THIS IS WHY Playoff Rondo Is A LAKERS HERO

If you watched the Lakers dismantling the Rockets in game 4 all the way to the end, you saw this wild alley oop pass from Rondo for the incredible Lebron James finish. And this beautiful coast to coast drive and the lob to Anthony Davis. However, with a championship level player like Rajon it’s never about the highlight plays, so let me show you exactly how the legend of Playoff Rondo grew even stronger in this series. What up everybody my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. This quasi nickname dates back to the Celtics championship season in 08 when Rondo sort of played better and better with each round of the playoffs. Then, some of you may remember his performance with the 8th seeded Bulls against the number 1 Celtics in 2017 when Chicago stunned Boston in the first 2 games. He then got injured and the whole story changed completely, as the Celtics won the next 4 games in a row. Chicago fans to this day say that they lost that series only because of the Rondo injury. Then there was that spectacular beatdown of the number 3 seed Blazers that Rajon and the Pelicans executed in 2018 as a 6 seed. Players are well aware of his intensity and competitive spirit, so at this point they expect these types of performances from him. The story is no different this year as he just came back from the injury for this series and has already left a huge imprint on it. Just look at this clampdown on James Harden. Pressing him all the way in the backcourt as if the beard is some rookie or even a high school player and not a perennial MVP candidate. And again, look at all of these examples of Rondo’s help defense, where he either forced the Rockets into taking a tough shot or just straight up stole the ball. This is just a small sample size of Rajon’s phenomenal basketball IQ that another smart guy like Lebron appreciates, and Anthony Davis experienced first hand in that year in New Orleans. But playoff Rondo is great offensively as well against Houston. So far he’s averaging 12 and a half points and 7 and a half assists in just 28 minutes of action. And hey check this out. He’s never been known as a shooter of course, but against the Rockets, Rondo is making almost 2 threes per game and 41% from downtown. The Lakers will gladly take that little bit of help offensively. With a strong 3-1 lead at the moment, it seems that this team has a firm grip on this series, and everything points towards a high anticipated battle of LA. In a potential Lakers vs Clippers Western Conference Finals matchup, the experience, intensity, and overall play of Playoff Rondo will be invaluable to Lebron and AD as they’ve been looking for a reliable third guy throughout the entire season. And he emerged seemingly at the right time. That’s it for now, if you liked this video, subscribe and hit the notification bell so that you don’t miss my future in depth analysis. Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.