Celtics fans worried about the great unknown, that being anything and everything that will take place this summer and beyond, are happy today.
It appears that Rajon Rondo, after all the trade talk over the years and after all the criticism of his horrid outside shooting, can officially be THE guy that Boston builds around over the next five seasons or so.
His career-high 44 points in an Eastern Conference Finals game that was littered with former league and Finals MVPs proved to many that Rondo could be a legitimate scoring threat when called upon.
So the C’s longterm plans look better today. The short term? Not so much.
Though the Celtics are collectively thought of as one of the more mentally tough teams in recent league history, human nature should be expected to kick in tonight (8:30 p.m., ESPN) after the definition of a demoralizing loss in Game 2.
The Celtics put everything they had into Game 2 – they were also on the mark from the field, something that hasn’t always happened in these playoffs.
Boston shot 49.4 percent from the field. In their Game 7 win over Philly in the semi-finals, the Celtics shot just 35.0 percent from the floor and in their 107-91 Game 3 victory at the Sixers, inarguably their best performance of the postseason, Boston shot 51.9 percent from the floor.
In other words, what the Celtics churned out Wednesday night was a near perfect performance for an elderly squad. And, unfortunately for the Celtics and their fans, it still wasn’t good enough.
