Video: Rajon Rondo fires at 'complaining and crying' Heat

Rajon Rondo has taken over the Eastern Conference finals. He averaged 22.3 points, 9.3 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 2.5 turnovers a game in the first three, even as his Boston Celtics dropped two.In Game 4, he's stolen the spotlight with the news media, too.

During a halftime interview with ESPN's Doris Burke, Rondo was asked how he's found so many holes in the staunch Miami Heat defense. He looked straight into the camera and replied, "Them complaining and crying to the referees in transition."

Nothing more, nothing less. Barely a moment's hesitation. Really, just watch the video, above.

Rondo has eight points and 10 assists at the half. The Celtics lead 61-47.

UPDATE: We don't know if the Heat heard Rondo's comments, but they bucked down in the third quarter and allowed only 12 points to the Celtics. Rondo added two points and two assists, though. The score through three is 73-68 Celtics.

Rajon Rondo kept it moving for Celtics

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and Tom Heinsohn have shared hundreds of conversations over the years. Their latest came during the final minutes of Game 3 Friday night at the Garden.

Ainge could be seen telling Heinsohn that he told Rajon Rondo to “push the ball, push the ball, move the ball, move the ball.’’ He kept repeating those words to Heinsohn, as if Rondo was in front of him, and the conversation came after Rondo conducted a one-man fast break for an uncontested layup and a 10-point lead over the Miami Heat with 1:39 left.

Rondo was not the brilliant offensive force of Game 2, when he tallied a career-best 44 points, but he was just as effective in the Celtics’ 101-91 victory, a game they led for the final 37 minutes.Rondo finished with 21 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds, and just 2 turnovers in 42:41 after playing all 53 minutes in the overtime loss Wednesday. And while he wasn’t as offensively aggressive, he didn’t need to be. He needed to “push the ball, push the ball, move the ball, move the ball,’’ which he did to perfection.

The Celtics got Kevin Garnett going early and he was unstoppable in the paint, finishing with 24 points in 34 minutes. Rondo was a distributor, picking his moments to attack the basket.

“My goal was to win, by any means necessary,’’ Rondo said. “I just wanted to sacrifice, do the things for my teammates to get the lead, keep the lead, and just run the show. My job is to be the leader out there on the floor and an extension of Doc [Rivers], and I just wanted to keep my turnovers down and call a great game.’’

That late layup was a perfect example of his astute decision-making. He saw the middle of the court open up like a Sunday morning on the Southeast Expressway, and soared toward the basket for a finger roll. After the layup and subsequent Miami timeout, LeBron James, who had his back turned, glared at Mario Chalmers for his defensive miscue. Rondo is that annoying.

Perhaps the most important adjustment for Game 3, other than getting Garnett more involved against the center-less Heat, was for Rondo to make a smooth transition from his brilliant Game 2. That meant restraint because as he was dominating the Heat offensively on Wednesday, his teammates were passive, and the Celtics’ offense suffered in key stretches.

On Friday, he attempted eight fewer shots and made sure to “push the ball, move the ball’’ relentlessly. The Celtics became stagnant in the second half of Game 2, walking the ball up the court and allowing the Heat defense to get into position.

They weren’t able to get set Friday, and Rondo refused to allow the Celtics to settle for half-court offense when fast breaks were available.

Rivers did not feel it necessary to talk to Rondo after his 44-point game. Quite often, players who experience career games follow with clunkers. Brandon Bass scored 27 points in Game 5 of the conference semifinals against Philadelphia, then followed with 8 in Game 6.

Rondo was intelligent enough to understand that one game didn’t turn him into Allen Iverson. He is a distributor, first and always.

“No, I’m like a pitcher throwing a no-hitter, you stay away from that joker,’’ Rivers said when asked if he discussed Game 2 with Rondo. “The guy scored 44 points, what can I possibly tell him? I didn’t tell him a word. I was asked [that] a lot. I told him to keep running the team, keep running the team. The only thing we told him offensively was we had to get Kevin involved. Other than that, just go play.’’

That trust has slowly been established over the years. Rondo and Rivers have a point-guard bond, a relationship in which communication occurs as much with facial expressions as words.

It wasn’t necessary for Rivers to advise Rondo to control his inner Chris Paul and refrain from launching excessive jumpers off pick-and-rolls.

Of Rondo’s 16 shots in Game 3, seven were from outside the key, compared with 13 in Game 2. Rondo was 6 for 9 on layups and runners, capitalizing on Miami’s emphasis on Garnett.

Rondo’s insistence on feeding Garnett in the paint resulted in more layups and fewer contested jumpers. And the Celtics’ offense constantly moved the ball to find the open man.

While it would seem the Celtics would not want to run with the Heat’s greyhounds, they actually do, because they are more efficient when Rondo is allowed to make more instinctive decisions, such as drive between three defenders for a layup with 1:39 left.

“Push the ball, move the ball.’’

“What I like about this year’s playoffs is the turnaround is so quick,’’ Rondo said of his Game 2 disappointment. “You don’t have two days to sulk or think about what you could have done right. If we can get stops and get out in transition, we’re going to cause mismatches. I try to find seams and get into the paint.’’

Rondo's Game 2 performance one for the record books

MIAMI – All heart, all guts, the embodiment of this version of the Boston Celtics, point guardRajon Rondo produced a playoff game for the ages: 44 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, playing all 53 minutes in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against theMiami Heat.The praise came from near and far.

"He was absolutely phenomenal," Boston coach Doc Rivers said.

• BLOG: Rondo on Game 2 missed call: I think it was obvious

• STORY: Heat hold on, take 2-0 series lead

"First of all, Rondo was absolutely amazing tonight," Heat forward LeBron James said. "The performance he put on tonight will go down in the record books. … He showed tonight why he's an all-pro and one of the superstars in the league. He's a unique player. He's an unbelievable player."

