Rondo has been looking bad in crunch time

[manl_lui]

I never thought I would say this but........"this every once in a while "flashy", ain't making it anymore" and your free throws are absolutely killing us.  we need something more than this in crunch time, sorry Rondo!!!!

I do blame Rondo for 2 of our losses like the one the other night vs the Cavs on that very last possession. This one he does need to share some blame but not all of it. 2-10 is unacceptable from a guard imo. BUT I think it's how Bradley turns the ball over in critical times either when we are up or tied that leads to them tying us or taking the lead. This is his 3rd real year (I don't count his rookie year cuz he didn't play), he should know better than this and his god-awful one hand chucking pass

rondo does not know how to close out games. Doesnt know how to win without three future HOF. Cant hit FTs. Is like Shaq pg version. What FA is going to want to sign with us?

Please trade Rondo danny.

man you must REALLY hate Rondo

[mmmmm]

So many bloggers seem to be prisoners of the moment.

Rondo was the last Celtic with the ball at the end of two extremely close games.  Obviously, it MUST be his fault that we lost.   

Let's ignore whether his TEN defensive rebounds, 9 assists and 14 points (on 60% shooting) had anything to do with why the game was even close ...

When a game comes down to the wire, getting all tunnel-visioned on the last play as the supposed reason we won or lost seems a bit myopic.

This team is only going to win games against tough opponents if ALL the players who get on the floor have positive games.

Certainly Rondo's FT shooting stunk.  But if you are trying to assert that his overall contribution to the game wasn't overwhelming positive, then imo you probably have a very skewed perspective on the game.

There are a couple of other players on our team who it's pretty easy to notice were FAR more 'negative' in their performance last night so hyper-focusing on Rondo seems pretty ridiculous.

[Fred Roberts]

So many bloggers seem to be prisoners of the moment.

Rondo was the last Celtic with the ball at the end of two extremely close games.  Obviously, it MUST be his fault that we lost.   

Let's ignore whether his TEN defensive rebounds, 9 assists and 14 points (on 60% shooting) had anything to do with why the game was even close ...

When a game comes down to the wire, getting all tunnel-visioned on the last play as the supposed reason we won or lost seems a bit myopic.

This team is only going to win games against tough opponents if ALL the players who get on the floor have positive games.

Certainly Rondo's FT shooting stunk.  But if you are trying to assert that his overall contribution to the game wasn't overwhelming positive, then imo you probably have a very skewed perspective on the game.

There are a couple of other players on our team who it's pretty easy to notice were FAR more 'negative' in their performance last night so hyper-focusing on Rondo seems pretty ridiculous.

Solid post. Paul Pierce dribbled the ball off his foot about 100 times in crunch time but he's infallible around here. Rondo has been playing pretty well and he's a savage. He'll get it together and make as many good plays in crunch time as bad. Still a bummer though .. . as the CLE and PHX games were ours for the taking.

[Tr1boy]

I never thought I would say this but........"this every once in a while "flashy", ain't making it anymore" and your free throws are absolutely killing us.  we need something more than this in crunch time, sorry Rondo!!!!

I do blame Rondo for 2 of our losses like the one the other night vs the Cavs on that very last possession. This one he does need to share some blame but not all of it. 2-10 is unacceptable from a guard imo. BUT I think it's how Bradley turns the ball over in critical times either when we are up or tied that leads to them tying us or taking the lead. This is his 3rd real year (I don't count his rookie year cuz he didn't play), he should know better than this and his god-awful one hand chucking pass

rondo does not know how to close out games. Doesnt know how to win without three future HOF. Cant hit FTs. Is like Shaq pg version. What FA is going to want to sign with us?

Please trade Rondo danny.

man you must REALLY hate Rondo

I dislike his inflated ego the most.  When you say you think your a max player at the press conference ,back it up. 

You know what it takes to win a ring. Most guys in the nba dont. You got to play desperate from start to finish. If you have to bulldoze your way to the basket at the end of games, then do that. You did that in the playoffs. Do it now

[Billz401]

I think you irrational Rondo haters live for these moments.

