Human Victory Cigar

Point Guard Rajon Rondo answers questions on Practice Day, Tuesday May 27 2008, after the Boston Celtics’ win against the Detroit Pistons in Game 3 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals.

Rajon Rondo: We kind of felt they were aggressive last night, and it definitely showed. They pushed us around, pushed us off our spots on the post and made us take tough shots.

Q. Was that the theme of today’s practice?

Rajon Rondo: That wasn’t the theme. We wanted to still execute, be strong with the ball, and just make plays.

Q. Is it important offensively for you guys to drive to the hoop as opposed to shoot outside in the first quarter?

Rajon Rondo: It all can change. The first game in Detroit we made outside shots and we got a ten-point lead. The second game we didn’t. We missed those shots, and it hurt us in the end.

Q. The series is 2-2, does anybody have an edge now?

Rajon Rondo: I feel we always have an edge. I’m very confident with our team but not too cocky. We’re still humble. It’s a humble team but we have home-court advantage. Like I said, tomorrow night we’re going to try to take advantage of it.

Q. Even though you do have two games at home, they beat you in Game 2 here. Does that take away any home-court advantage you have?

Rajon Rondo: Not at all. We lost one game in the postseason at home, and we’re feeling pretty good about it. We’re pretty confident and ready to play.

Q. Has Chauncey changed his style at all, changed his game at all?

Rajon Rondo: No, I don’t think so. He hasn’t been posting as much, but you never know, in any game he can go to the block and get a lot of points.

Q. (Inaudible).

Rajon Rondo: I mean, I think it’s still a team effort. It definitely can go Ray and Rip, Kevin and Rasheed, Perk and McDyess, Paul and Tayshaun, either one. It’s a solid core match-up, it’s very difficult, it’s how both teams struggled at times on the offensive end. I don’t look at it as just me and Chauncey, we try to make it a team effort. Individually, sometimes in each possession you’ve got to get a stop.

Q. What did KG and Pierce and Ray have to say after that game? Pierce and Garnett could not have played any better in the first few games of this series. They had trouble shooting the ball. Was there any message like, hey, guys, no one said this was going to be easy, or what did they say after the game?

Rajon Rondo: No, we knew from the beginning that it wasn’t going to be easy. It’s four teams trying to accomplish one goal, so definitely, everyone is going to be playing extremely hard as they can. I struggled last night, as well, so you can’t put the blame on those guys. It was still a team effort, so we want to take the positives out of last night’s game and continue to put it in Game 5.

Q. Detroit just seemed like they got one too many guys going last night. You live with certain guys scoring on that team, but when you get three of them going, you’ve got a problem.

Rajon Rondo: Yeah, they’re a good team. They’re a good, balanced offensive team, and that’s why they’re defending conference champs. Each night any guy can give you a lot of problems, and last night we had a couple problems with McDyess, he got a couple shots and got a lot of confidence going early.