Los Angeles Lakers: 3 key reasons the Lakers beat the Rockets
2. Playoff Rondo is alive!
Throughout the series, it felt like a new role-player would step up and provide the Los Angeles Lakers with a huge performance.
Alex Caruso was a defensive beast all series and had a huge game 4 in particular, scoring 16 points and providing a hugely important clutch three to slam the door on the Rockets’ comeback.
Danny Green provided floor-spacing all series but came alive in game 5 with 4 threes on 6 attempts and 14 points.
During game 2 when Houston was hitting an obscene number of threes, Markieff Morris’ 4 three-pointers and 16 points in 22 minutes were a major reason the Lakers were still alive entering the fourth quarter.
The oft-maligned Kyle Kuzma has seemingly transformed overnight from an inefficient ball-stopper (21st percentile for off-ball movement in the regular season) to our best off-ball player throughout the series, scoring easy baskets off a multitude of aggressive cuts.
However, no role-player was more important to the Lakers’ series win than Rajon Rondo, a sentence I never expected to utter in 2020.
The legend of “Playoff Rondo” is well-known in basketball circles, as he’s famous for saving his best performances for the playoffs.
The statistical discrepancy between his postseason and regular season numbers gives credence to the “Playoff Rondo” moniker.
In his youth as a Boston Celtic at age 22, he put up insane playoff averages of 16.9 PPG / 9.7 RPG / 9.8 APG.
In the 2016-17 playoffs before getting hurt, he led the 8-seed Chicago Bulls to a 2-0 lead over the 1-seed Boston Celtics with averages of 11.5 PPG / 8.5 RPG / 10.0 APG.
A year later, he was a key piece in the 6th seeded Pelicans sweeping the 3rd seeded Blazers, putting up playoff averages of 10.3 PPG / 7.6 RPG / 12.2 APG across 9 games.
However, at age 33, coming off a lengthy injury-induced absence and with two seasons of mediocre play, I wrongly thought that “Playoff Rondo” was no more.
In previous Lake Show Life articles, I’ve been vocal in expressing that one of my chief concerns with the roster was the lack of playmakers when LeBron James is on the bench, but Rajon Rondo appears to be the answer to that conundrum.
He was incredible in game 3 in particular (21 points, 9 assists), but throughout the series, demonstrated that his playmaking ability is still top-notch, averaging 7 assists per game. He ran the offense seamlessly whenever LeBron went to the bench, and even ran the offense at times when LeBron was on the court, giving him a chance to rest a little on the wing.
Having Rondo as a capable secondary playmaker adds an entirely new dimension to the team that it hasn’t had for extended stretches this season.
Most surprisingly, this iteration of “Playoff Rondo” can shoot the basketball. Throughout the series, the Rockets would often dare him to shoot and he’d often make them pay, connecting on 1.6 three-pointers per game at a 44.4% clip for the series.
Rondo has regressed defensively in recent years, but turned back the clock during this series, playing outstanding on-ball defense on Houston’s explosive backcourt of James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
Perhaps even more impressive to me was the basketball IQ Rondo exhibited on the defensive end. Very often, I’d notice him calling out opposing offensive sets, pointing his teammates to spots on the court, and helping everyone make the right defensive rotation.
"We have two of the best IQ guys in the game." - Anthony Davis, referencing LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) September 9, 2020
That kind of basketball IQ is just one of many examples of why Rondo’s contributions to the team go far beyond his box-score numbers. Having another incredibly intelligent player alongside LeBron James helped the role-players out immensely on both sides of the court throughout the series.