Rondo difference evident in Celts-Sixers rematch

RAJON RONDO is contagious. And that's a good thing for the Boston Celtics.

Resting his surgically repaired knee when his team faced the Sixers last week in Boston, the Celtics were a slow, dump-the-ball-down-low-and-watch basketball team. It worked for Boston center Jared Sullinger, who accounted for 24 points and 17 rebounds. But it wasn't so good for the Celtics, as they dropped a one-point decision to the Sixers.

Rondo and his wizardry were back against the host Sixers last night (as was backcourt mate Avery Bradley, who also missed the previous meeting), and not coincidentally it was a Boston team that looked as if it had a complete facelift. Heck, add in liposuction, implants . . . well, you get the picture.

The ball was a blur much of the night when the Celtics were at the offensive end. Instead of relying on one player to carry the offensive load, Rondo made sure everyone got a piece of the action in their 114-108 win over the Sixers.

The mercurial guard finished with eight points, nine rebounds and 11 assists, with many of those assists going to Jeff Green, who poured in 36 points. Sullinger collected 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks, while Brandon Bass had 18 points, Bradley 14 and Jerryd Bayless 11 for the Celtics (17-33).

"[Rondo is] the maestro in the truest sense of the word out there," said Sixers center Spencer Hawes (13 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks). "He gets spacing. Offensively, he's like a coordinator out there. He's got the play call going, he knows how to get guys going, which guys to get going early. When a guy hasn't had a shot, he keeps everybody interested offensively. That, for them, translates on the defensive end as well. He controls it. He's unique. There are not a lot of guys like him that still play the game at the point-guard position."

In just his eighth game returning from the injury, Rondo orchestrated no one better than Green. The forward hit 11 his 18 shots, including 5-for-7 from three-point range. He also grabbed eight rebounds and was the hammer that nailed the Sixers time and time again.

"He's one of these players that you look at and you wonder if he is going to be a 'three' man, is he going to be a 'four' man, is he going to develop his perimeter game?" Sixers coach Brett Brown said of Green. "When he first came into the league you wondered what his path was going to be. He's really grown into a highly skilled player."

The Sixers (15-35) have now lost six straight home games and 12 of the past 14. They haven't lost that many consecutively at home since they dropped 12 in a row in 1996-97, which was a franchise worst.

Thaddeus Young led seven Sixers in double figures with 20. Tony Wroten, who hit a 59-footer at the end of the third quarter, came off the bench for 18, while Evan Turner added 12. James Anderson and Michael Carter-Williams each had 11 points and Lavoy Allen collected 10 points and 10 rebounds.

As in the meeting last week at the TD Garden, this one was close at the end, as a 15-foot baseline jumper by Turner cut Boston's lead to 109-105 with 1 minute, 49 seconds to go. But on the Celtics' next possession, Rondo found Sullinger for a layup and foul to expand the lead to seven. A three by Hollis Thompson trimmed it to 112-108 with 55 seconds, but after a Boston turnover, Carter-Williams turned the ball over by dribbling off one his feet with 25.5 seconds to go to seal the outcome.

In the end, though, the difference really was mostly about Rondo.

"He moves the ball at a pace that he wants to, around who he wants to. Maybe he's going to shoot it, maybe he's going to drop it off," Brown said. "He navigates that lane freely. When he comes back into this mix, I just see somebody who takes a team and he's a true point guard, a great point guard and a leader."

For the second time this season rookie point guard Michael Carter-Williams was named the Eastern Conference rookie of the month. His January award goes with the one he won for the month of November. He is only the second Sixer to win the award multiple times, the other was Allen Iverson in 1996-97 . . . Tony Wroten has now scored 18 points in each of the past three games after averaging 7.7 in the previous nine . . . The Sixers host the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. The Lakers finished last night's game against Cleveland with just seven available players.