I will freely admit that I'm just about the biggest Felger and Mazz honk that you'll find in New England. I have listened to their show since the Sports Hub was created and I try my best to have it on as much as possible from 2-6 p.m. Monday-Friday. I almost always agree with Felger and Mazz about basically everything Boston sports related but I feel like they're dead wrong on one thing at the moment: Rajon Rondo.
While they want to run Rondo out of town and trade him for Pau Gasol or somebody else, I'm content with watching Boston's current best player and also the future of the franchise.
This afternoon, Rondo turned in his 15th career triple-double (including playoffs) with 32 points, 15 assists (including 2 back-to-back sick alley oops) and 10 rebounds as the Celtics (15-12) picked up their biggest win of the season, 95-91 at TD Garden against the NBA's best team, the Chicago Bulls (23-7).
It was a far cry from Boston's no show loss on Friday in Toronto and it snapped a two-game losing streak for the Green. Chicago had come in on a five-game winning streak of its own.
The win comes with an MVP award shaped asterisk since Bulls guard Derrick Rose sat out with back spasms. I'm also not blind to the fact that Rondo still can't shoot jumpers consistently or hit free throws (although he was 10 for 13 today including 4 for 4 late in the 4th quarter).
His game will never be clean like Chris Paul's or Deron Williams' but his unique skill set is a perfect fit for this team; yes we overhype him because he's one of ours but I think it's silly to think that point guards like Rondo are easy to find. That's why you have to build around him through free agency and trades after this season.
Kevin Garnett added 13 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks, Chris Wilcox (staring for the injured Jermaine O'Neal) had 11 points and nine rebounds, Ray Allen scored 11 points and Paul Pierce had nine points.
Other than Rondo's transcendent game, the thing I take away from this one is JaJuan Johnson. In his most extensive playing time in his NBA career (33 minutes), the rookie from Purdue proved that he's not shy about shooting (6 for 13 from the floor) as he had a career-high 12 points.
The immortal C.J. Watson led the Bulls with 22 points and six assists he started for Rose. Carlos Boozer (22 points, 7 rebounds) only plays on one end of the floor (offense) but he does it well. Joakim Noah had 16 points and nine rebounds while first-time All-Star Luol Deng (10 points) was neutralized.
The Celtics led 28-23 after the first quarter and 48-43 at halftime. Boston was up 72-66 heading into the fourth but it took them almost the entire frame to shake the Bulls.
Since former Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau (a Salem State alum!) took over the Bills, Chicago has always owned the C's. They play solid defense, they're big and they control the paint. When Rose is healthy, I give them a slight edge over the Heat since Miami still has no depth and LeBron poops his pants in every fourth quarter.
Boston shot much better (49.3-38.6%) but Chicago hit twice as many 3-pointers (6-3). The Celts had a season-high nine blocks while the Bulls only had two. Boston had five more turnovers (18-13) but they ran much more (33-7 fast break points).
Today's win evened up the season series at 1-1. They'll play twice more, both in Chicago, including on Thursday which is basically guaranteed to be a Bulls win if Rose suits up.
Bad news on the injury front: while Keyon Dooling and Avery Bradley played in this game, Brandon Bass didn't and he'll reportedly miss 10-14 days with knee inflammation which is never a good thing. He's been Boston's best bench player so that's a big loss for however long he's out.
The Celts get a few days off before they host one of the NBA's bottom feeders, the Detroit Pistons, on Wednesday. Boston picked up its first win of the season back on Dec. 30 when they rolled 96-85 over the Pistons. Since the C's just lost to the Raptors, I won't say a loss to the Pistons is impossible but it's not likely.
Tweet
Follow @RichSlate
No comments:
Post a Comment