Rajon Rondo and Steve Nash stepped up in huge ways to lead their teams to victories on Sunday. Nash battled a busted eye that was swelling shut faster by the minute. Rondo earned a massive triple double while taking command of the players formerly known as the Big 3 in Boston.
Rondo's stats were staggering. He scored a game high 29 points on 9-21 FG and 11-16 FT. MVP LeBron James only managed 22 for the Cavs. Rondo also dished 13 assists with only 4 turnovers while James led Cleveland with 8 dimes and 7 turnovers.
Rondo slashed thru the Cavs defense with ease, including plays where he left 1st All Defense teammate LeBron unable to disrupt his moves in the slightest. James said, "I think it starts with Rondo. He's kind of the engine that really gets them going. He does everything for them. His performance was unbelievable. Rondo was definitely the difference maker."
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Rondo's game was his play in the paint. He fearlessly took it to the hole on Shaq who has a 1 foot, 150 pound advantage on him. Rondo's 18 rebounds were more than the combined total of the top 2 rebounders on the Cavs, James & Antawn Jamison with 15. Former rebound champ Kevin Garnett and Celtic Bruiser Kendrick Perkins only managed 12 between them.
It's now clear that the Celtics are Rondo's team. The players formerly known as the Big 3 are now the Big Supporting Cast. At times they stood and watched Rondo dismantle the entire Cavs defense the way the Bulls would watch Jordan in the 90s.
Rondo played a game high 47 minutes, leading the Celtics to a 97-87 win despite the team's miserable 1-14 shooting from downtown. Rondo's vicious defense & hustle were huge intangible factors in keeping the Celtics in command of the game. He put on monster performance in a must win game for the Celtics and earned his 4th career playoff triple double. Only Larry Bird has more in the history of the Celtics.
It's hard to say the Suns were in a must win situation since they had a 3-0 cushion coming into Sunday's game in San Antonio. However, the Spurs had sent them packing in several previous playoffs with deeper strategies and more physical play. Sweeping the Spurs would be a huge boost for the confidence of the Suns this season and as a franchise overall.
Additionally, Steve Nash suffered a huge gash from an inadvertent Tim Duncan elbow causing his right eye to swell shut in the 3rd quarter. Finishing off the Spurs in Game 4 would allow more time for his bruised and bloodied eye to heal without risking further injury before the conference finals. Nash said, "I can't really see of it. I don't want to glorify it, but it's been a long time since we beat this team and advanced in the playoffs, and I tried to do what I could to close it out."
The Spurs closed a 7 point gap while Nash was getting stitches in the locker room. He returned in the 4th quarter to take over the game, getting 10 points and 5 assists with 3s and daring drives thru the paint. He finished with 20 points including 3-3 from downtown, 9 assists and 6 stitches on the way to a 107-101 victory.
Perhaps most impressive is that at age 36, Nash had more energy and spark throughout the series than Spurs guards Tony Parker and George Hill, both in their twenties. He also showed as much toughness as Spurs broken nosed scorer Manu Ginobili by playing through his own facial injury in crunch time.
Nash said, "I don't know how it didn't keep me on the sidelines. I wanted to give it a try and luckily it worked out."
There's no luck in toughness or tenacity and on Sunday, Rondo and Nash gave us huge amounts of both in leading their teams to big playoff wins.