"Rajon Rondo is the best PG in the league hands down, he does it all ppl," former teammate Jeff Green Tweeted.

"There was nothing you could do about it," Heat guardDwyane Wade said. "He was out there every minute of the game. And he made a big impact."

"He's flat-out incredible. He does everything. I just love the guy. What an Ironman performance," teammateKeyon Dooling said.

"Rajon demonstrated last night why he is one of the greatest competitors the league has seen in a while. He truly has as much heart as anyone who has ever played the game in my opinion," his biased and proud agent, Bill Duffy, wrote in a text message to USA TODAY Sports late Wednesday night.

Rondo sat down at the dais postgame and was asked about his performance.

"It's irrelevant," Rondo said. "We lost. It's as simple as that."

That's right. The Celtics lost, 115-111, in overtime in Game 2, despite Rondo's brilliant performance.

In the past 26 NBA seasons, no point guard has had at least 40 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in a playoff game. Not one. Not Magic Johnson. Not Steve Nash. Not Allen Iverson. Not Isiah Thomas. Not Tony Parker. Not Chris Paul. Not Russell Westbrook.

In the golden age of NBA point guards, Rondo shined like no other. He scored all 12 of Boston's points in overtime. He played with a purpose that was absent in Game 1 when he had nice-looking but ultimately empty stats. That was not the case Wednesday. He created for teammates and himself.

In the past five days, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has expressed his concern for Rondo with Spoelstra-isms.

"His greatness is his unpredictability," Spoelstra has said multiple times since Saturday.

His insistence on using that phrase become comical and even more so when Spoelstra called Rondo a "basketball maestro."

But Spoelstra knew, after watching hours of video on the Celtics, exactly what he was saying. Spoelstra said Tuesday the Heat needed to match Rondo's unpredictability with unpredictability. That meant putting different defenders on him - James, Wade, Mario Chalmers - for different looks. Keep him out of his comfort zone. Make him think a little bit more than he normally does.

It didn't matter. "We tried almost everything with him," Spoelstra said.

Not known as a reliable jump shooter, the Heat, as other teams have done, made a conscious decision to play off Rondo and let him take jump shots. That's the book on Rondo. During the regular season, he made just 39.3% of his shots outside of the paint, but inside the three-point line - the so-called mid-range jump shot area.

Rondo burned Miami. He made 16-of-24 shots, including 9-of-11 mid-range jumpers and 2-of-2 three-pointers. Even with the Heat playing off Rondo, he still finagled his way to the rim for easy shots.

One of those easy shots turned out to be a controversial play in overtime. Rondo drove the basket and missed a shot with the score tied at 115-115 and 1:50 left in overtime. Wade hit Rondo in the face but no foul was called. Miami went the other way, scored and took the lead for good.

Rivers was asked about the no-call. He didn't want to get a fine. He pointed out James shot 24 free throws and the Celtics shot 29.

"I tell my guys it doesn't matter. We can't get distracted," Rivers said. "We will not get distracted in this series. I guarantee you right now they're distracted. But we have to get it out of us and move on."

Rondo knew he was fouled. "It was obvious," he said. "I can't comment about that play in particular."

Allen interjected: "We all thought he got hit. I'll say it, he did. But what can you do about it."

Rondo is mercurial with teammates, coaches and news reporters, and one reason his name always comes up in trade talks. But Celtics president of basketball operationsDanny Ainge knows better than to ship him.

Early in the 2010-2011 season, Rondo refused to leave the trainer's room in Boston to talk to a reporter. A few nights later in another city, Rondo offered insightful answers to his game.

"You always want to be ahead of the game but not too far ahead and make sure guys are on the same page with you," he said back then.

He admitted then he sometimes goes back and re-watches great passes he made. "I know it may sound crazy but I like watching myself pass the ball," Rondo said.

He is one of the most fascinating point guards to play the game. He makes incredible ball fakes. Sometimes he keeps the ball. Sometimes he passes it. But often times, the defense is fooled, leading to a wide-open shot.

It took him time to gain the trust of his teammates as rookie in 2006-2007 and second-year player in 2007-2008. He clashed with teammates and Rivers, a point guard in his playing days who admits he was extra tough on Rondo because he played the same position.

Now, Rivers loves Rondo's game.

"He's great," Rivers said during the Celtics-Sixers series in the Eastern Conference semifinals. "He's as smart of a player as I've ever been around. Sometimes, he's too smart. But when he's right, he's good. His IQ is unbelievable. We laugh a lot. Sometimes, I'll call play, and he's already called it.

"It's nice to have a guy who wants to think the game for the team. A lot of players think the game individually for themselves. What play can I run for me? He thinks, what play works for the team? That's really nice having a player on the floor doing that."

Rondo is often a contradiction - an orthodox and unorthodox point guard often at the same time.

Rondo isn't one of the Big Three, but Boston is just as much his team today than it is forward Paul Pierce's or guard Ray Allen's or center Kevin Garnett's.

"We feed off what he's doing now," Allen said.

Deflating and demoralizing losses, in the face of an unbelievable individual performance with unexpected victory so close, can crush a team. But probably not this team. The Celtics have played too many playoff games since 2007-2008. Too much pride. Boston might not win a game in this series, but it won't quit because of a loss.

Rivers said the Celtics will let this defeat go, eventually.

"You just do," he said. "It's basketball. Listen, we played terrific. I told them we played extremely hard. I thought we played with great heart, but I didn't think we played smart all the time. And there's things we can absolutely fix, and we'll do that. We'll be ready for Friday.

"You don't throw it away. You hold onto it for 24 hours, and then you move on. We've been really good at that. We have no choice in the matter."