Rondo for All Star 2009-The Week That Was

Vote for Rajon for All Star 2009!!!

Another week for Rajon Rondo and the Celtics, four more wins (that’s 18 in a row now), and four more All Star quality efforts for Rondo. 

The first game was on Monday, against the Jazz, and if you have been keeping up with Rajon’s campaign for All Star you know all about his performance against Deron Williams.

Game 2 this week was a close 88-85 win against the Atlanta Hawks, who apparently now are rivals of the Celtics.  Rajon put up 15 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals against fellow All Star candidate (barely) Mike Bibby, who scored 14 points on 5-16 shooting, with 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

On Friday night, Rondo matched up against rookie phenom Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls, and the C’s bested the Bulls 126-108.  It was one of the games for Rajon that really makes you realize he does not need to score to profoundly impact a game.  He scored only 4 points on 3 shots, but dished out 15 assists with 4 rebounds and 4 steals to Rose’s 14 points and 5 assists. 

The final game of the week was against another point guard in the All Star conversation, Chris Duhon.  The Celtics won their 18^th in a row 124-105.  What a different kind of game Rajon played on Sunday than the one he had played just 2 days earlier.  He scored 26 on 12-14 shooting (wow) with 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and a week low 2 steals. 

Rondo averaged 17.5 points per game on 68.3% shooting, 8.8 assists, 6.5 rebounds, 3.3 steals.  Playing against Rondo, Deron Williams, Mike Bibby, Derrick Rose, and Chris Duhon averaged 15.8 points on 48.9% shooting, 6 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and .8 steals.  Also, Rondo’s assist to turnover ratio in these 4 games was 3.2, and that of his opponents was just 1.5.  Rondo outperformed these four quality point guards in all significant categories (including wins), and padded his resume for All Star.

I alluded to it a bit earlier, but it’s worth pointing out how differently Rondo led his team in these four games.  When he needed to take over for a stretch (like when he scored 12 in final 5:20 against Utah or when he scored 16 points in the third quarter against the Knicks), he did so.  When he needed to act as a facilitator and distributor, he did.  All the while he was giving the Celtics top quality defense.    Rajon is playing the best basketball of his career, let’s reward him by making Rajon an All Star!!!