I think Rondo was pacing himself a bit, possibly more to avoid injury than to get traded. But last night was not a good debut for Rondo.
The Spurs were without their 4 big stars (Parker, Manu, Kawhi, Duncan) and the Mavericks barely squeaked out a win. Besides the last few minutes of the game, Rondo was invisible on offense. He made some questionable passes that ended up being turnovers. He displayed the same habit of holding/dominating the ball, which killed the flow of their offense. And he had a bunch of iffy pullup jumpers that don't belong when he has Dirk and Monta as teammates.
His final stat line:
6 PTS, 3-11 FG, 7 REB, 9 AST, 4 TO
That's not great.