Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce could not believe Rajon Rondo’s comments on playing against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Celtics were one of the best teams in the NBA between 2007 and 2012, with All-Star calibre players Pierce, Rondo, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen on the roster.
Their biggest rival at the time was James, who had ascended into the ‘best player in the world’ discussion after entering the league in 2004.
But Rondo was up to the challenge, and Pierce will never forget his incredible ‘mentality’.
Rondo appeared on Pierce and Garnett’s podcast, The Truth Lounge, to discuss untold stories from their playing days.
And Pierce brought up one situation in 2010 where Rondo caught him off guard with his approach to playing against LeBron.
“The Cavs were the number one seed that year, they won 60+ games,” Pierce explained. “We were the fourth seed and there was a discussion about ‘do we want to rest and stay at the four or do we want to go up to the three?’
“We had this meeting, it was Rondo, Ray, me and KG. Rondo was like ‘hell nah, we want the fourth seed because we want the Cavs in the second round’.
“They’re the number one seed, Bron is having a sick year, he’s the MVP and I was sitting there (speechless) because I’ve got to guard Bron.”
The Celtics took Rondo’s advice and finished the season as the fourth seed before beating the Miami Heat in five games to set up an Eastern Conference semifinal clash with the Cavs.
Rondo was excellent in the series, averaging 20.7 points and 11.8 assists, as the Celtics won in six games.
“When I look back at it, I see why, because that was probably one of Rondo’s best series ever. I think he averaged a triple-double,” Pierce added.
“That’s one of the things that stands out, how your mentality was. Because you want the smoke. And you were the youngest out of us.”
Rajon Rondo’s Hall of Fame case is strong. The point guard is a two-time NBA champion with four All-Star appearances and four All-Defensive Team honors.
He is widely regarded as one of the most intelligent floor generals in basketball history and played for an impressive 16 seasons.
The only thing that could hold the 38-year-old back is his lack of points. He averaged 9.8 points per game in his career and 13.7 in his highest-scoring season.
He has a 61% chance of making the Hall of Fame, according to Basketball Reference, which is higher than Blake Griffin (55%) but lower than Klay Thompson (70%).
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