Remember when the New Orleans Pelicans announced that the team has signed free agent guard Rajon Rondo, little over five months ago? “We are excited to welcome Rajon to the New Orleans Pelicans,” said Pelicans Senior VP of Basketball Operations and General Manager Dell Demps.
Well, last night everyone was excited!
Rondo dished out a career-high 25 assists in just 30 minutes of action. New Orleans’ offense was on fire, four players scored 20-plus points including, Anthony Davis (33), DeMarcus Cousins (27), Jrue Holiday (23) and E’Twaun Moore (20), and the Pelicans beat the Brooklyn Nets 128-113.
A four-time NBA All-Star guard finished the game with two points, seven rebounds, 25 assists and three turnovers, and said, “The No. 1 thing is we got the win. And then me, personally, I love passing the ball”. His previous high was 24 assists set in 2010 against the Knicks. The NBA record is 30 (set by Scott Skiles in 1990), and he's the first player to rack up this many in a single game since Jason Kidd in 1996.
It took Rondo just 503 minutes in a Pelicans uniform to rewrite franchise record books. He also broke other records, so let’s break down his performance:
- Rondo’s total is also a Pelicans franchise record. In case you forgot, Chris Paul played a long time for the Hornets/Pelicans and held the previous team record with 21 assists (set in 2007);
- In addition to Rondo’s recording-setting performance, the Pelicans also established a new franchise record for assists as a team with 40, beating their old mark of 38 assists, set back in 2010;
- Rondo became the only active player with 25 assists in a game. It was the 16th time in NBA history that a player recorded 25-or-more assists in one game, and he became the 12th different player in NBA history to reach the mark, with the others being:John Stockton (in 1988, 1989 and 1991),
Kevin Porter (1978, twice in 1979),
Bob Cousy (1959),
Guy Rodgers (1963),
Ernie DiGregorio (1974),
Geoff Huston (1982),
Isiah Thomas (1985),
Nate McMillan (1987),
Scott Skiles (1990),
Kevin Johnson (1994),
Jason Kidd (1996),
and Rajon Rondo (2017).
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images - Rondo also became the fourth player in NBA history with a 20-assist game for three different teams, joining Guy Rodgers, Kevin Porter, and John Lucas.Rondo – six games for Celtics, two for Kings, and one for Pelicans;
Rodgers – four for Warriors, two for Bulls, and one for Bucks;
Porter – four for Bullets, 10 for Pistons, and four for Nets;
Lucas – one for Rockets, one for Warriors, and two for Spurs.
Jim Davis/Boston Globe/Getty Images - Ten of Rondo’s 25 assists came in the fourth quarter, his new career-high for any quarter. His previous high was nine assists, done several times.
- Rondo needed only 30 minutes and 18 seconds, which is by far the least playing time for a player producing 25-or-more assists in an NBA game. The previous low was 36 minutes that Stockton played in a 27-assist game in 1989.
- He is also the oldest player to do so (31 years, 308 days), John Stockton held the previous mark (28-295 in 1991).
- Rondo had two points, the fewest in a 25-assist game. Nate McMillan set the previous record, eight points with 25 assists in 1987. Rondo and McMillan are the only players to score fewer than 10 points in a 25-assist game.
- Rondo became the first NBA player in nearly 22 years to earn as many as 25 assists in a game, the longest span that the NBA has gone without a 25-assist game over its 72-year history.
- Rondo created 58 points with his assists, the most by any player in a game over the past 20 seasons.
The pass-first floor general also bumped his season assist average to 8.3, and joined Chris Paul and LeBron James as the only 30-plus-year-old players with assist average over 8.0 since the 2011-12 season. It is also his highest figure since he led the NBA with 11.7 assists per game two seasons ago for the Kings.
Stats Source: Elias, Basketball-Reference, and Wikipedia.
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