Dear Rajon Rondo...

[timboup]

This is not a football game, quit running up court and giving the wide reverse to pierce or allen. You need to stay aggresive and get to the hole. It bugs the Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline. out of me when you run down court and hand the ball off. I know you are the "quarterback" but can you please stop handing the ball off and use your speed to blow by delonte and either look to dish or attack the rim.
P.S. You are the X factor, get er done.

[Bahku]

This is not a football game, quit running up court and giving the wide reverse to pierce or allen. You need to stay aggresive and get to the hole. It bugs the **** out of me when you run down court and hand the ball off. I know you are the "quarterback" but can you please stop handing the ball off and use your speed to blow by delonte and either look to dish or attack the rim.
P.S. You are the X factor, get er done.

I agree totally, Tim (TP) ... there were multiple times tonight when he would penetrate successfully, be in position for an easy layup, and instead would dish it back out to the perimeter, giving up an easy two, and allowing the defense to set up. Really, really frustrating ... like Pierce missing his layups. I'm watching the re-broadcast on Comcast right now, and he just did it again! Argh!

[reggie35]

This is not a football game, quit running up court and giving the wide reverse to pierce or allen. You need to stay aggresive and get to the hole. It bugs the **** out of me when you run down court and hand the ball off. I know you are the "quarterback" but can you please stop handing the ball off and use your speed to blow by delonte and either look to dish or attack the rim.
P.S. You are the X factor, get er done.

Anyone know if he's hurt? They said he got "treatment" for 30 minutes after game 5 and it looked like he was wearing some sort of back brace.

[hwangjini_1]

yes, rondo should go to the basket more, and he should get more fouls called by the refs.

but....

for me the biggest problem is the reappearance of his terrible shooting. last year he was embarrassingly bad at fg shooting. a number of posters here pointed out (and I agree) that probably his biggest problem was he was always out of control or off balance when he shot. even his layups were ugly to watch. he did not seem to have a consistent move to the basket and basically resorted to chucking the ball up, hoping for good luck.

during the season this year, i was very pleased too see him prepare for his jump shot better. no more out of control or inconsistent leaning, jumping sideways, free-form chucking. he got set, squared his shoulders, focused, and shoot the ball. methodical, a bit slow maybe, but it worked for him. his shooting was much improved.

his layups improved as well this season. he was using a more consistent shooting form, getting better balance. and he developed an effective, if odd looking, little spin-and-shoot move for under the basket.

all of this was great! now all this is gone.

now, i watch him run at the basket and flip the ball up from his side, his front, above his head, from his hip, leaning, lunging, etc. he lugs up these high rainbow shots that have no real accuracy and no real hope of going in because his shooting form is off..once more.

thus far in the playoffs, i dont see the improvements he made during the season very often. as was the case last year, he is flinging the ball up without good form, and his percentage is dropping and the team is suffering.

i like rondo, but the playoff pressure seems to have gotten to him so far.

[wdleehi]

The Cavs defense went out of it's way to stop those drives.


Rondo did what he was suppose to do early and pass out.  He hit a couple open men, who in turn, missed the open shot. 


Rondo is only going to be effective inside if the defense respects the pass back out. 

[Who]

i like rondo, but the playoff pressure seems to have gotten to him so far.

Yes I think so too. It's wierd how differently he plays on the road versus at home.

Here's a quick snapshot of his playoff numbers:

At Home: 13ppg 8apg 4.5rpg 51.5% shooting 1.9spg assist/turnover ratio 5.5

On Road: 9ppg 5apg 3rpg 38% shooting 1.3spg assist/turnover ratio 2.31

[Redz]

Here's a quick snapshot of his playoff numbers:

At Home: 13ppg 8apg 4.5rpg 51.5% shooting 1.9spg assist/turnover ratio 5.5

On Road: 9ppg 5apg 3rpg 38% shooting 1.3spg assist/turnover ratio 2.31

And you can just about extrapolate those #'s across the board for the Celtics as a whole home vs. road

[wdleehi]

Here's a quick snapshot of his playoff numbers:

At Home: 13ppg 8apg 4.5rpg 51.5% shooting 1.9spg assist/turnover ratio 5.5

On Road: 9ppg 5apg 3rpg 38% shooting 1.3spg assist/turnover ratio 2.31

And you can just about extrapolate those #'s across the board for the Celtics as a whole home vs. road

Yep.  His assists drop because the players shoot worse.  His points drop because the defense then worry less about his passing. 


The road struggles of the different players effect the struggles of the other players. 

