The pain from the wounds of their 2010 NBA Finals collapse against the Los Angeles Lakers still lingers at Rajon Rondo.
As he appeared on the latest episode of J.J. Reddick’s “The Old Man & The Three” podcast, Rondo shared his agony from the defeat of the Finals series against their nemesis squad.
“It was heartbreaking. I think Doc [Rivers] said it somewhere about how he put a $100 in the roof in the ceiling, in the locker room of the Staples Center at that time and we was going to about to get that money [when we win the title].
” … It was a great year for us, but obviously we didn’t get the dub.”
The 2010 NBA Finals served as a fiery revival and rematch of the Celtics and the Lakers from their last championship bout two years ago wherein Boston emerged as the triumphants.
Boston – bannered by their fab four of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rondo – made their way back to the Finals alongside the Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles squad that was seeking a redemption and back-to-back title feat. Eventually, both storied franchises went toe-to-toe until reaching the pivotal winner-take-all, Game 7.
As such, the rest was history. After 48 minutes of hard-fought collision, the Lakers came up victorious via 83-79 win in front of their Staples Center crowd and were able to avenge their excruciating Finals loss in 2007-08.
For Rondo, if they would have been able to pull it off with his Celtics squad, he believes that he’ll be eventually named as the series’ Most Valuable Player.
For context, Rondo powered the Celtics offense with his steady ball command and averaged 13.6 points for them. Despite playing at the point guard spot, he led his entire team in rebounds (6.3) through seven games while also being at front in assists category (7.6) and steals (1.6).
“I felt like I played my best basketball that particular season, that series in the Finals. And I felt like if we were the one [who won it], I had a great chance of being Finals MVP. That’s how close I feel like that we were as a team and me individually playing,” he said.
The former star floor general can only wonder as the late great Bryant willed his Lakers team atop the final game even in an ugly scoring display.
Even shooting an uncharacteristic 6-of-24 field goals for 23 points, Bryant was able to carry Los Angeles at the other facets of the game. He went on to crash 15 rebounds with four being offensive opportunities for the purple and gold.
“If you would have told me two years earlier that Kobe would shoot like 4-for-18 or something crazy number, but he affected the game in so many other different ways,” he said.
“He outplayed me and what I do and what I bring to the game more. He had a lot of rebounds, he had at least like over 18 rebounds, 10-plus assists. He affected the game in so many ways wherein it wasn’t about scoring.”
Apparently, eight years in advance, an unimaginable arc in between Rondo and the Lakers’ story has emerged. The veteran guard went on to join LeBron James and the Lakers, wherein he even won a championship with them in 2019-20.
