by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
For four games now, LeBron James has watched Rajon Rondo torch his team to the tune of 21.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 13 assists per game. As a result, the series between Cleveland and Boston is tied up, and headed back to Ohio for a pivotal Game 5.
Anthony Parker, Delonte West and Mo Williams clearly can’t slow Rondo down, and ‘Bron realizes it might be time for him to take a shot at it. Following Rajon’s historic performance yesterday (29/18/13), James admitted that he’d love to guard the Celtics’ electric floor general.
From the Akron Beacon Journal:
James looked at Rondo’s 18 rebounds Sunday in amazement. ”He’s really unique,” James said. ”You have a guy who’s 6-1 but he has like a 6-foot-9 wingspan. He plays bigger than he really looks because of his long arms. His speed and quickness, his ability to play the game.. . . .If you mess up on a coverage, he’s going to exploit it or get someone else involved.”
Named to the NBA’s all-defensive first team last week for the second time, James wants a crack at guarding Rondo. ”I would love to,” James said. ”It’s something that we maybe should explore, because Rondo’s been dominating the series off that point-guard position. I don’t have a problem with taking Rondo or guarding Rondo throughout the course of the game. If the coaching staff or the guys want me to do it, I will.”
Should LeBron guard Rondo in Game 5, the issue for Cleveland then becomes, who checks Paul Pierce (who has been nearly invisible thus far)?
There are no easy answers for the Cavs, but it’s abundantly clear that Mike Brown needs to adopt a new strategy when it comes to defending Rajon Rondo — Cleveland cannot afford to let him take control of the series again.
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Awaiting MScorn’s elbow/I-Love-King/excuse comment. We love ya, Scornie!
The thing with Rondo is they let him penetrate and that’s how he plays good because he can pass or lay it up. Instead just back up to the free throw line and let him shoot. That way, he doesnt get anybody else involved.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a78/nursetpd/TSB/Lebron_Landslide.gif
Pierce is playing like a shadow of himself because Lebron guards him well. I don’t know if switching Lebron on Rondo will help more than hurt; his size might slow Rondo down, but I’m worried Pierce will go off.
Bottom line, Coach Brown needs to start treating Mo Williams like he’s a role player. Dude ALWAYS steps down in the playoffs. He’s not a defensive liability, but there’s no way he should be getting 30-35 while Delonte West, a superior defender, gets 15. William’s offensive game has nowhere near offset how he’s getting destroyed on defense, so play him less.
And for chrissakes, Jamison is getting killed by Boston bigs. Play Jamison more at the three, put Andy V and HIckson at the four spot more often.
If you’re GOING to start Shaq, and if you’re GOING to use Lebron as a guard for Rondo, why not begin with a Lebron(PG)- Parker(SG)-Jamison(SF)-Hickson(PF)-Shaq(C) starting lineup? You have Lebron over-dominating the ball (a must), have Jamison fronting someone who wont annihilate him on positioning (like KG is doing) and you have a better suited running team. Bring Williams off the bench and tell him to shoot like crazy.
Of course, this is Mike Brown, who is honestly the worst adjustment coach in the L. I doubt we’ll see anything different, since, you know, we haven’t seen anything different in four games outside of Parker occasionally spotting Rondo. Big whoop.
And don’t think Bron shouldn’t get a boatload of blame for these losses. He overdominates the ball, they win by 30. He plays off the ball and lets his teammates try and score for themselves, they lose by 20. I know he wants to be this big steaming pile of a ‘great teammate’ but if they lose to the Celtics or to Orlando, he’s going to be a big steaming pile of ‘bad player’
Like many other people have noted, i would be worried about Pierce finding his stroke if Lebron was moved off him. (By the way, Lebron’s defense on Pierce really should silence all the cats who say he can’t play man to man defense, but it won’t.)
I think Delonte can guard Rondo and I don’t think they should play so far off him. I think they should give him a cushion but still provide pressure so he can’t come of screens and other stuff with clear sight lines. They have to make him into solely a scorer like the Spurs used to do with Nash, instead of allowing him to be a scorer and passer.
I think Pierce’s game is more of a “I’ll overwhelm you physically” type… Which is and has NOT worked on Lebron. I think they should have put West on Rondo from the jump. I don’t think any other guard or small forward can handle Pierce on the Cavs. It’s just a good defensive matchup for Lebron.
Pierce is more crafty than physical. I mean, he’ll post little guys, but mainly he gets his with a still potent first step, a vicious pull up, and a general craftiness and ability to draw fouls.
Lebron has neutralized all of that, and I think he needs to get his respect for that. There are quite a few small forwards in the league who would be getting torched by Pierce, and two years ago Lebron would have had way more problems. In fact, he did. Now some of that is due to some drop off in Pierce’s game, but it’s also due to Lebron’s focus and improvement on defense.
I mean folks were hating on Lebron for all-defense, but I think Lebron can lock up in small forward in the game and many of hte two guards.
Who disagrees? And if you do, name the small forward you think Bron can’t lock up.
its a damn good series though
But, for the C’s to win this series, Paul Pierce needs to be the truth. His game has been garbage so far in this series.
If I was a coach, I would be comfortable forcing Rondo to be the main scoring option for the Celtics.
I would NOT be comfortable with allowing him to get his points and dish out 13 assists. You have to force him to carry the scoring load the entire game, not in spurts with a lot of buckets in transition.
I think they need put Delonte, and either Parker or Moon on Rondo. They need to give him a cushion, and force him to hit contested layups, or somewhat contested jumpers. They cannot just lay off him like he doesn’t exist and allow him to get his rhythm and see the floor. They have to force him to finish over the top instead of allowing a clear path to the basket or an easy dish off. They need to foul him regularly because he sucks at free throws, even if he’s been decent so far.
I think you force him to get away from getting an unexpected 30 points and make him be the true scorer for the team. And I think that means leaving Lebron on Pierce so Pierce cannot get off. Because Pierce can get off against anybody else on the Cavs team not named Lebron.
Bron has shown he can guard Melo. He can force Melo to have inefficient games, which is really all you can do with a truly great scorer.
Bron can guard Durant and Melo, the two toughest players at his position. Outside of them, he locks everybody else down. That’s all-defense in my opinion.
if lebron was on the knicks, would they match up better with the celtics? duhon vs mo williams? pretty even.
chandler vs parker? chandler is better.
harrington or jamison? jamison might have the edge
lee vs shaq/big z? lee has a huge edge
bench? cavs have a slight advantage here.
I think the problem guarding Rondo is picking him up on breaks. He doesn’t do a lot of damage in the half court unless you lose sight of your man. Most of his assists come of hitting Ray coming off screens and defenders falling asleep and getting backdoored(like when PP dunked on Lebron yesterday)In game 3 he didn’t do anything with Parker saggin off him because the Celts didn’t get out and run a lot. You get him running and gunning and no one on the Cavs can stop him.
…
If you take LeBron and Rondo off their respective teams, who wins the series, based on performances/contributions so far?
You’re wrong though, if it means anything. He’s a very solid man-to-man defensive player. I was uncertain if he deserved first team, but all-second defense for sure.
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