Playoff Rondo is here and the Rockets’ are facing his wrath firsthand. Anthony Davis acknowledged the brilliance of Rondo and showered praise on him.
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Rajan Rondo took the floor for the first time in around half a year when he played Game 1 against Houston. It wasn’t a good game for Rondo, but that was understandable. Unfortunately, the critics did not see the obviousness. They were brutal in their comments. AD and Coach Vogel defended Rondo then and Rondo did not let down in Game 2.
Game 2 Rondo showed signs of ‘Playoff Rondo’, scoring 10 points, recording 9 assists, and going a game-high +28.
Game 3 we saw ‘Playoff Rondo’ in his full glory. Rondo scored 21points, 9 assists while going 3/5 from deep. He also took the defensive assignment of the Rockets’ superstars and he did it well.
“Second half we wanted to take care of the ball, get good looks at the rim and exploit the mismatches.”@RajonRondo talks with @LakersReporter after dropping 21 points in Game 3. pic.twitter.com/TKA95JH7Ep
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) September 9, 2020
The Lakers held the Rockets’ down to a meager 38 points in the second half, after Rockets had a strong 64 point first half.
“Playoff Rondo is real… His IQ is off the chart”: Anthony Davis
Game 3 was a show of how good the Lakers can be when they lockdown, especially the second half. They held the Rockets to 38 points, and a big part of this was Rajan Rondo. He was absolutely stellar in the 4th Quarter, scoring 12 big points in the quarter alone.
Rondo also was the primary playmaker when LeBron sat out or he shared the load when LBJ was on the floor.
Anthony Davis has no doubt that Playoff Rondo exists.
“He’s real. Playoff Rondo is real. He wants to guard the best perimeter guy… His IQ is on another level. We’ve got the two best IQ guys in the game in him and LeBron.”
— Playoff Faigen (@hmfaigen) September 9, 2020
Lakers or Rockets?
Coach D’Antoni says they ran out of steam tonight and missed a lot of 50/50 balls. The Lakers trapped them and they could not make the Lakers pay for the same.
Also Read: “LeBron takes shots at Russ and Harden after Game 3 win”
Harden says they’d rather let Rondo shoot, than let LeBron or AD get open looks, but they still need to not give open shots. He also said they did not get to the attack mode in the 2nd half as well as the Lakers did and they need to do better there.
In the end, coach D’Antoni said “this is a marathon, not a sprint. The series is 2-1 and there is a lot of basketball left to play.”
