Rajon Rondo stole the headlines with his gaudy stat line, so we might as well start by talking about him. Ten points, ten boards, and a personal-best 24 assists is certainly an active night. But he's played better games in his NBA career. I've never been shy about showering praise on Boston's fifth-year point guard, but he turned it over seven times, made just four of 12 shots, and was just two-for-six from the foul line.
Just throwing out stats is probably a little harsh. He started out shaky, with five turnovers in the first 19 minutes of the game. He then went about 22 minutes of game action without coughing it up again, during which time he had no fewer than 13 assists. The two turnovers he had in the fourth quarter don't really bug me, but his decision to challenge Amar'e Stoudemire at the rim with an 11-point lead, 1:45 to go, and 18 on the shot clock was a terrible one. (Stoudemire easily blocked the attempt and Landry Fields hit a three on the other end to start the Knicks' comeback.)
Additionally, with Boston up four and about 30 seconds left, Ray Allen threw a high pass to Rondo in an attempt to break the Knicks' full-court pressure. Rather than go up and secure the ball, Rondo tried to grab it and move quickly. It went through his hands and the Knicks had a chance to cut the lead to two or one. I understand the thought; Rondo's not a good free throw shooter and I'm sure he was eager to find a teammate, either for an easy bucket or to get the ball to someone more solid from the stripe. But ball security was the more important concern given the game situation. While Allen was charged with the turnover on this play, I thought Rondo could have saved it.
Look, there's a pretty good chance that Rondo leads the league in assists this season. He's going to play a ton of minutes, and he's going to play the majority of them joined by one teammate, at most, who is capable of consistently creating his own shot. He also plays 41 games in front of a scorekeeper who thinks that tossing the ball into Kevin Garnett in the post and watching KG pause, face up, pause, drive right, and then throw in a short jump hook counts as an assist (which Rondo did for his 21st assist against the Knicks). And there's no doubt that Rondo's an elite playmaker. But stats don't always tell the whole story, and tonight, despite 24 assists, the story was that Rondo wasn't brilliant.
Bullets:
- Paul Pierce was really good tonight, with a pretty gaudy stat line of his own: 25 points, 14 rebounds, and five assists. He's been shooting the three-pointer very well to start the season, and he hit four of six shots from behind the arc against the Knicks.
- Garnett also had a double-double with 24 points and ten boards. His 12-for-17 shooting night is particularly encouraging.
- Glen Davis had a third straight outstanding game to start the season. He's really been terrific on both ends of the floor. Particularly noteworthy tonight was his on-ball defense of Stoudemire, which called to memory the defense he played on Miami's Chris Bosh in the opener. Baby seems like he's really dedicated himself to defense; after fouling out while trying to stop a Raymond Felton drive late in the fourth quarter, he could be seen chastising teammates for not getting back on D.
- Twice in the first half, Boston ran a nice little set I'm not sure I had seen them run before. It's a staggered screen for Rondo on the wing, with the first screener waiting until the second screener rolls to the bucket before popping out. The first time they ran it, Davis was the first screener and Shaq the second; Rondo found Davis for a 15-foot jumper (and probably could have hit Shaq for a dunk. The second time they ran it, Pierce was the initial screener and Davis set the second one; Rondo looked at Pierce just long enough to get the Knick defender leaning that way, then zipped a pass to Baby underneath for a bucket. If I have time, I'm going to try and find some video of it over the weekend.
- Shaquille O'Neal hurt his knee in an awkward collision with Stoudemire in what I thought was the third quarter but what the play-by-play suggests was the fourth. The wire story says it's a bruise and isn't serious. Even so, it's probably a good thing the Celtics don't play again until Tuesday.
- Doc ran out a few small lineups tonight, in part because the Knicks played pretty small, and in part out of necessity -- Jermaine O'Neal was inactive with soreness in his left knee, the same injury that bothered him at the end of last year. I don't think it's serious and hopefully JON will be ready by Tuesday. If either O'Neal isn't ready for that game against Detroit, we'll probably get our first regular season look at rookie Semih Erden.
- I'm going to try to track our end-of-quarter plays all season. We only had one real possession to end a quarter against New York, and it went okay. The set wasn't anything special, just Pierce beating someone off the dribble. That made a Knick defender leave Rondo open on the perimeter, and Pierce found him. The key was that Pierce started his move early enough that Rondo -- not a great three-point shooter -- had time to shovel the ball to Von Wafer, who is allegedly a three-point marksman. Wafer was open as the defense had rotated to Rondo, but alas, he took far too much club from the corner and his shot sailed over the rim.
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