Where’s Rondo (Now That We Need You)
Rondo’s absence was noticeable from the get-go on the offensive end. Before his injury, Rondo had a stranglehold on the pace of the series. He pushed the Bulls quickly off defensive rebounds that led to easy buckets. The Bulls never found that push consistently against Boston in Game 3.
The Bulls only had one assist through the first quarter. They had 22 assists in Game 1 and 28 in Game 2. The Bulls didn’t have the same type of ball movement in Game 3. The ball was sticking a lot and it didn’t help them find easy shots.
Dwayne Wade and Butler never saw extended stretches handling the ball, Hoiberg should look to make one of them the primary ball handler in game four before the Celtics flip this series on its head.
Reports say Rondo will be re-evaluated in about 10 days. Chicago needs to figure out how to survive without him if they want to pull this series out. Hoiberg ran a point guard-less lineup sparingly in Game 3, expect him to give that lineup some more run in Game 4.
Rondo’s crashing the glass was missed as well; he averaged nine boards in the first two games. In this game Wade, Butler and Grant combined for nine. The big guys weren’t the only ones dominating the boards early in the series, another reason to miss Rondo.