He was once again spectacular, with 15 points and 15 assists. He also had a head-scratching technical foul. He called out the Heat for whining and complaining at halftime, and then once again backed it up in an awkward postgame exchange. Most importantly, he has helped his team tie things up with the Heat.
Rondo's busy night might make it easy for some to forget about what was by far his greatest play of the night. In the first half particularly, every time Rondo touched the ball, it was breathtaking. At the half, Rondo already had eight points, 10 assists and just one turnover. That one turnover, however, was an offensive foul.
Of the 10 assists, Rondo's most beautiful dime came with just a little over three minutes to play in the half. In fact, of Rondo's 3,713 career assists (including regular season and the playoffs), you'd be hard-pressed to find one better than this one. That's saying a lot given Rondo's ability to deliver jaw-dropping passes.
See the pass, which found Paul Pierce for a lay-up plus a foul, below.
Unbelievable.
It was a brilliant play for a few reasons.
- First, give Kevin Garnett credit for a strong outlet pass after ripping down the Mario Chalmers miss. The strong outlet allows Rondo to get out in front of the play, and it forces the Heat to scramble to get back.
- Rondo does a terrific job of reading the play. He was incredibly aggressive for the entire first half, looking to run and looking to take advantage of what was a pretty poor effort out of Miami through the first 24 minutes. He has Brandon Bass to his left and Ray Allen to his right, as the C's did a good job of spacing. This would allow Rondo to either hit one of them for a jump shot, or, as he had been all half, take the ball to the rim. Credit the Heat — particularly LeBron James — for getting back on defense as both James and Shane Battier make sure Rondo can't get to the rim.
- With the middle of the court shut down by three Heat players in the lane at once, Rondo reads the play, pulls up and gets a different look from the left elbow.
- This is where Pierce comes in. Once again, a lot of it comes back to spacing. Pierce, who was deep in his own defensive end when Garnett grabbed the defensive rebound, runs the floor hard. More importantly, he runs his lane, as the spacing of Rondo, Bass and Allen give Pierce a direct lane down the middle of the court.
- This play also never happens if Chalmers does a better job of getting back on defense (like James did) and helping to slow up Pierce. Instead, he doesn't hustle back and Pierce is able to blow by him. The fact that Chalmers was the one who missed a 7-footer on the other end doesn't help, either.
- With Pierce blowing by Chalmers, it now gives Rondo another option. This is where things get really, really good.
- You can't say enough about the patience of Rondo here. He lets the play develop, and he lets Pierce get to the part of the floor where he can get the ball.
- Here's the thing, though. That is a microscopic piece of real estate. Pierce has about three feet of open space in between Chalmers, James and Battier. If he can't get there, there's no pass.
- Even with Pierce at the spot, there still isn't much of a pass to be made. No matter for Rondo, who redefines threading the needle by throwing an insane one-handed bounce pass right to the spot. There is virtually no window between James — who has rotated to help — and between Chalmers' outstretched hand. As small as the window is, Rondo puts it through.
- He puts it through that window with some ridiculous spin, too. You could spend all day trying to figure out how he gets that ball into Pierce's hands, but it's going to be a fruitless effort. Rondo actually has to put the ball in front of Pierce, but must do so with enough spin that the ball doesn't get away from Pierce. There's also not much room for that to happen, either, with Battier lurking for help.
- Battier is late in helping, but can you blame him?
- Pierce deserves a ton of credit for just catching the ball. He's able to settle it with his right hand, while simultaneously controlling it and taking off toward the rim.
- Finally, this play isn't one of the best assists you'll ever see if Pierce doesn't finish at the rim. He did, though, with a foul to boot, to complete one of the most gorgeous basketball plays you will ever see.
Screen shots via YouTube
