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http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/PerDiem-130308/nba-boston-celtics-really-better-rajon-rondoWhen the Boston Celtics lost at Portland on Feb. 24 to drop to 1-3 on their West Coast trip, the notion the team was better without injured All-Star Rajon Rondo was a distant memory. The next night, however, the Celtics pulled out a win at Utah to jump-start a four-game winning streak. Entering this weekend's pair of games on national TV, Boston is a season-high six games above .500 and looking to move up in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Celtics have now played 17 games since Rondo tore his ACL in Atlanta, plus five more he missed because of suspension or injury before going down for the season. That's enough of a sample to suggest their initial success without him is not a fluke. Boston has gone 15-7 in those games as compared with 18-20 with Rondo in the lineup. But the numbers show that if the Celtics are indeed playing better without Rondo, it's not for the reasons you think.
Check out the chart comparing Boston's advanced statistics this season with and without Rondo.
WITH AND WITHOUT RONDO
Stat Rondo No Rondo
Win % .473 .682
Offensive Rating 104.6 106.9
Defensive Rating 105.7 102.0
Adjusted Offense -2.0 -0.7
Adjusted Defense 0.7 5.5
Adjusted Rating -2.2 4.0
Although the Celtics did benefit from an easy schedule to win their first seven games without Rondo, six of them at home, that has since evened out with seven of the team's past eight games on the road. Overall, Boston has now faced slightly more difficult opposition since Rondo's injury -- including Tuesday's last-second win at Indiana, the team's most challenging victory of the season given opponent and location.
After taking that into account, the Celtics have played much better without Rondo -- a difference of 6.2 points per game against average opposition. But most of that improvement -- more than three-quarters of it, in fact -- has come at the defensive end of the floor. Let's take a closer look at each end to figure out how Boston has been a different team since Rondo's injury.
OFFENSE
By going from Rondo dominating the ball on offense to sharing ballhandling responsibilities among several players, the Celtics have become a more dangerous offense, the narrative goes. Not quite. Really, after a stretch of hot shooting during the initial seven-game winning streak, when they made 50.8 percent of their 2-point tries, Boston has been the same below-average offense. Across the board, their statistics are nearly identical to when Rondo is in the lineup.
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The Celtics have been able to fill Rondo's playmaking role by committee. Thanks to seven players averaging at least two assists per game, Boston has handed out assists on 61.8 percent of its field goals -- down only marginally from the 63.1 percent of baskets that were assisted with Rondo. And the Celtics' assist rate has actually gotten slightly better since Rondo was sidelined.
Give much of the credit to Paul Pierce for showing a playmaking side of his game that hasn't been seen in years. Pierce has averaged a team-high 6.5 assists in Rondo's absence, nearly 40 percent more assists per minute than he's ever handed out in his career. Though Pierce is turning the ball over a bit more frequently because of the extra responsibility, it hasn't affected his scoring output.
If you're looking for evidence that Rondo's style is detrimental to his team, it doesn't really exist. Boston is still the same offense, depending heavily on long 2-pointers that are difficult to make at a high rate of efficiency. The Celtics are still more likely to cheer for the Lakers than get an offensive rebound and rarely get to the free throw line. And they still overcome it because of their defense -- now more than ever.
DEFENSE
Before Rondo's injury, Boston was a very good defense. According to NBA.com/Stats, the team ranked seventh in the league in defensive rating when Rondo was sidelined. Since then, they've been elite. The Celtics are holding opponents 5.5 points per 100 possessions below their usual offensive rating. Over the course of the season, only two teams (the Indiana Pacers and the Memphis Grizzlies) have been so stingy on defense.
Boston has offset a decline on the defensive glass by sending teams to the foul line less frequently. Nearly all of the defensive improvement can be traced to how opponents are shooting against the Celtics. Teams are making just 45.4 percent of their 2-point attempts, down from 47.9 percent, and 31.1 percent of their 3s, down from 35.0 percent. If maintained for a full season, that would be the NBA's best 3-point defense; only the Pacers have defended 2s better.
Explaining this effect is more difficult than observing it. After all, Rondo is a four-time All-Defensive Team selection. His defense appeared to slip this season, but before Rondo's injury Boston had shown no tendency to defend better with him on the bench. That suggests the real changes lie elsewhere.
First, the Celtics have benefited from the return of defensive ace Avery Bradley after surgery on both shoulders. In the month Bradley and Rondo played together, they were just as stout defensively as they have been since Rondo went down. Secondly, Boston has figured out how to defend when a different star -- center Kevin Garnett -- is on the bench. During the first two months of the season, the Celtics' D sprung leaks every time Garnett rested. Since then, as NBA.com's John Schuhmann noted on Twitter earlier this week, they've actually defended slightly better when Garnett is off the floor.
THE PLAYOFFS
Taken together, the numbers indicate that Boston is playing better without Rondo, but not that the Celtics are playing better because Rondo is out. It's somewhat troubling in its own right that they've been able to replace an All-Star point guard so easily, but any notion that Rondo was holding back his Boston teammates overstates the case.
The Celtics' ability to win without Rondo is good news for the next few months. When Rondo went down, conventional wisdom had it that they might survive his absence the rest of the regular season but would be unable to duplicate their Rondo-led run to last year's Eastern Conference finals. Their performance thus far might disprove that assumption. Boston's level of play without Rondo, 4.0 points better than an average team, would put the C's ahead of Indiana (+3.4) and New York (+3.0) this season. Only Miami (+6.
has been better in the Eastern Conference.
Average offense and elite defense has historically been a powerful combination for the Celtics in the postseason. They'll surely have to win at least one series on the road to get back to the conference finals, but that has never been a problem for Boston before. Tuesday's win at Indiana was one indicator that the Celtics can still win anywhere against anyone. A strong performance Sunday at Oklahoma City on ABC would only add to the evidence that Boston is a threat without Rondo.