How The Lakers Stopped Rajon Rondo, And How He Can Counter
Rajon Rondo is easily the key to the Celtics offense. If he is playing well, then the Celtics are really tough to stop, if he isn’t playing well then the Celtics look average at best. In game six, the Lakers were able to slow Rajon Rondo and as a result they were able to hold the Celtics to just 67 points. Here is how they did it:
Ignoring Rondo In The Halfcourt
The Lakers were able to stop Rajon Rondo in the halfcourt by basically ignoring him as his defender (Kobe Bryant for the most part) played about 10-15 feet off of him the entire game, whether he had the ball or not. It was as if the Lakers were saying, “If Rajon Rondo beats us with jump shots, then so be it.”
The above play is a perfect example of the Lakers’ strategy working as planned. Here, the Celtics run a screen and roll with Rajon Rondo coming off of a screen set by Kendrick Perkins. The Lakers switch the screen, and Pau Gasol ends up being forced to cover Rondo. This is usually a point guard’s dream, and the way a point guard normally attacks this is by pulling the ball out and then just blowing by the big man covering him. In fact, Rajon Rondo does try to do this, but Pau Gasol doesn’t take a step in Rondo’s direction and he stays in the paint. Rondo is basically left with only one option (the pass to the mismatch isn’t there because Gasol is clogging the passing lane), and that is to take an awkward jumper that he misses.
