Rajon Rondo Thought The Celtics Gave Up In Their Game 2 Loss To Chicago

The Boston Celtics are in a rough place right now. The team is in a 2-0 hole in its Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series against the Chicago Bulls, dropping both games on their home floor and generally looking like a team that didn’t deserve the 1-seed.

It’s hard to fully understand what the team is going through right now, as Boston has been rattled by Chicago twice and hasn’t been able to offer any kind of a serious response. Bulls guard Rajon Rondo apparently pointed out as much during Game 2. According to Avery Bradley, Chicago’s veteran point guard sensed that the Celtics just wanted the game to end and called his former team out.

Saying a basketball team quit is a pretty serious allegation, but it doesn’t seem like Bradley necessarily disagreed. He went on to praise the leadership on the Bulls, which he believes is a big reason why they were executing so well. Conversely, he remarked that the Celtics seemed to have a lack of leadership.

Bradley’s quote illustrates something of an issue for the Celtics – they are one of the youngest teams in the league, and save for Al Horford, no one has played in more than 30 playoff games. In fact, coming into tonight, Boston as a team had 230 total playoff games under its belt. For Chicago, Dwyane Wade and Rondo alone combined for 262.

The Celtics’ youth has been a huge talking point all year, but it’s been through the context of “they have all these young pieces, and maybe they can turn them into a superstar via a trade.” Through two postseason games, it’s kind of looked like that youth has been something of a detriment against Chicago. The good news is that Boston can still turn things around, the bad news is that if the first two games are any indication, it’s hard to imagine that happening.