Wednesday Roundup: Props for Rondo, Turnover Problems

Posted by Brian Robb on Dec 30, 2009 50914 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F12%2F30%2Fwednesday-roundup-props-for-rondo-turnover-problems%2FWednesday+Roundup%3A+Props+for+Rondo%2C+Turnover+Problems+2009-12-30+12%3A33%3A56Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D5091

Quick look around the net this Wednesday morning, as the C’s try to snap a 2 game losing streak tonight in Phoenix. No new news regarding Big Baby’s status for tonight’s game but the general inclination appears to be the sprained ankle is not serious. Hopefully it’s just a one-two game thing, if even that.

First we have Steve Bulpett of the Herald, on KG giving Rondo some well deserved accolades after his nice bounceback performance given his end of the game struggles in LA:

Garnett liked the way Rondo got back on the horse.

“Things happen to us that you turn and you ask yourself, ‘Why me?’ ” Garnett said as the Celtics had yesterday off in preparation for tonight’s road trip finale against the Phoenix Suns. “I told him when he went to the line (Monday), I smacked him and I said, ‘Yeah, redemption. Payback.’ I just kept filling him with that. It either makes you or breaks you, man. You can’t break this kid. This kid is made of carbon, man. Everybody knows what carbon is. You know that it’s damn near invincible. It’s just more than a pleasure to be his teammate.”

Rondo shrugged it all off, but he was seriously down in LA.

“I was bummed out up until gametime (Monday),” Rondo said. “But luckily it’s the NBA. We had a back-to-back, so I tried to redeem myself, but we still got another loss. For me, I get down on myself. I’m very hard on myself. But I’m still confident. I’m going to play the game and feel like I’m the best at it.”

Garnett continued to heap on the praise:

“He’s a counterpuncher. But, man, when it comes to turning it up and just taking over a game from all dimensions of it, I’ve yet to see anybody like him. I’m a huge Rondo fan. I stay on his (butt) and I tell him stuff, things that most people probably shy away from, but that’s the trust that he has in me and me being a vet.”

“It’s beautiful to watch his growth. It’s beautiful to see how he’s influenced not only some of his own peers and young guys he plays, but even the older guys,” Garnett added “I think he’s definitely gained our respect. I told him, ‘Man, you’ve got to be in love with getting better.’ And he’s just embraced that so it’s good to see.”

A look at some of the turnovers problems beginning to rear their ugly head, after the jump

Gary Washburn of the Globe, takes a look at the C’s recent sloppy play as well. Danny Ainge takes the reins in criticizing his team:

“I think it’s a combination of we’re getting some pretty good performances by other teams and we’re not playing as hard as we can play for 48 minutes,’’ he said. “We think we can show up for a quarter or a half, and that’s not good enough in this league, and that’s been our pattern. We come out of the gates ready to play and have shown up to play in some cases. Other cases we haven’t; we’ve had to turn it on in the second half.

Danny continued his rant talking about turnovers.

“Just carelessness,’’ Ainge said. “The turnovers, the 25 [total] turnovers. That is just unacceptable. And that just goes to show that focus just isn’t there.

“I see stretches in most games we play where we are playing really good basketball but we’re trying to cruise through other stretches where we think the game might be under control. We don’t respect our opponent quite enough and we let up a little bit and we’re sloppy.

“We take bad shots. We make bad passes. We blow defensive assignments and the focus just isn’t there for 48 minutes.’’

This has been a frequent theme of west coast trips the past two years. Obviously the absence of Paul Pierce doesn’t help things but the Celtics seemed to lack the focus just as much as their legs. The minutes though have been sky high for the guards on this road trip without Pierce and I think it’s time Doc opens up the cabinet for some help further down the bench. More on that to come later today.