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Los Angeles Lakers: Rajon Rondo learned how Kobe Bryant beat Boston Celtics

By Charlie Fischer

LOS ANGELES - JUNE 17: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates after defeating the Boston Celtics in Game Seven of the 2010 NBA Finals at Staples Center on June 17, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. The Lakes won 83-79. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2010 NBAE (Photo by Bruce Yeung/NBAE via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - JUNE 17: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates after defeating the Boston Celtics in Game Seven of the 2010 NBA Finals at Staples Center on June 17, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. The Lakes won 83-79. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2010 NBAE (Photo by Bruce Yeung/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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With Rajon Rondo now with the Los Angeles Lakers, he confided to Lakers reporter Mike Trudell about something Kobe Bryant figured out during the 2010 NBA Finals that helped bring down the Boston Celtics. 

Talk to any die-hard Los Angeles Lakers fan eight years ago and they would have laughed in your face and called you crazy if you told them Rajon Rondo would currently be wearing the purple and gold, but that is the timeline we are living in now.

Even if you were not a Lakers or Boston Celtics fan, that entire seven-game series was an instant classic. It was also the final banner that Kobe Bryant would bring to us in LakerLand.

On September 18th of this year, legendary Lakers reporter Mike Trudell took some time to interview Rondo. He got his thoughts on joining the Lakers this upcoming season, the history of the Lakers, and how he studies film.

During the interview, we also got this little tidbit from Rondo about the 2010 NBA finals:

"“Mike Trudell: What can two basketball minds like yours accomplish on the court together?Rondo: Control the game. Control the game. Those are the guys who win. It’s interesting, I just found out something about Kobe, what he did in the 2010 championship Game 7. How he broke the game down and figured out how to beat us. I can’t give you the insight on that, but I just found that out. Like, maybe 45 minutes ago. It kind of pissed me off a little bit. It’s part of it, but it’s craziness. It’s amazing how he thinks the game, and it’s fun to know that.”"

Being a die-hard “Kobe Stan,” this part of the interview made me very curious about what the Black Mamba figured out in that Game 7 to take down Rondo and the Celtics that year. Kobe’s struggles during that game have gone far from unnoticed.

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Kobe shot 6-24 from the field, 0-6 from the 3-point line, missed four free throws and had four turnovers. With all this in mind, a re-visitation was due to see what Kobe could have figured out over eight years ago.

An excellent place to start would be what was the most significant change that occurred between Games 6 and 7 that helped the Lakers. Up until Game 7, the Lakers, as a team, averaged 11.5 offensive rebounds per game. However, in the final game of the series, the Lakers grabbed 23 offensive boards, doubling their series average.

Everybody who remembers watching the 2009-2010 champion Lakers knows that their favorite scoring option was to pound it down in the paint.

With the absurd selection of players able to dominate their man in the post (Kobe, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom), it only made sense to force feed the ball into the paint and crash the offensive boards.

There are a few interesting things about the offense rebounds collected by the Lakers in Game 7. Whoever Kevin Garnett was guarding took most of them. More times than not, it was Pau.

The other offensive rebounds allowed were by Paul Pierce, who gave up five, Rasheed Wallace with four and Rondo with one. Also impressive about those 23 offensive rebounds was that thirteen of them came from the right block. Left block gave up seven, and the middle of the paint surrendered three boards.

With this theory in place, I decided to go back and take a look to see if there was a way to correlate the stats found, with in-game footage examples. Time and time again Pau found himself on the right block after a shot went up, as seven of his nine offensive rebounds came on the right block, with all of them coming at the expense of Garnett.

Garnett was 100 percent the defensive leader for this Celtics team. He rarely got out of position on defense and was always the one communicating with his teammates on what was happening around them.

So with all this in mind, it seems entirely plausible that Kobe refocused the Lakers for Game 7 into attacking the offensive glass, especially with Garnett focused on directing the defense.

Knowing Kobe, there is a multitude of things he could have used to their advantage back in 2010. Maybe Garnett rebounds poorly on Thursday’s or Rasheed Wallace doesn’t like playing on odd-numbered days. There is a chance that I could be miles away from what was going on in Kobe’s head back in June 2008.

dark. Next. Kobe Bryant's 10 Greatest Games of All-Time

We will not know with 100 percent certainty what it was unless Kobe or Rondo come out and say it, but isn’t it fun to put on our tinfoil hats and speculate? Especially with one of the main antagonists of that series wearing our colors now?

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