No, I don't want him shooting the last shot...

Yes, his defense looked spotty tonight...

Yes, his free throw shooting tonight was inexcusable...

However, to suggest we should trade him after tonight and that only playing with hall of famers is what made him great is bull**** and absolutely stupid. He wouldn't be leading the league in assists and threatening a triple double every night if his teammates were the only ones making him look good. Good Lord, you guys are ridiculous.

This..

[wahz]

So many bloggers seem to be prisoners of the moment.

Rondo was the last Celtic with the ball at the end of two extremely close games.  Obviously, it MUST be his fault that we lost.   

Let's ignore whether his TEN defensive rebounds, 9 assists and 14 points (on 60% shooting) had anything to do with why the game was even close ...

When a game comes down to the wire, getting all tunnel-visioned on the last play as the supposed reason we won or lost seems a bit myopic.

This team is only going to win games against tough opponents if ALL the players who get on the floor have positive games.

Certainly Rondo's FT shooting stunk.  But if you are trying to assert that his overall contribution to the game wasn't overwhelming positive, then imo you probably have a very skewed perspective on the game.

There are a couple of other players on our team who it's pretty easy to notice were FAR more 'negative' in their performance last night so hyper-focusing on Rondo seems pretty ridiculous.

Here is the issue: his contract is up and he PROBABLY wants max money. You have a limited time to decide.

If you think he is easily a max player, then this is all silly and his performance in many games just doesn't matter. However if you think he is borderline, and his ft shooting looks like it will never improve, and many days he lacks discipline on defense, you are stuck getting rid of him and getting less in return.

All I need him to do is shoot 60% plus at the line and play better d, while doing all the other things he does easily and I happily pay him that max contract. He is coming up short in two critical areas and causing a brutal decision to be on the table when almost no one wants to do it.
That's why we see threads like this.

[Sixth Man]

I had hoped that Rondo would rein himself in on defense and simply stay in front of his man instead of gambling for steals.  Hasn't happened, sad to say.  I also prayed that Rondo would not revert back to his pound-the-ball up the court slow-down offense (he would have been amazing on the Celts' glory teams of the mid-80's).  No luck there, either.  There is still time for Rondo to come around, but I'm not hopeful.  Too bad, as I'll never forget the sight of him carrying the team on his back after the elbow hyperextension on the DWade cheap shot.  His left arm dangling out there at a weird angle like a broken chicken wing - amazing. 

Wherever he lands, I will always root for him (except against the Celts).

[OhioGreen]

Sad thing is, I was just looking at a list of the top 20 PG's in the league. (Subjective, of course, but it looked, arguably accurate.  Rondo was listed as #10, and I didn't find a player, whose team I thought would trade that player straight up for Rondo until I got to #15!
Rondo is good, but there are so many good PG's out there, he has enough flaws that he doesn't separate himself anymore!  I think this is basically proven by the lack of trade interest in him!
He's definitely playing healthy again, and again I doubt we see much interest in him by the trade deadline---unless some good team is on the verge of falling out of title contention due to an injury to a key player(PG) on their team!
If we can make a trade for him, and get back a good draft pick, or other valuable assets(ie, good young Center), I think you just have to do it as right now we could plug in any number of PG's for him and see no considerable dropoff in W/L's.

[mgent]

I never thought I would say this but........"this every once in a while "flashy", ain't making it anymore" and your free throws are absolutely killing us.  we need something more than this in crunch time, sorry Rondo!!!!

I do blame Rondo for 2 of our losses like the one the other night vs the Cavs on that very last possession. This one he does need to share some blame but not all of it. 2-10 is unacceptable from a guard imo. BUT I think it's how Bradley turns the ball over in critical times either when we are up or tied that leads to them tying us or taking the lead. This is his 3rd real year (I don't count his rookie year cuz he didn't play), he should know better than this and his god-awful one hand chucking pass

rondo does not know how to close out games. Doesnt know how to win without three future HOF. Cant hit FTs. Is like Shaq pg version. What FA is going to want to sign with us?

