On a night-to-night and play-to-play basis, Rajon Rondo isn’t the defensive player he once was, even though he’s as freakishly long-armed as always. It could be that injuries sapped the top-level quickness he once had, or he’s simply not as consistently engaged, but it’s definitely not because he’s slipped mentally. With his Sacramento Kings up three against the Atlanta Hawks with 1.9 seconds to go Thursday night, Rondo saw into the future and diagnosed the Hawks’ inbounds play, dooming it to failure.
Why is DeMarcus Cousins standing here in the corner, guarding nobody when everyone’s clustered at the top of the key?
Because Rondo told him to, changing the defensive scheme with which the Kings had taken the floor.
When the ball is live, Al Horford screens Omri Casspi for Kent Bazemore, while Korver screens off Darren Collison on the other side. It’s a lot of action at the top of the key involving three viable 3-point shooters, but it’s mainly a disguise to get Paul Millsap to leak into the near corner for the easiest 3-point shot there is:
When Millsap finishes his move, Cousins is there walling off that option:
From there, the play breaks down as Thabo Sefolosha panics and fires a wild pass behind Korver. The ensuing scrum for the ball allows the clock to expire. Sure, if Thabo had stayed calm, he could have fed an open Korver, who had broken free from Collison, but it would have been from the extended elbow — a much tougher shot, especially with Korver in the midst of his worst season ever from behind the arc (a good-but-not-great 36 percent). But Rondo’s heady play dynamited the Hawks’ best shot at tying the game on the last shot, and sealed a huge win for the (eighth-seeded!) Kings.
And of course, Rondo didn’t just win the game with his defensive acumen. He also posted a classic Rondo triple-double: 11 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists.