Rondo who? Celtics 99, Kings 81

Who needs Rajon Rondo anyway?

Led by a dominant second quarter in which the Celtics outscored the Kings 34-17, Boston (22-23) won it's second straight game since Rondo went down for the season as they defeat the Sacramento Kings, 99-81.

Here's a recap:

The good:

* Boston's ball movement was phenomenal. When Boston led 86-69 in the fourth quarter, I started to count the number of passes on each of their possessions. They averaged nearly 4 passes per possession. As I said at the half, Boston needs to be able to move the ball without turning the ball over in order to be successful for the rest of the season.

* Six of the eleven Celtics scored in double figures. How's that for balanced scoring.

* Who said Rondo was the only one dishing out assists? Boston came into tonight sixth in the league in assists with 23.1, and Rondo finished his season averaging 11.1. Tonight, they had 22 and the Kings had 13. Not too shabby.

* On the whole, everyone played well. Pierce turned in his second-consecutive double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds), and the bench scored 50 of the Celtics' 99 points, including 12 points a piece for Jason Terry, Jeff Green and Brandon Bass.

The bad:

* The one issue that caused 20 teams to pass on him in the NBA Draft creeped up on Jared Sullinger tonight. Sullinger left the game at the 7:52 mark of the first quarter with back spasms and did not return.  The issue is not expected to be serious. Celtics' team doctor Brian McKeon said in the first quarter that Sullinger would "likely" return, but he was then ruled out for the game later in the first half. His status for Friday's game is unknown.

* As a side note, Sacramento is just a bad basketball team. From shirt grabbing, hand checking, bad body language, constant complaining, head shaking, and lack of movement on offense, the Kings play an undisciplined style of basketball. DeMarcus Cousins spent more time handling the ball outside the paint by the elbow and free-throw line than he did down low. That sums it up right there.


Boston will look to extend their winning streak to three games on Friday when they take on the Orlando Magic at the TD Garden at 7:30 p.m.