Please trade Rondo danny.

man you must REALLY hate Rondo

I dislike his inflated ego the most.  When you say you think your a max player at the press conference ,back it up. 

You know what it takes to win a ring. Most guys in the nba dont. You got to play desperate from start to finish. If you have to bulldoze your way to the basket at the end of games, then do that. You did that in the playoffs. Do it now

Rondo has backed it up.  I think you're problem has to do with fixating on 1/100,000th of his season so far and completely ignoring the rest of it.

[Eddie20]

Let's ignore whether his TEN defensive rebounds, 9 assists and 14 points (on 60% shooting) had anything to do with why the game was even close ...

Not sure about that. He also had 5 turnovers, shot 2-10 from the FT line, and was a minus 10 in +/- in 33 minutes. Pressey was a plus 6 in 17 minutes. The team doesn't exactly fall apart when he's not in.

[pearljammer10]

Let's ignore whether his TEN defensive rebounds, 9 assists and 14 points (on 60% shooting) had anything to do with why the game was even close ...

Not sure about that. He also had 5 turnovers, shot 2-10 from the FT line, and was a minus 10 in +/- in 33 minutes. Pressey was a plus 6 in 17 minutes. The team doesn't exactly fall apart when he's not in.

Yeah but Pressey is terrible. You don't need stats to back that up.

[Eddie20]

Let's ignore whether his TEN defensive rebounds, 9 assists and 14 points (on 60% shooting) had anything to do with why the game was even close ...

Not sure about that. He also had 5 turnovers, shot 2-10 from the FT line, and was a minus 10 in +/- in 33 minutes. Pressey was a plus 6 in 17 minutes. The team doesn't exactly fall apart when he's not in.

Yeah but Pressey is terrible. You don't need stats to back that up.

I was referring to the team not falling apart when Rondo isn't playing. Further evidenced by their record without him the last 4 seasons.

[mmmmm]

Let's ignore whether his TEN defensive rebounds, 9 assists and 14 points (on 60% shooting) had anything to do with why the game was even close ...

Not sure about that. He also had 5 turnovers, shot 2-10 from the FT line, and was a minus 10 in +/- in 33 minutes. Pressey was a plus 6 in 17 minutes. The team doesn't exactly fall apart when he's not in.

Why is it so difficult to actually look into the details when plus/minus numbers look odd?

Green's +/- was also -10.  Yet by all accounts he played awesome for this game.   Doesn't that even make you stop for a second look at what the numbers actually _mean_?

Rondo was on the floor for 33 minutes and overall, yep - the team posted a -10 on the scoreboard.

Well, a glance at the other starters shows that, whuddayaknow?  Kelly Olynyk posted a big fat -15 in just 13 minutes of play!  Now, what positives and negatives did Kelly bring to the floor last night to result in such a number?  Oh yeah, he missed his two shots, committed 4 fouls, turned the ball over 3 times, played horrible defense and earned a seat on the bench - which didn't help much because Bass then came in and also played pretty bad.  Just not AS bad.

The point is, when Kelly was in the game, he was just plain and obviously having a horrible game.   Thats not to say he's a bad player.  He's had mostly good games this season.  He'll probably play great in his next game.  But last night?  He stunk.  Eye test.  Stats test.  Coach-putting-him-on-the-bench-test.  He stunk.

Well, 12 of Kelley's minutes came with Rondo on the floor.  During that time, the team was -12.

In the other 21 minutes Rondo was on the floor, the team was +2.

But go on blaming Rondo.  It's what you do.

[D.o.s.]

It's hard to take anyone that puts more than cursory stock in 'plus minus' seriously.

[mmmmm]

It's hard to take anyone that puts more than cursory stock in 'plus minus' seriously.

Like with any stat, the devil is in the details.  Understanding the meaning of a lot of stats _requires_ more than just a 'cursory' glance.