The Time is Now

When you think of the 2009 Boston Celtics you think of the big three. You think of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. You think that when the game is on the line that ball will be in the hands of one of these three players. The thing that people don't think of (at least outside of Boston) is Rajon Rondo. The time is now for people to realize that Rondo has emerged as the team's best player and placed himself in the leagues upper echelon of point guards. Through Rondo's first four seasons as the team's point guard his number have improved each and every season, culminating this best season with his best numbers where he averaged 13.7 ppg and 9.8 apg. If Rondo's regular season numbers were not enough for you than look no further than what he has done in the postseason. Last season was his coming out party where he averaged 17ppg and 10 apg, carrying the Celtics while Kevin Garnett was sitting at the end of the bench like he was Tong Gaffeny. But it has been this postseason where Rondo has truly established himself as one of the leagues top 5 point guards (Williams, Paul, Nash, Rondo, Rose). Rondo is averaging 16.5 ppg and 11.3 apg while silencing critics who say he cant shoot (81% FT, 48% FG). Lets just ignore the first round against Miami because they were awful and could have sent George Huguely( UVA lax killer) at Rondo and they were not stopping him. So here in the second around against the Cavs who have a solid point guard in Mo Williams (appeared in the all-star game last season) have not been able to stop Rondo at all. In game one which saw the Celtics squander a 11 point half time lead thanks to the corpse of Rasheed Wallace, Rondo had 27-12-6, game 2 in which the C's ran the Cavs off the court Rondo had 13 points and 19 assists and made Mo Williams look like Dajuan Wagner at times, and in game 3 when LeBron's elbow ripped the Celtics apart Rondo still put together a quite 18-8-5. There is no doubt that Rondo has cemented himself as the team's MVP this season. Yes Ray Allen is the teams best shooter and his played well throughout the postseason, and yes i would want the rock in his hands at the end of the game but still Rondo has become the teams leader. The day residents of Boston would say that Paul Pierce is no longer the premier go to guy is the day Lawarence Taylor stops go Big Ben on 12 year olds. In this series Pierce has had 13, 14, 11 points while shooting 5-17, 4-10, and 4-15. Pierce's shooting percentage is about as good as Tiger Woods percentage hitting fairways. And as for the final member of the Big 3, Kevin Garnett well when someone finds the man's knees let me know. Garnett's knee's may be worse than DeJaun Blair's and Blair has no ACL's. Someone should check John Wall's apartment and look around for KG's knees, it wouldn't be the first time he stole something. The most remarkable thing about all of this is not the fact that Rondo does not receive his just due in the basketball community, No No its the fact that he is the 10th highest paid Celtic this season, behind the likes of future hall of famers Kendrick Perkins ($4.2 mill) Nate Robinson ($4 mill), Brain Scalabrine ($3.4 mill), Glen Davis ($3 mill) and Tony Allen ($2.5 mill).