Los Angeles Lakers season saved by Rajon Rondo, sink Boston Celtics
By Ronald Agers
The Lakers showed a lot of character last night
Outside of Rajon Rondo, there were other players that had to help keep the Lakers afloat while LeBron James got his act together for the second half.
JaVale McGee was awarded his starting spot back with the trade of Zubac and did not disappoint.
McGee scored 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds (three of them offensive) and had a block. McGee was critical of Walton at times during the season and his benching was not taken well at times (In my opinion for good reason!) but he was a professional and made a positive impact and anchored the defense.
Tyson Chandler was out on the floor for the final seconds and made the Rondo play possible by tapping the ball to him. The tap out rebound Chandler is doing is not going without notice. Teams are starting to do the same thing around the league. He brings small details that makes his teammates better. Especially those screens.
Lance Stephenson was just Lance. In 17 minutes, he dropped 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting which includes 3-of-5 from the 3-point line. Stephenson is the livewire the Lakers are going to need when the Lakers have to have a bucket. That was the case last night in the first half.
With LeBron James and Rajon Rondo back from injuries, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had to go to the bench. Did it bother him in this game? No.
He just led the bench in scoring dropping 17 points with some timely 3-point shots in the first half. It would have been easy for him to sulk with the Lakers bringing in more shooters at the trade deadline, but he controlled what he could control and that was produced.
Before this post game report is done I would like to send condolences to the friends and family of the great Frank Robinson who passed on Thursday at 83.
He is still the only baseball player to win a MVP in both leagues and he was the first African-American manager in MLB history. He loved basketball and watched numerous Lakers games over the years.
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Rest in peace sir…you will be missed but not forgotten.