http://greenstreet.weei.com/sports/boston/basketball/celtics/2009/11/05/doc-rivers-on-dc/

The Timberwolves clearly had a strategy to let [Rajon] Rondo beat them, and he beat them. Do you expect other teams to do that?

Oh yeah. We’ll see it more then we saw it last year and we’ll see it a ton once the playoffs starts. That’s the next step for Rajon and he’ll be able to make that. The only thing I told him at halftime was I thought in the first half he was shooting but he wasn’t stepping up and shooting them. In the second half, especially in the third quarter, he got more aggressive. It’s going to affect him a little bit now because he hasn’t seen it in a while, but he’ll see more of it.

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So we’re going to see more of the back-off RR strategy going forward and we’re going to find out whether (a) his outside shot has improved and (b) if it has not how much can he comp4ensate by taking his man down into the post like he did last night. Rambis ran the strategy last night, but somehow the message was never delivered or never received that you can’t let RR go inside uncovered. TWolves don’t block shots, so either Rambis or Flynn screwed up.

 My main concern is if RR hasn’t improved his shot, then certain clubs with superior shot-blockers at the 4 or 5 (for example, CHI, ORL) Rondo will struggle. I think it was a big reason we lost to ORL last year, because they started sagging off RR, played a trick defense against RA instead, and had DH available in reserve to keep Rondo from doing damage underneath. Of course it helped that Howard only had Perk to cover down low with BBD camped outside, but KG and RW are now more jump shooters than post players at this point.

Like Doc says, in the playoffs, teams are definitely going to make Rondo prove he can hit mid-range shots.

It’s not a matter of making them, it’s a matter of taking them when they show. He’s shown an increased willingness to do that so far this season, and by the 2nd half of the year I expect him to have an improved percentage for 15 feet. It’s all a matter of taking them…and taking them aggressively, like Doc pointed out…

Rondo telling Doc that he’s missing shots tells me that Rondo really doesn’t have much confidence in his shot. I can’t imagine Ray, despite his slump, going up to his coach during halftime to tell him that he’s missing shots……..

Lets hope that Rondo can figure it out somehow.

The shots just aren’t falling yet. But when you tweak your form a little bit, its going to take time to get everything right. Notice that he’s missing short and long, not all over the place. That is a good sign, because it means he’s just trying to get a feel for his new shot.

I am confident that Rondo can shoulder the scoring load when need be, but it’s not last night’s performance that instills that confidence in me. Other than the fast break layins, Rondo’s points were a direct result of Minnesota completely ignoring him wide open under the basket (through a combination of strategy and unfathomably poor defensive rotations). Rondo was forced into scoring last night, and he didn’t hae to work particularly hard to do it.

His time will come, but last night was nothing to get excited about.

Kurt Rambis and their point guard did us all a favor last nite. Many times the point guard was used to double and triple KG when he was holding the ball high. Rondo just slid to the basket, got a very easy pass from KG and was unguarded when putting in a simple lay up. The also did the same thing with Al Jeff being used to double team, allowing Perk to be free under the basket. Just poor coaching on Rambis’s part and excellent recognition on the Celtic’s part.