Rajon Rondo Shares Experience Of Facing Celtics As Opponent

Rajon Rondo has plenty of playoff memories with the Boston Celtics as a 2008 NBA champion.

Recently, the 37-year-old opened up about a few Boston postseason stories, this time during his tenure against his former team.

During the first round of the 2017 Eastern Conference playoffs, Rondo led the eighth-seeded Chicago Bulls to two straight victories over the top-seeded Celtics at TD Garden. In those games, the guard made a major impact, totaling 23 points, 20 rebounds and 17 assists.

“With me, when I’m playing the game, I’m not necessarily playing against the players,” Rondo told former NBA guard and ESPN analyst JJ Reddick on “The Old Man and the Three.” “My whole mindset, that entire series, was to beat Brad Stevens.”

Rondo discussed working with fellow stars Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler entering the series on how to take advantage of the Celtics late in games.

“I feel like I have the power and I’m involved in the game,” Rondo said. “So, I have more influence and impact I can make that I can make versus a coach yelling from the sidelines, trying to communicate to this players what they need to do.”

The series took a major shift when Rondo went down with a thumb injury after the Bulls took the 2-0 lead. From there, the Celtics found a groove and came back to win the series with four straight wins. Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and Al Horford all stepped up to push Boston ahead.

With the intangibles that Rondo offered in addition to his on-court performance, the former champion cemented his impact against the Celtics in the series.