Post by FLCeltsFan on Apr 19, 2008 7:39:14 GMT -5
www.patriotledger.com/sports/x2124111803
Rondo not intimidated by NBA playoff hype
Celtics guard not fearing his playoff debut vs. Bibby
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By Mike Fine
The Patriot Ledger
Posted Apr 18, 2008 @ 11:24 PM
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WALTHAM — What, me worry? Nah, not Rajon Rondo as he approaches his first playoff contest Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks. Not just Rondo, either. His teammates don’t believe the second-year point guard will have much of a problem getting into this series, even if it is against an accomplished veteran in Mike Bibby.
“He can’t be (scared),” said veteran Sam Cassell, who will be appearing in his 115th career playoff contest. “He’s the leader. He’s got the ball in his hands so he can’t be.”
In fact, Rondo has rarely showed any signs of nervousness. For one thing, he’s been around for two seasons. Another: he has no problem speaking his mind with senior teammates, as he did with Ray Allen a couple of weeks ago.
“It’s how you say it, how you approach them,” Cassell said. “I was playing with the best player on the planet, (Houston’s) Hakeem Olajuwon. If I saw something he was doing wrong, he was very open to correcting his mistakes because he’d always say four eyes are better than two eyes. I can see a little bit of it, but not all of it. If you see something that’s going on and you don’t tell me, that’s selfish right there. So if you see something, that can help me.”
That’s pretty much how Rondo has been handling his assignment as starting point guard of the best team on the planet, and he doesn’t anticipate Sunday being much different than any other game. “When I play – it might be different in the playoffs – but I really don’t see the crowd,” Rondo said Friday. “I can hear them but I’m just really focused. It’s hard for me to get outside my zone.
“I’m not nervous. I may get nervous Sunday but I don’t get nervous before games. I just know it’s gonna be different. They told me the intensity will be different in the Garden. I’m expecting that and I look forward to get it going.”
If he needs advice, Cassell is always there. He played his first playoff game on April 29, 1994 as a Rockets rookie, playing 14 minutes, going 1-for-5 for two points with two rebounds and no assists. “It was horrible,” he said. “I was nervous, I played terrible. Game 2 I was fine (26 minutes, nine points, nine assists) and the rest of my playoff career I was fine.”
He won a title that year, and also the next.
Cassell also says he has no doubts about Rondo. “He’ll be fine because he’s been tested. He’s been a full-time starter for two years now. I was a guy who came off the bench my first couple of years in the NBA. My first playoff series I was going against Rod Strickland. He was tough.”
And how does Strickland, a 17-year veteran who played in 52 playoff contests, compare to Bibby?
“He ain’t no Rod Strickland. Ain’t no Rod Strickland. Ain’t no Rod Strickland,” Cassell said of Bibby. “By far. By far.”
Rondo fully understands the challenge in front of him. Bibby might or might not be Strickland, who retired in 2003, but he’s a 10-year veteran who’s played in 51 playoff contests. He’s also the player who transformed the Hawks into a playoff team for the first time in 1999, having been secured in a trade with Sacramento on Feb. 16, leading the Hawks to nine wins in 11 outings in March and into April to cement the eighth playoff spot.
“Bibby’s a great scorer,” Rondo said. “He has a scoring mentality (14.1 ppg) for a point guard. He had a great playoff run with Sacramento. I remember watching that series (the Kings lost a Game 7 to the Lakers in the 2002 Western Conference Finals) and he can really score the ball. My job will be trying to stop Bibby and try to keep him from taking a lot of shots.”
The Celtics have beaten the Hawks three times this season, but two with Bibby in tow. Rondo has done a good job on the veteran, limiting him to 14 points (5-for-15), four rebounds and nine assists in the first meeting and 16 points (6-for-19), eight rebounds and seven assists in the second, but he only played 22 minutes, to Bibby’s 37.
One might say that Rondo was thrown off his game by shooting 2-for-11 for six points, a rebound and eight assists in the first game and only five points, two rebounds and an assist in the other game. Conversely, he was working hard to become a defensive presence.
“We faced them twice, once when he’d just gotten there and the game the other night Rondo was only going to play a certain amount of minutes,” Celts coach Doc Rivers said. “Bibby’s a huge concern, no doubt about it. Bibby and Joe Johnson, 1 and 1A. They’ve got two players on that team that are capable of taking over a game and that always worries you when you’re the other team.
“Bibby makes them a better team. He’s capable of winning a game by himself. He’s been through any playoff situation you can go through. He’ll have a great calming effect for the young guys. When he has the ball in his hands he’ll be the primary decision maker. That makes them better.”
What’s Rondo got to do? “He’s going to have to be a great defensive guard,” Rivers said, “and he’s going to have to have a great defensive series and I think he will.”
“I just want stay consistent and do my role, play my part,” Rondo said. “I just hope I rise to the occasion.”
