I think we all know why the C’s offense looked overmatched last night: Rajon Rondo. He is the creator now. He is the engine through which the C’s offense gets most of its clean looks, and he could not be the creator tonight against Orlando. Really, you don’t need to know anything beyond this: Rajon Rondo played 42 seconds in the 4th quarter. That’s really it. And this is a problem, because Rondo struggled against the Magic in the playoffs last season, too.
So what is Orlando’s Rondo kryptonite? If you watch the tape, you’ll see two things: 1) The Magic sag off of him at all times. That’s just smart defense. Concede the jumper, play with Rajon’s confidence and position yourself as best as possible to prevent penetration. They are not silly enough to chase Rondo out to halfcourt and get sucked into defending screen/rolls out there like the Bobcats and the Warriors.
There’s a lot of blame being heaped on Rondo today by Celtics blogs and I’m not sure I agree with it. Zach does a good job of looking at some of the things that frustrate him, but honestly, I didn’t come away with that. I came away with thinking that the Celtics, honestly, just did not go to him that often. How many times did you see Ray Allen get the ball on the perimeter to set a play? How many times did you see he or Pierce trying to manage and produce at the same time, often to negative results? Rondo may not be able to score against the Magic, but he can create opportunities, wide open shots. Which, given the way the Celtics were shooting, may not have helped, but wouldn’t have hurt.