is keep it up.''
Early on, Oden, in particular, had a difficult time prolonging that good feeling. After missing a dunk under pressure from Kendrick Perkins, the big man finished off a jam only to be whistled for a technical foul for swinging from the rim.

He picked up his second foul with 5:26 left in the first quarter and was replaced by Joel Przybilla.
But Oden was the least of the Celtics' problems. The Blazers, in the image of their coach, are also a sticky defensive team. Though the Celtics shot at a 50 percent clip in those early minutes, they also coughed up five quick turnovers. It took everything they had to tie the game at 19 on a Ray Allen 3-pointer with 1:48 left in the first. Allen's fast-break hoop then gave them a 23-21 lead in the midst of a quarter-closing 5-0 run that was good for a 24-21 edge at the start of the second.

Leon Powe then took that lead into his own hands. The forward scored the C's first six points of the period. And still, with five minutes left in the half, the Celtics led by only a point (35-34). Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce had six points between them. The hosts had to work excruciatingly hard to get that edge back, too, when Rondo fed Garnett, who had kept the three-shot possession alive by rebounding his own miss in traffic.

Garnett's hoop was good for a 38-36 lead with 2:58 left in the half. The basket, and the Allen free throw that preceded it, was good enough to trigger a half-closing 14-0 explosion. The Blazers, so capable earlier, were 0-for-7 from the floor during the run and only had one two-shot possession.