There are very few players that can fill up a stat sheet the way the Celtics Rajon Rondo can. Seemingly every night his line is a series of double-doubles with a healthy handful of triple-doubles thrown in.
In Game 1 Rondo posted his eighth career postseason triple-double, which ranks him behind just Magic Johnson, Jason Kidd, Larry Bird and Wilt Chamberlain for the most in NBA history.
Thats pretty good company and thats a lot of serious ink on the stat sheet.
But stats only tell part of the story with Rondo. Take a look at his effort in Game 3 on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center as the prime example of how the point guard can dominate the game on just 16 shots.
Rondo had 23 points in the 107-91 victory with 13 in the first quarter, but it was the 14 assists and his ability to get to the basket that hurt the Sixers the most. In the halfcourt set, the Sixers put Evan Turner on Rondo and he was careful to give the point guard enough space to keep him out of the lane. But because the Celtics got stops on the defensive end, Rondo was able to take the ball wherever he wanted.
Teams dictate their defense by trying to play off Rondo and do different things, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. When Rondo becomes an offensive threat then Kevin Garnett becomes a better offensive player and Paul Pierce becomes a better offensive player because you cant spend the game trying to help off him.
Rondo made nine shots to get his 23 points, but only one of thosea three-pointercame from outside of the paint.
He set the tone for us, Rivers said. I thought Rondo was extremely serious in shootaround this morning. I thought he really set the tone for our mental approach and thats what we need to stay in.
I would say I really believe we needed this game, Rondo said. I think our team responded well tonight. It wasn't just me, it was everyone. We all were pretty focused today at shootaround. Obviously we had two close games at home and you know we wanted to show these guys, send a message tonight and I think we did a pretty good job of that.
With 44 assists in the first three games of the series, Rondo has set the tone on offense, too. Sure, not every assist Rondo gets comes from threading the needle or dishing it off on the break, but when Rondo can get to the basket as easily as he did on Wednesday night, a lot more players seem to be open.
The Celtics game plan for Game 3 was to get Pierce and Garnett open for perimeter shots and Rondo was the catalyst for all of that. With those drives and dish outs for the open jumpers, Garnett poured in 27 points and Pierce had 22 after going 5 for 20 in the first two games of the series.
After the game the Sixers were scratching their heads trying to figure out how they can stop Rondo without allowing Pierce or Garnett to pick up the slack.
Its hard for any center to deal with that kind of range. Hes knocking 19- and 20-footers and it makes it tough when theyre spacing the court like that, Elton Brand said. Rondo gets in the paint and Garnett and Pierce pop out for open shots. He makes them tough to guard. So well have to figure out how to bring that defensive intensity back.
It wont be easy. Wednesday night Rondo played with a wrap around his right wrist after taking a hard fall in Game 2, so if he was hurt or a little slowed by it, he wasnt showing it in Game 3.
Indeed, if the Celtics are going to get Pierce and Garnett going, it all starts with Rondo.
Rondo is a tremendous player, Sixers coach Doug Collins said. To see how their team has grown since he came inHe came in with Ray Allen, Paul and Kevin and then all of a sudden how his role started changing and he had more of an impact on everything. He comes from behind you on defense, hes chasing the ball, hes getting deflections and he takes the ball wherever he wants on the floor.
And he filled up the stat sheet again, too. In eight playoff games this year Rondo has a double-doubles in all but one game and two triple-doubles mixed in as well.
The bottom line, the wins, is the stat that speaks the loudest of all.
E-mail John R. Finger at jfinger@comcastsportsnet.com.