By Kyle Soppe
What a treat on a Sunday afternoon. The Celtics and Knicks played a classic game, with no shortage of big players making big plays. The home team made more plays in regulation and overtime, defeating the Knicks 115-11.
On a day in the NBA where point guards outshined everybody, it was Rajon Rondo who stole the show. The fifth-year man out of Kentucky recorded the most impressive triple double in the past 20 years, posting 18 points 20 assists and a career best 17 rebounds. He became the first player under 6’10” to record at least a 15-20-15 game, joining only Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. No player has recorded at least 17 in every category since Magic Johnson did 23 years ago. For the game, the point guard accounted for 69% of his teams assists and 31% of their rebounds. He scored more points than Amar’e Stoudemire or Dwayne Wade, handed out more assists than Steve Nash and Chris Paul combined, and grabbed more rebounds than LeBron James.
Rondo attempted 20+ shots for the third time this season, and the third time in his last eight games. Needless to say, Rondo won the showdown with Jeremy Lin.
The Celtics recorded three of the four lowest scoring quarters in the game, and were outscored in three quarters.
The Celtics scored 100+ points for the third consecutive game, all wins. That doubled the amount of 100+ point performances Boston had all season.
Paul Pierce has made seven threes in his last two games, equaling the number of long balls he connected on in the last nine games. He has 3+ turnovers in six of his last seven.
Ray Allen made multiple three pointers the sixth time in seven games. He has tremendous value if the Celtics decide to deal him before the deadline, and can push a team from a contender to a favorite.
The Knicks scored against the top notch defense of the Celtics, but it wasn’t the usual suspects who had the greatest impact. When adding their bench players plus/minus ratio (+29) and comparing to that of the starters (-59), it was evident when New York was most effective. The Celtics starters ratio was 101 points better than that of the Knicks.
Amar’e Stoudemire took as many shots as points scored, the fifth time in his last eight games in which his shot total has been greater than or equal to his point total. Jeremy Lin also had more shots than points, the second time he has done so in his last three games. Previously, Lin had two such games in his Knicks career.
Steve Novack buried four triples, and not a single two point basket. For the season, 80.3% of his made baskets are from downtown.
Tyson Chandler attempted his first three pointer of the season, and seventh for his career. He has yet to connect on one.
Box score props go out to Deron Williams, who poured in a career and franchise-high 57 points. That was one fewer than LeBron and Kobe scored in their showdown. There were four games last night where neither team scored 57 points in a half. He made more free throws than the Celtics, Heat, Lakers, Warriors, Clippers, Rockets, Suns, Kings, and Spurs. In Williams’ game, there were 70 points scored from the free throw line.
The question is … who had the more statistically impressive day, Rondo or Williams?
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