The New Orleans Pelicans completed a four-game sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the NBA playoffs with a lot of help from Rajon Rondo.
The veteran point guard averaged 11.3 points, 13.3 assists and 7.5 rebounds per night against Portland’s Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. The series was one of many solid postseason performances for Rondo, who over time has earned the nickname “Playoff Rondo.”
But the 32-year-old claims there’s “no such thing as ‘Playoff Rondo,’ per The New York Times’ Marc Stein.
“I hate it,” Rondo said. “I’ve done what I’ve done in the past, I let my game speak for itself. I feel like, when I get a certain amount of minutes and when the coaches allow me to be me on the court, I’m Rondo. There’s no ‘Playoff Rondo.'”
Particularly of late, Rondo has been a force in the playoffs between playing with the Chicago Bulls last season and the Pelicans this campaign.
“Three years removed from a messy divorce from the Dallas Mavericks in the middle of the first round of the playoffs, Rondo is suddenly a spotless 6-0 in the last six postseason games he’s played,” Stein wrote.
Rondo and the Pelicans’ next task will be the Golden State Warriors in the second round of the playoffs.