[Scintan]

Rondo is a young player with a bad jump shot.  It shouldn't surprise anyone that he would struggle on the road against a team that leaves him open in the half court set.  As for him just plowing through the field and going to the basket, the Cavaliers are defending him in a manner similar (though less intense) to the way Boston is defending LeBron.  No drives allowed.  What you're seeing is what you'll get from Rondo until/unless he develops a decent jump shot.

[angryguy77]

I believe that he is a little gun shy. He's been on the wrong end of some huge blocks and that is in his head now.

[Triboy16]

you can tell he was exhausted from two nights ago. Thats the most min he has ever played and he hard the full 40 + mins

He will be ready for game 7. Rondo because he is not strong enough shouldn't play more than 35 min.

[RunningTheFloor]

Here's a quick snapshot of his playoff numbers:

At Home: 13ppg 8apg 4.5rpg 51.5% shooting 1.9spg assist/turnover ratio 5.5

On Road: 9ppg 5apg 3rpg 38% shooting 1.3spg assist/turnover ratio 2.31

And you can just about extrapolate those #'s across the board for the Celtics as a whole home vs. road

Valid point here...which is why my concerns are on the defensive end.

One of the most successful parts of our defense is when Rondo is able to harrass the point guard and not only take extra seconds off the shot clock, but also disrupt the flow of their offense.  At home, he is up harrassing West all game long and it is one of the reasons the defense is so successful at home.  On the road he looks like he does not care and he is not nearly as much of a pest on defense.  Maybe the fans get in his head on the road, or maybe our fans pump him up, but I have noticed a huge difference in his defensive aggressiveness between home games and road games.

I have noticed this all postseason, so to be fair, I was very excited the first few minutes of yesterday's game because he was up on West harrassing him.  I thought I could finally put this theory to rest, however, it only lasted a few minutes and he went back to his lack of aggressiveness on defense.

[Who]

Here's a quick snapshot of his playoff numbers:

At Home: 13ppg 8apg 4.5rpg 51.5% shooting 1.9spg assist/turnover ratio 5.5

On Road: 9ppg 5apg 3rpg 38% shooting 1.3spg assist/turnover ratio 2.31

And you can just about extrapolate those #'s across the board for the Celtics as a whole home vs. road

Yep, absolutely. The pressure has gotten to the whole team.

Then again I don't think any of the main players have felt it harder and more often on the road than Rajon Rondo.

There's one exception out of the regular rotation guys? It's an odd one. You won't see this coming.

Ray Allen. Shooting better. Scoring more. Rebounding more. More assists. Never turning the ball over (assist/turnover ratio of 10). Then again he's still well below his regular numbers, just odd that was the only guy doing better on the road than at home.

[BballTim]

Rondo is a young player with a bad jump shot.  It shouldn't surprise anyone that he would struggle on the road against a team that leaves him open in the half court set.  As for him just plowing through the field and going to the basket, the Cavaliers are defending him in a manner similar (though less intense) to the way Boston is defending LeBron.  No drives allowed.  What you're seeing is what you'll get from Rondo until/unless he develops a decent jump shot.

  He doesn't have a bad jump shot. Last year he hit about 33% of his jumpers. This year he hit 42%. For the playoffs he's around 47%. Those numbers are fine. He had a game or 2 where he really struggled with when to shoot and when to drive but in general he's been fairly solid when he's shot the ball.

[Who]

Here's a quick snapshot of his playoff numbers:

At Home: 13ppg 8apg 4.5rpg 51.5% shooting 1.9spg assist/turnover ratio 5.5

On Road: 9ppg 5apg 3rpg 38% shooting 1.3spg assist/turnover ratio 2.31

And you can just about extrapolate those #'s across the board for the Celtics as a whole home vs. road

Valid point here...which is why my concerns are on the defensive end.

One of the most successful parts of our defense is when Rondo is able to harrass the point guard and not only take extra seconds off the shot clock, but also disrupt the flow of their offense.  At home, he is up harrassing West all game long and it is one of the reasons the defense is so successful at home.  On the road he looks like he does not care and he is not nearly as much of a pest on defense.  Maybe the fans get in his head on the road, or maybe our fans pump him up, but I have noticed a huge difference in his defensive aggressiveness between home games and road games.

I have noticed this all postseason, so to be fair, I was very excited the first few minutes of yesterday's game because he was up on West harrassing him.  I thought I could finally put this theory to rest, however, it only lasted a few minutes and he went back to his lack of aggressiveness on defense.

Yep I agree. Rondo's bad play on the road goes well beyond his stat line. His defense has been mediocre. I don't know what's happening to him but it's like he forgets what makes him succesful on an NBA court because he goes away from his strengths way too often on the road, unlike how he plays at home.