Heat-Celtics, Game 4: The Obnoxiousness of Rajon Rondo

Rajon Rondo grows more and more tiresome every time I watch him. Such is the problem with the Celtics in general. If I was a Boston fan, I probably love these guys to death. On a lot of levels, they go right up to that proverbial “line” without actually crossing it. KG’s oversized intensity and constant yapping at opposing players…Pierce’s gyrations, flops, and yelps anytime he goes into the lane…Ray Allen’s, well, I’m not sure. Allen is probably the most squeaky-clean of all the C’s. The worst thing you could probably say about him in terms of annoyance is that he carries himself with a certain sense of superiority, like the stud player from some big fancy private school with their fancy shoes and just-a-little-too-fresh team warm-ups…think the college era JJ Redick persona. In fact, maybe it’s just a kind of swagger that all great sharpshooters have. And I will even allow Allen all this given that, oh I don’t know, he’s only the greatest 3-point shooter of all time. Also, you can find these or similarly annoying traits on players from every other team in the league, so it’s not as if the Celtics are the only guilty party. (Just look at their opponent in the Eastern Conference Finals, who is maybe the most hated team of all time.)

But on the court, Rondo comes off as something different altogether. I don’t even know how describe it exactly. Oh wait, I know: a douchebaggery! Numerous reports have surfaced out of Boston over the years that his personality is “difficult” to deal with at times. Why else would Boston have shopped a 26 year old stud point guard for a trade numerous times already? Questions about whether he is emotionally fragile have surfaced a few times over the last couple seasons as well. Things like the Kendrick Perkins trade (who was by all accounts Rondo’s best friend on the team at the time) and President Barack Obama’s jab at his shooting seemed to send Rondo’s play on the court into a tailspin in years past. He’s also shown a penchant for childlike behavior every now and again. Whether it’s chestbumping or throwing a ball at a ref, sneaking into opposing teams’ huddles, or trying to kick someone after he just drew a charge on him, Rondo sometimes resembles a bratty child. After bowling over Shane Battier last night and the subsequent kick attempt at Battier, Rondo chided to referee Joey Crawford after he T-ed him up, “He tripped me!” There was no trip attempt by Battier, and it was clearly just a case of Rondo’s frustrations boiling over, but Rondo looked like a kid lying to his mom about being hit by his big brother 1st when he had just gotten caught red-handed trying to slug said sibling in the face.

"He hit me 1st, Mommy! I swear!"

On top of all that, Rondo has adopted the KG approach of getting away with any little foul that he can. Garnett is infamous for moving screens and little elbows on every other play that just aren’t quite egregious enough to draw a whistle. I don’t think it should be construed as dirty, but again it’s right on the line. Similarly, Rondo will push off, tug a jersey, or hook with his off arm any chance he has that the refs can’t see. None of that is probably over the line of what’s dirty either, but if someone just hauls-off and decks Rondo during a game 1 day, it’s safe to say he deserves it. I also can’t describe whether or not Rondo would actually be fun to play with. On the 1 hand, he is a superb passer who gets everyone the ball in the spots they like…on the other, he orders teammates around on the court like he’s Peyton Manning. When Rondo is directing traffic, Pierce, Allen, and KG must say to themselves, “Oh my word, just shut the f*** up and pass the ball,” at least 5 times a game…and yet he almost always delivers the ball to the right place on time, so how mad could they possibly get? It’s almost gotten to the point where I have to mute the TV when Boston’s on offense though for fear of hearing Rondo’s pipsqueaky voice calling out audibiles for 20 seconds.

Maybe more than anything though, Rondo just seems a little too sure of himself for my liking, as if he is the greater good fighting opposite the evil empire from South Beach (or whoever else). What Rondo fails to see is that he’s not exactly a beacon of basketball purity himself. After a loss to Miami earlier in the series, he talked about Boston needing to send some of the Heat players to the deck once in a while when they went to the basket. That’s all well and good, but all I could think was wouldn’t it be nice if Udonis Haslem or Shane Battier “sent Rondo to the deck” a couple of times too? After all, it’s not as if Rondo himself is going to be the 1 laying the wood to LeBron or Wade. Before heading into the locker room for halftime last night, Rondo told sideline reporter Doris Burke that the Celtics were capitalizing off of Miami’s “crying about calls” by scoring in transition. Again, Rondo’s candor is somewhat refreshing in this day and age where every question is answered by “we just need to be more aggressive” and “both teams played hard, my man,” and what he said was factually accurate as well, but it was an interesting comment coming from Rondo, who seems to whine about calls as much as anybody. Just go back to game 2 of this series, where during overtime a Dwyane Wade face-chop to Rondo was not called, but Rondo failed to get back down court due to him milking the contact. That resulted in what turned out to be a crucial Haslem dunk in Miami’s overtime win.

Rondo's greatness is only outweighed by his obnoxiousness.

All of this is complicated by the fact that Rondo is a once-in-a-generation type player. No, his jumper isn’t going to wow you on most nights like it did during game 2 in Miami, but he is an elite defender, passer, and team orchestrator. He doesn’t have Rose’s or Russell Westbrook’s explosiveness, but he as that same kind of slithery ability when working his way to the basket that those 2 have as well. He is the type of talent that makes you draw a blank when trying to think of someone else like him. His 15 and 15 game last night in Boston’s series tying 93-91 victory over Miami speaks for itself. All of that is true, and yet so is this: he’s a punk.