Rondo in groove again
The legend of National TV Rondo, or Playoff Rondo, lives on, this time at the expense of Rajon Rondo’s first NBA team.
The Bulls point guard came within one rebound of a triple double at the Garden with last night’s 11-point, 14-assist, ninerebound performance during his Chicago Bulls’ 111-97 win against his former Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference firstround playoff series.
Rondo has averaged 11.5 points, 10 assists and 8.5 rebounds as the eighth-seeded Bulls opened up a 2-0 series lead against the East’s top seed with the road wins.
The Celtics were suitably impressed.
“He’s playing with a lot of leadership out there,” Jae Crowder said. “He’s putting guys in position, he’s calling out sets, he’s just been a very good leader out there for those guys and I think they feed off of that. I think he always has that leadership mentality since he’s been here. He’s a veteran, he knows how to win and he’s doing a good job of leading those guys.”
Rondo is also keeping the Bulls on an even keel.
“I thought his pace was terrific,” Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg said. “He did a terrific job once we got the ball off the glass to push the ball down the floor to get our guys some good shots, which led to some confidence. He’s in a battle all game long. He guarded Isaiah ( Thomas) for most of the game — had his hands full with that. When we inserted him back into the starting lineup he’s been key to our recent success. He’s a confident kid and that rubs off on our younger guys.
‘He’s been in a lot of big moments, championship experience, and he’s going to continue to lead us as long as we are playing.”
Thomas’ plans
Though funeral and service arrangements for Chyna Thomas remained incomplete as of last night, Isaiah Thomas decided on a travel plan for his sister’s funeral in Washington. The Celtics guard will leave this morning for Seattle/ Tacoma, and he will rejoin the team for Friday night’s Game 3 in Chicago.
“Once we get information on that we’ll obviously have to make those decisions based on our schedule and everything else, but we would hope to, for sure, at least make that available to everybody,” C’s coach Brad Stevens said. “But those plans have not been finalized. Or at least I haven’t been told about it. Isaiah’s just going back to be with his family.”
The Celtics, who may practice in Chicago tomorrow following their afternoon flight, remain a somber group.
“It’s hard. The bottom line, it’s quiet,” Stevens said. “But hey, everybody really feels for the guy. We’re together all the time, it’s a great group of guys, and we realize that we have a job to do and we have to prepare to do our job as well as we can. But at the same time there’s a strong relationship there.”
Teammate Avery Bradley is undecided about flying to Washington state.
“I just might do that,” Bradley said.
It’s OK to boo
The least-surprised person by the boos that erupted at the Garden for Rondo this week is Rondo.
Indeed, Rondo can feel the love behind the heckling and derision. He said before Game 2 that after walking around the city for two days, he has received something more akin to the old feeling.
“I’ve been walking the streets the last couple of days, and got a lot of welcome backs, and talks, autographs and pictures,” Rondo said. “They have to boo me. I’m wearing a red jersey, so they have to do it.”
Indeed, Rondo would have been surprised if the Garden crowd treated him any other way.
“These fans are great, I wouldn’t expect anything else,” he said. “Couple of nice words when I walked out (after Game 1). That’s Boston. They were (cheering) for me the nine years I was here. I don’t expect anything less.”