Rajon Rondo has heard his name bandied about in trade rumors for the past few weeks. When he took the floor against the Knicks yesterday, the point guard played like he wanted to show the Celtics why they would be better off keeping him.
Rondo was spectacular, almost single-handedly carrying the Celtics, who were without Paul Pierce, past the Knicks before eventually losing, 106-104. He finished the game with 31 points to go along with 13 assists, five rebounds and five steals.
“We want him to be aggressive,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “The best part of the game for us, I thought, was Rondo just attacking the basket.
“This is the Rondo we want. This is what we talked about last year … getting to the free-throw line, taking the shots when they’re open. I thought he was the aggressor in the game. I don’t know if you can do that every night, but overall that’s the Rondo that we want.”
Rondo would not say whether the trade rumors stoked his virtuoso performance.
“I just tried to have a better focus,” he said. “Each game, come out with the same intensity, same focus. It may not be me scoring every night like I scored tonight, but I just try to do the intangibles out there on the floor, whether it’s diving for loose balls, diving on the floor, getting my hand on deflections, whatever the team needs me to do.”
Much of Rondo’s success came from forcing his way to the foul line. After struggling all of last season from the charity stripe, finishing with career lows in attempts, makes and free-throw percentage, he finished the game 9-for-12 from the foul line, including going 5-for-6 in the first quarter.
“I just wanted to get us in transition early, get us some good looks and get to the free-throw line,” he said.
“I’m going to try to get to the line a lot more [this season]. Some calls went my way early on. … I’ve just got to stay aggressive.”