Finishing at the rim has become an issue for Rondo recently. And not only against the cavs. He goes up for layups with his typical aggression and the ball rims out – its usually fairly close, but it just doesn’t fall. And as Scott and you say, his confidence then adjusts (poorly) and he decides to kick it out to no one in particular, forcing someone like KG, who just got the ball in a bad spot from a penetrating Rondo, put up a forced jumper or find someone else in an equally bad spot. I can recall from this game specifically a time when Rondo went to the rim, decided not to put it up, passed it out to KG, who had nothing and passed it back to Rondo who also had nothing because while all of this was occuring under the basket the entire cavs d was able to get back (while ray and paul stood at the perimeter) – eventually though KG scored but this was a terrible looking play and more luck than smarts.

Rondo needs to be more selfish. Who would’ve thought I’d say that about a point guard.

Stay with the same line-ups in the next 2 games if they do not come out of their slump make a couple of changes in the line-up between 1st and the 2nd unit to shake things up.

Well said, that’s pretty much it. It’s maddening to see poor decisions from Rondo whenever he anticipates contact at the rim, we could make a highlight reel of them from last night’s game alone. I know he’s gotten blocked down there a few times and his layups aren’t always money but that’s no excuse really. His last second outlet passes have become far too frequent and rarely have a positive outcome on the offense.

On top of that, his confidence in his jump shot could not be lower. Unless it’s a 3 for some reason, which I never want to see Rondo taking unless there’s no other option. It’s not that Rondo can’t shoot, we saw him hit open shots regularly last season that he passes up every time now. It’s part mental and part mechanical but it’s a problem and a major point of weakness in our offensive attack. And every other team in the league knows this.

But then how does it get fixed? Mentally is a tough thing to change, in my opinion, possibly harder than the actual mechanics of his shooting.

Did anyone notice the play at the end of the first half last night? With less than 10 seconds Rondo brings the ball down the court and immediately passes to Perkins who is on the baseline about 10 feet from the basket. Now if it’s Paul Pierce who can create his own shot that’s one thing but Perkins? Not exactly known for his offensive repertoire and that’s who our point guard goes to in the closing seconds? He has to be smarter than that but what concerns me is that it seemed he wanted the ball out of his hands as soon as possible rather than driving the lane or pulling up for a mid-range jumper (which likely would’ve been a bad miss).

who lost us the game last night, sure Rondo was bad offensively but IMO he set the offense alright, It sure wasn’t his fault if his kick outs to PP and Ray ended up clanging off the rim. What if those shots by Ray or PP or even KG were falling in, then no one here would complain and instead be praisng the guy for doing what he did….for me Rondo mixed it up by driving also to the hole…its just awful his shots weren’t falling in.

Paul was the one who lost it for the Celts last night, he was hesitant to drive to the hole last night, sure lebron was making it difficult for him but he had several chances he should have taken it to the hole but instead he stops and elects to pass which is somehow ended up being deflected by lebron on the pick n roll.hence a turnover, there where about five of these instances….how many FT did he attempted last night?….not that many………Paul is our captain, he should have taken it upon his shoulders to carry this team like he always does…..but I won’t complain anymore since its just a regular season game…it wasn’t the end of the world, I know PP would have done something if it was a do or die situation

I thought Mo Williams did a great job of stabilizing their second unit last night while LeBron got some rest. He also put up half of his points for the night during those few minutes. In future matchups against the Cavs, I think Doc may have to match up Rondo’s minutes against Mo Williams in order to stop that.

As a Lakers fan working in Boston, I watch a lot of Celts game. Despite this 4 game trip, they’re a good team that I never feel comfortable going into the 4th if it’s a close game. One thing I’m a bit surprised is how much Eddie House gets PT. I’ve seen him play live and ont CSN often and I think he’s terrible. If I were a Celts fan, I would really hate to see him play…and the fact everyone mention g. pruitt (who I don’t know much about), why not give him a chance.

Does anyone know why E. House get so much PT?

Ive seen the fright in Rondo before the Cavs game…especially in road games.

“You are correct, sir!”

Excellent article.

If I am doc and this is all going down, and i have to use these players danny has provided, I start Kg, baby, PP, Ray and rondo. I tell perk i know his shoulder is hurting and i will probably play him almost as much as normal but i want kg in the post to start the game. I tell KG this is it: if he wants to win another title he is going to have to start at center the rest of the year. period. no whinning, complaining and no acting like he wishes he was a small forward. I am laying it on KG: PP took this team to a conf final with little help. You have to step it up. Now. Carry us. We have to find out if you can

I’ll bring perk in for Baby after several minutes. Powe can come in for kg or perk as can baby later. I might well bring in house for Ray early and use ray for q2. No more house at point. Pruitt can do it. and obviously try to get the ball in rays hands more again and force RR to push the pace every moment

other than that, we need marbury, a big and a shooter.

if da thinks getting Reddick is the answer, wow. i dunno what to say to that.

I don’t know if he’s scared but his play has definitely deteriorated the last few weeks. when we were playing well he was the main reason and people were touting him for the all star game. you don’t hear anyone now say that rondo is an all star. he wil pick it up again but it may take a while. I think it’s a ombination of him being hurt and losing some confidence with all the marbury talk.

rondo has played scared and he did not lose the game. it was a team effort. eddie has been the real big skunk, since xmas. i would love to know his plus minus stats ovet these last games. rondo takes a beating and he’s stilla kid. he’ll do better. lebron as great as he is is one big crybaby and there should be a pealty like in hockey for flopping. of course stern would never want to pick on mr. box office.

This is a TEAM problem from Danny down to the last guy on the bench. The team is simply out of synch for whatever reason. The problem needs to be solved in a TEAM fashion whatever the answer might be.