Rondo is Celtics’ key ingredient

A lot has been made of the Celtics’ need to manage the minutes of their older stars. After all, the Celtics are the oldest team in the NBA. With 4 of their 5 starters all over the age of 33, head coach Doc Rivers certainly has a difficult balancing act to play.While the emphasis certainly should be on his older stars, Rivers would be remiss not to keep a closer eye on the minutes of his youngest star, Rajon Rondo, as well. Rondo, who plays with reckless abandon, also leads the Celtics in minutes played this season. As the season presses forward, it is becoming even more evident just how important a healthy Rondo is to his team’s success. While the season is less than a quarter old the Celtics young point guard is already battling his second injury, and this time Rondo’s ailing hamstring has kept him off the court. It is no coincidence that the Celtics’ first stumbling block of the season came while their star point guard was on the sideline.The most remarkable thing about the Celtics’ aging veterans is that their advanced age seemingly still has not caught up with them. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett’s numbers are virtually the same as they were three years ago. Even 38-year-old Shaquille O’Neal has found a fountain of youth in Boston. What makes Rondo so special is that he is the Celtics’ fountain of youth. Rondo does all of the hard work. Once upon a time the Celtics older stars could create their own offense; now they rely on Rondo to create for them. This was evident in last weekend’s loss to the Toronto Raptors. Although backup point guard Nate Robinson had a stellar offensive game with 22 points, he only delivered 2 assists. That is 13 assists shy of Rondo’s season average of 15 assists per game. The Celtic offense that usually moves with precision suddenly sputtered, and the Celtics stars looked slow and old. Without Rondo in the lineup both Pierce and Allen reverted back to the one-on-one players that they once were but this time their bodies didn’t allow them to do the things that they used to do.That is the beauty of Rajon Rondo ? he makes his teammates better, and he creates and allows the Celtics stars to finish. Hamstring injuries are tricky, and although it seems the Celtics may have escaped the worst this time, fans have now gotten a small taste of what the Celtics could become if something were to happen to Rondo, and it doesn’t look good.