Rajon Rondo answered the recent hate for him with a huge performance, dropping 32 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds en route to a 95-91 win over Chicago.
The Celtics looked to be cruising to a double digit win when the Bulls made a run and cut the game down to two. But Rondo's 9th rebound off a long Chicago miss that could have tied the game led to two free throws to push the lead to 4. His 10th rebound came off a missed Chicago free throw… and his next two free throws iced the game.
The Celtics nearly coughed this one up by suddenly putting the ball in Paul Pierce's hands to run clock-grinding pick-and-rolls with Kevin Garnett. While it worked once, it also resulted in a couple of turnovers. The C's got away from what was working and it nearly cost them.
Chris Wilcox did great in his start for Jermaine O'Neal (11 points, 9 rebounds). There were a couple of instances of him running with Rondo on the break and getting some easy buckets. It's not something we're used to seeing.
Props to JaJuan Johnson too, who got 33 minutes and responded with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.
KG had a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards.
Paul Pierce had a bit of an off night, which may have been expected when he faces Luol Deng. The guy just kills Pierce. Ray only had 11.. but he had a couple of baskets late when the C's were pushing their lead into double digits.
Nice win for the C's. I don't care if they didn't have Derrick Rose. The C's needed this after Friday's game. I'll take it.
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