Rajon Rondo has become the Los Angeles Lakers' scapegoat and a pariah of sorts. Fans are quick to blame Rondo for any and all mistakes he makes, and slow to forgive or commend him if he plays well.
Then Rondo, went off for 10 points, 9 assists, and 5 steals in Game 2 against the Houston Rockets, finishing the game with a staggering plus/minus of +28. He was incredible and one of the main reasons they won the game.
On the Locked On Lakers Podcast, hosts Anthony Irwin and Pete Zayas (LakerFilmRoom) debated whether or not there was enough proof that Rondo’s performance is replicable and what they should expect from the veteran guard moving forward.
Anthony Irwin: If you look at the number of performances that we've seen from Rajon Rondo, the ones like Game 2 are exponentially outnumbered.
Pete Zayas: But he's never played in a playoff game for us either.
Anthony: Well, Rondo’s played in meaningful games, like he's played in games that matter and and not look great in those ones.
Pete: I mean, sort of like they're not meaningful like playoff games.
Anthony: Sure. I mean, Game 1 was a playoff game and he was awful. He was bad out there.
Pete: Rajon was awful, he was, and we'll see right… there's also got to be some degree of slack for him, he hadn't played in five, six months, right? And there's no reason he can't get into a defensive stance. There's no reason he can't be engaged on the weak side. There's no reason he can't push the ball in transition and hit shooters trailing on kickbacks, right?
Yes. If we're just strictly talking about how many good games he’s had with us versus how many bad games, of course, but it was because of how he played… because he was dying on screens, because he wasn't defending, because the ball would stick with him. I'm just saying like, the things that he did tonight. He couldn't do that. Again, it's not like he hit four out of six from three or something that's like yeah, that's probably not going to happen. He can push the ball again, he can do get the stats, it can be on the weak side. That's why I'm more encouraged than I am worried that this is just an an apparition that's only going to happen once.
Anthony: I guess… I've seen too much of Rondo to just, like, just willingly go out there and say fun, great, Lakers got playoff Rondo, this is fantastic.
Pete: I’m not saying we should, I'm saying tonight was repeatable.
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