Leading them to the promised land

Like he did yesterday, Rajon Rondo needs
to point the Celtics in the right direction.

There are a few things in this world that I know are concrete. One is that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. Another is that the world is not ending any time soon -- take that, Mayans. And lastly, the Celtics will not win a championship if Rajon Rondo is not their best player.

Coming into this season, Rondo was surrounded by so much hype. He was a dark-house pick for the MVP, he was lauded by his teammates, coaches, and general manager as the new leader and face of the franchise, and his jersey was the fifth-best-selling jersey in the league. Much of that doesn't matter now after the inconsistent start of the Celtics. But there was a reason for all the hooplah.

Rondo made a name for himself during last year's playoffs, which included a mammoth 44 point, 10 assist, 8 rebound effort in game two of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat. In 19 playoff games last year, he averaged 17.3 points, 11.9 assists, and 6.7 rebounds in 42.6 minutes per game. In a word, he was sensational.

This year, like much of the other players on the roster, Rondo has been up and down at times. Although his stats won't reflect that, the way he plays is different from what shows up in the box score after games. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this team is dominant when Rajon Rondo is aggressive. Not just aggressive in looking for his shot, but being aggressive in looking to steal the ball, aggressive in defending his man, and plugging himself in the paint and snatching rebounds. Handing out assists and climbing the record books is one thing, but giving the game what it needs -- a line that Paul Pierce has made famous over his time in Boston -- is another.

Yesterday afternoon's performance in Brooklyn was probably the best game of the year for the Celtics. They look motivated and enthused, and they competed for a full-48 minutes. They beat the Nets in just about every category: turnovers, field-goal percentage, points in the paint, fast break points, free-throw percentage, three-point percentage, and, yes, rebounds -- it must have been a Christmas miracle.

But what about Brooklyn's 15-2 run in the third quarter you may ask? It's the NBA. Everyone makes a run. A game is full of runs, and it's about what you do to combat them. And the Celtics came right back with a 7-0 run to end the quarter and give themselves a 73-58 lead. But this piece isn't about the Celtics dominating performance on Christmas day: it's about Rondo. And who assisted on the second-to-last bucket of the quarter, then drained a three-pointer to end the quarter? That would be Rondo.

Rondo was the leader of this dominating performance. He did a little bit of everything, scoring a game-high 19 points on 8-of-16 from the field (including 2-of-2 from beyond the arc), 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, the more accomplished players on the team, only scored 8 points a piece, but they both made their impact defensively as well as in other areas. Pierce had a game-high 10 assists, 5 rebounds, and a steal, while Garnett finished with a game-high 10 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. But Pierce didn't mind handing the scoring duties off to someone else: “I really didn’t have to rely on my scoring. They trapped me a lot, so I had to find the open man a lot. Rondo was in his scoring mode. The way the scoring went today, when you have balanced scoring like that, it’s fun to play that way.”

The way the Celtics played yesterday is exactly how they need to play every game from here on out. Rondo needs to be the best player on the team. This season, when Rondo scored at least 15 points, the Celtics are 7-5. When he doesn't, they're 7-8. Relying on Pierce and Garnett is a recipe for disaster. They will be worn out come April, and by relying on them up until then, they may already worn out. He has already gotten the votes of confidence from his peers, so it's time for Rondo to put the Celtics on his back if they want to get to the promised land.