Rajon Rondo has plenty of playoff memories with the Boston Celtics as a 2008 NBA champion.
Recently, the 37-year-old opened up about a few Boston postseason stories, this time during his tenure against his former team.
During the first round of the 2017 Eastern Conference playoffs, Rondo led the eighth-seeded Chicago Bulls to two straight victories over the top-
seeded Celtics at TD Garden. In those games, the guard made a major impact, totaling 23 points, 20 rebounds and 17 assists.
“With me, when I’m playing the game, I’m not necessarily playing against the players,” Rondo told former NBA guard and ESPN analyst JJ Reddick
on “The Old Man and the Three.” “My whole mindset, that entire series, was to beat Brad Stevens.”
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Rondo discussed working with fellow stars Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler entering the series on how to take advantage of the Celtics late in games.
“I feel like I have the power and I’m involved in the game,” Rondo said. “So, I have more influence and impact I can make that I can make versus a
coach yelling from the sidelines, trying to communicate to this players what they need to do.”
The series took a major shift when Rondo went down with a thumb injury after the Bulls took the 2-0 lead. From there, the Celtics found a groove
and came back to win the series with four straight wins. Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and Al Horford all stepped up to push Boston
ahead.
With the intangibles that Rondo offered in addition to his on-court performance, the former champion cemented his impact against the Celtics in the series.
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Grade the Trade: Boston Celtics give up major assets for gamble at point guard
A mock trade proposal from Fadeaway World’s Lee Tran would see the Boston Celtics give up major assets like Robert Williams III and Payton
Pritchard to acquire Kevin Porter Jr. from the Houston Rockets as well as a Miami Heat second-round pick via the Dallas Mavericks — this all in a
four-team blockbuster aimed at taking a risk for a “relatively low cost.”
“This deal means the Boston Celtics would be taking a risk on Kevin Porter Jr.’s talent for a relatively low cost,” Tran prefaced before saying, “His
ability makes it worth it, and he could be the missing piece for them to win a championship.”
The full cost, per Dallas Basketball’s Dalton Trigg, is as follows:
“Dallas Mavericks Receive: Buddy Hield, Robert Williams. Boston Celtics Receive: Kevin Porter Jr., 2028 Second-Round Pick (MIA via
DAL). Indiana Pacers Receive: Christian Wood, Payton Pritchard. Houston Rockets Receive: Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green.”
To contradict a point Tran made, there is a major cost in the aforementioned trade scenario: two of the best assets Boston has to get better and
continue to add talent around a win-now roster of Supermax contract-holder Jaylen Brown, soon-to-be-Supermax contract-holder Jayson Tatum,
and recently-extended marquee offseason trade addition Kristaps Porzingis. But how does the actual return grade out?
Trade grade for the Boston Celtics: C-
Williams was part of the NBA’s best lineup two seasons ago, and that lineup had a critical run during the C’s 2023 postseason second-round matchup
against the Philadelphia 76ers; a series that went seven games. Losing him robs the lineup of the frontcourt riches Brad Stevens traded for when he
landed Porzingis. Pritchard is more expendable, but he is a more efficient backcourt option than Porter.
This brings the Houdini to the meat and potatoes of the explanation for the low grade of Tran’s four-team proposal: there’s too much risk and likely
not enough reward. Porter is not a championship talent at this point in his career, and the Celtics need as many championship-caliber role players as
possible. Porter is at a point in his career where he needs plenty of trial-and-error opportunities, but Boston can’t be letting their championship
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