Celtics must ride Rondo to Finals

I've been critical of Rajon Rondo in this space before, but he has proven through 12 playoff games that he's the absolute best point guard option that the Boston Celtics have if they want to return to the NBA Finals.
I only wish that Doc Rivers could see this. Rivers, as former players turned coaches tend to do, gives way too much credit to experienced players when crunch time shows up. Apparently, Rivers didn't watch Chris Paul play Jason Kidd into irrelevancy while the New Orleans Hornets dominated the Dallas Mavericks in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs. Paul used his advantages in quickness and court savvy to leave Kidd looking slow and deflated in a dominant performance the likes of which the NBA has rarely seen.
Those games started late in the evening, so I'll give Rivers the benefit of the doubt -- he might have been up watching tape or drained from the Celtics' grueling series with Atlanta in the opening round and unable to make it through the late Hornets-Mavericks encounters (wink, wink). But shame on Rivers for not being able to see that Rondo haunted Mike Bibby and the Hawks for all seven games. I just hope that Doc's staff shoves in Boston's DVDs and cuts in a Rondo highlight reel to convince the Celtics' man in charge to keep Rondo on the floor at critical times in favor of the aging Sam Cassell. Someone please print out a spreadsheet of statistics showing how much better Rondo has been in this postseason.
In case Rivers reads this blog (he's a media whore -- he just might), I'll lay out the argument for him in bold print. The Celtics are plus-65 in 12 games with Rondo on the floor and only plus-26 with Cassell running the offense. Cassell's time on the floor in the last three games has led the Celtics to a minus-14 differential against Cleveland, leaving Boston's first unit with an uphill battle when they take the floor virtually every time.
Those quick to defend Cassell will point out that he plays just 14.5 minutes per game, less than half of Rondo's 30.7 average, and that he seldom enjoys the company of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all at once like Rondo does just about every time he has the ball. The problem is that Cassell might not notice his teammates anyway -- he's taken 74 shots in 174 minutes, forcing 3-pointers and jumpers in traffic against opposing defenses and making just 33.8 percent of his attempts. His assist-to-turnover ratio is just 18-5 and his advanced age means that he is limited on the defensive end against quicker guards like Cleveland's Daniel Gibson. Take away Game 5 against Atlanta, a 110-85 blowout, and Game 2 against Cleveland, an 89-73 rout, and Cassell is minus-1 in his other 10 appearances.
Rondo's greatest strength is his recognition of the fact that he doesn't have to be The Man. Cassell is used to taking (and sometimes making) big shots in the postseason, but this Celtics team has more than enough players who should be the go-to-guy down the stretch. Rondo has attempted 132 field goals in 368 minutes and has shown improved touch from the field, hitting at a 45.5 percent clip. His 80-20 assist-to-turnover ratio is excellent against the intense defensive effort that postseason games tend to feature.
Despite all of this, Rivers has had Rondo on the bench at critical times on several occasions during Boston's playoff run. The one notable exception came on Wednesday night, a 96-89 Celtics win over Cleveland in Game 5 that gave Boston a 3-2 lead in the series. Rondo played all 24 minutes in the second half and (no coincidence here) had his best game of the series, chalking up 20 points and 13 assists against just one turnover. He's been called the Celtics' point guard of the future, and the numbers say that the future is now.