Rondo back Wednesday? And other notes

Posted by Zach Lowe on Mar 9, 2009 7330 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F03%2F09%2Frondo-back-wednesday-and-other-notes%2FRondo+back+Wednesday%3F+And+other+notes2009-03-09+12%3A43%3A42Zach+Lowehttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D733

• Perhaps Rajon Rondo got so frustrated watching the C’s offense struggle against Orlando he decided to speed up his return. Rondo told the Globe he wants to play Wednesday against Miami. He and Brian Scalabrine also painted a funny picture of the M*A*S*H unit watching games from the locker room:

“It’s crazy,” injured forward Brian Scalabrine said. “If someone misses a shot, we’re like, ‘Man, someone should have done this or that.’ Rondo is like, ‘We’re back here and they are back there, so we can’t really tell them what to do.’ And he’s right. We’re back here playing backseat quarterback.”

And KG is apparently the superstitious type–he ordered all the injured guys to sit in the same spot in the locker room Sunday as they did during the Cleveland win Friday. 

Also from the Globe: Marbury and Moore both say they need some time to learn:

“It’s just going to take me some time,” a frustrated Marbury said. “Trying to get familiar with the system is still a challenge, but the guys are working with me every day, while coaches are telling me to be patient.”

Moore, who was scoreless with four rebounds and three fouls yesterday, said, “I’m not there all the way. I’m trying to get used to the guys and used to the way basketball is played here. But I have to get that rust up off me.”

Should we be worried about this? There are 17 games to go before the playoffs. Is that enough time to learn another team’s offense? This is not a rhetorical question–I’m asking it honestly. I’m not sure I want these guys learning during a first-round series against Detroit or Philly.

Finally, Pierce and Allen are both saying the right things about their increasing minutes, something Brian Robb mentioned in his recap of yesterday’s game:

“We got to play basketball,” said Allen, 33. “I’m not worried about it. We have to just get as much rest as we can on off days.”

•Over in the Herald, Stan Van Gundy is all praise for the C’s, especially Ray Allen, who tied his Celtics-high for shot attempts yesterday with 25:

“You’ve got to give them a lot of credit,” said Van Gundy. “I mean, playing down Garnett and (Rajon) Rondo, and they really hung in. You can expect that out of a championship-level team.

“They’re going to continue to fight. So they’ve been doing a good job without Garnett. Now they’re without Rondo, still fighting like hell.”

The fourth quarter was fun, but the rest of the game was U-G-L-Y ugly, which isn’t unexpected when a team is missing three key rotation players.